Every English Poem Ever Written

Chadwyck-Healy Ltd., a Cambridge England academic publisher, is compiling 4,500 volumes of works by 1,350 English poets onto four CD-ROMs to speed poetic research. The collection, designed to be viewed on PC compatibles, includes children's verses, pre-1800 hymns, and even obscure poems, all dating from 600 to 1900 A.D.

Fully cross-indexed, the disks may be searched in a variety of ways, including author, individual works, phrases, or date of publication. Chadwyck-Healy says that should facilitate new scholarship, such as tracing the deployment of specific images and metaphors. Traditionally, poetry indexing has cited only opening lines. The disks also may help schools improve their libraries' poetry collections and save space.

But even the most avid poetry fans are not likely to acquire the disks for their home use, the introductory price is £22,000 or about $38,000.

{Business Week, Sept 16, 1991}