Many authors will use quotations from literature as the title
for their works. This may be done as a conscious allusion to the
themes of the older work or simply because the phrase seems
memorable. The following is a partial list of book titles
taken from literature. It does not include phrases altered
for parody. (Titles taken from works by William
Shakespeare do not appear here: see List
of titles of works based on Shakespearean phrases.)
| Work |
Author |
Literary Reference |
| Absalom, Absalom! |
William
Faulkner |
2
Samuel 19:4 |
| A che punto è la notte |
Carlo
Fruttero and Franco Lucentini
(literally, "At which point is the night") |
Book of
Isaiah 21:11 |
| After
Many a Summer Dies the Swan |
Aldous
Huxley |
Tithonus, Alfred,
Lord Tennyson |
| Ah,
Wilderness! |
Eugene
O'Neill |
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam,
trans. Edward FitzGerald |
| Alien Corn (play) |
Sidney
Howard |
Ode to a Nightingale, John Keats |
| The Alien Corn (short story) |
W.
Somerset Maugham |
Ode to a Nightingale, John Keats |
| All
Passion Spent |
Vita
Sackville-West |
Samson
Agonistes, John
Milton |
| All the King's Men |
Robert
Penn Warren |
Humpty
Dumpty |
| Alone on a Wide, Wide
Sea |
Michael
Morpurgo |
The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge |
| An
Acceptable Time |
Madeleine L'Engle |
Psalms 66:13 |
| Antic
Hay |
Aldous
Huxley |
Edward
II, Christopher Marlowe |
| An Evil Cradling |
Brian Keenan |
Qur'an 13:18,
Arthur
John Arberry translation |
| Arms
and the Man |
George Bernard Shaw |
The Aeneid, Virgil |
| As I Lay Dying |
William
Faulkner |
The Odyssey, Homer |
| A Time to
Kill |
John
Grisham |
Ecclesiastes 3:3 |
| Behold the
Man |
Michael
Moorcock |
Gospel of
John 19:5 |
| Beneath the Bleeding |
Val
McDermid |
East
Coker, T. S.
Eliot |
| Beyond the Mexique Bay |
Aldous
Huxley |
Bermudas, Andrew Marvell |
| Blithe Spirit |
Noel Coward |
To a
Skylark, Percy Bysshe Shelley |
| Blood's a Rover |
James
Ellroy |
Reveille, A.E. Housman |
| Bonjour Tristesse |
Françoise Sagan |
À Peine Défigurée, Paul Éluard |
| Brandy of the Damned |
Colin
Wilson |
Man
and Superman, George Bernard Shaw |
| Bury My Heart at Wounded
Knee |
Dee Brown |
American Names, Stephen Vincent Benét |
| Butter In a
Lordly Dish |
Agatha
Christie |
Book of
Judges 5:25 |
| Cabbages and Kings |
O. Henry |
The Walrus and the
Carpenter, Lewis Carroll |
| Clouds of Witness |
Dorothy
L. Sayers |
Epistle to the Hebrews 12:1 |
| A Confederacy of
Dunces |
John
Kennedy Toole |
Thoughts
on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting, Jonathan
Swift |
| Consider Phlebas |
Iain M. Banks |
The Waste
Land, T. S.
Eliot |
| Consider the Lilies |
Iain
Crichton Smith |
Gospel of Matthew 6:28 |
| Cover Her
Face |
P. D. James |
The Duchess of Malfi, John Webster |
| The Cricket on the
Hearth |
Charles
Dickens |
Il
Penseroso, John
Milton |
| The
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time |
Mark Haddon |
Silver
Blaze, Arthur Conan Doyle |
| The Daffodil Sky |
H. E. Bates |
Maud, Alfred, Lord Tennyson |
| A
Darkling Plain |
Philip
Reeve |
Dover
Beach, Matthew Arnold |
| Death Be Not Proud |
John
Gunther |
Holy
Sonnets X, John
Donne |
| The Doors of
Perception |
Aldous
Huxley |
The Marriage of Heaven and
Hell, William Blake |
| Down to a Sunless Sea |
David Graham |
Kubla
Khan, Samuel Taylor Coleridge |
| Dulce et Decorum Est |
Wilfred
Owen |
Odes iii 2.13, Horace |
| Dying of the Light |
George R. R. Martin |
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Dylan Thomas |
| East of Eden |
John
Steinbeck |
Genesis 4:16 |
| Ego
Dominus Tuus |
William Butler Yeats |
La Vita
Nuova Dante |
| Endless
Night |
Agatha
Christie |
Auguries of Innocence William Blake |
| Everything is
Illuminated |
Jonathan Safran Foer |
The Unbearable Lightness
of Being Milan
Kundera |
| Eyeless
in Gaza |
Aldous
Huxley |
Samson
Agonistes, John
Milton |
| Fair Stood the Wind for
France |
H. E. Bates |
Ballad of Agincourt, Michael Drayton |
| Fame Is the
Spur |
Howard
Spring |
Lycidas, John Milton |
| A Fanatic Heart |
Edna
O'Brien |
Remorse for Intemperate
Speech, William Butler Yeats |
| The Far-Distant Oxus |
Katharine Hull and Pamela Whitlock |
Sohrab and Rustum, Matthew
Arnold |
| Far From the
Madding Crowd |
Thomas
Hardy |
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,
Thomas Gray |
| Fear and Trembling |
Søren Kierkegaard |
Philippians
2:12 |
| For a Breath I Tarry |
Roger
Zelazny |
A
Shropshire Lad, A. E. Housman |
| For Whom the Bell
Tolls |
Ernest
Hemingway |
Meditation XVII, John Donne |
| A Glass of Blessings |
Barbara Pym |
The Pully, George Herbert |
| The Glory and the
Dream |
William Manchester |
William Wordsworth, Ode:
Intimations of Immortality |
| The Golden Apples of the
Sun |
Ray
Bradbury |
The Song of the Wandering Angus, W. B.
Yeats |
| The
Golden Bowl |
Henry James |
Ecclesiastes
12:6 |
| Gone with the Wind |
Margaret
Mitchell |
Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae, Ernest Dowson |
| The Grapes of Wrath |
John
Steinbeck |
The Battle Hymn of the
Republic, Julia Ward Howe |
| Great Work of Time |
John
Crowley |
Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland, Andrew
Marvell |
| The Green Bay Tree |
Louis
Bromfield |
Psalms 37:35 |
| A
Handful of Dust |
Evelyn
Waugh |
The Waste
Land, T. S.
Eliot |
| Have
His Carcase |
Dorothy
L. Sayers |
The Iliad, Homer (William Cowper's translation) |
| The Heart Is a Lonely
Hunter |
Carson
McCullers |
The Lonely Hunter, William Sharp |
| The Heart
Is Deceitful Above All Things |
JT LeRoy |
Jeremiah 17:9 |
| His Dark Materials |
Philip
Pullman |
Paradise
Lost, John
Milton |
| The House of Mirth |
Edith
Wharton |
Ecclesiastes
7:4 |
| How Sleep the Brave |
H. E. Bates |
How Sleep the Brave, William Collins |
| If I Forget Thee
Jerusalem |
William
Faulkner |
Psalms 137:5 |
| If
Not Now, When? |
Primo Levi |
Pirkei
Avot 1:13 |
| In Death
Ground |
David Weber
& Steve White |
The Art of
War, Sun Tzu |
| In
Dubious Battle |
John
Steinbeck |
Paradise
Lost, John
Milton |
| I Know Why the Caged Bird
Sings |
Maya
Angelou |
Sympathy, Paul Laurence Dunbar |
| In a Dry
Season |
Peter Robinson |
Gerontion,
by T. S. Eliot |
| An Instant In The Wind |
André
Brink |
The
Broken Tower, Hart Crane |
| I Sing the Body
Electric |
Ray
Bradbury |
Leaves
of Grass, Walt Whitman |
| I Will Fear No Evil |
Robert
A. Heinlein |
Psalms 23:4 |
| O
Jerusalem! |
Dominique Lapierre and Larry
Collins |
Psalms 137:5 |
| Jesting Pilate |
Aldous
Huxley |
Of Truth, Francis Bacon |
| The Last Temptation |
Val
McDermid |
Murder in the Cathedral,
T. S. Eliot |
| The Lathe of Heaven |
Ursula
K. Le Guin |
Zhuangzi, Book XXIII,
paragraph 7 |
| Let Us Now Praise Famous
Men |
James Agee |
Ecclesiastes 44:1 |
| Lilies of the Field |
William Edmund Barrett |
Matthew 6:28 |
| This Lime Tree Bower |
Conor
McPherson |
This Lime-Tree Bower My
Prison, Samuel Taylor Coleridge |
| The Line of Beauty |
Alan
Hollinghurst |
The Analysis of Beauty, William
Hogarth |
| The
Little Foxes |
Lillian
Hellman |
Song of
Songs 2:15 |
| Look Homeward, Angel |
Thomas
Wolfe |
Lycidas, John Milton |
| Look
to Windward |
Iain M. Banks |
The Waste
Land, T. S.
Eliot |
| Many
Waters |
Madeleine L'Engle |
Song of
Songs 8:7 |
| A Many-Splendoured
Thing |
Han Suyin |
The Kingdom of God, Francis Thompson |
| The Mermaids Singing |
Val
McDermid |
The Love Song of J.
Alfred Prufrock, T. S. Eliot |
| The Mirror Crack'd
from Side to Side |
Agatha
Christie |
The Lady of Shalott, Alfred,
Lord Tennyson |
| Moab Is My Washpot |
Stephen Fry |
Psalms 60:8 |
| The Monkey's Raincoat |
Robert
Crais |
The Monkey's Raincoat, Matsuo
Bashō |
| A Monstrous Regiment of
Women |
Laurie R.
King |
The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of
Women, John
Knox |
| The
Moon by Night |
Madeleine L'Engle |
Psalms 121:6 |
| Mother
Night |
Kurt
Vonnegut |
Faust Part One, Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe |
| The
Moving Finger |
Agatha
Christie |
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam,
trans. Edward FitzGerald |
| Mr
Standfast |
John Buchan |
Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan |
| Nectar in a Sieve |
Kamala
Markandaya |
Work Without Hope, Samuel
Coleridge |
| No Country for Old Men |
Cormac
McCarthy |
Sailing to Byzantium, William
Butler Yeats |
| No
Highway |
Nevil Shute |
The Wanderer, John Masefield |
| Noli Me Tangere |
José
Rizal |
John 20:17 |
| No
Longer at Ease |
Chinua
Achebe |
The Journey of the Magi,
T. S. Eliot |
| Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal |
H. E. Bates |
Now Sleeps the Crimson
Petal, Alfred, Lord Tennyson |
| Number
the Stars |
Lois Lowry |
Psalms 147:4 |
| Of
Human Bondage |
W.
Somerset Maugham |
Ethics, Baruch Spinoza |
| Of Mice
and Men |
John
Steinbeck |
To a
Mouse, Robert
Burns |
| Oh! To be in England |
H. E. Bates |
Home Thoughts, From Abroad, Robert Browning |
| The Other Side of Silence |
André
Brink |
Middlemarch, George Eliot |
| The Painted Veil |
W.
Somerset Maugham |
Lift Not The Painted Veil Which Those Who Live, sonnet
by Percy Bysshe Shelley |
| The Parliament of Man |
Paul
Kennedy |
Locksley
Hall, Alfred Lord
Tennyson |
| Paths of
Glory |
Humphrey
Cobb |
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,
Thomas Gray |
| A
Passage to India |
E. M.
Forster |
Leaves
of Grass, Walt Whitman |
| O
Pioneers! |
Willa
Cather |
Pioneers! O Pioneers!, Walt Whitman |
| Postern
of Fate |
Agatha
Christie |
Gates of Damascus, James Elroy Flecker |
| Precious
Bane |
Mary Webb |
Paradise
Lost, John
Milton |
| The
Proper Study |
Isaac
Asimov |
An Essay
on Man, Alexander Pope |
| Quo
Vadis |
Henryk
Sienkiewicz |
John 13:36 |
| Recalled to Life |
Reginald
Hill |
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles
Dickens |
| Recalled to Life |
Robert
Silverberg |
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles
Dickens |
| Ring of Bright Water |
Gavin
Maxwell |
The Marriage of Psyche, Kathleen Raine |
| The Road
Less Traveled |
M. Scott
Peck |
The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost |
| Shall not Perish |
William
Faulkner |
Gettysburg Address, Abraham
Lincoln |
| The Skull Beneath the
Skin |
P. D. James |
Whispers of Immortality, T. S. Eliot |
| The Soldier's Art |
Anthony
Powell |
Childe Roland to the
Dark Tower Came, Robert Browning |
| Some Buried Caesar |
Rex Stout |
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam,
trans. Edward FitzGerald |
| Specimen
Days |
Michael Cunningham |
Walt
Whitman's prosework |
| The Stars' Tennis
Balls |
Stephen Fry |
The Duchess of Malfi, John Webster |
| Stranger in a Strange
Land |
Robert
A. Heinlein |
Exodus 2:22 |
| Such, Such Were the
Joys |
George
Orwell |
The
Echoing Green, William Blake |
| The Sun Also Rises |
Ernest
Hemingway |
Ecclesiastes
1:5 |
| Surprised by Joy |
C. S. Lewis |
Surprised by Joy, William Wordsworth |
| A Swiftly Tilting
Planet |
Madeleine L'Engle |
Morning Song of Senlin, Conrad Aiken |
| Tender Is the Night |
F.
Scott Fitzgerald |
Ode to a Nightingale, John Keats |
| Terrible Swift Sword |
Bruce
Catton |
The Battle Hymn of the
Republic, Julia Ward Howe |
| That
Good Night |
NJ
Crisp |
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Dylan Thomas |
| Things Fall Apart |
Chinua
Achebe |
The Second Coming, William
Butler Yeats |
| This Side of Paradise |
F.
Scott Fitzgerald |
Tiare Tahiti, Rupert Brooke |
| The Torment of Others |
Val
McDermid |
The
Dry Salvages, T. S. Eliot |
| Those Barren Leaves |
Aldous
Huxley |
The
Tables Turned, William Wordsworth |
| Thrones, Dominations |
Dorothy
L. Sayers |
Paradise
Lost, John
Milton |
| Tiger! Tiger! - alternative title of The Stars My
Destination |
Alfred
Bester |
The Tyger,
William
Blake |
| Tiger! Tiger! |
Rudyard
Kipling short story |
The Tyger,
William
Blake |
| A Time of Gifts |
Patrick Leigh Fermor |
Twelfth night, Louis MacNeice |
| Time of our Darkness |
Stephen Gray |
For the Fallen, Laurence
Binyon |
| Time To Murder And Create |
Lawrence
Block |
The Love Song of J.
Alfred Prufrock, T. S. Eliot |
| To a
God Unknown |
John
Steinbeck |
Rig Veda Book X |
| To Sail Beyond the
Sunset |
Robert
A. Heinlein |
Ulysses, Alfred Lord Tennyson |
| To Say Nothing of the
Dog |
Connie
Willis |
Three Men in a Boat, Jerome K.
Jerome |
| Vanity Fair |
William Makepeace
Thackeray |
The Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan |
| Vile
Bodies |
Evelyn
Waugh |
Philippians
3:21 |
| The Violent Bear It
Away |
Flannery O'Connor |
Matthew 11:12 (Douay
translation) |
| Waiting for the
Barbarians |
J.M. Coetzee |
Waiting for the
Barbarians, Constantine P. Cavafy |
| The Waste
Land |
T. S. Eliot |
From Ritual to Romance, Jessie L. Weston |
| The Way of All Flesh |
Samuel
Butler |
Joshua 23:14 (as
rephrased in Wesley's Notes) |
| The Way Through the
Woods |
Colin
Dexter |
The Way Through the Woods, Rudyard Kipling |
| The Wealth of Nations |
Adam Smith |
Isaiah 61:6 |
| What's Become of
Waring |
Anthony
Powell |
Waring from Dramatic Lyrics, Robert
Browning |
| When the Green Woods Laugh |
H. E. Bates |
Songs of Innocence and
of Experience, William Blake |
| Where Angels Fear to
Tread |
E. M.
Forster |
Essay on Criticism, Alexander
Pope |
| The
Wives of Bath |
Susan Swan |
The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale,
Geoffrey
Chaucer |
| The World, the Flesh and the Devil |
Mary Elizabeth Braddon |
Book of Common Prayer |
| The Yellow Meads of Asphodel |
H. E. Bates |
Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, Alexander Pope |