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Subject Guide » English Language and Literature

Encyclopedias

6 resources available.
restricted - Restricted to WMU users open access - Open Access

Oxford Reference Online: Premium Collection restricted Contains over 100 dictionaries, encyclopedias, language reference and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press. In addition to text, some of these sources include maps, illustrations, and carefully selected weblinks. Users can search one resource, a group of selected resources, or all of them at once. Sources are regularly updated. Please logoff when finished.

Librarian's Comment: Within this general reference resource the following encyclopedias or encyclopedia-like reference sources may be very useful for research in American and English literature: The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature
The Concise Oxford Companion to American Literature
The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature
The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature
The Concise Oxford Companion to Irish Literature
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms
A Dictionary of Shakespeare
The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English
A Dictionary of Writers and their Works

Oxford Companion to American Literature, The
PS 21 .H3 1995 (Ref)
A general encyclopedia with over 5,000 entries on authors, works, terms, characters, movements, etc. An excellent source for brief factual information about American literature. More info

Oxford Companion to English Literature, The
Ed. Margaret Drabble. 5th ed. 1995.
PR 19.O9x (Ref)
A general encyclopedia with entries on writers, literary works, major characters, movements, periods, terminology, etc. A very useful place for brief factual information.

Reference Universe restricted Indexes the individual articles and the indexes in the back of thousands of subject encyclopedias and other reference books. Provides citations to specific volumes and page numbers. Links to the sources WMU Libraries own, but doesn't contain full text itself.

The McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama
Ed. Stanley Hochman, 2nd ed., 5 vols., 1984
PN 1625 .M3 1984 (Ref)
Most entries are on individual dramatists but there are also substantial essays on the drama of particular nations. Long articles include biography, critical interpretations, summaries of selected plays, a list of plays, and a bibliography. There are numerous illustrations, usually of productions of plays.

The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
PN 1021 .E5 1995 (Ref)
A scholarly, thorough, detailed overview of poetic forms, history, theory, technique, and criticism. Not for people with only a casual interest in poetry. A major revision of The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Entries usually include a definition, discussion of history, examples, and a bibliography. More info

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Last updated: March 2008

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