Toolkit for Poets

TOOLKIT FOR POETS

theWORDshop

Home of theWORDshop.
Poetry Forms and Terminology: Ever-expanding lists of links to poetry genres, forms and glossaries of terms.
The Sijo: Korea's favorite lyric poetry, a relative of similar Chinese and Japanese forms. Discover a new world of poetry.
Japanese Patterns: Includes haiku, senryu, tanka, renga and others. Newly reorganized and updated.
Quotations for Poets: A daily email forum presenting notable quotations of interest to poets and other writers.
The Grossblank: Introducing a new poetry form: a 12-line poem in blank verse, but with 12 syllables per line instead of 10, in iambic meter.
Climbing Rhyme: A classic Burmese form with an interesting internal rhyme pattern.
Sayings of the Wise Shang-ti: Guru-ku, haiku-like proverbs by this off-center guru who lives high atop MacDonalds Golden arches in Tallahassee FL.

Quick Nav to theWORDshop:

ANTHOLOGIES, COLLECTIONS AND LIBRARIES,
PRIMARILY OF POETRY

Arnaut and Karkur''s Prosody Resource: Poetry Places: Links to over 6000 poetry sites.
Atlantic Monthly's Poetry Pages: Articles, essays and poetry from Atlantic's pages
Emily Dickinson International Society: Center for Dickinson's life, writings and research.
Gale's Literary Resources: A great deal of info from Gale Research on poetry and literature, libraries, general research, biographies, quizzes, a poetry timeline, etc.
LitLinks: Poetry: Links to info on a large number of individual poets; arranged alphabetically.
Poetry Daily: Anthology of contemporary poetry; each day it features a new poem, author and book, magazine or journal currently in print. Extensive archives. From Poets & Writers.
Poets' Corner: One of the oldest and largest text resources for poetry on the web. Offers thousands of works by hundreds of authors covering thousands of years. Searchable by author, title and subject.
The Poets Garret: This is a rather undiscovered gem, judging by its visit counter. It offers clear, understandable history and background to poetic styles and forms from around the world, then defines the styles and forms and, in most cases, gives examples.
pmpoetry: Patrick Martin's Poetry Resource: Extensive collection of poetry links updated frequently. Links to collections, organizations, publishers and poets from all over the world.
Poetry Lover's Guide to WWW: Poems from selected poets from Homer through the 20th century, but little "modern poetry." Also selected links to other poetry collections and guides.
Poetry Superhighway: Large site with many features including links to individual poets, online poetry journals and sites. You can add your name and site to the lists.
SPONDEE: Lots of contemporary poetry and links to much more poetry from past masters, who are listed alphabetically. Long list of links to individual poets' websites and other info of interest to poets. Well worth checking out.

ANTHOLOGIES, COLLECTIONS AND LIBRARIES:
GENERAL LITERATURE

Alex Catalog of Electronic Texts: Large collection of public domain books and documents from American and English literature as well as Western philosophy. Searchable by author, title, date, and content. Expanding constantly.
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Folklore Project, WPA Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940 (searchable text): Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940. From the Library of Congress files: a wealth of source material from the Depression Years. A goldmine for writing ideas, details, settings and more.
Bartleby Library: "The preeminent Internet publisher of literature, reference and verse , unlimited access to books and info on the web." Most comprehensive site for reference, poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Meets the needs of students, educators, and the intellectually curious.
Bibliomania: 2000+ texts of classic literature, drama, and poetry, detailed literature study guides, biographies, synonyms, reference tools.
Brautigan Virtual Library: Anyone who writes a book can have it added to the shelves of this library. Books accepted in any form (as long as they can sit quietly on a shelf). They are registered but there is no Dewey System. The author alone decides which shelf the book should go on.
Folger's Shakespeare Library: World's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, plus huge collection of other rare Renaissance books and manuscripts from all disciplines. Includes approximately 280,000 books and manuscripts; 27,000 paintings, drawings, engravings and prints; musical instruments, costumes and films.
Internet Classics Archive: Offers 441 works of classical literature by 59 different authors, including commentaries. Mainly Greco-Roman works, with some Chinese and Persian; all in English translation. Searchable and downloadable.
The Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies: Massive, well-organized access to electronic resources in medieval studies. Easy-to-use menus and links provide connections to databases, services, texts, and images on other servers around the world. A Georgetown University project.
Library of Congress: Manuscript Reading Room: Makes available "approximately sixty million items in eleven thousand separate collections, including some of the greatest manuscript treasures of American history and culture" as well as support for scholarly research "in many aspects of political, cultural, and scientific history."
Literary Kicks: Beat Generation, Transcendentalists, French writers, Hippies & Latter-Day Beats and others incl. Ralph Ellison, the Harlem Renaissance, Haiku Masters, Salinger and more.
Online Medieval and Classical Library: Collection of some of the most important literary works of Classical and Medieval eras. Includes many links to other useful resources. [Note: My links to this site have been turning up "Cannot be found" screens here lately. If you have trouble, just Google Online Medieval and Classical Library and it should be the first entry.]
Questia: The World's Largest Online Library: Thorough, reliable research library for literature, humanities and social sciences; over 60,000 books and 1,000,000 journal, magazine, and newspaper articles, all searchable. Allows automatic creation of footnotes and bibliographies as well as other search, note-taking, and writing tools. The catch: For the most complete coverage, you need to subscribe.
RhymeZone: Much more than just a rhyming dictionary. You can search for quotations and even pictures. Includes complete texts of Shakespeare's works, The Bible, Declaration of Independence, US Constitution, nursery rhymes, etc.
UTEL (U of Toronto English Library): Extensive collection of works held in the U of Toronto English Library, searchable by author, title and first lines. Huge collection covering all major literary eras, with extensive links.
The Victorian Web: Comprehensive source for literary, social, political and economic information of the Victorian era, including a great many 19th century authors, visual and theatrical artists.
Western Folklife Center: A regional nonprofit folk arts organization dedicated to preserving, perpetuating, and presenting the diverse cultural heritage of the American West; includes cowboy poetry and other Western folklore.

BOOKSTORES AND BOOKSELLERS

abebooks.com: A large consortium of independent bookstores makes millions of books available, new, used, rare, collectibe, etc..
alibris: Good place to find out-of-print, rare, and used books of all sorts. Tho the prices seem a bit high. Lists 200 pages of poetry books, 20 pages of poetry reference books.
Amazon.com: What's to say? High availability, good service, not always the best prices.
Barnes and Noble: Claims to be "The World's Largest Bookseller online," but you'll find much more than books.
Beagle Books
MyBookBuyer.com: Buys and sells used books including a broad range of textbooks, non-fiction, current fiction and childrens books. MyBookBuyer is their buyback service, available online 24 hours a day. Send a list of available books and they will quote a price. Shipping is free.
Best Book Buys: Can search dozens of bookstores and compare prices on new and used books. Also covers music, videos and electronics. Links to and rates 21 major bookstores.
Book Closeouts.com: Bargains in a wide variety of books.
The Book Depository: Fastest growing book distributor in Europe. Home base is in the UK, but with an international network it advertises "free shipping to Western Europe, North America and some other countries." Its aim is to make "All books available to All."
Bookfinder.com: Over 150 million new, used, rare, and out of print books in English, French, German and Italian.
BookFinder.com Partners: Provides direct links to a host of other booksellers and listing agencies associated with Bookfinder. Use it to access more than 150,000 booksellers around the world.
FetchBook.Info: Find the lowest price on new & used books; compares 127 book stores, 60,000 sellers.
Half.com: Buy or sell books, movies, music, etc. at very reasonable prices. Now owned and operated by eBay.
Han Books: Books in English and Korean; also magazines, DVDs, CDs and more. Operated by the largest online Korean bookstore in the United States.
Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts Company: The Busted Bibliophile: Good place to find bargains on rare or hard-to-find books: "lesser copies at lower prices." For books in better condition, check the main site: Philadelphia Rare Books
The Poetry Bookshop: supplying rare, out of print, new and used poetry books. Searchable by author/title; offers Booksearch for hard-to-find items.
Powell's Books: One of the world's most familiar bookstores and one of the most successful dot-com bookstores. New, used and out of print books, often with the lowest prices.

CONTESTS
Florida State Poets Association (FSPA) Annual Contests: The FSPA annual poetry contests include 20 or more categories. These contests normally have a July 15 postmark deadline. Winning poems are announced and read at the convention in October.
NFSPA Annual Contests: The National FederatIon of State Poetry Societies conducts 50 poetry contests in the spring of each year, normally with a March 15 postmark deadline. Winning poems are announced and read at the annual convention.

COPYRIGHT AND PUBLISHING

ASJA: Latest copyright news from the American Society of Journalists and Authors; also maintains the Authors Registry, a collective licensing agency, and helps professional freelance writers advance their writing careers.
Australian Copyright Council Online Information Centre: Publications, seminars, lectures about creating and protecting copyrighted material of Australian authors.
Canadian Intellectual Property Office: Downloadable copyright forms, extensive FAQ section on intellectual property issues.
Glossary of Book Terms: Definitions of terms relating to books, publishing and the book trade. A service of Alibris.
National Writers Union: Current copyright news; also maintains the Publication Rights Clearinghouse, a collective licensing agency, a job hotline, warnings of unprofessional conduct by publishers, and much more.
Publishers' Catalogues: World-wide directory of more than 12,000 Publishers' Catalogue Home Pages arranged by city, state, country and topic. Includes e-books.
UK Intellectual Property Office: United Kingdom information on copyright, designs, patents and trade marks; also covers trade secrets, performers' rights, etc.
U.S. Copyright Office: Forms, instructions, copyright FAQ; everything you need.
Writer's Resource Center: Features sections on "Copywriting, Editing, Freelance, General Writing, Literary, Online/Web, Proofreading, Sports, Technical Writing, Journalism."

DICTIONARIES, ENCYCLOPEDIAS, QUOTATIONS, THESAURI and ALMANACS

GENERAL DICTIONARIES

Alpha Dictionary.com: Offers a variety of services including custom dictionaries, translation services and word databases. Capable of searching 1065 online English dictionaries at once.
American-British/British-American Dictionary: Defines American in terms of British and vice versa. Includes articles on differences between American and British English and much, much more on aspects of the English language. Links to other sites on slang, dialects, Cockney rhyming, jokes, etc.
Dictionary of American Regional English: Documents varieties of English that are not found everywhere in the United States � words, pronunciations and phrases that vary from one region to another.
The Free Dictionary: "English, Medical, Legal, Financial, and Computer Dictionaries, Thesaurus, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, a Literature Reference Library, and a Search Engine all in one!" Very useful.
Glossarist: Searchable, categorised directory of glossaries and topical dictionaries.
Hyperdictionary: Includes English and medical dictionaries, as well as computer terminology, video terms, and dream interpretation. Easily searchable.
Infoplease: Combines contents of encyclopedia, dictionary, and up-to-the minute almanacs loaded with statistics, facts, and historical records. Places the resources of an entire reference information center at your fingertips.
LibrarySpot.com: An entire library at your finger tips! A free virtual library resource center for educators, students, librarians and the general public. Brings the best library and reference sites together in one user-friendly spot.
Merriam-Webster Online: "Worldwide Word Search" including dictionary, thesaurus and other sources.
Middle English Dictionary: 15,000 pages of medieval scholarship. Comprehensive analysis of lexicon and usage for the period 1100-1500. Largest collection of this kind available. Searchable.
Poeminister's Archaic & Poetical Dictionary: Interesting! When you need a poetic or archaic term, or want to avoid one, browse this alphabetized list.
Onelook.com: A search engine for words and phrases. Provides definition, translation and spelling help for 12,739,111 words from 1065 dictionaries. Wildcard searches and reverse dictionary capabilities.
Online-dictionary.net: Extensive links to all kinds of dictionaries, incl. rhyming , foreign language, professional, etc.
Slanguage.com: A fun site that helps you pronounce words in a huge variety of languages and locations around the world while laughing a lot at the same time.
VoyCabulary: A convenient and speedy way to look up words without disrupting your normal web browsing. It makes words on web pages, or those you type in, into links so you can click on any word to look it up on the spot. Also provides online dictionaries, thesauri, and word translators.
Webopedia: Does computer language confuse you? Try this dictionary and search engine for computer and Internet terminology.
YourDictionary.com/: Online dictionaries in 150 different languages, grammar for 70 languages, thesauri, and many other pages of "linguistic fun."

ETYMOLOGY DICTIONARIES, WORD AND PHRASE ORIGINS

Beastly Garden of Wordy Delights: OK, so you know it is a 'herd' of buffalo, but what is the collective noun for bats? Jellyfish? Toads? You'll find the answers here, along with other fascinating information about nouns and adjectives and a smattering of humor.
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: Over 18,000 entries with etymologies, word and phrase origins and other �words with a tale to tell.�
Classics Technology Center: Global Glossary: Authoritative, scholarly, reliable information on words of Greco-Roman origin. Constantly checked for accuracy and currency. May not work on all servers.
Etymologically Speaking: Curious word origins from English, French and German.
Online Etymology Dictionary: Origins of the English language; online search for word sources from a variety of sources.
Origins of Phrases: Origins of common English phrases.
Phrase Finder: Meanings and origins of over 1200 English sayings, phrases and idioms, and a large searchable archive.
Take Our Word For It: A weekly word-origin webzine. Questions and answers on word origins.
Wordorigins.com: Offers word origins, research tools, a weekly email newsletter and a discussion group.
World Wide Words: Word histories and curiosities galore, incredible depth of information on the definition and origins of words and phrases from all over the world, present and past, with reviews of various online dictionaries. Available: a weekly newsletter.

RHYMING DICTIONARIES

(NOTE: Many of the dictionaries listed in other sections also contain
rhyming dictionaries. Seek and ye shall find!)

RhymeZone: Type in a word to find its rhymes, synonyms, definitions, and more. Search for quotations and even pictures. Includes complete texts of Shakespeare's works, The Bible, Declaration of Independence, US Constitution, Mother Goose, a reverse dictionary, etc.
Langenberg.com: Dictionary, Rhyming, Crossword Puzzle Solver, Scrabble, Quotations, Thesaurus, Anagrams, Pig Latin, and many other features. May be the only dictionary you need for most purposes.
Lexical FreeNet Connected Thesaurus: Thesaurus searches for related words that rhyme, but can also find several different kinds of connections between two words you choose.
Poetry.com's Rhyming Dictionary and Thesaurus: Type in a word to find its rhymes, synonyms, definitions, and more; includes both words and phrases.
Merriam-Webster's Word Central: Rhyming, dictionary, thesaurus, word games and more. Good site for adults and children.
Write Express Online Rhyming Dictionary: Especially good for poetry and songwriting: end rhymes, first and last syllable rhymes, double and triple rhymes, and more. Thesuaurus, spell check, word-finding tool. You can also buy a deluze edition for your desktop PC or Mac.

ENCYCLOPEDIAS

Catholic Encyclopedia: Authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests and doctrine, including a bible and a world history chart..
Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed.: Nearly 51,000 entries on a wide range of topics, with more than 80,000 hypertext cross-references. Among the most complete and up-to-date encyclopedias online.
Concise Encyclopedia Britannica: You can get the complete Britannica online for a hefty fee, but this abbreviated version is free.
Encyclopedia.com: More than 57,000 articles enhanced with links to newspaper and magazine articles, pictures and maps.
Encyclopedia Mythica: Encyclopedia of mythology, folklore, legends, and much more; over 7000 entries on gods, goddesses, heroes, legendary creatures and other beings from all over the world.
Mythical Creatures and Places: Thorough glossary includes mythological, biblical, Egyptian and Asian beings and places.
Librarians' Index to the Internet: A well-organized point of access for reliable, trustworthy, librarian-selected Internet resources. From here you can directly search various search engines and other major reference sources.
RefDesk: "The fact checker for the Internet." Indexes quality Internet sites and assists in getting there. From here you can directly search a variety of sites, including dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauri, etc. You might want to make it your homepage.
Martindale's The Reference Desk: Quick facts on a wide variety of subjects handily available, including many topics related to science, language and literature, education, etc., The Virtual Medical Center, calculators, etc.
Wikipedia: One of the more useful online encyclopedias, currently with over 2,500,000 articles. Anyone can add to its database (and therefore is not always reliable), and it is in the public domain.

POETRY HANDBOOKS AND GLOSSARIES

For an extensive list of links to poetry handbooks, dictionaries and glossaries,
go to my companion site,

Poetry Forms and Terminology: Ever-expanding lists of links to poetry genres, forms and glossaries of terms.

QUOTATIONS

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations: The old Reliable. This tenth edition (1919) was the first new edition published after Bartlett's death in 1905. Searchable by author, subject or keyword.
Dictionary of Quotations (Simone): Searchable by author, subject or keyword.
Dictionary of Quotations (Brumbaugh): "General purpose" quotations. Searchable by author, subject or keyword.
Grocott's Quotations: Extensive quotations indexed by subject and keywords. Includes many poetry quotes. Part of the bibliomania site.
LitQuotes: Over 1600 literary quotes from great works of literature. Arranged by author, title , topic, new quotes, or browse the whole bunch.
Quotations and Sayings Database: An amazing collection of materials including the "almost complete" works of Mark Twain. Versatile search capabilities by author, subject or keyword.
Quoteland.com: Searchable by author, subject or keyword. Good sections on literature, writing and poetry. Several discussion groups let you seek or provide info about quotes, authors, etc.
Quotes for Poets: An email service that delivers pertinent and interesting quotes to you several times a week. Also has an online archive. You can even post your own favorites.
Quotes for Writers (Amberdine): A short but interesting selection.
Quotes for Writers (Ennyman): Accessible in short list form only.
Quotes for Writers (Palumbo): Accessible in short list form only.
Quotez: More than 13500 quotations, with a versatile "Power Search" that offers great search options. Has a daily email option, and you can quiz them about a quotation's source.
Simpson's Contemporary Quotations, 1988: Most notable quotations from 1950-1988; over 10,000 entries from 4,000 sources.
The Quotations Page: One of the oldest quotation sites on the Web. Large quotations database with search engine, a discussion forum for quotation-related topics. Arrange by subject, author or randomly. Over 23,000 quotations from over 2,600 authors. Offers an email Quote of the Day.
ThinkExist.com: Over 90,000 quotations by more than 9,000 authors. Searchable by author, subject or keyword. Daily quote service.
Wisdom Quotes: Extensive list arranged by category but searchable. Includes a section on Writers/Writing.

THESAURI

(NOTE: Many of the dictionaries listed in other sections also contain thesauri. Browse awhile.)

Roget's International Thesaurus of Words and Phrases: Mawson's modernization of this classic 1922 edition is made even more user-friendly with 85,000 hyperlinked cross-references and over 2,900 proverbs and quotations.
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus: Third Edition, 1995, features an innovative hyperlinked category index.
Roget's Thesaurus Online: 1911 version with 1991 supplements. The ARTFL Project is linking this thesaurus with Webster's dictionary to form an encyclopedic knowledge database.
Soule's Synonymes: Arranged alphabetically. Easy to use. Part of the bibliomania site.
Thesaurus.com: Just enter your searchword and click. Also offers access to other dictionaries, reference tools and word games.
Wordsmyth: Dictionary, thesaurus, anagram solver; can even be used as a rhyming dictionary. To access thesaurus and other word searches, click on "Advanced Search." You can even build your own glossary. Also has a version for children.

GENERAL REFERENCE

Biography.com: Companion site to A&E's "Biography" TV series: Search database of over 25,000 biographies. Includes a Born on this Day feature, a listing of top 10 bios, discussion forums, and a Classroom section for students and teachers.
iTools: "Quick access to the best Internet tools." Search capabilities in the areas such as Language, Research, Finances, Maps, Internet, and People.
World Factbook: Extensive information on countries, territories, and dependencies throughout the world, gathered and maintained primarily by the CIA for government use but available in the public domain.

GRAMMAR AND USAGE

American Heritage Book of English Usage: "Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English" with a detailed look at grammar, style, diction, word formation, gender, social groups and scientific forms. Valuable reference for students, writers, academicians and anybody concerned about proper writing style.
The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States, 2nd ed.: H.L. Mencken's 1921 classic discusses the differences between British and American English and defines the distinguishing characteristics of US English.
Common Errors in English: Paul Brian's 2006 Common Errors in English Usage, arranged alphabetically.
The Elements of Style: William Strunk, Jr. called this his "little book" on the principles of English style and grammar. The Elements of Style has become an American classic.
The King's English, 2nd ed.: H.W. Fowler's 1908 work with commonsense rules of style and grammar remains a standard resource for generations of students and writers.
Lynch's Guide to Grammar and Style: Wide-ranging collection of articles on English grammar, usage and style.

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