Library Resources for US English

Poetry and Poets

Use the Online Catalog to find collections of poetry, books about poets or their work. If you prefer, browse the shelves:
  • For browsing: 808.81 & 811.008 for poetry collections; 811 - 811.608 for American poets; 821 - 821.914 for British poets -- all on the 5th floor.
  • The Chapin Online Catalog is available at home and at school -- go to www.chapin.edu > "Current Students" page or "Library Services" page. SEE SEARCHING TIPS BELOW.
  • Search the poet's name as AUTHOR for collections of her poems.
  • Search the poet's name as SUBJECT for works of literary criticism as well as biography.
  • Find collections of poems by several poets by entering the keywords "poetry" and "collections".
  • For works of collected criticism or collective biography that include a specific author, do a keyword search on the author's last name.
  • Helpful subject terms for books on poetry: American poetry--19th century--History and criticism; American poetry--20th century;
Poems can also be found on the Web:
  • Poetry Daily -  Online anthology of contemporary poetry with a new poem showcased every day.
  • Poetry Foundation - Great source for poetry that includes a link to Poetry magazine (published since 1912), poetry podcasts and Poetry Tool (author, title, subject search for poems on the Web).
  • Poetry (Library of Congress) - Home of the Poet Laureate, source of poetry webcasts & poetry events.
These subject reference books offer biographical information on poets or poetry criticism (sometimes both).
  • REF 809 WAR   World Literature Criticism
  • REF 809.1 WOR   World Poets
  • REF 810.9 MAG   Magill's Survey of American Literature
  • REF 810.9 UNG   American Writers: a collection of literary biographies
  • REF 811 AFR   Afro-American Poets since 1955
  • REF 821         Poets: American and British
  • REF 821.9 VIN   Contemporary Poets
  • REF 016.8088   COLUMBIA GRANGER'S INDEX TO POETRY provides a subject index to poems in collections.
Chapin Databases offer biographical and critical articles from books and periodicals:
  • Proquest -- Articles from literary magazines and journals are included in this database of magazine and newspaper articles. For more focused searches, use a poet's name and "criticism" as keywords.
  • NOVEL Databases-Twayne Authors Series -- Literary criticism from 600 reference books.
Bibliography Help:
Last updated by Ms. Lutz, 1 April 2008