In my 15 years as an educator, poet, and poetry community webmaster, I know the pains and purgatory of poetry research. So many poetry sites these days result in dead links, pop-up prison, or supply only a chunk of the information you seek. Read on to learn how I made sense of the poetry research jungle.
As founder and creator of World of Poets dot com, I realized early on that my poets deserved the best possible poetry features. So, I created two poetry sites in one:
a. An Online Poetry Community—this is the section my poets can post their works, receive and submit reviews, qualify for contests, promote their own publications, chat, win awards, etc. It's a fun and lively bunch.
b. An Online Poetry Database—Links to over 1,300 poetry research resources. And every link—at publication—works!
This is where my methodologies may come into play for you. First, I decided on many different poetry categories. Second, I copied as many poetry links as possible. Third, I then clicked on each and every link—I think I ended up with over 5,000—to verify its web presence. Last, I identified the quality of the content, the presence or absence of pop-ups or ads, and then I chose the 1,300 or so best ones. This took me over two years to accomplish.
Here are the categories with a brief description of each:
1. Poetry Devices—I ended up finding about 80 different ones.
2. Poetry Forms—I am sure there are more, but I link to 78.
3. Poetry Articles—Talk about nearly impossible, but I managed to find 60 or so quality sources, and I am always looking for more.
4. History Of American Literature—From Colonial Times to Contemporary time, I managed to link to one place for everything.
5. Timeline Of English Literature—Not quite as in depth as the American Literature section, but it lists every major event.
6. History Of Poetry—Do you know how to spell Wikipedia?
7. Poetry Movements—Even to someone with my experience, I was surprised to find over 60! I think I got the complete history of them all.
8. Poetry Magazines, Ezines, Journals—I am sure there are many, many more, but with 370 WORKING links, I am proud of this section.
9. Poets Through History—Here is where I had to choose different poets to profile and to link for further research, I broke them down as follows:
a. Classic Poets—105 links to poems, history, and research.
b. Modern Poets—115 links to poems, history, and research.
c. Contemporary Poets—115 links to poems, history, and research.
d. World Poets—50 links to biographies. As many works not in English.
e. American Poet Laureates—Cool section profiling all the American Poets Laureates throughout its history.
10. Best American Poetry Series—With links to over 1,500 of the best American poems and their poets since 1988, this is a great resource.
11. Best Resources—50 of the internets BEST poetry research sites.
12. Tools of The Trade—120 links to categories I broke down as follows:
a. Copyrighting and Publishing—real publishers.
b. Libraries and Collections—incredible database within a database.
c. Bookstores and Booksellers—anyone of importance here.
d. General Reference—20 quality reference guides.
e. Rhyming Dictionaries and Thesauri—20 different ones!
f. Esteemed Contest Sites—literary contests, not scams and rip-offs.
g. Poetry Fun—20 fun places to discover poetry, many for children.
h. A World Of Dictionaries—20 different types of dictionaries.
i. Etymology and Origins—20 places for linguistic study.
j. A World Of Encyclopedias—20 different ones.
k. Quotable Quotes—if you need a quote, look no further.
I would like to remind you that finding links to poetry research is not that difficult. However, finding quality, content-driven, active links, without pop-ups and eternal link purgatory, is quite another story. I approximate that I sifted through over 5,000 links to get the 1,300 superior links I provide my members.
Bottom Line: Check out the World of Poets dot com Poetry Database, and you will never use another source for your poetry research, ever.
About Author:
Rob Levasseur is a former English Teacher, published poet, owner, creator, and operator of WorldofP an online poetry writing community built for, and by, its online poets. For Poetry Contest, visit
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