NOTE: links open in a new window.

General Literature; the Medieval Period

An excellent collection of links for general literary research on the web: http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/
The Voice of the Shuttle, the premier collection on links for humanities study: http://vos.ucsb.edu/
The Humbul Humanities Hub, another huge collection of links: http://www.humbul.ac.uk/
“What Every Medievalist Should Know” (a massive bibliography of important works in many fields): http://the-orb.net/wemsk/wemskmenu.html
Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies: http://www.the-orb.net/
Resources for medieval art history: http://witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHmedieval.html

The Anglo-Saxons

A brief biography of the Venerable Bede: http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/%7Edvess/ids/medieval/bede1.htm.
Some excellent study questions for Bede’s story of Cædmon: http://cla.calpoly.edu/%7Edschwart/engl512/bede.html
Learn more about Bede and his world: http://www.geocities.com/%7Ejarrow/
General resources for learning about the Anglo-Saxons: http://www.the-orb.net/encyclop/early/pre1000/asindex.html
Simon Keynes' bibliography of Anglo-Saxon history: http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/research/rawl/keynesbib/index.html.
A select bibliography of Old English literature (by Peter Baker at the University of Virginia): http://www.engl.virginia.edu/OE/courses/OE.Bibliography.html.
My Beowulf Study Guide: http://web.utk.edu/%7Erliuzza/Beowulf/index.htm
Useful information for new readers of Beowulf: http://www.jagular.com/beowulf/
Contexts for Beowulf (Norton Topics online): http://www.wwnorton.com/nael/middleages/topic_4/welcome.htm
A more challenging approach to the poem: http://www.siue.edu/%7Eejoy/eng505syllabusSP04.htm
Hear Beowulf in Old English: http://www.engl.virginia.edu/OE/Beowulf.Readings/Beowulf.Readings.html

Gawain and the Green Knight

A good place to start: http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/gawain.htm
Images of the manuscript: http://faculty.virginia.edu/engl381ck/three.html
Study questions: http://english.sxu.edu/boyer/201_rdg_qsts/sggk_n7_qst.htm
Another set: http://cla.calpoly.edu/%7Edschwart/engl512/sggk.html
Links for the study of the poem: http://www.livinghistory.co.uk/homepages/sirgawain/
Information on the figure of Gawain in medieval literature: http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/gawmenu.htm

Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales

An electronic edition of the General Prologue: http://www.towson.edu/%7Eduncan/chaucer/
Notes on the Ellesmere manuscript of the text (with images): http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/canttales/knight/elles-ms.html
Notes on English in the Fourteenth Century: http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/language.html
How to pronounce Chaucer: http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/less-0.htm
Hear Chaucer read in Middle English: http://academics.vmi.edu/english/audio/audio_index.html
Online resources for studying Chaucer: http://www.geoffreychaucer.org/
More Chaucer resources online: http://www.unc.edu/depts/chaucer/
Larry Benson’s Chaucer Homepage: http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/
Alan Baragona’s Chaucer Pages: http://academics.vmi.edu/english/chaucer.html
Charles Muscatine’s classic comments on “The Knight’s Tale”: http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/bibliog/musc-kt.htm

Malory and Arthurian Material

Arthuriana, one of the best guides to Arthurian resources: http://smu.edu/arthuriana/
Another good collection of links for Arthurian studies: http://academics.vmi.edu/english/arthur.html
Yet another good source for Arthurian studies: http://www.arthuriana.co.uk/
Text of Malory’s Morte Darthur: http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/c/cme/cme-idx?type=header&idno=MaloryWks2
Information on Malory: http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/malory.htm
Notes on Malory’s work: http://www.enotes.com/le-morte/
William Caxton, the first printer in England: http://home.vicnet.net.au/%7Eneils/renaissance/caxton.htm

Doctor Faustus

Online text(s) of the different versions of the play: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Texts/faustus.html
Resources for studying Faustus (Norton Topics Online): http://www.wwnorton.com/nael/16century/topic_1/welcome.htm
The Christopher Marlowe pages at Luminarium: http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/marlowe.htm
More resources for Faustus: http://virtual.park.uga.edu/%7Ecdesmet/tiffany/faustus.htm

Shakespeare and the English Renaissance

Resources for studying Shakespeare: http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Annex/ShakSites1.html
Another site devoted to Shakespeare: http://www.shakespeare.com/
Shakespeare’s Life and Times: http://ise.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/intro/introsubj.html
Shakespearean poetry search engine: http://quarles.unbc.ca/shakescan/
A Note on Shakespeare’s Grammar: http://homepages.wmich.edu/~cooneys/tchg/lit/adv/shak.gram.html
Sonnet 138 with line-by-line commentary: http://homepages.wmich.edu/~cooneys/tchg/lit/shak.138.1.html
Literary Resources for the Renaissance: http://newark.rutgers.edu/%7Ejlynch/Lit/ren.html
A Renaissance Image Gallery: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~bushnell/english-30/gallery.html
Elizabethan portraits from the National Portrait Gallery: http://www.npg.org.uk/live/room2.asp

Seventeenth-century lyric poetry

The English Civil War (Norton Topics online): http://www.wwnorton.com/nael/17century/topic_3/welcome.htm
The English Civil War: http://history.boisestate.edu/westciv/english/
Luminarium general Seventeenth-century resources: http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/sevenadd.htm
The Metaphysical Poets: http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/metaphysical.htm
The John Donne Homepage: http://www.etsu.edu/english/muse/donne.htm
The George Herbert page: http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/herbert/
George Herbert and The Temple: http://home.ptd.net/%7Egherbert/index.html
What T. S. Eliot said about George Herbert: http://www.geocities.com/magdamun/herberteliot.html
The Richard Crashaw page: http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/crashaw/
Notes on Crashaw’s poetry (Arnie Sanders, Goucher College): http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng211/richard_crashaw.htm
A theological essay on Donne and Crashaw: http://www.catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Dossier/2002-04/article.html
A psychological reading: http://enculturation.gmu.edu/1_2/starks.html
The Cavalier Poets: http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/cavalier.htm
The Robert Herrick page: http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/herrick/
The Richard Lovelace page: http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/lovelace/
The Andrew Marvell page: http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/marvell/
Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren on Marvell’s Horatian Ode: http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/marvell-per-newcrits.html
Essay: “The Balance of Power in Marvell’s Horatian Ode” (Thomas Greene): http://www.geocities.com/magdamun/marvellhoratio.html
Learning Lab tips on critical analysis of poetry: http://learning.mgccc.cc.ms.us/writing/poetry/poetry.html
My own suggestions for analyzing poetry, mostly borrowed from others: How to Read Poetry

Milton and Paradise Lost

The John Milton Reading Room at Dartmouth: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/
The Milton-L Home Page: http://www.urich.edu/~creamer/milton/
Luminarium section on Milton: http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/milton/
Background on Paradise Lost: http://faculty.valpo.edu/bflak/engl420/milton.html
Paradise Lost in context (Norton topics online): http://www.wwnorton.com/nael/17century/topic_2/welcome.htm
Background, summary and analysis of Milton’s prose: http://www.brysons.net/miltonweb/index.html
Paradise Lost: text, essays, and more: http://www.paradiselost.org/
Illustrations to Paradise Lost: http://www.stedwards.edu/hum/klawitter/milton/icon.htm
Online annotated text of “Lycidas”: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/lycidas/
Essay: “Selfishness and Empathy in ‘Lycidas’” (Jean Graham): http://www.shu.ac.uk/emls/02-3/grahmilt.html

Alexander Pope and The Rape of the Lock

The Rape of the Lock homepage: http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/%7Esconstan/
Illustrations to The Rape of the Lock: http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~sconstan/pictures.html#louis
The Alexander Pope page: http://www.accd.edu/sac/english/bailey/pope.htm
Samuel Johnson’s life of Alexander Pope: http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/pope.html
Resources for the study of the Eighteenth Century: http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/18th/

Gray’s “Elegy in a Country Churchyard”

The Thomas Gray Archive: http://www.thomasgray.org/index.shtml
Text of the poem, with discussion questions: http://homepages.wmich.edu/~cooneys/poems/Gray.Elegy.html
The Dictionary of Sensibility (University of Virginia): http://www.engl.virginia.edu/enec981/dictionary/

(Back to Top)