English Language and Literature Resources
From El Dorado High School Library

The sites listed here are meant to supplement and support the books in our library. You may go directly to any of the sections listed below:

General Information

California Recommended Literature List

You can search this list by author, title, or keyword. You can also create a customized list by selecting from seven categories including grade level, language, and genre.

Schmoop

If you want to get into history, poetry or classic literature Shmoop provides an in-depth analysis of themes, characters, literary devices … and the list goes on. "This content is all provided by Ph.D. and masters' students, much more than can be said for sites like Wikipedia.org. Shmoop's content is all regulated and updated on the norm by a full-time staff. What some have said is the best part of Shmoop.com is that it provides multiple perspectives on the same topic, not the stereotypical one-sided argument."

Banned Books

Links to resources about banned or challenged books.

Reference Books on the Web

Dictionaries, thesauruses, encyclopedias and other reference tools found on the Internet. Don't forget you can also use the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia.

Research and Writing Tools from EDHS

A collection of sites to help you with your writing, including MLA citation models.

Voice of the Shuttle

Voice of the Shuttle is a useful resource with links to Web Pages related to English Literature and Humanities topics, including authors and books, poets and poetry, plus criticism and other information.

Literary Resources on the Net

"This set of pages is a collection of links to sites on the Internet dealing especially with English and American literature, excluding most single electronic texts, and is limited to collections of information useful to academics."

The Essentials

"Stories everyone should know because they are alluded to in all areas of life. “The Piper must be paid.” “They were star crossed lovers.” "Let down your hair." All of these common idioms are from famous literature and to understand what they mean, it is necessary to know the original context." A top 25 list with links to the actual stories.

Eighteenth-Century Studies

"This collection archives works of the eighteenth century from the perspectives of literary and cultural studies. Novels, plays, memoirs, treatises and poems of the period are kept here (in some cases, influential texts from before 1700 or after 1800 as well), along with modern criticism."

Bibliomania: Reference

"This is where you can find, in one place, fully searchable copies of your favourite language reference books, including dictionaries, books of quotations, synonyms, thesaurus, and literary sources."

"Gutenberg Project

Project Gutenberg is the place where you can download over 30,000 free ebooks to read on your PC, iPhone, Kindle, Sony Reader or other portable device. Book catalog · Bookshelves by topic · Book search · Top downloads · Recently added "

Student Publishing

Figment

Figment is a community where you can share your writing, connect with other readers, and discover new stories and authors. Whatever you're into, from sonnets to mysteries, from sci-fi stories to cell phone novels, you can find it all here. Sign up Today, it's free and easy.

WoW Net (Works Work Network)

This site is designed "to promote the highest standard of writing and contemporary literary art to high school students." It contains some of the best student prose, essays, and poetry from across the country.

Teen Ink

A magazine written by teens for teens. Sections include: non-fiction, interviews, opinion, art gallery, poetry, fiction, sports and more. Information provided on how to submit your work.

Submit your inspirational story to one of the chicken soup variations.

About Teens Online Magazine

Looking for a place to submit your own writing? This is a good place to start with your original poetry, short stories, or book reviews.

WhenTeensWrite

"We have everything an aspiring writer needs: copyrighting services, writing tips, message boards, and more! Get your writing published online by going to our Literature Lounge and submitting your work. The message boards are here for visitors to share thoughts and ideas. Don't forget about our writing tips section..."

TeenLit

Free online publishing of Teen Writing. Categories currently include poetry, essays, short stories, and book reviews from Teen Writers."

Resources for Teen Writers

Especially of interest to teens interested in science fiction and fantasy, but of interest to any young author. This site contains links to contests, writing markets, and more.

WebSmart Teen Writing

A directory of places where you can get your writing published. Categories include e-zines, poetry and short stories, and writing advice.

Folklore and Mythology

Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age Of Fable Or Stories Of Gods and Heroes

You may browse the table of contents to find stories about the major gods and goddesses, or use the search engine to find more specific information.

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

Short discriptions and definitions.

Greek Mythology Link

"The Greek Mythology Link is concerned with the creative, artistic, literary and inspiring aspects of the Greek myths" Included are biographies, maps, and images.

MYTH*ING LINKS

"An annotated & illustrated collection of worldwide links to mythologies, fairy tales & folklore, sacred arts & sacred traditions."

Encyclopedia of Myths

An easily searchable database of world mythology.

God Checker

This site takes a lighthearted view of gods and mythological figures from around the world. They clain to "...have more Gods than you can shake a stick at. Godchecker's Mythology Encyclopedia currently features over 2,850 deities. Browse the pantheons of the world, explore ancient myths, and discover Gods of everything from Fertility to Fluff with the fully searchable Holy Database Of All Known Gods."

Myth and Legend From Ancient Times to the Space Age

Philip Burns' Mythology & Folklore includes a description of mythology and lots of links. There is an emphasis on folklore and coverage of legendary creatures,UFOs, vampires, werewolves and "other nasties".

Tales of Wonder: Folk and Fairy Tales from Around the World

"The stories in this collection represent a small sampling of the rich storytelling art that is the common heritage of humanity. Stories from many parts of the world are included here."

Mythology by Edith Hamilton Book Notes

This Book Notes web page includes Comprehensive chapter summaries featuring character and object descriptions, topic tracking, plot summary, and quotes, as well as a biography of the author.

Characters of Greek Mythology

This site includes a character index, family trees, Roman gods, beautiful paintings, mythical clipart, word origins, the zodiac, and the planets.

Greek-Gods.Info

"All information in this website is primarily taken from ancient Greek writings.... However, oftentimes some information is an amalgamation of various myths. Please don't view the material as being from an authoritative source, since I am only a hobbyist in Greek Mythology. Furthermore, please consider that it is a work in progress and by no means is complete..." That being said, this is a well organized and informative site.

Greek Mythology

This is a well researched site with information about the gods, people, places, and things related to the ancient Greeks. Includes links to other resources and just-for-fun quizes.

Theoi Project - Guide to Greek Mythology

"Welcome to the Theoi Project, a comprehensive guide to the Gods (Theoi), Spirits (Daimones) and Monsters (Theres) of ancient Greek mythology and religion. Here you will find detailed individual entries for each divinity and monster containing quotes from a wide selection of classical texts."

Norse Gods and Goddesses

This site is not easily searchable, but it does include some information and images.

Mythology in Modern Society

"Mythology is everywhere! Daily you run across instances of words, city names, companies, literary allusions - and even planets and constellations - that take their name or borrow their theme from myths. [This site has] provided a couple of thousand excellent examples to help you get started in your research."

Encyclopedia Mythica

"This is an encyclopedia on mythology, folklore, legends, and more. It contains over 6000 definitions of gods and goddesses, supernatural beings and legendary creatures and monsters from all over the world."

Medieval and Classical Literature

ORB: The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies

"ORB is an academic site, written and maintained by medieval scholars for the benefit of their fellow instructors and serious students. All articles have been judged by at least two peer reviewers. Authors are held to high standards of accuracy, currency, and relevance to the field of medieval studies."

Internet Medieval Sourcebook

The collection of links here will help you with background information on the medieval era.

NetSERF: The Internet Connection for Medieval Resources

This is a well organized index of links to sites related to the study of medieval history.

Labyrinth Resources for Medieval Studies

"The Labyrinth provides free, organized access to electronic resources in medieval studies through a World Wide Web server at Georgetown University. The Labyrinth's easy-to-use menus and links provide connections to databases, services, texts, and images on other servers around the world."

Luminarium

This site is an excellent starting point for students and enthusiasts of English Literature. Periods covered include Medieval, Renaissance, and 17th Century.

Poetry

Poetry 180

Poetry 180, designed by the U.S. Poet Laureate, Billy Collins, is designed to make it easy for high school students to hear or read a poem each day of the 180 days of the school year.

Poets.org

"Visitors to the award-winning website of The Academy of American Poets can find essays on poetry, biographies of more than 450 poets, text of more than 1400 poems, and RealAudio of one hundred poems read by their authors or other poets; learn all about the Academy and its programs; discuss poetry and share their own work with fellow web travelers; find local poetry resources on the National Poetry Map and calendar; and much more."

The Wondering Minstrels

"The Wondering Minstrels is a poetry-by-email service with an accompanying archive website."

Favorite Poem Project

Created by Robert Pinsky, the 39th Poet Laureate of the United States, this collection of 50 short video documentaries showcases individual Americans reading and speaking personally about poems they love. The texts of the poems are included. Many of the videos are quite moving, and are highly engaging.

Poetry Daily

This site provides a new contemporary poem, some for mature readers, for everyday of the year. They are arranged in a continuous timeline index. A brief biographical sketch of each poet is included as a link at the end of the poem, along with a link to the publisher of the original printed source of the poem.

American Verse Project

This is an electronic archive of approximately 175 volumes of American poetic verse published prior to 1920. You can use simple searching, Boolean searching, or a Word index. These texts may be copied freely by individuals for personal use, research, and teaching (including distribution to classes) as long as their statement of availability is included in the text.

Representative Poetry On-line

This excellent collection of the great poets of the English language includes about 2500 English poems by 403 poets. Time period ranges from Caedmon, in the Old English period, to the work of living poets today. Included is an extensive collection of criticism, both in verse and prose forms. The collection is indexed for access by: poet, title, date, keyword and first line. There is a timeline and glossary included.

British Women Romantic Poets

This collection consists of E-text editions of poetry by British and Irish women written between 1789 and 1832. complete texts are included that are not readily accessible from other sources, and often may not be well known, or are only beginning to be of interest to scholars.

Poetry Magic

"Poetry Magic [is] a resource centre for the theory and craft of writing poetry. Whether you're a veteran of the poetry circuit, or taking your first tentative steps, these pages are here to help you. What is poetry? How does it differ from prose? Why is poetry special, and so difficult to write? This site provides the answers to these and other vexing questions, plus a vast array of material to make your own poetry writing more compelling, authentic and relevant.

Poetry.com

Poetry.com, sponsored by the International Library of Poetry, is dedicated to encouraging personal expression through poetry. You can post your poetry, enter contests (where you can win cash and prizes), access the rhyming dictionary, or find resources like the 100 greatest poems ever written.

Poet's Paradise: A Collection of Helpful Resources

"It is believed that poetry pre-dates literacy, with the earliest poems being memorized and either spoken or sung. Poetry has been around since ancient Greek times and was designed as a way to help remember history and retell events. The oldest poems are records of cultural information of their era. With the development of literacy, poetry became much more personal and more lyrical. Today's most famous poets are singer-songwriters and rappers." Categorized links include: Famous Poets, Types of Poetry, Poetry Collections, Teacher Resources, and Poetry Reference Sources

History In Song

This site offers a nice collection of songs that reflect key periods in U.S. history. Organized according to the historical period, mostly 20th century. Includes lyrics and recordings for many of the songs.

Bell Beat - Poetry, Lyrics and Commentary

a hub for fine poetry and lyrics on the Web. On the home page, links in the navigation bar call up sites that have poetry online while those in the body go to individual poems. The poems are organized into broad themes, and new links appear periodically at the top of these thematic sections.

Mystery Clerihews

"The clerihew is a four-line poem with a rhyming scheme of AABB. The first line traditionally is, or ends in, a person's name; the meter is often mangled, if not ignored altogether; and the overall intent of the poem stresses entertainment over instruction, humor over fact." They are fun to read and easy to write!

Shakespeare and His World

Shakespeare Resource Center

"You'll find here collected links from all over the World Wide Web to help you find information of all sorts on William Shakespeare." In addition to material on the man and his works, there is information on Elizabethan England and the Globe Theater.

Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet

This site attempts "To be a complete annotated guide to the scholarly Shakespeare resources available on Internet." The "Other Sites" page is a definite exception to the term "scholarly." It features such listings as Shakespeare Festivals and "other sites your mother should have warned you about". Features also include geneology, timelines, and a biography quiz. "

All Shakespeare

"...the ultimate guide to the works of William Shakespeare. This website has been created by Enotes.com, and contains everything you need in order to understand, study for, or write a paper about any of Williams Shakespeare's works."

Folger Shakespeare Library

"Folger is home to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare’s printed works, as well as magnificent collections of other rare Renaissance books and manuscripts on all disciplines..." The Folger serves as a museum devoted to Shakespeare’s life and times. Visitors may view changing exhibitions, which feature items from the collections.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

This site from MIT is the Web's first edition of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare.

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Official site. Includes information on the historic houses, educational courses, and library, museum, and archive collections.

Shakespeare's Globe Theater

The story of the original Globe, building of the new Globe, archeology, a virtual tour, and staging information are all included at this site.

Internet Public Library: Shakespeare Bookshelf

Shakespeare's works, literary criticism and interpretation, and links to other resources.

Works of the Bard

Use this site to search the full text of Shakespeare's works.

Tudor History

an excellent overview of people and events during the reign of Tudors in England, including an extensive list of brief biographies and pictures; by Lara E. Eakins

Elizabethan England

this site from the Shakespeare Resource Center includes a brief overview of the time, and many links to further resources on Elizabethan England

Elizabethan Life

a description of society in Elizabethan times

Shakespeare of Stratford

the life of Shakespeare from his early childhood

Educating Shakespeare

a look at education in Shakespeare’s time

Sixteenth Century Renaissance English Literature: Background Information

a very extensive list of links, grouped by subtopics, on Renaissance England

Book Reviews

Boston Book Review

This online version of the print review journal features fiction, poetry, essays, and interviews. Book reviews range from poetry and children's books to mysteries and fiction far from the mainstream bestsellers.

reviewingtheevidence.com

Book reviews of over 500 murder mysteries and thrillers. Searchable by keyword, author, publisher, and reviewer.

BookMuse

This extensive reader site for all ages contains book reviews, author interviews, literary prize lists, and discussion guides and tips for book groups. Titles are searchable by genre in both the adult and special "Kids Corner" which also allows searching by reading level.

Comics Get Serious: Graphic Novel Reviews

This book review site on graphic novels is arranged by title and subject. Each review includes lengthy synopses and evaluations.

Genrefluent

If you love books and reading, this site is for you. By organizing fiction and recreational nonfiction according to their Genres (i.e., adventure, suspense, horror, romance, science fiction, fantansy, etc.) this site makes it easy to find the books you're looking for.

Book Bytes

Annotated bibliographies of books too good to put down and a collection of well-written columns about great books. All created with teens in mind.

Readers' Cafe: A Virtual Meeting Place for Books and Readers

The "Cafe" offers reading suggestions, author profiles, resources for book groups, online book discussions and more.

New York Times: Books

Includes an archive of thousands of reviews, book-related news pieces, bestseller lists, and interviews back to 1996. In addition, the full-text of First Chapters of selected bestsellers and featured titles are available.

BookBrowse

"A literary smorgasbord of the best current books recently published in the USA, each reviewed and extensively excerpted for your reading pleasure."

Amazon.com

You can use this large online store as a free version of Books in Print as well as a source for book reviews.

Literary Criticism

Authors

Great Writers and Poets

A collection of Home Pages for poets and writers offering background information on many of the persons covered. Includes listings of literary prize and award winners.

Internet Public Library Literary Criticism Collection

"The IPL Literary Criticism Collection contains critical and biographical websites about authors and their works that can be browsed by author, by title, or by nationality and literary period."

Index to Internet Sites: Children's and Young Adults' Authors & Illustrators

This directory will allow you to search by author name, linking you to pages by and about authors.

Young Adult Authors on the Web

Another directory to author's webpages.

Teenreads.com

Teenreads.com brings teens info and features about their favorite authors, books, series and characters. The site has book reviews, compelling features, in-depth author profiles and interviews, excerpts of the hottest new releases, literary games and contests, and more with readers every week. Teenreads.com is THE place online for teens to talk about their fave books --- and find the hippest new titles!

The Pulitzer Prizes

Locate Pulitzer Prize-winning works from the past three years, including photos, editorial cartoons, and the full text of all winning articles. Awards are given for journalism, letters, drama and music.

Luminarium

Covers Medieval, Renaissance, and 17th Century literature in a multimedia experience of the periods.Very thorough and well-documented, with lots of resources and a good search engine. Includes the life, works and articles many important figures of each period.

Romantic Links, Electronic Texts and Home Pages

Author sites, romanticist pages, electronic texts and much more.

The Literary Gothic

"The Literary Gothic is a Web guide to all things concerned with literary Gothicism, which includes ghost stories, "classic" Gothic novels and Gothic fiction (1764-1820), and related pre- and post-Gothic and supernaturalist literature written prior to the mid-C20. Its target audience is all students and fans of the Gothic, regardless of age, academic level, profession, or just about anything else. "

Selected Horror Stories of Stephen King

This literature guide for teachers offers plenty of background information on Stephen King and his work.

F. Scott Fitzgerald Centenary

University of South Carolina celebrates the centenary of the American writer. Browse the bio and a chronology, and read selected works and view original items from the Universities collection.

Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park

"The Foundation fosters understanding of the life and work of Ernest Hemingway with emphasis on his Oak Park origins and his impact on world literature."

The Jack London Collection

Images, Documents, Writings and other informational resources related to the life of the noted California author, Jack London.

The Life and Works of Herman Melville

"The Life and Works of Herman Melville is a publication dedicated to disseminating information about Herman Melville on the Internet and the World Wide Web"

Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet

Includes biographical information, a timeline, and critical resources. This is an excellent place to begin research as links to other resources such as the Renaissance and theater are included.

Complete Works of William Shakespeare

This online version of the complete works of William Shakespeare includes links to other Internet information resources related to Shakespeare, his life and times.

Center for Steinbeck Studies

San Jose State University Center for Steinbeck Studies is dedicated to the life and works of author John Steinbeck.

Twainquotes.com

Mark Twain Quotations, Newspaper Collections, & Related Resources

Mark Twain in His Times

"This interpretive archive, drawn largely from the resources of the Barrett Collection, focuses on how "Mark Twain" and his works were created and defined, marketed and performed, reviewed and appreciated."

Samuel Clemens "Mark Twain"

This page provides links to resources that provide information about Samuel Clemens, his works, and literary criticism.

Literature Links

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird

A collection of teaching guides, understanding the story, and help putting on a dramatic presentation.

Lesson Plan from the Library of Congress

"This unit guides students on a journey through the Depression Era in the 1930s. Activities familiarize the students with Southern experiences through the study of the novel and African American experiences through the examination of primary sources."

Background and Links

Links to pages with information about the time period of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Scottsboro: An American Tragedy

Tom Robinson's trial bears striking parallels to the "Scottsboro Trial," one of the most famous - or infamous - court cases in American history. Explore The trials ; Timeline; Map of the journey; Scottsboro Defense Committee; Langston Hughes on Scottsboro: poems; Information from Court TV; Newspaper articles in the New York Times; and The New York Times interviews the youngest defendant, Roy Wright.

To Kill a Mockingbird in the Civil Rights Era: A Chronology

"Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird during the beginning of the Civil Rights era (from about 1955 to 1958). Alabama was very much in the news at this time..."

Jim Crow

"The end of the Civil War (1855-1865) also brought with the enactment of the Thirteenth Admendment the end of slavery in the US. What followed was Jim Crow, a time of repression and segregation of black people. It lasted roughly from the 1870's to the 1950's and is named after a popular 19th-century minstrel song that stereotypes African Americans."

Maps

Map of Maycomb a fictional town, modeled after Monroeville, AL

Map of Monroeville, ALOn these pages you can find information about persons and places in Monroeville.

About the Author, Harper Lee

Lee, Harper: Author PageLinks to a biography, reminescences, and other works by the author.

Speech and Debate

Great American Speeches

"Here you can read the speeches and backgrounds of many of the most influential and poignant speakers of the recorded age. To help put each speaker in historical context, we have also provided a brief timeline of historical events."

American Rhetoric: Online Speech Bank

"THE ONLINE SPEECH BANK is an index to and growing database of 5000+ full text, audio and video (streaming) versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews, other recorded media events, and a declaration or two. There are currently [468] active links in this site area. Links are arranged alphabetically by first name and checked for errors at least once every two weeks. "

Librarian's Index to the Internet - Speeches

This is a well annotated list of websites containing speeches of all kinds. You can link directly to the site that contains the kind of material you are interested in obtaining.

Debate Central

All about debating: strategies and techniques, critiques, evidence, debate structure, rhetoric, and argument; how to speak in public; examples of debates on video; scholarships and jobs (in Debate Futures); teams and tournaments; coaching; current and past topics; and more. Use the site map for easiest site navigation.