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Poems and Poets

Librarian for Poems and Poets


For questions regarding poems and poets, please visit or call the reference desk on the first floor of the library:

212.998.2500

Or send a question via email to our Ask-a-Librarian Service.

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Finding Books of Poetry in Bobcat

You can search BobCat by title, author, or subject to find books of poetry in the library. Use the limiters in the third drop-down menu from the main search screen to make your selections.

Title examples:
Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Meditations in an Emergency
Maximus Poems

Author examples:
Millay, Edna St. Vincent
Guest, Barbara
Bishop, Elizabeth

Subject Examples:
Poets, American
Poetry, Modern
Lyric poetry
Poets, Chinese--Biography
Sonnets, English--Drama

If you are not searching for an exact phrase, simply combine terms as necessary. For example, you may try entering poets AND American AND nature in a search that looks "anywhere in record." Or, try an advanced search, with Frost, Robert in the "author/creator" field and complete in the title field.

Finding Individual Poems

Electronic

  • The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry

    This database indexes poetry from around the world that can be found in anthologies and collections. It has been recently updated to include the full texts of 154,000 poems and more than 400,000 poem citations. Search by author, title, first line, last line, subject, and keywords. This database provides updated, electronic access to previous Granger's print indexes. This database is also useful for finding information about poets.

    To connect from off-campus, select Granger's Poetry Index from the alphabetical list of databases on the library's website: http://library.nyu.edu/collections/databases.html
  • Literature Online

    This database includes extensive full-text collections of English, American, African-American, and Canadian poetry. You can search by author, or select "texts" and search within poetry by title, first line, last line, or keyword. You may also search or browse the "Individual Collections," which include, among others, the Faber Poetry Library, a collection of influential Twentieth Century poetry. This database is also useful for finding information about poets.

    An additional feature is Poets On Screen, a collection of 839 clips of poets reading their own and other poets' work. These clips can be viewed via RealPlayer or Windows Media Player.

    To connect from off-campus, select Literature Online from the alphabetical list of databases on the library's website: http://library.nyu.edu/collections/databases.html

Print

  • Last lines: an index to the last lines of poetry. Victoria Kline, ed. New York: Facts on File, c1991. 2 vols.
    Bobst REF1 / PN1022 .K55 1992
    Description: Covers 171,000 poems, from classical times to date of publication, written in, or translated into, English.
    Organization: Search for poems by last line, title, author or keyword.
  • Hoffman's Index to poetry : European and Latin American poetry in anthologies. Herbert H. Hoffman, ed. Metuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow Press, 1985.
    Bobst REF1 PN1022 .H627 1985
    Description: This is the non-English-language-poetry complement to Granger's. Covers 1,400 poems in European languages, published in the U.S.
    Organization: Search for poems by author or title. There is also an index of poets by language and an index of 1st lines by language.
  • International index to recorded poetry. Herbert H. Hoffman, ed. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1983.
    Bobst REF1 PN1022 .H63 1983
    Description: Indexes over 15,000 poems by 2,300 poets in over 1,700 recordings issued through 1981 in the US.
    Organization: Search for poems by author, title, and 1st line. Includes indexes of poets by language of composition and for those reading the poems.

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

  • Drury, John. The Poetry Dictionary. 2nd ed. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books, 2006.
    Bobst REF1 PN1021 .D78 2006 Provides concise definitions of the terms, traditions, and genres of poetry.
  • Hazen, Edith P., ed. The Columbia Granger's Dictionary of Poetry Quotations. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992.
    Bobst REF1 PN6082 .C57 1992
  • Myers, Jack. Dictionary of Poetic Terms. Denton, TX: University of North Texas Press, 2003.
    Bobst REF1 PN1042 .M93 2003
  • Preminger, Alex & T.V.F. Brogan, eds. The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993.
    Bobst REF1 PN1021 .N39 1993
  • Poet's Market. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books, 1985-present.
    Directory for poetry publication and marketing.
    Bobst REF1 PN1059 .M3 P63 Latest edition only.
  • Willhardt, Mark & Alan Michael Parker, eds. Who's Who in Twentieth-century World Poetry. London; New York: Routledge, 2000.
    Bobst REF1 PN1271 .W46 2000
  • MacGowan, Christopher. Twentieth-century American Poetry. Maldon, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2004.
    Bobst REF1 PS323.5 .M25 2004
  • Gray, Jeffrey, ed. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Poets and Poetry. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006.
    Bobst REF1 PS303 .G74 2006

About Poems

General Information

All resources with electronic availability may be accessed from off-campus via the library's list of databases:
http://library.nyu.edu/collections/databases.html

  • Gale Literary Criticism Series.
    Description: Extracted critical articles from books and journals about writers, including poets, and their works. Entries include a list of principal works, and can appear in more than one volume.
    Organization: Each volume is arranged alphabetically by surname. Consult the indexes to find out which volume(s) have the required information. A cumulative Author Index can be found at the back of the last volume of each set, while a cumulative Title Index can be found at the end of the bookcase containing these series.
    Black Literature Criticism [BLC]
    Bobst REF1 PS153.N5 B556 1992    		 Classical & Medieval Literature Criticism [CMLC]
    Bobst REF1 PN610 .C52
    Contemporary Literary Criticism [CLC]
    Electronic Access
    		 Hispanic Literature Criticism [HLC]
    Bobst REF1 PQ7081.A1 H573 1994
    Literature Criticism 1400-1800 [LC]
    Bobst REF1 PN86 .L53 1984    		 Native North American Literature [NNAL]
    Bobst REF1 PS508.I5 N38 1994
    Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism [NCLC]
    Bobst REF1 PN761 .N5    		 Twentieth Century Literary Criticism [TCLC]
    Bobst REF1 PN94 .T83N
  • Critical survey of poetry : English language series. Frank N. Magill, ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Salem Press, c1982.
    Bobst REF1 PN1111 .C7 1982 vols. 1-8
    Description: Historical, analytical, and technical overview of 360 significant English-language poets. Includes some biographical information.
    Organization: Vols. 1-7 are arranged alphabetically by poet. Vol. 8 contains general essays on poetry and indexes to the series by poet and title of works.
  • Critical survey of poetry : foreign language series. Frank N. Magill ed., Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Salem Press, Inc., 1984.
    Bobst REF1 PN1111 .C753 1984 vols. 1-5
    Description: Historical, analytical, and technical overview of 197 significant foreign-language poets. Includes some biographical information.
    Organization: Vols. 1-4 are arranged alphabetically by poet. Vol. 5 contains general essays on poetry and indexes to the series by poet and title of work.

In-depth Information

  • MLA Bibliography.
    Description: Useful for finding critical, scholarly works on literature including poetry, but not reviews. Coverage: Indexes journal articles, books, collections and Festschriften, audiovisual materials, reference works, conference papers and proceedings on literature, language, linguistics, folklore and film.
    Bobst REF1 Z7006 .M64 1921-1962
    Electronic Access 1963-present.

Reviews

  • Readers' Guide To Periodical Literature.
    Description: Provides citations to articles, including book reviews. 1890 to present.
    Organization: Articles are listed under the name of the poet, or under the heading, "poems".
    To search for articles published between 1890 and 1982, select Reader's Guide Retrospective from the Database Selection Screen. Otherwise, select Reader's Guide from the Subject Area drop-down menu for 1983 to present.
  • ProQuest. 1986- .
    Description: This is a good source for finding contemporary reviews. To find reviews of a book of poetry, search by Document Type in the Advanced search screen and enter "review." Search by Person in a second box, entering the name of the poet you are researching. For example, Person=shel silverstein and Document Type=review.
    Coverage: Offers citations and some full-text articles from a wide range of English-language academic journals and news magazines, including New York Times and the Village Voice among others.
  • Alternative Press Index.
    Description: Citations to articles published in over 250 alternative, radical, and leftist US publications.
    Organization: In the print index look under "Poets." In the online version, type the poet's name in the subject box and the words 'book review' in the article type box.
    Bobst REF1 AI3 .A4 1969-1989.
    Electronic Access 1990-present.
  • Book Review Digest. 1905 to date. [Popular]
    Arranged by last name of author of book. Includes excerpts from reviews, with a note of the length of the full review, a title index, and an excellent subject index, including, under the heading "Poetry," a detailed listing by theme. In the Wilson database, select Book Review Digest from the Database Selection Screen.
    Bobst REF1 Z1219 .B7 [Book Review Shelf] 1905-1982
    Electronic Access 1983-present.

About Poets

Electronic Resources

A few of the library's databases are especially useful for quick access to biographical information. Granger's and Literature Online, both listed above, include biographies of poets. If you search by author in Literature Online, you'll find links to any available texts, as well as relevant web resources, critical works, biographies, and bibliographies.

In addition to these databases, you may wish to consult:

  • Literature Resource Center

    Includes full electronic coverage of Contemporary Authors and Dictionary of Literary Biography, as well as critical articles from Contemporary Literary Criticism.

    The default search is by author. You may also search authors by type. Results from the Contemporary Authors database, published from 1962-present, will contain basic biographical facts, notes on poets' works, and quotes from reviews. Entries also include lists of writings and biographical/critical sources.

    Results from the Dictionary of Literary Biography database will include lengthy articles about poets, from classical times to present. Entries focus on literary aspects of poets' lives.

    To connect from off-campus, select Literature Resource Center from the alphabetical list of databases on the library's website: http://library.nyu.edu/collections/databases.html

Books

To find critical, historical, or biographical works about poets in BobCat, simply search for your poet as a subject. For example, if you enter Heaney, Seamus and select the "in subject" limiter, you'll find results that incorporate the following subject headings:

Heaney, Seamus, 1939--Criticism & Interpretation
Heaney, Seamus, 1939--Technique

Poetry Anthologies in Bobst

This is a very short list of poetry anthologies in the library. To find more, do a keyword search in Bobcat for poetry and anthology as title search terms.

  • Ferguson, Margaret, ed. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. 5th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005.
    Bobst Reserve PR1174 .N6 2005
  • Ferguson, Margaret, ed. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. 4th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1996.
    Bobst REF1 PR1174 .N6 1996
  • Wain, John, ed. The Oxford Anthology of English Poetry. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
    Bobst REF1 PR1175 .O86 1990
  • Rampersad, Arnold, ed. The Oxford Anthology of African-American Poetry. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
    Bobst Stacks PS591 .N4 O97 2005
  • Gwynn, R.S., ed. Contemporary American Poetry: A Pocket Anthology. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2005.
    Bobst Stacks PS617 .C65 2005
  • Cook, Jon, ed. Poetry in Theory: An Anthology, 1900-2000. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2004.
    Bobst Stacks PN1271 .P65 2004
  • Axelrod, Stephen Gould, ed. The New Anthology of American Poetry. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2003.
    Bobst Stacks PS586 .N49 2003
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