Could someone tell me some definitive guides for an English student?

Question

I am currently looking at Norton Introduction to Poetry (I believe thats what it is called) and I'm also looking for a good guide to major works of literature. Should I choose Norton for this too? I'm also looking for a guide to Literary Criticism. I have a few different reccommendations from Profs, but I wanted other people's opinions.

Answer 1

The Norton Anthologies are all excellent books to accompany your reading, I am an English Literature graduate and I have several volumes. A good book for literary theory would be David Lodge's Modern Criticism and Theory. I have posted a link to it below. It's roughly 300 pages long and very, very readable.

Answer 2

The Norton Poetry is an excellent compilation. I still use it 20 years after finishing study.
I had the Norton anthology of American Lit, and I thought that was good; I don't know the general guide.

There's never any substitute for reading more by certain authors than you'll find in a guide.

I'm 20 years out of date with litcrit; I won't offend you by speculating. Simeon Potter wrote an excellent history of English Lit.

Answer 3

try Norton's masterpieces of world literature.
also Tolkien (lord of the rings) did a lot of literary criticism... read his work.