English 320: Shakespeare - Sources and Afterlives

Primary Sources

Editions and Adaptations of Shakespeare

  • Includes the complete text of eleven major editions of Shakespeare's works from the First Folio to the Cambridge edition of 1863-6, twenty-four separate contemporary printings of individual plays, selected apocrypha and related works and more than 100 adaptations, sequels and burlesques from the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Early English Books Online (EEBO) (1473-1700)

  • Contains about 100,000 of over 125,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640) and Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700) and their revised editions, as well as the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661) collection and the Early English Books Tract Supplement. The collection consists of digital facsimile page images.
  • To view works by Shakespeare, select "browse" and enter "shakespeare." You can also search EEBO for works by Shakespeare's contemporaries.

Many primary texts are also available on the internet. It's important to think critically when using internet resources (see below), and to rely on reputable sites like the following:

For other collections of primary sources from Shakespeare and his contemporaries, see English 231: The Elizabethan Age.

To search for Shakespeare's works in CONSORT, try an advanced search. This will help you narrow your results to the texts themselves, or even to specific editions of the texts.

Secondary Sources (Books and Articles)

Finding Books

Use CONSORT and OhioLINK to find relevant secondary literature. Begin with a keyword search:

When you find a book that seems promising, click on the subject heading links at the bottom of the record to see similar items. You can also select "subject heading" in the "search by" box and try the following:

For this course, subject heading phrases like "criticism and interpretation," "adaptations," and "sources" may be especially useful.

Finding Articles

The CONSORT and OhioLINK catalogs do not contain information about individual articles published in journals. However, if you have a citation to a journal article--the author's name, the title of the article, the title of the journal, and the date or volume/issue number--you can search by journal title in CONSORT to determine if the library has the journal in print, electronically, or in microfilm.

To search for articles on your topic, use an index or database. In many cases, you can get the full text of the article by following a link from the database. If you're searching in an index without links to full-text articles, you'll need to search by journal title in CONSORT as described above.

The search process will vary for each resource, but here are a few tips to keep in mind:

 

Come up with good keywords.

Consider synonyms, alternate spellings, and other ways to approach your topic. For example, if you're interested in the role of gender in Shakespeare's works, you might want to search for a combination of the following:

  • shakespeare, gender, sex/sexual/sexuality, women, misogyny, masculine/masculinity, feminine/femininity/feminism

 

Look for subject headings.

Most databases will include their own subject headings. When you find a relevant article, click on a subject heading, or refine your search to include both a subject heading and keywords, to find similar articles.

 

Set reasonable limits.

Some databases will let you limit your search--examples of limits include choosing to search just peer-reviewed (scholarly) journals, or just book reviews, or just articles published in English. Sometimes limits are helpful; if you don't want book reviews or articles written in a language you don't read, it doesn't hurt to limit your search accordingly. But be careful not to impose too many limits, especially if you're just beginning your research--extremely narrow searches will rarely lead you to "the perfect article."

 

Use bibliographies.

If you do happen to find the perfect article (or a great essay in a reference work, or a relevant book on your topic), check out the bibliography, and then search for some of these sources.

 

MLA International Bibliography
Recommended starting point. Citations to scholarly work in literature, linguistics, and folklore worldwide. Sources include journal and book articles, dissertations, monographs, and series.

JSTOR
Provides access to the full content of a variety of scholarly journals. Coverage generally begins with volume one of a journal, and ends 2-5 years from the present.

OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center: Arts and Humanities Journals
Includes the full text of approximately 40 arts and humanities journals.

ABELL-- Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature
ABELL provides citations to monographs, periodical articles, critical editions of literary works, book reviews, collections of essays and doctoral dissertations published anywhere in the world.

Iter (Medieval and Renaissance Studies)
ITER is a bibliography drawn from over 400 medieval and renaissance journal titles.

Humanities International Complete
Covers 1700 journals, as well as books and reference sources in the humanities. Provides citation information for articles, essays, and reviews, plus original creative works including poems and fiction. Photographs, paintings and illustrations are also referenced.

Shakespearean Journals and Collections of Criticism

Although Shakespeare criticism is widely published in a variety of sources (as the databases and indexes above will illustrate), you may wish to browse the following publications and collections as you begin your research:

  • Shakespearean Criticism (in the reference collection: REF PR2965 .S44)
    This is a set of over 100 volumes of critical explorations of Shakespeare's works. Grab the most recent volume from the shelf and use the Cumulative Topic Index or the Cumulative Topic Index – By Play (essentially a title index). The number in bold is the volume number; the other number is the page within that volume.
  • Shakespeare Survey (in the main collection, third floor: PR2888 .C3)
  • Shakespeare Studies (in the main collection, third floor: PR2885 .S64; also online)

Requesting from Other Libraries

If Kenyon doesn't have a copy of the book or article you need, you can request it from another CONSORT library or OhioLINK. You can also use WorldCat to search libraries worldwide and make an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) request.

Reference Works

Helpful reference works for Shakespeare studies include bibliographies, dictionaries, concordances, and glossaries. These resources are shelved in the reference collection on the second floor, unless otherwise noted.

Concordances

The Riverside Shakespeare: REF PR2754 .E9 1974b

Harvard Concordance to Shakespeare: REF PR2892 .S62

Encyclopedias and Guides

All Things Shakespeare (2 volumes): REF PR2892 .O56 2002

Greenwood Companion to Shakespeare (4 volumes): REF PR2976 .G739 2005

Oxford Companion to Shakespeare: REF PR2892 .O94 2001

Shakespeare: An Oxford Guide: REF PR2976 .S3333 2003

Shakespeare A to Z: REF PR2892 .B69 1990

Dictionaries, Pronunciation, and Language

Pronouncing Shakespeare's Words: A Guide from A to Zounds: REF PR3081 .C87 1998

Dictionary of Shakespeare: REF PR2892 .M27 2000

Penguin Shakespeare Dictionary: REF PR2892 .P46 1999

Shakespeare's Names: A New Pronouncing Dictionary: REF PR3081 .C65 1999

Shakespeare's Proverbial Language: REF PR2892 .D43 1981

Shakespeare's Bawdy: REF PR2892 .P27 1990

Quotations

Folger Book of Shakespeare Quotations: REF PR2892 .S64 1979

Columbia Dictionary of Quotations from Shakespeare: REF PR2892 .F48 1998

Sources, Background, and Primary Documents

William Shakespeare: A Documentary Volume: REF PR2893 .W55 2002

Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare (8 volumes): PR2952.5 .B8 (main collection)

William Shakespeare: His World, His Work, His Influence (3 volumes): Folio PR2976 .W5354 1985

Cambridge Companions

You may also find the following guides of use for essays about Shakespeare's life and works, overviews of existing Shakespearean scholarship, and explorations of genre, performance, and appropriation. These are located in the main collection on the third floor.

The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare: PR2894 .C33 2001

The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Popular Culture: PR2894 .C334 2007

The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film: PR3093 .C36 2007

The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage: PR3091 .C36 2002

The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies: PR2976 .C29 1986

The Cambridge Companion to Shakespearean Comedy: PR2981 .C36 2002

The Cambridge Companion to Shakespearean Tragedy: PR2983 .C28 2002

The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare's History Plays: PR2982 .C29 2002

The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare's Poetry: PR2984 .C36 2007

Shakespeare on the Stage and Screen

To find Shakespeare films in CONSORT, try an advanced search.

To find criticism and guides to Shakespeare on film, the following subject heading is useful:

Many of these guides also include extensive filmographies that can help you locate multiple adaptations of particular works. Some, like The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film, include a list of "offshoots," such as Scotland, PA (a modern retelling of Macbeth set in Pennsylvania), Jean-Luc Godard's King Lear (in which the director envisions himself as Lear), and My Own Private Idaho, roughly based on Henry IV. Additionally, volume 39 of Shakespeare Survey is devoted to Shakespeare on film and television.

For further resources related to theater and film, consult the following research guides:

Shakespeare on the Internet

As Michael Best notes in his essay on Shakespearean internet and CD-ROM resources in Shakespeare: An Oxford Guide, "Shakespeare's popularity means that there will be many sites that are enthusiastic rather than accurate" (Best 676). When evaluating internet resources, consider the site's authority, objectivity and reliability, scope, and currency. You may also wish to consult Best's essay for a good overview of Shakespeare's electronic afterlife.

Bibliography Resources

  • MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (Info Desk LB2369 .G53 2003)