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Poem Locator


  1. Search the GRANGER'S WORLD OF POETRY database.
    • The online version of Granger's now includes 13,000 full-text poems and 250,000 references to poems in collections. Most of the full-text poems are in public domain. While this database is not large, the search capability is sophisticated.
  2. Do an Internet search on GOOGLE (or whatever search engine you prefer).
    • People LOVE to post their favorite poems on their websites, whether in public domain or not. If the patron remembers a few lines of the poem, it's generally best to search (in quotes) for one or two distinctive phrases, perhaps two or three words each, rather than typing in a whole line of verse. Chances are that one or more of the words the patron recalls is wrong-but which words? Try a few different combinations of words and phrases, and you may get lucky! The Internet is a particularly good source for "Ann Landers" - type poems that are hard to locate elsewhere.
  3. Call the LITERATURE/FICTION DEPARTMENT at (213) 228-7345, and we will be glad to check:
    • Older print editions of Granger's back to 1904.
    • Concordances to the complete works of most major poets (in order to verify that a poem is NOT by T. S. Eliot, for example).
    • Our in-house collection of "popular" poetry and recitations compiled over the years (example: three versions of Rudyard Kipling's "If" rewritten for girls).

 

Source URL: http://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/research-guides/poem-locator