Raquel Washington: Assignment 3

Assignment 3: MLA and WorldCat Author/Topic Search

I began my bibliographical search of William Cowper’s “The Task”, by visiting both the MLA International Bibliography and the WorldCat databases. While using the MLA International Bibliography database, I found it most useful to simply use “‘Cowper, William’” as the keyword. My search resulted in 297 results. This site provided me with a good amount of useful information as most of the information that I found useful on this subject are a product of my results on this site. However, while using the WorldCat database, I did not have the same amount of information provided to me. In fact, I found double as much information on MLA International Bibliography as I found on WorldCat. I received 76 results while using WorldCat, I used the search parameters: “Cowper” as the keyword and “The Task” as the Title. I would say that the search on MLA International Bibliography was more productive search than the search on WorldCat, not just because of the difference in the volumes of information that I received, but because of the amount of useful information that I found from that database. However, once I limited the search results to publications between the years of 1993-2007, I lost approximately 60% of my articles on both databases. This leads me to suspect that there has not been much recent literary studies done on this subject.

I decided upon the topic that I wanted to research by skimming through the titles of the journals listed to see if there were any recurring themes. I chose Cowper and feminine representation. I did not come across any authors that I recognized from the other bibliographic research assignment. Many of the articles that I choose to list are because their titles simply caught my eye. However, my ultimate determining factor for inclusion in my bibliography list was to use articles that used The Task as its primary text.

Bibliography List

Gilman, Priscilla. “William Cowper and the ‘Taste of Critic Appetite’”. ELH 70 (2003): 89-115.

Heller, Deborah. “Cowper’s Task and the Writings of a Poet’s Salvation”. Studies in English Language 1500-1900 35 (1995): 575-98.

Johnston, Freya. “William Cowper, The Task”. A Companion to Eighteenth Century Poetry. Ed. Christine Gerrard. Malden: Massachusetts, 2006. 316-28.

Leigh, David. “Cowper, Wordsworth, and the Sacred Moment of Perception”. The Fountain Light: Studies in Romanticism and Religion in Honor of John L. Mahoney Ed. Robert J. Barth. New York: New York, 2002. 54-72.

Newey, Vincent. “Existing at the Margins: A Double Echo of Cowper in Clare” Notes and Queries 54 (2007): 148-49.

Paxman, David. “Failure as Authority: Poetic Voices and the Muse of Grace in William Cowper’s The Task.” Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era 5 (2000): 203-242.

Yamanouchi, Hisaaki. “The Fair Commands the Song: William Cowper and Women.” Wordsworth Circle 32 (2001): 101-06.