Here, in chronological order, you will find links of interest for reading and teaching literature.
General
Voice of the Shuttle Literature Resources The first place to look for general sites on specific authors or works.
Norton Topics Online. Look for practice quizzes and background information
The Labyrinth General background on Medieval materials, includes Beowulf page. Sponsored by Georgetown University.
Luminarium is a comprehensive collection of material from Medieval to the Restoration.
Jack Lynch’s Eighteenth Century Pages: An excellent source of links on all subjects, including literature.
See also Jack Lynch’s Romantic Pages
Literary Links to Romanticism An excellent resource for students: check out her advice on what information you need to do an in-depth discussion of a text. Lots of links to other sites.
Romantic Circles Very comprehensive web of resources on the major figures.
The Victorian Web An extremely useful database on most major authors, with good background information on Victorianism
Links for the Study of 20th Century Literature
By Period and Subject:
Beowulf
“Why read Beowulf?” The question is answered in this readable short essay.
Beowulf Home Page. Notes and background information by Dr. Rosemary Allen of Georgetown College.
Beowulf in Hypertext. From McMaster University – there is an annotated translation available, historical background, summary of episodes and review quiz.
Beowulf on Steorarum (Beowulf in Cyberspace). This doesn’t look like an academic site but it is. Lots of good material to be found.
Chaucer
The Chaucer Metapage. This site has it all: links to other good sites, a page of audio files, e-texts and more.
The Harvard Chaucer Homepage. That just about sums it up!
And here on the site is a list of interlinear translations of the tales
Electronic edition of the General Prologue with annotations and links to other material
King Arthur (good for Lanval, Sir Gawain, Malory)
King Arthur and the Matter of Britain. Extensive resources on all things Arthurian.
Marie de France
The Marie de France Society Homepage
Gawain
Prof. Mary-Ann Andrade’s excellent background notes on SGGK
Malory
The Malory Society page: pretty, but doesn’t have a lot of substance on first visit.
Arthurian Legends Illustrated (look for the famous image of Guinevere being rescued from the stake)
Spenser
The Edmund Spenser Home Page provides all your hearts could desire.
Spenser’s Letter to Walter Raleigh (yes, “that” Walter Raleigh), outlining his intentions on writing the Faerie Queene
Christopher Marlowe
Luminarium page on Kit Marlowe, with extensive material on Dr. Faustus
Links related to the Faust theme
Video clips from the play (you’ll need Quicktime to view)
Sonnets
UVic Writer’s Guide, on Sonnets
A guide to Shakespeare’s Sonnets
The Amazing Website of Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Shakespeare
Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet: probably the best and most comprehensive site.
Absolute Shakespeare: not madly scholarly, but has lots of basic and useful information
Online Concordance: Search for words, phrases, images – lots of fun!
Donne
The Donne Page on the Luminarium site is really the best, and has links to other resources.
Jonathan Swift
Gulliver’s Travels Page A variety of information, including timelines, bibliography, texts and quotes.
Alexander Pope
Pope’s “Key”to “The Rape of the Lock”
William Blake
Blake
at the Tate a brilliant website with a wealth of information
William Blake Helpfile a collection of background information on the poems and on Blake’s life.
The William Blake Archive self explanatory
William Wordsworth
There is a ton of information on Wordsworth. Check out the views of the Lake District available via Voice of the Shuttle. A couple of the better sites are
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The Coleridge Archive is a good place to start
Samuel Taylor “Estese” Coleridge: a tongue-in-cheek but nevertheless comprehensive biography.
Percy
Bysshe Shelley
Alas! There is nothing extra special
on PBS; more about Mary. Perhaps there’s a project for me one day …
Anyway, there is a chronology
with references to other important events for romanticism.
John
Keats
There are some nice snippets
(including a recording of a nightingale!) available through Voice
of the Shuttle, but again, one day someone needs to do a full
scale page on him. Do check out the Keats-Shelley
Journal.
Scott Rothermel’s “La
Belle Dame Sans Merci” site: created by a student in
English 282. Note the lovely Pre-Raphaelite painting page, links
to a couple of useful journal articles, and other useful links
as well as some light but cogent commentary.
Ed Friedlander’s “La
Belle Dame Sans Merci” site: well worth a look. Has some
excellent links as well as intelligent discussion.
George
Gordon, Lord Byron
Mary
Shelley
A
Frankenstein Study This is an
absolutely terrific site that includes almost everything you need to know or
think about in discussing Frankenstein, including an FAQ. There
are some essays here that you could use as the starting point for a paper.
Alfred,
Lord Tennyson
The Tennyson Page
A fairly comprehensive site, with some recordings of the poems
for those with the technology to access them.
Take a look at John Waterhouse’s
beautiful PreRaphaelite painting of The
Lady of Shalott
And for another view, look at Holman Hunt’s
version, expressing the underlying passion
Here is an mp3
file of Loreena McKennit’s version of the Lady of Shalott to music.
Algernon Charles Swinburne
The Swinburne
site on the Victorian Web is a good place to start; note that
he falls under the sub-category “decadence”!
Robert
Browning
An excellent “Caliban
Upon Setebos” page
Elizabeth
Barrett Browning
Start with the Victorian
Web (again – but why reinvent the wheel?)
Christina
Rossetti
And go back to the Victorian
Web for their overview
of Goblin Market
Gerard
Manley Hopkins
Start at the excellent
Gerard Manley
Hopkins resource page
