The reference collection includes a variety of books and databases that provide access to information on all topics, usually concise overviews.
In the library, try browsing the library shelves with some of the call numbers that are listed below, or by searching in the library catalog or databases with the search tips provided on the Books and Databases tabs.
From off-campus, enter your LOLA # (i.e. L00123456), you must use the letter (B, L, N, or H) at the beginning of your LOLA # and your PIN is your birthdate (i.e. mmddyy or ddmmyy).
There are encyclopedias and dictionaries on all topics, and they are outstanding sources of background information. These titles and many more are available in the library. Please use our online catalog to continue your search.
The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare's Poetry by
This Companion provides a full introduction to the poetry of William Shakespeare through discussion of his freestanding narrative poems, the Sonnets, and his plays. Fourteen leading international scholars provide accessible and authoritative chapters on all relevant topics: from Shakespeare's seminal role in the development of English poetry, the wide-ranging practice of his poetic form, and his enigmatic place in print and manuscript culture, to his immersion in English Renaissance politics, religion, classicism, and gender dynamics. With individual chapters on Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece, The Passionate Pilgrim, 'The Phoenix and the Turtle', the Sonnets, and A Lover's Complaint, the Companion also includes chapters on the presence of poetry in the dramatic works, on the relation between poetry and performance, and on the reception and influence of the poems. The volume includes a chronology of Shakespeare's life, a note on reference works, and a reading list for each chapter.
Dictionary of Shakespeare by
This is a reference about Shakespeare's plays, characters, productions and themes. It includes over 1500 entries that should help explain all the terms used in Sheakespeare's texts and in their execution.
Shakespeare's Characters for Students by
The purpose of this text is primarily to provide students who are studying Shakespeare's plays with an easy access to information about characters in the plays. This information includes an explanation of a given character's role in the play, as well as discussion about the character's relationship to other characters in the play; how the character's actions and choices affect the other characters in the play, and the possible motivation for the character's actions.
The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare by
From the conjectured identity of the Dark Lady of the Sonnets to misprints in the First Folio, from Shakespeare's favorite figures of speech to the staging of Othello in South Africa, The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare offers the most comprehensive coverage available on all aspects of Shakespeare's life and works. Illustrated with more than 100 photographs and boasting contributions from a team of internationally renowned scholars (including such noted Shakespeare authorities as Helen Vendler, Park Honan, and Jonathan Bate), the Companion has more than 3,000 entries that offer succinct, stimulating, and authoritative commentary on Shakespeare's life and times, his plays and poems, and their interpretation around the world over the last four centuries. All Shakespeare's plays--from As You Like It and All's Well that Ends Well to King Lear and Hamlet--are covered in major articles. There are concise descriptions of allusions in Shakespeare (Ajax, Agamemnon), well-known critics (Samuel Johnson, John Dryden), great Shakespearian actors (Richard Burbage, Lawrence Olivier, Kenneth Branagh), characters in the plays (Mercutio, Ophelia), figures of speech (metaphor, metonymy, oxymoron), and much more. Longer articles explore topics such as Shakespeare's birthplace, censorship, the Chamberlain's Men, film, and Shakespeare's reception in such countries as China, Italy, and the United States. Bringing its readers up to date not only with the latest in Shakespearian scholarship and controversy but with the plays' most recent incarnations on stage, film, and in international popular culture, this is the perfect companion to Shakespeare's works, covering everything from Aaron to Zeffirelli, and from Shakespeare in schools to Shakespeare in Love.
All Things Shakespeare by
Falstaff loved sack. But who made the sack, and how? What did Hamlet know about poison? What did astrology mean to a couple of star-cross'd lovers back in the day? This unique encyclopedia compiles an enormous breadth of information about Shakespeare's world. More than 200 articles, most accompanied by vivid illustrations, combine rich historical detail with informative, insightful descriptions on the form and function of obscure and everyday items found in Shakespeare's works. Students can look up meanings of specific terms and concepts, and readers, researchers, actors, and audiences will enjoy the lively--and sometimes humorous--essays on myriad topics including anatomy, astronomy, clothing, currency, death, entertainment, hunting, medicine, mythology, tools, weapons, and much more. A table of weights and measures illuminates such terms as cade, firkin, and hogshead. Maps pinpoint many of the locations mentioned in Shakespeare's plays and poems. Each term notes in which works the item can be found, and a chronology of historical events referenced in Shakespeare's plays concisely identifies the important events that figure in the plays. Teachers can use the index to find each citation of an assigned play, or use the bibliography and topic guide for assignments and research paper ideas. Going beyond mere definitions, the depth of information and illustrations provided in this encyclopedia will give readers a clear sense of the world that Shakespeare knew and wrote about.
These call numbers should help you find what you're looking for on the shelves.
800 Literature, rhetoric & criticism
820 English & Old English literature
822 English drama
822.3 Elizabethan period, 1558-1625
822.33 William Shakespeare
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