It is often useful to get a sense of the shifting reception of a literary work from its initial reviews through the centuries. Many resources exist to help you do this.
Queen's Library holds many volumes of the "Critical Heritage series": for a complete listing, do a title search in Omni for this series title. Individual volumes review criticism of authors as diverse as Byron, Gaskell, and Nabokov.
For Literary Criticisms on a specific work, search the database, Literature Resource Center, to access selected full text critical material from Gale's respected Literature Criticism series.
The following titles are a selection of bibliographies on criticism.
Dyson, A.E. English Poetry: Select Bibliographical Guides (1971)
REF Z2014.P7E53
Extensive selection of criticism up to 1970 on major English poets from Chaucer to Eliot.
Martinez, Nancy C. and Joseph G.R. Martinez. Guide to British Poetry Explication. 4 vols. (1991-1995)
REF Z2014.P7M34
Cites major interpretations of works by major poets. Each volume (v. 1. Old English, Medieval -- v. 2. Renaissance -- v. 3. Restoration-Romantic -- v. 4. Victorian-Contemporary) is arranged alphabetically by author and title.
Kuntz, Joseph Marshall and Nancy C. Martinez. Poetry Explication: A Checklist of Interpretation since 1925 of British and American Poems Past and Present. 3rd ed.
REF Z2014.P7K8 1980
A list of articles, published in books and journals from 1925-1977, that explains poems by major authors. Poem titles are arranged alphabetically beneath each author entry.
Alexander, Harriet Semmes. American and British Poetry: A Guide to the Criticism, 1925-78
REF Z1231.P7A44 1984
Eichelberger, Clayton L. A Guide to Critical Reviews of United States Fiction, 1870-1910 (1971-74)
REF Z1225.E35
A "preliminary" list of 20,000 critical notices of works of American fiction in two volumes.
Cassis, A.F. The Twentieth Century Novel: An Annotated Bibliography of General Criticism (1977)
REF Z2014.F4 C35
McNutt, Dan F. The Eighteenth Century Gothic Novel: An Annotated Bibliography of Criticism and Selected Texts (1975)
REF Z2014.F5M3
Harner, James L. English Renaissance Prose Fiction, 1500-1660: An Annotated Bibliography of Criticism (1978)
Z2014.F4 H37
Trudeau, Lawrence J., ed. Drama Criticism: Criticism of the Most Significant and Widely Studied Dramatic Works from All the World's Literatures (1991- )
REF PN1721.D72t
Excerpts of criticism on the most frequently studied playwrights of all time periods and nationalities. Holdings: vol. 1 only.
Stein, Rita. Major Modern Dramatists
REF PN1861.M27 1984
Excerpts of criticism on Western playwrights of international renown from the late 19th and 20th centuries.
