CSSLibraryGuides: The World of the Eighteenth Century (for English Majors): Literature

Alexander Pope, poet

Alexander Pope [1688-1744] by Jonathan Richardson (British painter, 1665-1745)

Image from Art Museum Image Gallery.

Reference Universe

Reference Universe searches the table of contents & indexes of recent print and electronic encyclopedias in the CSS Reference Collection.

Reference Universe

Literature in the 18th Century

Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500 to the Present
Call Number: Ref. HM1231 .C85 2003
Early Modern Russian Writers, Late Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Call Number: Ref. PG2991.2 .E37 1995
Encyclopedia of the Novel
Call Number: Ref. PN41 .E487 1998
2 volumes. Some articles based on area/time period, i.e. "English Novel: 18th Century."
Feminism in Literature
Call Number: Ref. PN471 .F43 2005
6 volumes. See volume 1.
Timetables of World Literature
Call Number: Ref. PN524 .K87 2003
Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature
Call Number: Ref. PR19 .O95 2006
5 volumes. Use the chronology/subject index at the beginning of Volume 1 to locate relevant articles.
The Oxford Chronology of English Literature
Call Number: Ref. PR87 .O93x 2002
British Authors Before 1800: A Biographical Dictionary
Call Number: Ref. PR105 .K9
Gothic Literature: A Gale Critical Companion
Call Number: Ref. PR408.G68 G675 2006
3 volumes.
The Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era
Call Number: Ref. PR447 .E56 2012
The majority of this work focuses on the 19th century, but there is some late 18th century material to glean. Consider using the thematic index at the beginning of volume one.
The Facts on File Companion to British Poetry, 17th and 18th Centuries
Call Number: Ref. PR1209 .F27 2008
American Authors 1600-1900: A Biographical Dictionary
Call Number: Ref. PS21 .K8
Early American Literature, 1776-1820
Call Number: Ref. PS51 .R47 2010
[Vol. 2].
American Writers Before 1800: A Biographical and Critical Dictionary
Call Number: Ref. PS185 .A4 1983
3 volumes.
The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Poets and Poetry
Call Number: Ref. PS303 .G74 2006
5 volumes.

Dictionaries, Slang, and Word Histories

As a general rule, browse the PE section of the reference collection for the history of the English language.

Occasionally slang books and subject specific dictionaries may be shelved by their area of interest, i.e. agricultural dictionaries in the S section, terms used in Patrick O'Brian's sea novels in the literature section.

The definitive dictionary for the history of the English language is the Oxford English Dictionary.

Oxford English Dictionary