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Poems - Locating and Researching Poetry: Using Indexes to Find Poems

Last Updated: Jan 8, 2024 4:29 PM

Using Indexes to Find Poems

The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry in Anthologies 
Lockwood Ref PN1022 .H39 2002

This resource tells you which anthologies contain the poem you are looking for. It is divided into three parts: Title and First Line, Author, and Subject.

Hoffman's Index to Poetry: European and Latin American Poetry in Anthologies 
Lockwood Ref PN 1022 H627 1985

Covers 14,000 poems in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Provençal, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, and Ukranian. Includes only poems found in anthologies available in the United States. Searchable by Author, Title, and First Line.

Index of American Periodical Verse 
Lockwood Ref Z1231 P7 I47

Provides access to poems from a broad cross section of poetry, literary, scholarly, popular, general, and "little" magazines, journals, and reviews published in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean. Useful for locating contemporary poetry

Women's Poetry Index 
Lockwood Ref PN 1024 G89 1985

Covers poems written by women, including many lesser-known poets and small-press anthologies not covered in Granger's. Searchable by Poet, Title, and First Line.

Poetry Themes 
Lockwood Ref PN 1022 M3

If you are looking for poems on a particular theme or topic, this book lists anthologies as well as criticism on that topic. Themes covered include religion, myths, magic, the arts, history, the emotional world, etc.

International Index to Recorded Poetry 
Lockwood Ref PN 1022 H63 1983

Covers 1,700 recordings from around the world. Search by Author, Title, First Line, Language, or Reader (the person reciting the poem).

Familiar Quotations 
Lockwood Ref PN6081 .B18 1992 (with earlier editions in UGL, HSL, and the Law Library)

Also known as Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. "A collection of passages, phrases, and proverbs traced to their sources in ancient and modern literature." This does not cover as many poems as some of the other sources listed above, but it does include quotations from the middle of poems, rather than just first or last lines.