LibGuides: English Literature: Theory & Reference

Theory & Reference

Theory & Seminal Works

Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive collection of entries summarizing key critics and theorists, critical and theoretical schools and movements, and the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods. Each entry includes a selective primary and secondary bibliography.
Updated irregularly. Includes 241 alphabetically arranged entries on individual critics and theorists, critical and theoretical schools and movements, and the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods. It also treats figures who did not explicitly deal with, but who still deeply affected, literature, literary theory, or literary criticism, as well as figures and kinds of inquiry from other fields that have been shaped by or have themselves shaped literary theory and criticism. Each entry includes a selective primary and secondary bibliography, and there are extensive cross references both within and at the conclusion of each entry. Chronological range extends from Plato and Aristotle to the present, with wide geographical and cultural coverage.
Oxford Bibliographies Online This link opens in a new window
Looking for the key scholar in a field or sub-field? Who wrote that one book that you know you need to read? Look to the Oxford Bibliographies for comprehensive, authoritative scholarly lists of the key work on a wide range of disciplines. NOTE: This tool is a bit tricky to use. Ask Gina Bastone if you need assistance!
These Bibliographies provide an authoritative guide to the current scholarship, expert recommendations and authoritative commentary on the best works available in the discipline covered, making them particularly useful for anyone beginning research.
UT Austin has access to the all bibliographies in all subject areas.

The Complete Cambridge Companion to Literature Series
Cambridge University Press's long-standing series, great for overviews and discovering top scholars in sub-fields. NOTE: Some titles are in print; others as ebooks.

English-language Dictionaries

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) This link opens in a new window
The Oxford English dictionary is the definitive record of the English language. It provides in-depth etymologies and usage of words over time. It is the premier dictionary for English literature students.
Updated quarterly. Covers words from across the English-speaking world and offers etymological analysis, listings of variant spellings, and phonetic pronunciation. Corresponds to the print Oxford English Dictionary published in 1989 and the three Additions volumes published 1993-1997.
Dictionary of Old English: A to Le This link opens in a new window
Defines the vocabulary of the first six centuries of the English language (600-1150 c.e.).
The DOE complements the Middle English Dictionary (which covers the period C.E. 1100-1500) and the Oxford English Dictionary, the three together providing a full description of the vocabulary of English. More than one third of the Dictionary — ten of the 22 letters of the Old English alphabet — has been published, and more than 60% of the total entries have been written to date
Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) This link opens in a new window
Documents words, phrases, and pronunciations that vary from one place to another across the United States.
Documents words, phrases, and pronunciations that vary from one place to another across the United States. DARE is based on face-to-face interviews carried out in all 50 states between 1965 and 1970, and on a comprehensive collection of written materials including diaries, letters, novels, histories, biographies, newspapers, and more, from the colonial period to the present day.
The entries in DARE include regional pronunciations, variant forms, some etymologies, and regional and social distributions of the words and phrases.
Selected maps show where words were found in the 1,002 communities investigated during the fieldwork.
Some entries include audio recordings of the original DARE field interviews.
For a written or oral word to be included in DARE it must be a regional or folk term. Words from a standard dictionary are not included.
The DARE database can help with research along the lines of the well-cited “Pop vs Soda” debate.

Reference

Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics This link opens in a new window
Provides the most comprehensive and authoritative reference for students, scholars, and poets on all aspects of its subject including history, movements, genres, prosody, rhetorical devices, and critical terms.
Provides the most comprehensive and authoritative reference for students, scholars, and poets on all aspects of its subject including history, movements, genres, prosody, rhetorical devices, and critical terms. This edition reflects recent changes in literary and cultural studies, providing up-to-date coverage and giving greater attention to the international aspects of poetry.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography This link opens in a new window
Biographical dictionary of people of distinction in the British Isles and its colonies who died before December 31, 2000. Provides signed articles, each with a bibliography of resource materials, written by specialists.
Updated three times per year. Biographical dictionary of people of distinction in the British Isles and its colonies who died before December 31, 2000. Provides signed articles, each with a bibliography of resource materials, written by specialists. Content includes the complete text of the new sixty-volume Oxford DNB with 50,000 biographies and 10,000 portrait illustrations as well as the complete text of the original thirty-three volume of the DNB.
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Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (2001 edition)
Limited to 1 UT Austin user at a time.
Find simple, straightforward definitions to complex literary terms.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (1990 edition)
Unlimited UT Austin users.

Literary Reference Center This link opens in a new window
Includes plot summaries, literary criticism, author biographies, book reviews, poems, short stories, classic texts, author interviews, and more.
Provides users with a broad spectrum of information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and timeframes. Includes plot summaries, literary criticism, author biographies, book reviews, poems, short stories, classic texts, author interviews, and more.
Gale Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
A major collection of literary criticism, biographies, topic overview, encyclopedias, and much more. **Includes access to all volumes of the Dictionary of Literary Biography.
Updated regularly. Full-text database that provides biographies, bibliographies, and critical analysis of authors and their works from every age and literary discipline. The database offers a variety of search options, including searches by person or work. Content comes from a variety of sources, including the following major reference sources: Contemporary Authors Online, Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, and Dictionary of Literary Biography Online.