LibGuides: Literature Research: Poetry

Welcome!

Here you will find resources specifically related to analysis and criticism of poetry, poetry anthologies, and biographies of poets. They are meant to be consulted in addition to the sources found in other pages of this guide. Visit the STCC Library Poetry Research Guide for even more resources related to poets, poems, and the analysis of poetry!

Find a Poem

Poetry Archive
The Poetry Archive is the world's premier online collection of recordings of poets reading their work. LISTEN!
Poetry Daily
An anthology of contemporary poetry that brings you one new poem a day from new books, magazines, and journals.
Poetry Foundation: Browse Poems
Find a poem by subject, occasion, holiday, school/period, poet's region, poet's birthdate, or poetic terms.
Poets' Corner
An anthology of around 7,000 works by about 800 poets including some of the best known works in the English language and many obscure and forgotten works that are well worth reading.
Verse Daily
Republishing one new poem a day from fine literary magazines and books.
Poetry Out Loud
An online anthology of over 900 poems.
Sonnet Central
An archive of English sonnets, commentary, and relevant web links and a forum for poets to share and discuss their own work.

Poetry Anthologies in the STCC Library

This is just a sample of the poetry anthologies you can find in the STCC Library. Anthologies are collections of texts by various authors, often related by theme, literary genre, or geography.

American Hybrid by Cole Swensen and David St. John (Editors)
Call Number: PS617.A54 2009
As Cole Swensen argues in the introduction to this comprehensive new anthology, the long-acknowledged "fundamental division" between experimental and traditional is disappearing in American poetry in favor of hybrid approaches that blend trends from accessible lyricism to linguistic exploration. The editors have crafted short introductory essays on each of the poets in the anthology, providing biographical backgrounds and positioning them within the current of contemporary poetry.
Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry by Charles Henry Rowell (Editor)
Call Number: PS508.N3.A86 2013
This is not just another poetry anthology. It is a gathering of poems that demonstrate what happens when writers in a marginalized community collectively turn from dedicating their writing to political, social, and economic struggles, and instead devote themselves to the art of their poems and to the ideas they embody. These poets bear witness to the interior landscapes of their own individual selves or examine the private or personal worlds of invented personae and, therefore, of human beings living in our modern and postmodern worlds.
The Best Poems of the English Language by Harold Bloom (Editor)
Call Number: PR1175.B4566 2004
The great critic presents his personal selection, with commentary, of the finest poems in the English language. This comprehensive anthology attempts to give the common reader possession of six centuries of great British and American poetry. The book features a large introductory essay by Harold Bloom called "The Art of Reading Poetry," which presents his critical reflections of more than half a century devoted to the reading, teaching, and writing about the literary achievement he loves most.
El Coro: A Chorus of Latino and Latina Poetry by Martin Espada (Editor)
Call Number: PS508.H57 C67 1997
ISBN: 1558491104
This is an anthology of work by Latino and Latina poets, which reveals a diversity of form and content. Among the poets are former farm workers and gang members, a physician, a chef and a Vietnam veteran. The variety of experience demonstrates that there is no single Latino/a outlook.
Inclined to Speak: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Poetry by Hayan Charara (Editor)
Call Number: PS591.A7.I53 2008
This volume gathers together poems from the most important contemporary Arab American poets that shape and alter our understanding of this experience. These poems also challenge us to reconsider what it means to be American. Impressive in its scope, this book provides readers with an astonishing array of poetic sensibilities, touching on every aspect of the human condition. Whether about culture, politics, loss, art, or language itself, the poems here engage these themes with originality, dignity, and an unyielding need not only to speak, but also to be heard. Here are thirty-nine poets offering up 160 poems. Charara has written a lengthy introduction about the state of Arab American poetry in the country today and short biographies of the poets and provided an extensive list of further readings.
¡Manteca!: An Anthology of Afro-Latin@ Poets by Melissa Castillo-Garsow (Editor)
Call Number: PQ7084.M244 2017
Containing the work of more than 40 poets--equally divided between men and women--who self-identify as Afro-Latino, ¡Manteca! is the first poetry anthology to highlight writings by Latinos of African descent. The themes covered are as diverse as the authors themselves.
Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry by Robert O'Clair, Jahan Ramazani, and Richard Ellmann (Editors)
Call Number: PS613.N67 2003 v.1-2
ISBN: 0393977919
The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry is one of the most comprehensive collection of twentieth-century poetry in English. It richly represents the major figures, while also giving full voice to ethnic American poetries, experimental traditions, postcolonial poetry, and the long poem, eclipsing all other anthologies in scope, clarity, and balance.
The Oxford Book of American Poetry by David Lehman and John Brehm (Editors)
Call Number: PS583.O82 2006
This stunning collection redefines the great canon of American poetry from its origins in the 17th century right up to the present. It is a must-have anthology for anyone interested in American literature and a book that is sure to be consulted, debated, and treasured for years to come.
Quiet Fire: A Historical Anthology of Asian American Poetry, 1892-1970 by Juliana Chang
Call Number: PS591.A76.Q54 1996
This landmark anthology provide the first historical survey of Asian American poetry. The poems were selected to reflect both the high quality and wide range of Asian American poetic discourse.
World Poetry: An Anthology of Verse from Antiquity to Our Time by Katharine Washburn, John S. Major, and Clifton Fadiman (Editors)
Call Number: PN6101.W517 1998
This indispensable volume contains more than 1600 poems drawn from dozens of languages and cultures, and spans a period of more than 4000 years from ancient Sumer and Egypt to the late twentieth century. World Poetry encompasses the many worlds of poetry, poetry of all styles, of all eras, of all tongues.

Poetry Criticism

The websites linked below offer criticism of a wide range of poetry. While there are few websites that offer criticism of individual poems, there are sites devoted to particular poets such as The Walt Whitman Archive that provide criticism of that author's poetry. A keyword search in Google or other online search engine of the poem's title along with criticism, analysis or introduction may return sites that provide explications of the poem.

Modern American Poetry
Criticism on 161 modern and contemporary poets, searchable alphabetically, chronologically by birth date, by race/ethnicity and by group/school of poetry.
Representative Poetry Online
Prose and verse criticism of 4,700 poems by 723 poets from the Old English period to the works of poets living today.

Literature Research

Analyzing Poetry

Biographies of Poets

Poetry Websites

Welcome!

Find a Poem

Poetry Anthologies in the STCC Library

Poetry Criticism