English Language and Literature 

Go to the stacks and browse around the area where the original title is shelved - you just might find other materials on the same subject!

Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century
Drexel Library Book Shelves (2nd floor) PS316.E53 1998
This volume offers lengthy discussions of important figures and genres in 19th century American poetry.  Entries tend to include biographical information, supplemented by discussions of the style of their poetry – researchers looking for information on critical reception should look elsewhere. 

Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook
Drexel Library Book Shelves (2nd floor) PS217.W64 N56 1997
Each entry in this volume containsbrief sections on Biographical Information, Major Works and Themes and Critical Reception, which covers their treatment in critical circles during the author's life and through to the mid- to late-20th century.  A bibliography of the writer’s publications, and suggestions for further reading at the end of each entry will prove helpful for the more thorough researcher.

The Unwritten War: American Writers and the Civil War
Drexel Library Book Shelves (2nd floor) PS217.C58 A27 1987
This book collects essays examining Civil War writing by those who fought, observed, or discussed the war.  The volume has twenty chapters that focus on particular writers and their concept of the war.  It will be useful for all researchers, beginners to scholars.

Transient and Permanent: The Transcendentalist Movement and Its Contexts
Drexel Library Book Shelves (2nd floor) PS217.T7 T75 1999
This large volume includes essays that span discussion of the 19th century transcendentalist movement, and its relation to American cultural changes.  Poets, essayists and artists are all included within the discussions, and Thoreau and Emerson get especially thorough treatment.

The Cambridge Companion to American Realism and Naturalism  (in Cambridge Collections Online)
This volume explores the genres of Realism and Naturalism through discussions of specific works of fiction and their place within American literary history while also challenging and defining the literary terms that make up such genres.  Chapters on Historical Contexts and Contemporary Critical Issues are followed by particular case studies.