Literary criticism is a form of writing that analyses, evaluates and interprets literature, often according to a certain philosophy or theory. The literature analyzed might be in any form, such as novel, short story, poem or drama.
The databases below are great places to start your search for literary criticism.
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JSTOR Language & Literature JSTOR is a collection of articles from literary journals. Search by the author you're studying, or by the name of a specific work. You may also search by theme or concept.
All results in this database should link directly to the full text of the article.
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Project MUSE eBooks and Journals Project MUSE includes journal articles and eBook chapters, many with literary criticism. Search by the author you're studying, or by the name of a specific work. You may also search by theme or concept.
Note that Kirkwood does not have access to all items in your search results. To view only items you have access too, click on "Filter Results" in the upper left corner of the screen, and select "Only content I have access to".
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Literary Index by Gale This resource is different than the other databases, because it doesn't have the full text of the articles online. This is an index that compiles lists of essay excerpts from several different literary criticism collections. The Kirkwood Library only has some of these collections in print in the library. Contact the library to see if we have the articles you want to access, or check the list of print collections listed below.
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Modern American Poetry website
This website contains a small but good collection of critical articles on well-known 20th century American poems. Browse poem names, follow the link, then click on the "Criticism" tab to see the articles.
