Databases for Literature Research
- Bloom's Literature This link opens in a new window Bloom's Literature contains a wide range of reference essays and scholarly criticism examining great authors and their works throughout history, as well as full-length videos of classic plays and films. Bloom's Literature includes a Literary Classics eBook shelf containing the full contents of more than 1,000 classic works of literature, and also includes a Shakespeare Center which houses in one convenient location a treasure trove of content on all things Shakespeare.
Also see their Shakespeare Center.
These are great sources for articles of literary criticism and analysis:
- JSTOR Archival Journal & Primary Source Collection This link opens in a new window The JSTOR Archival Journals and Primary Sources Collection contains all licensed JSTOR archival journals and primary sources content in a single collection, including Archive Journal Collections and thematic collections; specifically, it includes Arts & Sciences I – XV, Business IV, Hebrew Journals, Ireland, Jewish Studies, Life Sciences, Public Health, Lives of Literature, Security Studies, and Sustainability journal collections. It also contains four primary source collections, 19th Century British Pamphlets, World Heritage Sites: Africa, Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa, and Global Plants. This collection contains 2,877 high quality academic journals from across a wide range of disciplines and hundreds of thousands of primary source items.
- Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window Find up-to-date biographies, overviews, full-text criticisms, audio interviews, and reviews on writers from all eras. Includes Dictionary of Literary Biography, Something About the Author.
- Literature Criticism This link opens in a new window Explore the most extensive compilation of literary commentary available. Includes analysis from book excerpts, periodicals, and more. Includes Contemporary Literary Criticism, Children's Literature Review, Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, Drama Criticism, Literature Criticism (1400-1800), 19th Century Literature Criticism, Poetry Criticism, Shakespearean Criticism, Short Story Criticism, 20th Century Literary Criticism.
Sources for General Analysis, Context and Criticism of a Particular Shakespearean Work
The Tunxis Library offers you electronic access to these series of reference works to help you understand the context of works of literature across the major literary genre. These are a great place to start once you've read a work or even before you begin.
Just be warned...Spoilers ahead!
