Search Tip: You can also use the The Catalogue to find material on the topics discussed in your course, e.g.experimental poetry. From the results screen, use the options shown in the left hand side bar to refine your results.

Authors' names may also be used as a Subject Heading search to find books about them and their work, e.g.

baraka amiri duncan robert hejinian lyn levertov denise o'hara frank olson charles

Look for the sub-division "criticism and interpretation" in the Subject Heading list for the author's name. NB: Only authors who are well-established have full-length book studies on their work. An electronic database or one of the reference books may list references to less well-known poets.

Reference Books

Cuddon, J. A. A dictionary of literary terms and literary theory. Oxford UK ; Malden, Mass. : Blackwell, 1998.

Groden, Michael, Martin Kreiswirth, and Imre Szeman, eds. The Johns Hopkins guide to literary theory & criticism. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005.
[An online version of a key and authoritative reference work]

Fredman, Stephen, ed. A concise companion to twentieth-century American poetry. Malden, MA : Blackwell, 2005.

Haralson, Eric L., ed. Encyclopedia of American poetry. The 20th century. London : Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001.

Hemmer, Kurt, ed. Encyclopedia of beat literature. New York : Facts on File, 2006.

Lawlor, William. T., ed. Beat culture : icons, lifestyles and impact. Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO, 2005.

Preminger, Alex, and T.V.F. Brogan, eds. The New Princeton encyclopedia of poetry and poetics. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University 
Press, 2000.
[Includes an entry on Projective Verse]

Roberts, Neil, ed. A companion to twentieth-century poetry. Malden, MA : Blackwell Publishers, 2001.

Theado, Matt, ed. The beats : a documentary volume. Detroit : Gale Group, 2001.

Dictionary of Literary Biography Online - fully searchable collection. Search by keyword or named author, by selecting from the pull down menu in the first seach screen, e.g. Lyn Hejinian. Typically each author/topic is covered by an extended essay covering background, criticism, commentary, and a list of further reading. Photographs are usually included. Each article can be re-formatted for reading, and e-mailed/printed/downloaded.

Find articles
Contact the subject librarian if you need help with database searching.

Search Tip: You can also use the Articles & More link in Library Search. To ensure the articles meet academic requirements, click Peer-Reviewed Journals in the left hand panel of the results screen. You can continue to refine the search further using this panel, e.g. by date, format, online, from the options provided.

The following databases will provide references to material on all authors and topics covered in this course.

ABELL+FT - Indexes journal articles, books, and book chapters. Many articles are provided in full text. Where full text is not provided by the database, use the symbol to link to full text from other sources. and also details of print holdings. Most of the poets on this course are represented in this database. Use their name in the Subject search box [family name first, given name last].

MLA International Bibliography -The major database for literary studies, which indexes journal articles, books, and book chapters. Use the Author as Subject search box to type the author's name, e.g.Waldman Anne, or the Author's Work search box to type in the name of a text. Use the thesaurus list to check names and book titles. They may not be represented in the form you are most familiar with.
Use the Subjects All search box for abstract terms ,e.g. for material on theory and cultural context. Match your search term in the thesaurus list, and click Select to post into the search box. Add other limits [Language of Publication, Publication Dates, Publication types] as necessary.
Many articles are provided in full text. Where full text is not provided by the database, use the symbol to link to full text from other sources, and also details of print holdings.

Literature Online - Use the QUICK SEARCH box in the left hand menu bar. Type in the poet's name [family name, given name] and click GO. The search will retrieve all material in the database on the poet, including any biographical and reference material. It will also retrieve results from both ABELL and MLA, and in some cases the poet's work, e.g. Anne Waldman. 

Expanded Academic - has a high proportion of full text articles. This is an interdisciplinary database and includes some popular magazines and journals. A search on a poet may retrieve poems that they have contributed to magazines as well as reviews of their work and sometimes interviews with them. Use for the less well-known poets on this course, using their name as a search term, enclosed in double quotes "   ".