Literature: Reference Sources

Literature Reference Sources

These sources offer great background information on literary genres or eras in addition to definitions of literary terms and biographical information on authors or key literary figures:

Literature Online This link opens in a new window
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Comprehensive database emphasizing English and American poetry, drama and prose, literature journals, author biographies, and critical essays.
Gale Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
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Comprehensive database of poetry, drama and prose, literature journals, author biographies, topic overviews, and critical essays.

Oxford Reference Online: Literature
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Contains over 30 Oxford literature reference titles, including the Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature, Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States, Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature, Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, and more.
Gale Virtual Reference Library: Literature
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Includes Reference Guide to Holocaust Literature, Reference Guide to Short Fiction, Reference Guide to World Literature, Greenwood Encyclopedia of Latino Literature, UXL Graphic Novelists, and more.
Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms
Includes 1,200 terms on drama, versification, rhetoric, and literary history, as well as bibliographies of recommended reading and a pronunciation guide to more than 200 terms.
Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism
A comprehensive historical survey of the field's most important figures, schools, and movements. Includes more than 240 alphabetically arranged entries on critics and theorists, critical schools and movements, and the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods.
Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
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Comprehensive and authoritative coverage of poetry and poetics history, movements, genres, prosody, rhetorical devices, and critical terms.

Columbia Granger's World of Poetry This link opens in a new window
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Full text poems and citations for poems in anthologies, poetry commentaries and biographies of poets.

Literature: Reference Sources

Literature Reference Sources

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