What are some great online resources for literature?

In summary, there are many excellent resources available online for literature and language enthusiasts. The Perseus Project, Online Medieval and Classical Literature Library, University of Virginia e-text library, Internet Sacred Text Archive, and Project Gutenberg are just a few of the many sites worth checking out. Additionally, there are resources for constructed languages, study guides, dictionaries of symbolism, and art and history archives. The University of Toronto's Representative Poetry Online and UTEL sites offer a wide range of English poetry from 658-2003AD, while the Brindin site features translations of European verse by skilled translators. Overall, there is a wealth of information and material available online for anyone interested in literature and language.
  • #1
loseyourname
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I have some decent links that are worth sharing.

First off, the Perseus Project is an absolute must-have. You can read the classics in both English translation and in their original Greek, Latin, Sanksrit, or Arabic. The site also includes online versions of many popular lexicons.

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/

The Online Medieval and Classical Literature Library from Berkeley:

http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/ [Broken]

Which links to another favorite site of mine, the University of Virginia e-text library:

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/

From this site comes this page, which has links to collections of western European literature by language:

http://www.lib.virginia.edu/wess/etexts.html

Including my personal favorite, CELT, where you can find many Old Irish texts in English translation and many more in their original Old Irish (there are also some Irish texts in Latin):

http://www.ucc.ie/celt/index.html

A searchable New Testament, in Koine Greek:

http://www.greekbible.com/

The entire King James Bible, in English, from UVa:

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/kjv.browse.html

The definitive Beowulf page, with the full text in Old English and Modern English, with maps and images, fully annotated (you can find a more basic version at any number of sites also linked to here):

http://www.heorot.dk/

Another good resource for anyone reading Beowulf is http://forums.theonering.com/viewtopic2.php?t=85766 [Broken] from the Tolkein Online forums. The thread starter is an Old English scholar that is very helpful, and though the thread never really took off, you could always revive and learn a lot from this guy. On a side note, the One Ring forums are actually a pretty good resource in and of themselves. While there are plenty of Tolkein geeks that don't know the first thing about literature outside of fantasy registered there, there are also some very intelligent and scholarly people who are well-versed on medieval literature. Of course, if you are a Tolkein geek and want to learn some Elvish, there is no better place to start than their language forum.

The Internet Sacred Text Archive:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm

And, of course, the indispensable Project Gutenberg:

http://www.gutenberg.org/

If anybody is interested in constructed languages, both fictional and those designed to be used, this is a great resource, with links to every artificial language imaginable:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/9219/conlib.html

Also, the archives of the CONLANG mailing list:

http://listserv.brown.edu/archives/conlang.html
 
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  • #2
Some of my bookmarks:

http://www.bartleby.com/
Great general resource. They publish lots of public domain literature and reference material. Some especially useful ones for this forum:

http://www.bartleby.com/67/
The Encyclopedia of World History

http://www.bartleby.com/cambridge/
The Cambridge History of English and American Literature

http://www.sparknotes.com/
Another general site for history and literature study guides.
http://www.sparknotes.com/home/histbio/ [Broken]
http://www.sparknotes.com/home/english/ [Broken]

http://www.pinkmonkey.com/index2.asp
Another one with study guides, book notes, etc.

http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/
A dictionary of symbolism. For instance, the entry for 'rose'
"In mythology, the first red roses are said to have arisen from the BLOOD of Adonis for the love of Aphrodite; thus, they have become symbolic of love, and often resurrection. In Christian symbolism, the RED rose stands for the blood shed by Jesus on the CROSS; it has also become a symbol for earthly love, a tradition which continues today. The rose may represent the Virgin Mary, and thus virginity, or fertility and passion. It is beauty and perfection, happiness and grace, yet it is also sensuality and seduction."

http://www.jcsm.org/StudyCenter/kjvstrongs/STRINDEX.htm [Broken]
Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries. Comes in handy when doing Biblical or Ancient Greek Langauge or Mythology research.

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/
The Online Books Page

http://www.yuni.com/library/latin.html
Latin Quotes and Phrases

Some of the better Greek Mythology sites:
http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/index.html [Broken] (my favorite)
http://www.theoi.com/index.htm [Broken]
http://www.pantheon.org/

http://www.artrenewal.org/
One of the best sites for high-quality images of paintings and visual arts (click on Museum).

http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/ [Broken]
"The LoveToKnow Free Online Encyclopedia is based on what many consider to be the best encyclopedia ever written: the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, first published in 1911."

Helpful law and government sites (World and US):
http://www.law.cornell.edu/
http://www.law.cornell.edu/world/ (world)
http://lp.findlaw.com/
http://www.loc.gov/law/guide/nations.html (world)
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html [Broken]
And for the US Constituion, a good place to start:
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/constitution/browse.html [Broken]
 
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  • #3
On this page in post #20 [ the Humanties section] you will find a few anomalous subjects that may be of interest.

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=58374&page=2

Please feel free to post subjects as described in the original post for that thread.
 
  • #4
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  • #5
  • #6
I love this site covering English Poetry from 658-2003AD.

Representative Poetry Online - University of Toronto

http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/index.cfm [Broken]

The main site UTEL (University of Toronto English Library)

http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/
 
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  • #7
For translations of European verse from some 8 centuries and over a dozen languages, what seems like a fairly new or littleknown UK site
http://www.brindin.com/main.htm

Work by over a dozen skilled verse translators is featured. Of particular interest to me is the fact that lyric form is occasionally carried over from the original verse---so that elements of rhythm and rhyme appear in Brindin translations.
 
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  • #8
Wolram found this and as he put it "there are just too many links to mention". This is a great resource for language & texts.

http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/hel/hel.html [Broken]
 
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  • #9
This is a nice website I found that is a good introduction to writing systems. http://www.ancientscripts.com/ I really like the site.

This website has a great number of links to ancient alphabets and writings. http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/1_links.html [Broken]
 
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  • #10
If you are interested in linguistic phenomena and devices, this page on wiki is a great resource, not only does it list schemes and tropes, but it gives a short difinition along with a link to a more detailed description. Nice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech
 
  • #11
http://www.americanantiquarian.org/

The American Antiquarian Society (AAS) is an independent research library founded in 1812 in Worcester, Massachusetts. The library's collections document the life of America's people from the colonial era through the Civil War and Reconstruction. Collections include books, pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, broadsides, manuscripts, music, graphic arts, and local histories.

This is pretty cool! :cool:

http://www.americanantiquarian.org/history.htm
 
  • #12
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  • #13
Stumbled across this while looking for some info on Guy Halsall, who wrote Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376 - 568 (Cambridge Medieval Textbooks)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521435439/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, King's Manor, York YO1 7EP
http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/cms/pubs/pubs.html

Studies in the Early Middle Ages
http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/cms/sem/index.html
 
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  • #14
May 7, 1996
Mummies, Textiles Offer Evidence Of Europeans in Far East
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
In the first millennium A.D., people living at oases along the legendary Silk Road in what is now northwest China wrote in a language quite unlike any other in that part of the world. They used one form of the language in formal Buddhist writings, another for everyday religious and commercial affairs, including caravan passes.

Little was known of these desert people, and nothing of their language, until French and German explorers arrived on the scene at the start of this century. They discovered manuscripts in the now-extinct language, which scholars called Tocharian and later were astonished to learn bore striking similarities to Celtic and Germanic tongues. How did a branch of the Indo-European family of languages come to be in use so long ago in such a distant and seemingly isolated enclave of the Eurasian land mass?

More surprises were in store. In the last two decades, Chinese archeologists digging in the same region, the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang Province, have uncovered more than 100 naturally mummified corpses of people who lived there 4,000 to 2,400 years ago. The bodies were amazingly well preserved by the arid climate, and archeologists could hardly believe what they saw. The long noses and skulls, blond or brown hair, thin lips and deep-set eyes of most of the corpses were all unmistakably Caucasian features -- more specifically, European.

Who were these people? Could they be ancestors of the later inhabitants who had an Indo-European language? Where did these ancient people come from, and when? By reconstructing some of their history, could scholars finally identify the homeland of the original Indo-European speakers?

. . . .
which led me to a great (but expensive) book.

The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (Hardcover)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521243041/?tag=pfamazon01-20

There's a short section on the Scythians, and Scythians is a term used for the Goths.
 
  • #15
Last night, I attended a presentation by David Andelman about his new book, "A Shattered Peace: Versailles 1919 and the Price We Pay Today". Chapter 9½, which is not in the book, is available on-line.

http://www.ashatteredpeace.com/chapter9.html

http://www.ashatteredpeace.com/bio.html
David A. Andelman is Executive Editor of Forbes.com, the world's largest business and financial website. He has served as a domestic and foreign correspondent for The New York Times in various posts in New York and Washington, as Southeast Asia bureau chief, based in Bangkok, then East European bureau chief, based in Belgrade. He then moved to CBS News where he served for seven years as Paris correspondent, traveling through and reporting from 52 countries. There followed service as a Washington correspondent for CNBC, news editor of Bloomberg News and Business Editor of the New York Daily News.
He's a really nice guy.

Andelman is one of many students of Ernest May at Harvard.

Unfortunately, May passed away in June.
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/news/articles/ernest-may-obituary-june09
 
  • #17
Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society
Contents Pages for Vols. 1 - 10 (1876 - 1886)

http://www.bgas.org.uk/tbgas/bgc001.htm [Broken]

Contents Pages for Vols. 11 - 20 (1887 - 1895)
http://www.bgas.org.uk/tbgas/bgc011.htm [Broken]

Contents Pages for Vols. 21 - 30 (1896 - 1907)
http://www.bgas.org.uk/tbgas/bgc021.htm [Broken]

or just keep hitting the 'Next' button
 
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  • #20
  • #21
Resources on Roman law

THe Roman Law Library is an excellent resource, the linguistically accessible parts being sub-forums 18&20
http://webu2.upmf-grenoble.fr/Haiti/Cours/Ak/
No. 18, Lingua Anglica, contains translated laws spanning 1600 years, from the Laws of the Kings from 8th century BC to (Byzantine) Emperor Leo around 900 AD

This contains the entire Corpus Juris Civilis by Justinian, in the unfortunate translation of Scott.

No.20 contains a huge amount of scholarly works, mainly from the 19th century.


For the Codex Justinianus, the collection of imperial edicts, there exists a much better online source, namely Justice Bluhme's translation:
http://uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/blume%26justinian/ [Broken]
 
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  • #22
In my second/next life, I'd like to find time to read some of these books.

I was really impressed with the university library at Salamanca where there was a special climate controlled room for books from at least the 15th century, and maybe earlier.
 
  • #23
Astronuc said:
In my second/next life, I'd like to find time to read some of these books.
I know. Having just one life is unfair..:frown:
I was really impressed with the university library at Salamanca where there was a special climate controlled room for books from at least the 15th century, and maybe earlier.
Sounds better than Ali Baba's cave of treasures to me! :smile:
 
  • #24
From the Northern Way

http://www.northvegr.org/old%20icelandic%20old%20english%20texts/heliand%20in%20old%20saxon/index.html

http://www.northvegr.org/old%20icelandic%20old%20english%20texts/selected%20corpus%20of%20anglo%20saxon%20poetry/index.html
 
  • #25
My Old Saxon has become a bit rusty, Astronuc, but thanks anyway! :smile:
 

What are some great online resources for literature?

1. What are some popular online databases for literary works?

Some popular online databases for literary works include JSTOR, Project Gutenberg, and Google Books. These databases contain a wide range of literary works from various time periods and genres.

2. Are there any websites specifically for finding literary analysis and criticism?

Yes, there are several websites dedicated to providing literary analysis and criticism, such as SparkNotes, Shmoop, and Literary Hub. These websites offer in-depth analyses of classic and contemporary works, as well as author interviews and articles on literary trends.

3. Can I access academic journals and articles about literature online?

Yes, many academic journals and articles about literature can be accessed online through databases like JSTOR, Project MUSE, and ProQuest. These databases require a subscription or membership, but offer a wealth of scholarly resources on literature.

4. Are there any online communities for discussing and sharing literature?

Yes, there are many online communities for literature enthusiasts, such as Goodreads, LibraryThing, and Reddit's r/books. These platforms allow users to discuss and review books, as well as participate in book clubs and reading challenges.

5. Can I find free e-books and audiobooks of literary works online?

Yes, there are several websites that offer free e-books and audiobooks of literary works, such as Project Gutenberg, Open Library, and LibriVox. These resources are a great way to access classic and contemporary literature for free.

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