Research Guides: English Literature Resources: Find Books

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Reference Books

Use the books below for historical perspective on the various literary periods you may be researching.

Great Events From History. The 18th century, 1701-1800
Call Number: D286 .G74 2006
Great Events From History. The 17th century, 1601-1700
Call Number: D246 .G68 2006
Great Events From History. The Renaissance & Early Modern Era, 1454-1600
Call Number: D228 .G73 2005 Vol 1-2
The Middle Ages
Call Number: D114 .M54 1996

Credo Reference E-Books

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
A user-friendly search tool that provides online access to hundreds of full-text reference ebooks. Covers all subjects, including over 75 titles under LITERATURE.

The following are a selection of literature reference titles:

All Things Chaucer: An Encyclopedia of Chaucer's World
The Bloomsbury Dictionary of English Literature
The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English
Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature
A Dictionary of Literary Symbols
Dictionary of Shakespeare

Books in the library...

The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen
Call Number: PR4036 .C3 2011
This fully updated edition of the acclaimed Cambridge Companion offers clear, accessible coverage of the intricacies of Austen's works in their historical context, with biographical information and suggestions for further reading. Major scholars address Austen's six novels, the letters and other works, in terms accessible to students and the many general readers, as well as to academics.
A Dictionary of Classical Reference in English Poetry by Eric Smith
Call Number: Reference: PR508 .C68 S63 1984
A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory by J.A. Cuddon
Call Number: Reference: PN41 .C83 1991
Elizabeth's London: Everyday Life in Elizabethan London
Call Number: DA680 .P53 2005
This picture of the London of Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603) is the result of the author's curiosity about the practical details of daily life that almost every history book ignores.
Elizabethan Drama by Editor: Laura K. Egendorf
Call Number: PR653 .E643 2000
English Literature: Chaucer to Bernard Shaw by A. C. Ward
Call Number: PR161 .W3
An Introduction to Literary Studies by Mario Klarer
Call Number: PR21 .K5213 1999
Late Victorian Gothic Tales
Call Number: PR1309.H6 L38 2009
This anthology collects together some of the most famous examples of the Gothic tale in the 1890s, with stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, Vernon Lee, Henry James and Arthur Machen, as well as some lesser known yet superbly chilling tales from the era.
The McGraw-Hill Guide to English Literature: From Beowulf to Jane Austen by Karen Lawrence, Betsy Seifter, and Lois Ratne
Call Number: PR85 .L4 1985 - vol. 1-2
The Rise of English Literary History by Rene Wellek
Call Number: PR401 .W4
Shakespeare: A Study and Research Guide by David M. Bergeron & Geraldo U. de Sousa
Call Number: PR2894 .B44 1995
She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth
Call Number: DA28.2 .C37 2012
When Edward VI died in 1553, the extraordinary fact was that there was no one left to claim the title of king of England. For the first time, England would have a reigning queen, but the question was which one: Katherine of Aragon's daughter, Mary; Anne Boleyn's daughter, Elizabeth; or one of their cousins, Lady Jane Grey or Mary, Queen of Scots.

Browse the bookshelves...

The following are general CALL NUMBERS to help you locate books under English literature:

PR1-9680	ENGLISH LITERATURE
PR1-56	Literary history and criticism
PR500-614	-- Poetry
PR621-744	-- Drama
PR750-890	-- Prose
PR1490-1799	Anglo-Saxon Literature
PR1803-2165	Early English. Middle English.
PR2199-3195	English renaissance (1550-1640)
PR3291-3785	17th and 18th centuries (1640-1770)
PR3991-5990	19th century (1770/1800-1890/1900)

Periods of English Literature

Old English Period	5th -- 11th century
Middle English Period	12th - 15th century
Renaissance	16th -- 17th century
Neoclassical or Augustan Age	18th century
Romantic Period	First half of 19th century
Victorian Age	Second half of 19th century
Modernism	First to second World War
Postmodernism	1960s and 1970s

In The Spotlight

"English Romanticism"

Chapter entries include:

General characteristics of romantic literature
The importance of imagination
Nature as inspiration
The meditative qualities of romantic poetry
The religious views of the romantic poets

General Collection, 2nd floor
Call number: PR447 .E58 2001

E-BOOKS

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The Academic Complete collection contains over 80,000 ebooks from 16 key subject areas, including over 3,000 LITERATURE titles.
Options include downloading a chapter, a range of pages or the full ebook. How-To Videos

British Women Poets and the Romantic Writing Community
Call Number: E-BOOK
Concise Companion to the Romantic Age
Call Number: E-BOOK
Doctoring the Novel : Medicine and Quackery from Shelley to Doyle
Call Number: E-BOOK
Fathers in Victorian Fiction
Call Number: E-BOOK
Romantic Medievalism: History and the Romantic Literary Ideal
Call Number: E-BOOK
Shakespeare, Marlowe, Jonson: New Directions in Biography
Call Number: E-BOOK
Shakespeare and Women
Call Number: E-BOOK
Why Jane Austen?
Call Number: E-BOOK