What’s The Best Website To Study About English Literature?

Last Updated on July 29, 2023

Science and technology has taken a great leap and so many online sources have cropped up for students to study various subjects. For all students enrolled in college or currently studying English literature, it will probably occur to you that you need to know what the best website is for this subject to do well in college. As such, you’ll definitely need guidance to help you find an online tutorial that will develop your analytical thinking skills and inspire you with thought-provoking information about literature. Considering that fact, then it is no wonder that you may be wondering, “What’s the best website for English Literature?

It might sometimes be difficult to get the right information you are searching for on the internet. However, this doesn’t mean there are no right information out there like the article below. The article below brings you the best and latest information on english literature notes free download & free english literature notes and guides.

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Literary Analysis Websites

Amazon

Amazon offers a six-month Prime trial for university students. This trial means that you get next day (or same day) delivery free and this includes Sundays. AmazonPrime is a great place to purchase books from if you need to do some last minute reading but cannot get hold of a copy.

Classical books from authors like the Bröntes, Dickens, Doyle etc. are cheap to purchase on Amazon, they usually sell for £1.99.

Just remember to cancel your free trial before the expiry date (My account, membership, prime). Otherwise you will be charged. However, if you do find that you have forgotten to cancel your trial then message the agents as they will be able to refund you (this happens to many students).

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED)

Every lecturer and seminar leader will talk, refer and expect you to use the Oxford English Dictionary everyday. It will be the talking point of all your conversations, it might even become the only thing you talk about.

The OED is not simply a dictionary where you can look up meanings. It lets you search the epistemological origins of a word (this will include the root word, what it meant in different years and how different peoples used the word).

Most universities will be subscribed to the OED so that means you can access it for free. Make sure to exhaust this app and look up almost every word even simple ones that you think you know the meaning of because chances are you will be surprised.

Bartleby.com: Great Books Online 

This collection of reference sites includes online encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, English usage, and more.

Project Gutenberg 

The Internet’s oldest — and one of the largest — provider of free electronic books,” where you can download over 30,000 free ebooks to read on your PC, Kindle, Sony Reader, iPhone or other device.” (Usable on Macintosh computers too.) Find classic works or relatively unknown texts in many, many different languages.

Goodreads

By the time you finish your three years at university you will have read more than a hundred books. For some this is a reminder of hard mental labour (and physical if you carry all your books with you), for others induces happy memories of doing the thing they are passionate about.

Either way, logging your reading is an excellent way to remember what books you have read, liked, disliked or want to reread. Goodreads lets you do just that. All you do is make an account and start logging: first type the book name or author into the search engine and once you have found your book you can select whether it is a current read, future read or past read.

As well as keeping track of what you have read you can also write reviews (for those who do not want to write then you can rate the book by selecting the appropriate amount of stars). So if you do want to go back and reread something, you will know that the 4/5 or 5/5 star books are the ones you liked best. Maybe you could give the low rating books another go?

Boolean search

This website operates in a similar way to the OED but this is a search engine specifically for Middle English/Medieval words. If you are taking this type of module at university or are interested in the epistemological origins of Medieval words, then Boolean search is the place for you.

Again all you do is type the word into the search engine (there are other, more technical search options on this site if you have a certain date or passage in mind) and the meanings of the word (in accordance to Medieval usage) will appear.

For example, if you are analysing a Medieval lyric such as ‘I have a gentil cok’ and you want to explore the phallic possibilities of the poem then type your word into the engine. In this case you might want to explore the usage of ‘cok’. The results will give a list of the meanings of the word at that time and ‘cok’ does not appear to be used in the way we use it today to indicate a phallic meaning. But keep searching.

Ebay

The list of possible bookstores and book sites are endless. But the ones that are student-friendly are limited.

Ebay in most cases offers the cheapest books, usually because they are second or third-hand (the conditions will be stated in the description box). Most students are required to purchase the Norton Anthology of Poetry in their first year. Some students will be happy to pay the hefty cost of £30-£40 for the book because they see it as an investment for future use in second and third year. If you do want to opt for the cheaper alternative, then try searching for better deals on ebay. This might mean hours and hours on the site, but students do find places where the Norton is being sold or auctioned at £7-£10. If you do not manage to find anything then try messaging the seller, after all if they are selling a second hand book then asking for a lower price isn’t disrespectful. What have you got to lose?

Top universities where you can study Languages, Literature & Linguistics |  Times Higher Education (THE)

If you have the time and energy, then try searching for ‘bulk literature books’. This is where someone sells a box (or more) of books at a low price, I purchased 40 Oxford World’s Classics books for £25 (this included delivery).

However, there may not be any delivery service only collection. Just message the seller if they could offer deli every and at what cost.

Dime Novel and Popular Literature

This collection brings together pre-Pulp era tales initially depicting scenes early America, the Frontier, and the West. Ranging roughly from 1860 to 1930 these often serial publications record the attitudes prevailing of 19th and early 20th Century society: including racist, sexist, and ethnic stereotypes. The original works are often highly fragile and digitization is a slow and careful endeavor. This collection includes the precursors to “Dime Novels”, known as the “Story Papers”, which were often of larger format, as well as the United Kingdom versions, “Penny Dreadfuls”. Also included in this collection are Mass Market Literature – containing non-fiction texts, some of which are manifested as textual series – in a variety of subjects – including “self-help” and “how-to” titles, and medical cures. Also included are international Dime Novels – both translations of English originals as well as native creations.

Victorian Women Writers’ Project

The Victorian Women Writers Project (VWWP) […] is primarily concerned with the exposure of lesser-known British women writers of the 19th century. The collection represents an array of genres – poetry, novels, children’s books, political pamphlets, religious tracts, histories, and more. VWWP contains scores of authors, both prolific and rare.

english literature education

English Literature is one of the most popular majors in colleges and universities in the US, with a huge number of students enrolling every year due to its diverse nature and numerous graduate opportunities. But with such a broad area of study, prospective students are often confused about what a degree in English Literature actually provides. This article explains what an English Literature degree looks like, and what doors it can open for graduates.

Common uses of an English Literature degree include becoming a writer, researcher, or teacher. However, there are many other ways to utilize an English Literature degree. Some students use it as a stepping stone to a degree in Law, or in this day and age, some will use it to begin a path in the digital marketing world. Whichever route you end up on, this degree can open doors to many fulfilling career options.

Top universities where you can study Languages, Literature & Linguistics |  Times Higher Education (THE)

What is English Literature at its Very Core?

English Literature refers to the study of texts from around the world, written in the English language. By studying a degree in English Literature, you will learn how to analyze a multitude of texts and write clearly using several different styles. Generally, literature refers to different types of text including novels, non-fiction, poetry, and plays, among other forms. However, literature is a contested term, as new mediums for communication provide different types of contemporary literature.

Literature is generally defined as writing with artistic merit. However, other types of text such as screenplays, nonfiction, song lyrics, and online communication through blogs and other means, could now be considered literature under the contemporary understanding of the term. The English Literature programs in most major US institutions will largely study the traditional literary texts. An English Literature major will likely examine texts including poetry, drama, and prose fiction, perhaps briefly covering more contested forms of literature in their chosen path.

Studying Literature Versus Reading for Pleasure

If you choose to study Literature in the US, you will learn how to read different texts and analyze the style, use of different types of language, and meaning, in depth. You will also learn how to write clearly, concisely and analytically in stylistically different forms. Generally, Literature courses are divided into different focuses: British Literature, American Literature, World Literature, and periods (pre-1800 and post-2000). You will have core courses in several of these topics and will also be expected to choose a focus of your own interest, such as creative writing or drama. You will ultimately gain a much more in-depth understanding of the texts you cover than is possible from solo-reading, and learn how to express your knowledge through written analysis and presentation or class discussion.

Why Study English Literature?

Studying English Literature in the USA will give you a better understanding of the world around you. A Literature degree provides transferable skills that teach you to deconstruct and analyze in order to provide a critical viewpoint in all areas. As an international student, studying English Literature demonstrates to an employer that you have a strong grasp of the English language and are proficient in professional English.

There are several different paths for careers in literature as a graduate. You can also take graduate courses and become a teacher, lecturer, or journalist, with common crossovers for graduating English students including business, law, and education. Or you can use your analytical skills to move into unexpected careers such as marketing, advertising, or pretty much anything you are willing you adapt to. There are also obvious positions available in the publishing industry, from editor, to proofreader, to literary agent. Many creative writers, including novelists, poets, and screenwriters, among others, start their careers by gaining an in-depth understanding of written English before developing their individual abilities for expression through writing.

If you want to gain a strong-hold on the English language, develop your critical analysis of the world around you, and study in a degree that will provide you with numerous different career opportunities, English Literature could be the right pursuit for you.

english literature books

We’ve arranged the highlights by period, but if you’re after more of a general overview, check out the section at the bottom for literature interviews by topic. We have Columbia professor Jenny Davidson recommending the best love stories in literature, leading Oxford professor Merve Emre discussing the literary fiction that created our modern understanding of MBTI personality types, novels on marriage and divorce, the best novels in English full stop, and more.

Finally, if you’re an English literature student (or aspire to be one), you’ll likely encounter or need to be familiar with literature in other languages, too. A good place to start is Emily Wilson’s reading list on The Odyssey (her new translation of the Homeric epic is a cut above the rest, too), as well as Daniel Mendelssohn on classics and Lucy Coats on Greek myths. Remember, too, that any collection of literature is incomplete without Dante and Russian novels like Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment and Tolstoy’s War and Peace.

Middle English to Shakespeare
Troilus and Criseyde
Canterbury Tales
Shakespeare

Victorian and 19th-Century American Literature
Victorian Fiction
The Gothic
Gothic Fiction
George Eliot
Oscar Wilde
DH Lawrence
Wilkie Collins
Charles Dickens
HG Wells
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Victorian Essays
Sex in Victorian Literature

General: Topics in Literature
Personality Types
Marriage and Divorce in Literature
Psychological Novels
Best Novels in English
Books that Changed the World
Love stories
Motherhood

Romantic Literature
Jane Austen; the alternative Jane Austen
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Greatest Romantic Poems
William and Dorothy Wordsworth
Reading the Romantics

20th-Century British Literature
Modernism
Iris Murdoch
Samuel Beckett
George Orwell
Evelyn Waugh & the Bright Young Things
PG Wodehouse
Agatha Christie
Daphne du Maurier

20th-Century American Literature
African American Literature
American Poetry
Hemingway in Paris
The Great Gatsby
Cormac McCarthy
Sylvia Plath
Vladimir Nabokov
Best American Stories
Essential New York Novels
New York Writers
9/11 Literature

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