Finding Themes in Novels, Plays, Poetry, and Short Stories
A CDS Library Helpsheet
Poetry:
Thematic Guide to American Poetry REF 811 Bur 2002
21 essays on various themes and how the theme is treated in individual poems (86 poets are represented). Table of contents: -- Introduction -- Art and Beauty -- Civilization -- Family Relations -- Freedom and Slavery -- The Individual and Society -- Innocence and Experience -- Life and Death -- Loss -- Love and Sex -- Memory -- Nature -- Obligations and Choices -- Poetry -- The Self -- Skepticism and Belief -- Suffering and Joy - Thought and Perception -- Time and Change -- Tradition and Heritage -- Truth and Appearance -- War -- Appendix: Biographical Sketches -- Bibliography -- Index
Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry REF 808.81 FRA (CDS Library reference book)
The last index in the book is a subject index. Under each subject is a list of authors and the poems they have written about that subject.
Poetry for Students REF 808.1 POE (CDS Library reference set)
has a Subject/Theme index in each volume. Beware: the index only covers the poetry analyzed in that particular volume!
Books for You: An Annotated Booklist for Senior High
Please see the description in the Novels section.
Chadwyck-Healey Literature Collections
Available from the NC Live databases ( www.nclive.org ). Several databases there have full texts of poems you may not find easily available elsewhere. Databases include: The Faber Poetry Library (20 th century), American Poetry (1600-1900), English Poetry (600-1900), African-American Poetry (1750-1900), 20 th Century African-American Poetry, 20 th Century American Poetry, and 20 th Century English Poetry. You can't search by subject, but once you've found an author or a title of a work, try it here. To get there, once you log into NC Live, choose Browse Resources - Alphabetic . Click on any Chadwyck-Healey database to take you to their home page. You will then have the above databases (among others) to choose from.
Subject/Theme
.The following poetry anthologies in the CDS Library are arranged by theme/subject, have a theme/subject index in the back, or have themes/subjects listed in the table of contents: The Home Book of Modern Verse. 821.08 STE
Poetry Browse
You may wish to browse through the many books of poetry we have in collections or by individual poets. Generally, the poetry is found in 811 (American) or 821 (British), with poetry of other nationalities found in their respective literature sections (ask the librarian for help or look on the catalogue).
The Internet Public Library
Please find the URL and description in the Novels section.
Short Stories:
Critical Survey of Short Fiction REF 809.3 Cri (CDS Library reference set)
One of the indexes in the last volume is by Category (be careful to go to that one rather than the Subject index, which will not be terribly helpful). The seven-volume set is organized by author and discusses authors' selected short stories. The last volume also contains long essays about various forms and types of the short story.
Thematic Guide to Popular Short Stories REF 809.3 The 2002 ( CDS Reference book )
The Index of Themes begins on page 313.
Books for You: An Annotated Booklist for Senior High
Please see the description in the Novels section.
Facts on File Companion to the American Short Story REF 813 FAC 2000 ( CDS Reference book )
Appendix II (page 512) is "Suggested Readings by Theme and Topic." You may then look up the author or short story (not all short stories have their own entries, though) in the main part of the book for more information.
Short Story Index (UNC-A Library reference book)
UNCA has the index from 1900-1978 (REFERENCE PN3311.B1 S561 1900/78). The index does not contain the short stories, but only tells you which books and periodicals contain the stories.
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The Internet Public Library
Please find the URL and description in the Novels section.
Novels:
Thematic guide to the American Novel Ref 813.009 Ada 2002 ( CDS Reference book )
Check the table of contents for your theme (there are fifty listed), then turn to the essay which discusses the theme in three commonly taught American novels and lists other novels that also contain the theme. Don't miss Appendix A which lists fifteen additional themes and novels. Appendix B lists the 150 novels discussed in the essays along with secondary themes.
Fiction Catalog REF 016.808 Fic 2001 (CDS Library reference book)
lists novels by subject in its Subject Index toward the back of the book. Watch for the paperback supplements that update the original volume.
Senior High School Library Catalog REF 011.62 Yaa 2002 (CDS Library reference book)
has an index that includes subjects of nonfiction, story collections, and plays.
Novels for Students REF 809 TEL (CDS Library reference set)
has a Subject/Theme index in each volume. Beware: the index only covers the novels analyzed in that particular volume!
Critical Survey of Long Fiction REF 809.3 Cri 2000 (CDS Library reference set)
One of the indexes in the last volume is by subject. Organized by author, the set discusses authors' selected novels. The last volume also contains long essays about various forms and types of the novel.
500 Great Books by Women: A Reader's Guide REF 016.305 Bau 1994
Check the Table of Contents for the list of 21 themes (such as "Power" or "Growing Old").
Books for You: An Annotated Booklist for Senior High REF 011.62 Boo 1997 (CDS Library reference)
Contains short descriptions of works published from 1994-1996 in general categories, such as Romance or Family Relationships . Two of the categories are Short Stories and Poetry and Drama . The real value for this assignment is the detailed subject index in the back.
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction REF 809.3 Enc 1995
Check this one-volume encyclopedia for your theme. If you find an entry, it will list works and authors that deal with it.
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NoveList (Online database, NCLive.org)
Database available at www.nclive.org (you must have a public library card and call the reference desk for the password to nclive, which changes several times a year).
Choose Start, then "Describe a Plot," check "Adult," and type in your topic or subject.
You can also choose a particular book and ask NoveList to give you a list of books similar to your book.
Hennepin County Library: http://catalog.hclib.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?profile=elibrary#focus
The Hennepin County Library is famous for the completeness of its cataloguing (most libraries and cataloguing services do not assign subjects to fiction). Search the catalogue by using the keyword option . For novels about vampires, for example, type vampire fiction in the ANYWHERE box (when I last searched, the catalogue returned over 200 titles). Political corruption fiction returned over 60 titles.
Be flexible with your search terms: scientific research fiction returns just a few items, but science research fiction returns many more.
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The Internet Public Library
Having trouble locating a work in the proper time period for the assignment? Try these two sections of the IPL: Information is organized by country and century, as well as by author and type.
Literary Criticism section: http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/
Literature by Time Period Section : http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/hum60.40.00/
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CDS Library Catalogue
Try your subject or theme as a keyword in the catalogue.
Online Booksellers
Try your theme at Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble, where you can search their databases by subject or put in the title of a book you already know and search by the subjects assigned to that book.
Plays:
Thematic Guide to Modern Drama REF 809.2 Abb 2003 (CDS reference book)
Check the index for one of the thirty-three themes listed (such as "Growing Up," "Death," "Work," "Sibling Relationships," etc. Each theme has an essay in which three plays dealing with the theme are discussed in detail, followed by a list of other related works.
Books for You: An Annotated Booklist for Senior High
Please see the description in the Novels section above.
The Play Index (UNC-A Library reference book)
Indexes plays by subject (among other things) from 1949. Available at UNCA (call number PN1600.5.B1 P53). A short summary of the play is under the author entry.
Dramatists Play Service http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/search.asp
You can search this play publisher's catalog by keyword in The Playfinder (it will return only plays published by Dramatists, though!). Type your topic in the keyword space (note that other limiters are available).
The Internet Public Library
Please find the URL and description in the Novels section.
Essays:
Available from the library's web page. Ask at the library for the username and password. Many current social issues are listed on the front page. You can try other searches by keyword. Other databases may also be helpful, such as The Student Resource Center or LexisNexis , also available on the library's web page. .
CDS Catalog :
You can find books of essays on the CDS catalog. Just typing in essays as a keyword brings up almost 500 entries. Sort these by clicking on Call Number at the top left of the screen. You'll then have the list sorted pretty much by topic.
There may be entire books of essays about your topic. You might also just try your topic as a keyword search on the catalogue, sort by call number, and see what turns up!
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Try an "expanded search" by combining your topic and essays as keywords. You may find a book of essays with your topic as one of the essays within. If you're not certain how to perform an expanded search, ask the librarian!
Essay and General Literature Index (UNC-A Library reference book)
Available at UNCA (call number: REFERENCE PN6010.5.B1 E87). Indexes essays in books and other sources beginning in 1900. The essays are not in the index! You must then see if the library owns the book or periodical in which the essay appeared.
revised .K. St. Clair 4-08