Resources for Reading and Writing about Literature
Preface for Instructors
INTRODUCTION: READING IMAGINATIVE LITERATURE
The Nature of Literature
EMILY DICKINSON, A narrow Fellow in the Grass
The Value of Literature
The Changing Literary Canon
FICTION
The Elements of Fiction
1. Reading Fiction
Reading Fiction Responsively
KATE CHOPIN, The Story of an Hour
A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Section of "The Story of an Hour"
A SAMPLE PAPER: Differences in Responses to Kate Chopin’s "The Story of an Hour"
Explorations and Formulas
A COMPARISON OF TWO STORIES
KAREN VAN DER ZEE, From A Secret Sorrow
GAIL GODWIN, A Sorrowful Woman
PERSPECTIVES
KAY MUSSELL, Are Feminism and Romance Novels Mutually Exclusive?
THOMAS JEFFERSON, On the Dangers of Reading Fiction
ENCOUNTERING FICTION: COMICS AND GRAPHIC STORIES
*KATHY MACLEOD, Jerry’s Artarama
2. Writing about Fiction
From Reading to Writing
Questions for Responsive Reading and Writing
A SAMPLE PAPER IN PROGRESS
A First Response to A Secret Sorrow and "A Sorrowful Woman"
Brainstorming
A Sample Brainstorming List
Revising: First and Second Drafts
A Sample First Draft: Separate Sorrows
A Sample Second Draft: Separate Sorrows
Final Paper: Fulfillment or Failure? Marriage in A Secret Sorrow and "A Sorrowful Woman"
3. Plot
EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS, From Tarzan of the Apes
*ANNIE PROULX, Job History
JOYCE CAROL OATES, Three Girls
WILLIAM FAULKNER, A Rose for Emily
PERSPECTIVE
WILLIAM FAULKNER, On "A Rose for Emily"
A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Section of "A Rose for Emily"
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Conflict in the Plot of Faulkner’s "A Rose for Emily"
ANDRE DUBUS, Killings
PERSPECTIVE
A. L. BADER, Nothing Happens in Modern Short Stories
ENCOUNTERING FICTION: COMICS AND GRAPHIC STORIES
EDWARD GOREY, From The Hapless Child
4. Character
CHARLES DICKENS, From Hard Times
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Character Development in Dickens’s Hard Times
MAY-LEE CHAI, Saving Sourdi
HERMAN MELVILLE, Bartleby, the Scrivener
PERSPECTIVES
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, On Herman Melville’s Philosophic Stance
DAN McCALL, On the Lawyer’s Character in "Bartleby, the Scrivener"
*JUNOT DIAZ, How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, Halfie
ENCOUNTERING FICTION: COMICS AND GRAPHIC STORIES
LYNDA BARRY, Spelling
5. Setting
ERNEST HEMINGWAY, Soldier’s Home
PERSPECTIVE
ERNEST HEMINGWAY, On What Every Writer Needs
*Z.Z. PACKER, Geese
FAY WELDON, IND AFF, or Out of Love in Sarajevo
PERSPECTIVE
FAY WELDON, On the Importance of Place in "IND AFF"
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: The Significance of Setting in Fay Weldon’s "IND AFF"
6. Point of View
Third-Person Narrator
First-Person Narrator
*MAGGIE MITCHELL, It Would Be Different If
ANTON CHEKHOV, The Lady with the Pet Dog
PERSPECTIVES
Two Additional Translations of the Final Paragraphs of Anton Chekhov’s "The Lady with the Pet Dog"
ANTON CHEKHOV, From "The Lady and the Dog"
ANTON CHEKHOV, From "A Lady with a Dog"
ANTON CHEKHOV, On Morality in Fiction
JOYCE CAROL OATES, The Lady with the Pet Dog
PERSPECTIVE
MATTHEW C. BRENNAN, Point of View and Plotting in Chekhov’s and Oates’s "The Lady with the Pet Dog"
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Two Versions of the Same Story: Point of View in Chekhov’s and Oates’s "The Lady with the Pet Dog"
*JUNE SPENCE, Missing Women
ENCOUNTERING FICTION: COMICS AND GRAPHIC STORIES
MARJANE SATRAPI, "The Trip," From Persepolis
7. Symbolism
*TOBIAS WOLFF, That Room
COLETTE, The Hand
RALPH ELLISON, Battle Royal
PERSPECTIVE
MORDECAI MARCUS, What Is an Initiation Story?
A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Section of "Battle Royal"
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Symbolism in Ellison’s "Battle Royal"
MICHAEL OPPENHEIMER, The Paring Knife
8. Theme
STEPHEN CRANE, The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky
KATHERINE MANSFIELD, Miss Brill
*NATHAN ENGLANDER, Free Fruit for Young Widows
9. Style, Tone, and Irony
Style
Tone
Irony
RAYMOND CARVER, Popular Mechanics
PERSPECTIVE
JOHN BARTH, On Minimalist Fiction
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: The Minimalist Style of Carver’s "Popular Mechanics"
SUSAN MINOT, Lust
TIM O’BRIEN, How to Tell a True War Story
RICK MOODY, Boys
ENCOUNTERING FICTION: COMICS AND GRAPHIC STORIES
MATT GROENING, Life in Hell
10. Combining the Elements of Fiction: A Writing Process
The Elements Together
Mapping the Story
DAVID UPDIKE, Summer
Questions for Writing: Developing a Topic into a Revised Thesis
A Sample Brainstorming List
A Sample First Thesis
A Sample Revised Thesis
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Plot and Setting in David Updike’s "Summer"
Approaches to Fiction
11. A Study of Nathaniel Hawthorne
A Brief Biography and Introduction
CHRONOLOGY
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, Young Goodman Brown
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, The Minister’s Black Veil
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, The Birthmark
PERSPECTIVES ON HAWTHORNE
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, On Solitude
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, On the Power of the Writer’s Imagination
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, On His Short Stories
HERMAN MELVILLE, On Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tragic Vision
GAYLORD BREWER, "The Joys of Secret Sin"
TWO COMPLEMENTARY CRITICAL READINGS
JUDITH FETTERLEY, A Feminist Reading of "The Birthmark"
JAMES QUINN and ROSS BALDESSARINI, A Psychological Reading of "The Birthmark"
12. A Study of Flannery O’Connor
A Brief Biography and Introduction
CHRONOLOGY
FLANNERY O’CONNOR, A Good Man Is Hard to Find
FLANNERY O’CONNOR, Good Country People
FLANNERY O’CONNOR, Revelation
PERSPECTIVES ON O’CONNOR
FLANNERY O’CONNOR, On Faith
FLANNERY O’CONNOR, On the Use of Exaggeration and Distortion
FLANNERY O’CONNOR, On Theme and Symbol
JOSEPHINE HENDIN, On O’Connor’s Refusal to "Do Pretty"
CLAIRE KAHANE, The Function of Violence in O’Connor’s Fiction
EDWARD KESSLER, On O’Connor’s Use of History
TIME MAGAZINE, On "A Good Man is Hard to Find"
TWO COMPLEMENTARY CRITICAL READINGS
A. R. COULTHARD, On the Visionary Ending of "Revelation"
MARSHALL BRUCE GENTRY, On the Revised Ending of "Revelation"
13. A Critical Case Study: William Faulkner’s "Barn Burning"
WILLIAM FAULKNER, Barn Burning
PERSPECTIVES ON FAULKNER
JANE HILES, Blood Ties in "Barn Burning"
BENJAMIN DEMOTT, Abner Snopes as a Victim of Class
GAYLE EDWARD WILSON, Conflict in "Barn Burning"
JAMES FERGUSON, Narrative Strategy in "Barn Burning"
Questions for Writing: Incorporating the Critics
A SAMPLE STUDENT PAPER: The Fires of Class Conflict in William Faulker’s "Barn Burning" (excerpt)
14. A Cultural Case Study: James Joyce’s "Eveline"
A Brief Biography and Introduction
CHRONOLOGY
JAMES JOYCE, Eveline
Documents
THE ALLIANCE TEMPERANCE ALMANACK, On the Resources of Ireland
BRIDGET BURKE, A Letter Home from an Irish Emigrant
A Plot Synopsis of The Bohemian Girl
15. A Study of Dagoberto Gilb: The Author Reflects on Three Stories
A Brief Biography
An Introduction to His Work
CHRONOLOGY
*ESSAY: "On Writing 'Love in L.A.'"
STORY: DAGOBERTO GILB: Love in L.A.
*ESSAY: "On Writing 'Shout'"
*STORY: DAGOBERTO GILB: Shout
*ESSAY: On Writing 'Uncle Rock'"
*STORY: DAGOBERTO GILB: Uncle Rock
PERSPECTIVES ON GILB
On Physical Labor
On Distortions of Mexican American Culture
Michael Meyer Interviews Dagoberto Gilb
16. A Thematic Case Study: The Literature of the South
MAP: U.S. Bureau of the Census, "The South"
JOHN SHELTON REED and DALE VOLBERG REED, Definitions of the South
W. J. CASH, The Old and the New South
MOVIE STILL: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Gone with the Wind
LITHOGRAPH: Currier and Ives, The Old Plantation Home
IRVING HOWE, The Southern Myth
PAINTING: John Richards, The Battle of Gettysburg, 1863
FLANNERY O’CONNOR, The Regional Writer
PAINTING: Clyde Broadway, Trinity — Elvis, Jesus, and Robert E. Lee
MARGARET WALKER, The Southern Writer and Race
PHOTO: Ernest C. Withers, "Bus Station, Colored Waiting Room, Memphis, Tennessee"
PHOTO: Library of Congress, Elizabeth Eckford at Little Rock Central High School
PHOTO: Ernest C. Withers, "Sanitation Workers’ Strike, Memphis, Tennessee"
COLLAGE: Romare Bearden, Watching the Good Trains Go By
DONALD R. NOBLE, The Future of Southern Writing
LEE SMITH, On Southern Change and Permanence
17. A Thematic Case Study: Humor and Satire
ANNIE PROULX, 55 Miles to the Gas Pump
T. CORAGHESSAN BOYLE, Carnal Knowledge
*MURIEL SPARK, The First Year of My Life
LEE SMITH, The Happy Memories Club
JOYCE CAROL OATES, Hi Howya Doin’
MARK TWAIN, The Story of the Good Little Boy
18. A Thematic Case Study: Remarkably Short-Short Stories
*KIM ADDONIZIO, Survivors
RON CARLSON, Max
MARK HALLIDAY, Young Man on Sixth Ave
DAVID FOSTER WALLACE, Incarnations of Burned Children
*MARK BUDMAN, The Diary of a Salaryman
PETER MEINKE, The Cranes
TERRY L. TILTON, That Settles That
A Collection of Stories
19. An Album of Contemporary Stories
*LAURA BRODIE, Spiderman Summer
*DENNIS LEHANE, Until Gwen
*GEOFF WYSS, Child of God
XU XI, Famine
20. An Album of World Literature
*NADINE GORDIMER (South Africa), Homage
NAGUIB MAHFOUZ (Egypt), The Answer Is No
*R.K. NARAYAN (India), An Astrologer’s Day
TATYANA TOLSTAYA (Russia), See the Other Side
21. Stories for Further Reading
JOSEPH CONRAD, An Outpost of Progress
*ZORA NEALE HURSTON, Spunk
D. H. LAWRENCE, The Horse Dealer’s Daughter
JACK LONDON, To Build a Fire
KATHERINE MANSFIELD, The Fly
EDGAR ALLAN POE, The Cask of Amontillado
JOHN UPDIKE, A & P
POETRY
THE ELEMENTS OF POETRY
22. Reading Poetry
Reading Poetry Responsively
LISA PARKER, Snapping Beans
ROBERT HAYDEN, Those Winter Sundays
JOHN UPDIKE, Dog’s Death
The Pleasure of Words
WILLIAM HATHAWAY, Oh, Oh
A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Version of "Oh, Oh"
ROBERT FRANCIS, Catch
A SAMPLE STUDENT ANALYSIS: Tossing Metaphors Together in Robert Francis’s "Catch"
ELIZABETH BISHOP, The Fish
PHILIP LARKIN, A Study of Reading Habits
ROBERT MORGAN, Mountain Graveyard
E. E. CUMMINGS, l(a
ANONYMOUS, Western Wind
REGINA BARRECA, Nighttime Fires
Suggestions for Approaching Poetry
BILLY COLLINS, Introduction to Poetry
Poetry in Popular Forms
HELEN FARRIES, Magic of Love
JOHN FREDERICK NIMS, Love Poem
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, Devils & Dust
S. PEARL SHARP, It’s the Law: A Rap Poem
PERSPECTIVE: ROBERT FRANCIS, On "Hard" Poetry
Poems for Further Study
MARY OLIVER, The Poet with His Face in His Hands
*JIM TILLEY, The Big Questions
ALBERTO RÍOS, Seniors
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, Crossing the Bar
LI HO, A Beautiful Girl Combs Her Hair
*EDGAR ALLAN POE, The Raven
*CORNELIUS EADY, The Supremes
Encountering Poetry: Images of Poetry in Popular Culture
POSTER: Dorothy Parker, Unfortunate Coincidence
PHOTO: Carl Sandburg, Window
CARTOON: Roz Chast, The Love Song of J. Alfred Crew
PHOTO: Tim Taylor, I shake the delicate apparatus
POSTER: Eric Dunn and Mike Wigton, National Poetry Slam
PHOTO: Kevin Fleming
WEB SCREEN: Poetry-portal.com
WEB SCREEN: Ted Kooser, American Life in Poetry
POEM IN NEWSPAPER: MICHAEL MCFEE, Spitwads
23. Writing about Poetry: From Inquiry to Final Paper
From Reading to Writing
Questions for Responsive Reading and Writing
ELIZABETH BISHOP, Manners
A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Version of "Manners"
A SAMPLE STUDENT ANALYSIS: Memory in Elizabeth Bishop’s "Manners"
24. Word Choice, Word Order, and Tone
Word Choice
Diction
Denotations and Connotations
RANDALL JARRELL, The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
Word Order
Tone
COLETTE INEZ, Back When All Was Continuous Chuckles
MARILYN NELSON, How I Discovered Poetry
KATHARYN HOWD MACHAN, Hazel Tells LaVerne
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Tone in Katharyn Howd Machan’s "Hazel Tells LaVerne"
MARTÍN ESPADA, Latin Night at the Pawnshop
PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR, To a Captious Critic
Diction and Tone in Four Love Poems
ROBERT HERRICK, To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
ANDREW MARVELL, To His Coy Mistress
ANN LAUINGER, Marvell Noir
SHARON OLDS, Last Night
PERSPECTIVE: ADAM KIRSCH, Literary Allusion in the Age of Google
Poems for Further Study
THOMAS HARDY, The Convergence of the Twain
DAVID R. SLAVITT, Titanic
JOANNE DIAZ, On My Father’s Loss of Hearing
MARY OLIVER, Oxygen
CATHY SONG, The Youngest Daughter
JOHN KEATS, Ode on a Grecian Urn
GWENDOLYN BROOKS, We Real Cool
JOAN MURRAY, We Old Dudes
ALICE JONES, The Larynx
LOUIS SIMPSON, In the Suburbs
*Poets at Play
*BILLY COLLINS, Taking off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes
*JOAN MURRAY, Taking Off Billy Collins’s Clothes
*POSTCARD: BILLY COLLINS, To Joan Murray
*GARRISON KEILLOR, The Anthem
A Note on Reading Translations
Three Translations of a Poem by Sappho
SAPPHO, Immortal Aphrodite of the broidered throne
(translated by Henry T. Wharton)
SAPPHO, Beautiful-throned, immortal Aphrodite
(translated by Thomas Wentworth Higginson)
SAPPHO, Prayer to my lady of Paphos (translated by Mary Barnard)
Two Translations of a Poem by Pablo Neruda
PABLO NERUDA, Verbo (original Spanish version)
PABLO NERUDA, Word (translated by Ben Belitt)
PABLO NERUDA, Word (translated by Kristin Linklater)
25. Images
Poetry’s Appeal to the Senses
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, Poem
WALT WHITMAN, Cavalry Crossing a Ford
DAVID SOLWAY, Windsurfing
THEODORE ROETHKE, Root Cellar
MATTHEW ARNOLD, Dover Beach
*RUTH FORMAN, Poetry Should Ride the Bus
Poems for Further Study
AMY LOWELL, The Pond
H. D. [HILDA DOOLITTLE], Heat
RUTH FAINLIGHT, Crocuses
MARY ROBINSON, London’s Summer Morning
WILLIAM BLAKE, London
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Imagery in William Blake’s "London" and Mary Robinson’s "London’s Summer Morning"
WILFRED OWEN, Dulce et Decorum Est
PATRICIA SMITH, What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl (for Those of You Who Aren’t)
RAINER MARIA RILKE, The Panther
JANE KENYON, The Blue Bowl
SALLY CROFT, Home-Baked Bread
JOHN KEATS, To Autumn
*EDWARD HIRSCH, Fall
EZRA POUND, In a Station of the Metro
CATHY SONG, The White Porch
*MELANIE MCCABE, Paperboy
PERSPECTIVE: T. E. HULME, On the Differences between Poetry and Prose
26. Figures of Speech
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, From Macbeth (Act V, Scene v)
Simile and Metaphor
MARGARET ATWOOD, you fit into me
EMILY DICKINSON, Presentiment — is that long Shadow—on the lawn—
ANNE BRADSTREET, The Author to Her Book
*RICHARD WILBUR, The Writer
Other Figures
EDMUND CONTI, Pragmatist
DYLAN THOMAS, The Hand That Signed the Paper
JANICE TOWNLEY MOORE, To a Wasp
J. PATRICK LEWIS, The Unkindest Cut
Poems for Further Study
GARY SNYDER, How Poetry Comes to Me
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Metaphor in Gary Snyder’s "How Poetry Comes to Me"
*LOUISE BOGAN, Several Voices Out of a Cloud
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, To Waken an Old Lady
ERNEST SLYMAN, Lightning Bugs
JUDY PAGE HEITZMAN, The Schoolroom on the Second Floor of the Knitting Mill
SYLVIA PLATH, Mirror
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, London, 1802
JIM STEVENS, Schizophrenia
WALT WHITMAN, A Noiseless Patient Spider
JOHN DONNE, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
LINDA PASTAN, Marks
KAY RYAN, Hailstorm
RONALD WALLACE, Building an Outhouse
ELAINE MAGARRELL, The Joy of Cooking
*SCOTT HIGHTOWER, My Father
PERSPECTIVE: JOHN R. SEARLE, Figuring Out Metaphors
27. Symbol, Allegory, and Irony
Symbol
ROBERT FROST, Acquainted with the Night
Allegory
EDGAR ALLAN POE, The Haunted Palace
Irony
EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON, Richard Cory
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Irony in Edwin Arlington Robinson’s "Richard Cory"
KENNETH FEARING, AD
E. E. CUMMINGS, next to of course god america i
STEPHEN CRANE, A Man Said to the Universe
Poems for Further Study
BOB HICOK, Making it in poetry
JANE KENYON, Surprise
MARTÍN ESPADA, Bully
KEVIN PIERCE, Proof of Origin
CARL SANDBURG, Buttons
WALLACE STEVENS, Anecdote of the Jar
*DENISE DUHAMEL, How It Will End
WILLIAM STAFFORD, Traveling through the Dark
JULIO MARZÁN, Ethnic Poetry
MARK HALLIDAY, Graded Paper
CHARLES SIMIC, The Storm
JAMES MERRILL, Casual Wear
HENRY REED, Naming of Parts
*ALLEN BRADEN, The Hemlock Tree
ROBERT BROWNING, My Last Duchess
*RICHARD WILBUR, A Finished Man
WILLIAM BLAKE, The Chimney Sweeper
WALT WHITMAN, From Song of Myself
GARY SOTO, Behind Grandma’s House
PERSPECTIVE: EZRA POUND, On Symbols
28. Sounds
Listening to Poetry
ANONYMOUS, Scarborough Fair
JOHN UPDIKE, Player Piano
MAY SWENSON, A Nosty Fright
EMILY DICKINSON, A Bird came down the Walk—
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Sound in Emily Dickinson’s "A Bird came down the Walk—"
*ANYA KRUGOVOY SILVER, French Toast
Rhyme
RICHARD ARMOUR, Going to Extremes
ROBERT SOUTHEY, From "The Cataract of Lodore"
PERSPECTIVE: DAVID LENSON, On the Contemporary Use of Rhyme
Sound and Meaning
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS, God’s Grandeur
Poems for Further Study
*DIANE LOCKWARD, Linguine
LEWIS CARROLL (CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON), Jabberwocky
HARRYETTE MULLEN, Blah-Blah
WILLIAM HEYEN, The Trains
JOHN DONNE, Song
ALEXANDER POPE, From An Essay on Criticism
HAKI R. MADHUBUTI, The B Network
*WILFRED OWEN, Anthem for Doomed Youth
ANDREW HUDGINS, The Cow
PAUL HUMPHREY, Blow
ROBERT FRANCIS, The Pitcher
HELEN CHASIN, The Word Plum
RICHARD WAKEFIELD, The Bell Rope
*JEAN TOOMER, Reapers
JOHN KEATS, Ode to a Nightingale
HOWARD NEMEROV, Because You Asked about the Line between Prose and Poetry
29. Patterns of Rhythm
Some Principles of Meter
WALT WHITMAN, From Song of the Open Road
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, My Heart Leaps Up
Suggestions for Scanning a Poem
TIMOTHY STEELE, Waiting for the Storm
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: The Rhythm of Anticipation in Timothy Steele’s "Waiting for the Storm"
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, That the Night Come
Poems for Further Study
*WILLIAM TROWBRIDGE, Drumming Behind You in the High School Band
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, Break, Break, Break
ALICE JONES, The Foot
A. E. HOUSMAN, When I was one-and-twenty
RITA DOVE, Fox Trot Fridays
*CHRISTOPHER MERRILL, A Boy Juggling a Soccer Ball
RACHEL HADAS, The Red Hat
ROBERT HERRICK, Delight in Disorder
BEN JONSON, Still to Be Neat
SONIA SANCHEZ, Summer Words of a Sistuh Addict
WILLIAM BLAKE, The Lamb
WILLIAM BLAKE, The Tyger
CARL SANDBURG, Chicago
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, The Charge of the Light Brigade
*JOHN MALONEY, Good!
THEODORE ROETHKE, My Papa’s Waltz
PERSPECTIVE: LOUISE BOGAN, On Formal Poetry
30. Poetic Forms
Some Common Poetic Forms
A. E. HOUSMAN, Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
ROBERT HERRICK, Upon Julia’s Clothes
Sonnet
JOHN KEATS, On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, The World Is Too Much with Us
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun
EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY, I will put Chaos into fourteen lines
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: The Fixed Form in Edna St. Vincent Millay’s "I will put Chaos into fourteen lines"
*SHERMAN ALEXIE, The Facebook Sonnet
MARK JARMAN, Unholy Sonnet
*WILLIAM BAER, Letter of Resignation
X. J. KENNEDY, "The Purpose of Time Is to Prevent Everything from Happening at Once"
*R.S. GWYNN, Shakespearean Sonnet
Villanelle
DYLAN THOMAS, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
*EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON, The House on the Hill
Sestina
ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE, Sestina
FLORENCE CASSEN MAYERS, All-American Sestina
Epigram
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, What Is an Epigram?
A. R. AMMONS, Coward
DAVID MCCORD, Epitaph on a Waiter
PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR, Theology
Limerick
ANONYMOUS, There was a young lady named Bright
LAURENCE PERRINE, The limerick’s never averse
Haiku
MATSUO BASHO, Under cherry trees
CAROLYN KIZER, After Basho-
SONIA SANCHEZ, c’mon man hold me
Elegy
BEN JONSON, On My First Son
*THOMAS GRAY, Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold
Fishes
THEODORE ROETHKE, Elegy for Jane
BRENDAN GALVIN, An Evel Knievel Elegy
Ode
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, Ode to the West Wind
Parody
BLANCHE FARLEY, The Lover Not Taken
Picture Poem
MICHAEL MCFEE, In Medias Res
PERSPECTIVE: ELAINE MITCHELL, Form
31. Open Form
WALT WHITMAN, From "I Sing the Body Electric"
PERSPECTIVE: WALT WHITMAN, On Rhyme and Meter
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: The Power of Walt Whitman’s Open Form Poem "I Sing the Body Electric"
*LOUIS JENKINS, The Prose Poem
*DAVID SHUMATE, Shooting the Horse
RICHARD HAGUE, Directions for Resisting the SAT
*ELLEN BASS, Gate C22
KELLY CHERRY, Alzheimer’s
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, The Red Wheelbarrow
NATASHA TRETHEWEY, On Captivity
GARY GILDNER, First Practice
MARILYN NELSON WANIEK, Emily Dickinson’s Defunct
JULIO MARZÁN, The Translator at the Reception for Latin American Writers
ROBERT MORGAN, Overalls
*KEVIN YOUNG, Eddie Priest’s Barber Shop and Notary
LINDA PASTAN, To a Daughter Leaving Home
ANONYMOUS, The Frog
TATO LAVIERA, AmeRícan
*KARL SHAPIRO, Lower the Standard
PETER MEINKE, The ABC of Aerobics
CHRISTINA GEROGIANNIS, Headland
MARY STEWART HAMMOND, The Big Fish Story
Found Poem
DONALD JUSTICE, Order in the Streets
32. Combining the Elements of Poetry: A Writing Process
The Elements Together
Mapping the Poem
JOHN DONNE, Death Be Not Proud
Asking Questions about the Elements
A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Version of "Death Be Not Proud"
A SAMPLE FIRST RESPONSE
Organizing Your Thoughts
A SAMPLE INFORMAL OUTLINE
The Elements and Theme
A SAMPLE EXPLICATION: The Use of Conventional Metaphors for Death in John Donne’s "Death Be Not Proud"
APPROACHES TO POETRY
33. A Study of Emily Dickinson
A Brief Biography
PHOTO: Emily Dickinson, age 16
SILHOUETTE: Emily Dickinson, age 14
PHOTO: Emily Dickinson, unauthenticated image
PHOTO: Edward Dickinson
LETTER AND CARTOON: Emily Dickinson to William Cowper Dickinson
PHOTO: Susan Gilbert Dickinson
LETTER AND CARTOON: Emily Dickinson to Susan Gilbert Dickinson
An Introduction to Her Work
EMILY DICKINSON, If I can stop one Heart from breaking
EMILY DICKINSON, If I shouldn’t be alive
EMILY DICKINSON, The Thought beneath so slight a film—
EMILY DICKINSON, To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee
CHRONOLOGY
EMILY DICKINSON, Success is counted sweetest
EMILY DICKINSON, Water, is taught by thirst
EMILY DICKINSON, Safe in their Alabaster Chambers—(1859 version)
EMILY DICKINSON, Safe in their Alabaster Chambers—(1861 version)
EMILY DICKINSON, Portraits are to daily faces
EMILY DICKINSON, Some keep the Sabbath going to Church—
EMILY DICKINSON, "Heaven"— is what I cannot reach!
EMILY DICKINSON, "Hope" is the thing with feathers—
*EMILY DICKINSON, I felt a Funeral in my Brain—
EMILY DICKINSON, I like a look of Agony
EMILY DICKINSON, Wild Nights—Wild Nights!
*EMILY DICKINSON, I started Early—Took my Dog—
EMILY DICKINSON, What Soft—Cherubic Creatures—
EMILY DICKINSON, The Soul selects her own Society—
FACSIMILE: Manuscript Page for "What Soft—Cherubic Creatures—"
EMILY DICKINSON, Much Madness is divinest Sense—
EMILY DICKINSON, I dwell in Possibility—
EMILY DICKINSON, After great pain, a formal feeling comes—
EMILY DICKINSON, Pain—has an Element of Blank—
EMILY DICKINSON, I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—
*EMILY DICKINSON, He fumbles at your Soul
EMILY DICKINSON, One need not be a Chamber—to be Haunted—
EMILY DICKINSON, Because I could not stop for Death—
*EMILY DICKINSON, My Life had stood—a Loaded Gun—
*EMILY DICKINSON, They say that "Time assuages"
EMILY DICKINSON, I felt a Cleaving in my Mind—
EMILY DICKINSON, The Bustle in a House
EMILY DICKINSON, Tell all the Truth but tell it slant—
EMILY DICKINSON, There is no Frigate like a Book
EMILY DICKINSON, Fame is the one that does not stay—
*EMILY DICKINSON, From all the Jails the Boys and Girls
PERSPECTIVES ON EMILY DICKINSON
EMILY DICKINSON, A Description of Herself
THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON, On Meeting Dickinson for the First Time
MABEL LOOMIS TODD, The Character of Amherst
RICHARD WILBUR, On Dickinson’s Sense of Privation
SANDRA M. GILBERT AND SUSAN GUBAR, On Dickinson’s White Dress
CYNTHIA GRIFFIN WOLFF, On the Many Voices in Dickinson’s Poetry
PAULA BENNETT, On "I heard a Fly buzz— when I died—"
MARTHA NELL SMITH, On "Because I could not stop for Death—"
RONALD WALLACE, Miss Goff
TWO COMPLEMENTARY CRITICAL READINGS
CHARLES R. ANDERSON, Eroticism in "Wild Nights—Wild Nights!"
DAVID S. REYNOLDS, Popular Literature and "Wild Nights—Wild Nights!"
Questions for Writing about an Author in Depth
A SAMPLE IN-DEPTH STUDY
EMILY DICKINSON, "Faith" is a fine invention
EMILY DICKINSON, I know that He exists
EMILY DICKINSON, I never saw a Moor—
EMILY DICKINSON, Apparently with no surprise
A SAMPLE STUDENT PAPER: Religious Faith in Four Poems by Emily Dickinson
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers
34. A Study of Robert Frost
A Brief Biography
PHOTO: Robert Frost, age 18
PHOTO: Robert Frost, age 47
PHOTO: Robert Frost at his writing desk
An Introduction to His Work
ROBERT FROST, The Road Not Taken
ROBERT FROST, The Pasture
CHRONOLOGY
ROBERT FROST, Mowing
ROBERT FROST, Storm Fear
ROBERT FROST, Mending Wall
ROBERT FROST, Home Burial
ROBERT FROST, The Wood-Pile
ROBERT FROST, After Apple-Picking
ROBERT FROST, Birches
ROBERT FROST, An Old Man’s Winter Night
ROBERT FROST, "Out, Out—"
ROBERT FROST, The Oven Bird
ROBERT FROST, Fire and Ice
*ROBERT FROST, Dust of Snow
ROBERT FROST, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
*ROBERT FROST, Good-by and Keep Cold
*ROBERT FROST, The Need of Being Versed in Country Things
ROBERT FROST, Neither Out Far nor In Deep
FACSIMILE: Manuscript page of "Neither Out Far nor In Deep"
ROBERT FROST, Design
PERSPECTIVES ON ROBERT FROST
ROBERT FROST, "In White": An Early Version of "Design"
ROBERT FROST, On the Living Part of a Poem
AMY LOWELL, On Frost’s Realistic Technique
ROBERT FROST, On the Figure a Poem Makes
ROBERT FROST, On the Way to Read a Poem
HERBERT R. COURSEN JR., A Parodic Interpretation of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"
PETER D. POLAND, On "Neither Out Far nor In Deep"
TWO COMPLEMENTARY CRITICAL READINGS
RICHARD POIRIER, On Emotional Suffocation in "Home Burial"
KATHERINE KEARNS, On the Symbolic Setting of "Home Burial"
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers
35. A Study of Billy Collins: The Author Reflects on Five Poems
PHOTO: Billy Collins
A Brief Biography and an Introduction to His Work
PHOTO: Billy Collins, first day as a student at St. Joan of Arc School
PHOTO: Billy Collins, first day at Holy Cross College
PHOTO: Billy Collins, senior photo, Holy Cross College
PHOTO: Billy Collins, with cigarette
PHOTO: Billy Collins, Scarsdale, NY
PHOTO: Billy Collins, in his office at Lehman College
CHRONOLOGY
BOOK COVER: Questions About Angels
BOOK COVER: The Art of Drowning
BOOK COVER: Nine Horses
BOOK COVER: The Trouble with Poetry
BILLY COLLINS, "How Do Poems Travel?"
BILLY COLLINS, Osso Buco
BILLY COLLINS, On Writing "Osso Buco"
BILLY COLLINS, Nostalgia
BILLY COLLINS, On Writing "Nostalgia"
BILLY COLLINS, Questions About Angels
BILLY COLLINS, On Writing "Questions About Angels"
BILLY COLLINS, Litany
BILLY COLLINS, On Writing "Litany"
BILLY COLLINS, Building with Its Face Blown Off
PERSPECTIVE: On "Building with Its Face Blown Off": Michael Meyer Interviews Billy Collins
PHOTO: Billy Collins Action Poetry Web site
PHOTO: Poetry 180 Web site
FACSIMILES: Three manuscript pages
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers
36. A Study of Julia Alvarez: The Author Reflects on Five Poems
PHOTO: Julia Alvarez
A Brief Biography
BOOK COVER: A Cafecito Story
PHOTO: Julia Alvarez and students at Alta Gracia
An Introduction to Her Work
CHRONOLOGY
JULIA ALVAREZ, On Writing "Queens, 1963"
PASSPORT PHOTO: Julia Alvarez, age 10
JULIA ALVAREZ, Queens, 1963
PHOTO: Queens Civil Rights Demonstration, 1963
PERSPECTIVE: MARNY REQUA, From an Interview with Julia Alvarez
JULIA ALVAREZ, On Writing "Housekeeping Cages" and Her Housekeeping Poems
JULIA ALVAREZ, Housekeeping Cages
JULIA ALVAREZ, On Writing "Dusting"
JULIA ALVAREZ, Dusting
JULIA ALVAREZ, On Writing "Ironing Their Clothes"
JULIA ALVAREZ, Ironing Their Clothes
JULIA ALVAREZ, On Writing "Sometimes the Words Are So Close" (From the "33" Sonnet Sequence)
JULIA ALVAREZ, Sometimes the Words Are So Close
Drafts of "Sometimes the Words Are So Close": A Poet’s Writing Process
FACSIMILES: Four Draft manuscript pages
JULIA ALVAREZ, On Writing "First Muse"
PHOTO: Library Way Bronze Plaque of "Sometimes the Words Are So Close"
JULIA ALVAREZ, First Muse
IMAGE: Chiquita Banana
PERSPECTIVE: KELLI LYON JOHNSON, Mapping an Identity
37. A Critical Case Study: T. S. Eliot’s "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
PHOTO: T. S. Eliot, age 18
A Brief Biography
PAINTING: T. S. Eliot, by Wyndham Lewis
PHOTO: T. S. Eliot as Prufrock
T. S. ELIOT, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
PERSPECTIVES ON T. S. ELIOT
ELISABETH SCHNEIDER, Hints of Eliot in Prufrock
BARBARA EVERETT, The Problem of Tone in Prufrock
MICHAEL L. BAUMANN, The "Overwhelming Question" for Prufrock
FREDERIK L. RUSCH, Society and Character in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
ROBERT SWARD, A Personal Analysis of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers
*38. A Cultural Case Study: Harlem Renaissance Poets Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Georgia Douglas Johnson
PHOTO: Harlem Renaissance couple
PHOTO: The Lafayette Theatre
*CHRONOLOGY
*PHOTO: Harlem
*IMAGE: Survey Graphic magazine, 1925
*PHOTO: Cotton Club
*CLAUDE MCKAY, A Brief Biography and an Introduction to His Work
*PHOTO: Claude McKay
*CLAUDE MCKAY, The Harlem Dancer
*CLAUDE MCKAY, If We Must Die
*CLAUDE MCKAY, The Tropics in New York
*CLAUDE MCKAY, The Lynching
*CLAUDE MCKAY, America
*CLAUDE MCKAY, Outcast
*CLAUDE MCKAY, On a Primitive Canoe
*GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON, A Brief Biography and an Introduction to Her Work
*PHOTO: Georgia Douglas Johnson
*GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON, Youth
*GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON, Foredoom
*GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON, Calling Dreams
*GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON, Lost Illusions
*GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON, Fusion
*GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON, Common Dust
*GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON, Cosmopolite
*GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON, I Want to Die While You Love Me
LANGSTON HUGHES, A Brief Biography and an Introduction to His Work
*PHOTO: Langston Hughes
IMAGE: Langston Hughes stamp
PHOTO: Couples dancing in a Harlem nightclub
LANGSTON HUGHES, The Negro Speaks of Rivers
LANGSTON HUGHES, Jazzonia
LANGSTON HUGHES, Lenox Avenue: Midnight
LANGSTON HUGHES, Ballad of the Landlord
LANGSTON HUGHES, Harlem Sweeties
LANGSTON HUGHES, 125th Street
LANGSTON HUGHES, Harlem
*COUNTEE CULLEN, A Brief Biography and an Introduction to His Work
*PHOTO: Countee Cullen
*COUNTEE CULLEN, Yet Do I Marvel
*COUNTEE CULLEN, Incident
*COUNTEE CULLEN, For a Lady I Know
*COUNTEE CULLEN, Heritage
*COUNTEE CULLEN, Tableau
*COUNTEE CULLEN, From the Dark Tower
*COUNTEE CULLEN, To Certain Critics
PERSPECTIVES
KAREN JACKSON FORD, Hughes’s Aesthetics of Simplicity
DAVID CHINITZ, The Romanticization of Africa in the 1920s
ALAIN LOCKE, Review of Georgia Douglas Johnson’s Bronze: A Book of Verse
*COUNTEE CULLEN, On Racial Poetry
*ONWUCHEKWA JEMIE, On Universal Poetry
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers
39. A Thematic Case Study: Love and Longing
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
ANNE BRADSTREET, To My Dear and Loving Husband
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways
*EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY, Recuerdo
EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY, I, Being Born a Woman, Distressed
E. E. CUMMINGS, since feeling is first
*ALBERTO RIOS, Teodoro Luna’s Two Kisses
JOAN MURRAY, Play-by-Play
BILLIE BOLTON, Memorandum
LUISA LOPEZ, Junior Year Abroad
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers
40. A Thematic Case Study: Humor and Satire
JOHN CIARDI, Suburban
*HARRYETTE MULLEN, Dim Lady
RONALD WALLACE, In a Rut
HOWARD NEMEROV, Walking the Dog
LINDA PASTAN, Jump Cabling
*E.E. CUMMINGS, may i feel said he
PETER SCHMITT, Friends with Numbers
MARTÍN ESPADA, The Community College Revises Its Curriculum in Response to Changing Demographics
DENISE DUHAMEL, Language Police Report
*GEORGE BILGERE, Stupid
GARY SOTO, Mexicans Begin Jogging
BOB HICOK, Spam leaves an aftertaste
*THOMAS MOORE, At the Berkeley Free Speech Café
LEE UPTON, Dyserotica
X. J. KENNEDY, On a Young Man’s Remaining an Undergraduate for Twelve Years
41. A Thematic Case Study: Crossing Boundaries
Transcendence and Borders
DIAGRAM: An Eighteenth-Century Slave Ship
PHILLIS WHEATLEY, On Being Brought from Africa to America
ADVERTISEMENT: A 1784 Slave-Auction Poster
Identity and Borders
PAT MORA, Legal Alien
IMAGE: Jacalyn López García, I Just Wanted to Be Me
Immigration and Borders
SANDRA M. GILBERT, Mafioso
PHOTO: Baggage Examined Here, Ellis Island
Expectations and Borders
CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI, Indian Movie, New Jersey
SOUNDTRACK COVER: Rawal Films, Ladki Pasand Hai (I Like This Girl)
Beauty and Borders
JANICE MIRIKITANI, Recipe
PHOTO: Chiaki Tsukumo, Girl with Licca Doll
Freedom and Borders
THOMAS LYNCH, Liberty
PHOTO: Steve Dunwell, Somerville, Massachusetts
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers
42. A Thematic Case Study: The Natural World
TOM DISCH, Birdsong Interpreted
*JANE HIRSHFIELD, Optimism
LESLIE MARMON SILKO, Love Poem
*RICHARD EBERHART, Coast of Maine
GAIL WHITE, Dead Armadillos
DAVE LUCAS, November
WALT MCDONALD, Coming Across It
ALDEN NOWLAN, The Bull Moose
ROBERT B. SHAW, Wild Turkeys
*KAY RYAN, Turtle
PAUL ZIMMER, What I Know about Owls
*MARY OLIVER, Wild Geese
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers
*43. A Thematic Case Study: The World of Work
*DANA GIOIA, Money
TONY HOAGLAND, America
JAN BEATTY, My Father Teaches Me to Dream
*MICHAEL CHITWOOD, Men Throwing Bricks
BARON WORMSER, Labor
*ANGELA ALAIMO O’DONNELL, Touring the Mine
*DAVID IGNATOW, The Jobholder
*BOB HICOK, Calling him back from layoff
*JOYCE SUTPHEN, Guys Like That
*DEBORAH GARRISON, Worked Late on a Tuesday Night
*DONALD HALL, To a Waterfowl
*MARGE PIERCY, To be of use
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers
*COLOR INSERT
*Poetry and the Visual Arts
*Painting: GRANT WOOD, American Gothic
*Poem: JOHN STONE, American Gothic
*Woodblock print: KIAGAWA UTAMARO, Girl Powdering Her Neck
*Poem: CATHY SONG, Girl Powdering Her Neck
*Sculpture: MAYA LIN, The Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
*Poem: YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA, Facing It
*Painting: PIETER BRUEGHEL THE ELDER, Two Chained Monkeys
*Poem: WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA, Brueghel’s Two Monkeys
*Painting: EDWARD HOPPER, House by the Railroad
*Poem: EDWARD HIRSCH, Edward Hopper and the House by the Railroad
*Painting: HENRI MATISSE, Woman Before an Aquarium
*Poem: PATRICIA HAMPL, Woman Before an Aquarium
AN ANTHOLOGY OF POEMS
44. An Album of Contemporary Poems
MICHELLE BOISSEAU, Self-Pity’s Closet
EAMON GRENNAN, Herringbone
MARY STEWART HAMMOND, High Ground
*TONY HOAGLAND, Hard Rain
RACHEL LODEN, Locked Ward: Newtown, Connecticut
SUSAN MINOT, My Husband’s Back
*ROBERT MORGAN, Dew
*ALLISON TOWNSEND, The Favorite
*ANDREW HUDGINS, American Rendering
C. K. WILLIAMS, The United States
45. An Album of World Literature
ANNA AKHMATOVA (Russia), Lot’s Wife
CLARIBEL ALEGRÍA (El Salvador), I Am Mirror
YEHUDA AMICHAI (Israel), Jerusalem, 1985
FAZIL HÜSNÜ DA ˘GLARCA (Turkey), Dead
*KISHWAR NAHEED (Pakistan), To the Masters of Countries with a Cold Climate
MARNE L. KILATES (Philippines), Python in the Mall
TASLIMA NASRIN (Bangladesh), At the Back of Progress . . .
*PABLO NERUDA (Chile), We Are Many
OCTAVIO PAZ (Mexico), The Street
YOUSIF AL-SA´IGH (Iraq), An Iraqi Evening
SHU TING (China), O Motherland, Dear Motherland
TOMAS TRANSTRÖMER (Sweden), April and Silence
46. A Collection of Poems
ANONYMOUS, Bonny Barbara Allan
W.H. AUDEN, The Unknown Citizen
*JACQUELINE BERGER, Why I’m Here
WILLIAM BLAKE, The Garden of Love
WILLIAM BLAKE, Infant Sorrow
ANNE BRADSTREET, Before the Birth of One of Her Children
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, When our two souls stand up erect and strong
ROBERT BROWNING, Meeting at Night
ROBERT BROWNING, Parting at Morning
ROBERT BURNS, A Red, Red Rose
GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON, She Walks in Beauty
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, Kubla Khan: or, a Vision in a Dream
E. E. CUMMINGS, Buffalo Bill’s
JOHN DONNE, The Apparition
JOHN DONNE, Batter My Heart
JOHN DONNE, The Flea
*RITA DOVE, Golden Oldie
GEORGE ELIOT (MARY ANN EVANS), In a London Drawingroom
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN, Queer People
THOMAS HARDY, Hap
THOMAS HARDY, In Time of "The Breaking of Nations"
FRANCES E. W. HARPER, Learning to Read
GEORGE HERBERT, The Collar
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS, Hurrahing in Harvest
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS, Pied Beauty
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS, The Windhover
A. E. HOUSMAN, Is my team ploughing
A. E. HOUSMAN, To an Athlete Dying Young
JULIA WARD HOWE, Battle-Hymn of the Republic
*ANDREW HUDGINS, On the Killing Floor
BEN JONSON, To Celia
JOHN KEATS, To one who has been long in city pent
JOHN KEATS, When I have fears that I may cease to be
JOHN KEATS, La Belle Dame sans Merci
JOHN KEATS, Written in Disgust of Vulgar Superstition
EMMA LAZARUS, The New Colossus
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW, Snow-Flakes
*AMY LOWELL, A Decade
*JILL MCDONOUGH, Accident, Mass. Ave.
JOHN MILTON, On the Late Massacre in Piedmont
JOHN MILTON, When I consider how my light is spent
SIR WALTER RALEIGH, The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd
*WENDY ROSE, For the White Poets Who Would Be Indian
CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI, Some Ladies Dress in Muslin Full and White
CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI, In Progress
CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI, The World
CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI, Promises Like Pie-Crust
SIEGFRIED SASSOON, "They"
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, That time of year thou mayst in me behold
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, When forty winters shall besiege thy brow
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, When, in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, Ozymandias
SIR PHILIP SIDNEY, Loving in Truth, and Fain in Verse My Love to Show
LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY, Indian Names
WALLACE STEVENS, The Emperor of Ice-Cream
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, Ulysses
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, Tears, Idle Tears
RICHARD WAKEFIELD, In a Poetry Workshop
WALT WHITMAN, I Heard You Solemn-Sweet Pipes of the Organ
WALT WHITMAN, When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer
WALT WHITMAN, One’s-Self I Sing
MILLER WILLIAMS, Thinking about Bill, Dead of AIDS
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, This Is Just to Say
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, The Solitary Reaper
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, Mutability
*STEFANIE WORTMAN, Mortuary Art
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, The Second Coming
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, Leda and the Swan
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, Sailing to Byzantium
DRAMA
The Study of Drama
47. Reading Drama
Reading Drama Responsively
SUSAN GLASPELL, Trifles
A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Section of Trifles
PERSPECTIVE
SUSAN GLASPELL, From the Short Story Version of Trifles
Elements of Drama
MICHAEL HOLLINGER, Naked Lunch
*ANDREW BISS, What’s the Meta?
Drama in Popular Forms
LARRY DAVID, "The Pitch," a Seinfeld Episode
PERSPECTIVE
GEOFFREY O’BRIEN, On Seinfeld as Sitcom Moneymaker
48. Writing about Drama
From Reading to Writing
Questions for Responsive Reading and Writing
A SAMPLE STUDENT PAPER: The Feminist Evidence in Trifles
Plays in Performance
Photos of scenes from:
Oedipus the King
Antigone
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Hamlet
A Doll House
Rodeo
Fences
Trying to Find Chinatown
Death of a Salesman
No Child…
Playwriting 101
49. A Study of Sophocles
CHRONOLOGY
Theatrical Conventions of Greek Drama
Tragedy
SOPHOCLES, Oedipus the King (Translated by Robert Fagles)
SOPHOCLES, Antigone (Translated by Robert Fagles)
PERSPECTIVES ON SOPHOCLES
ARISTOTLE, On Tragic Character
SIGMUND FREUD, On the Oedipus Complex
SOPHOCLES, Another Translation of a Scene from Oedipus the King
MURIEL RUKEYSER, On Oedipus the King
DAVID WILES, On Oedipus the King as a Political Play
MAURICE SAGOFF, A Humorous Distillation of Antigone
TWO COMPLEMENTARY CRITICAL READINGS
R. G. A. BUXTON, The Major Critical Issue in Antigone
CYNTHIA P. GARDINER, The Function of the Chorus in Antigone
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers
50. A Study of William Shakespeare
CHRONOLOGY
Shakespeare’s Theater
The Range of Shakespeare’s Drama: History, Comedy, and Tragedy
A Note on Reading Shakespeare
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
PERSPECTIVES ON SHAKESPEARE
THE MAYOR OF LONDON (1597), Objections to the Elizabethan Theater
LISA JARDINE, On Boy Actors in Female Roles
SAMUEL JOHNSON, On Shakespeare’s Characters
SIGMUND FREUD, On Repression in Hamlet
JAN KOTT, On Producing Hamlet
RUSSELL JACKSON, A Film Diary of the Shooting of Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet
LINDA BAMBER, Feminine Rebellion and Masculine Authority in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
LOUIS ADRIAN MONTROSE, On Amazonian Mythology in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
JAMES KINCAID, On the Value of Comedy in the Face of Tragedy
TWO COMPLEMENTARY CRITICAL READINGS
JOAN MONTGOMERY BYLES, Ophelia’s Desperation
SANDRA K. FISCHER, Ophelia’s Mad Speeches
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers
ENCOUNTERING DRAMA: A VISUAL PORTFOLIO
HAMLET IN POPULAR CULTURE AND PERFORMANCE
painting: Hamlet and Horatio in the Cemetery, by Eugène Delacroix
photo: Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet
movie still: Ethan Hawke as Hamlet
movie still: Laurence Olivier as Hamlet
painting: Ophelia: Here is Rosemary, by William Gorman Wills
cartoon: Ophelia, cartoon from The New Yorker, by Lee Lorenz
movie still: Kate Winslet as Ophelia
painting: The Death of Ophelia, by Eugène Delacroix
51. Modern Drama
Realism
Naturalism
Theatrical Conventions of Modern Drama
HENRIK IBSEN, A Doll House (Translated by Rolf Fjelde)
PERSPECTIVE
HENRIK IBSEN, Notes for A Doll House
Beyond Realism
52. A Critical Case Study: Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House
PERSPECTIVES
A Nineteenth-Century Husband’s Letter to His Wife
BARRY WITHAM and JOHN LUTTERBIE, A Marxist Approach to A Doll House
CAROL STRONGIN TUFTS, A Psychoanalytic Reading of Nora
JOAN TEMPLETON, Is A Doll House a Feminist Text?
Questions for Writing: Applying a Critical Strategy
SAMPLE STUDENT PAPER: On the Other Side of the Slammed Door in A Doll House
53. A Thematic Case Study: An Album of Contemporary Humor and Satire
JANE ANDERSON, The Reprimand
SHARON E. COOPER, Mistaken Identity
*ELAINE JARVIK, Dead Right
JANE MARTIN, Rodeo
JOAN ACKERMANN, Quiet Torrential Sound
RICH ORLOFF, Playwriting 101: The Rooftop Lesson
A Collection of Plays
54. Plays for Further Reading
DAVID HENRY HWANG, Trying to Find Chinatown
NILAJA SUN, No Child…
*JON ROBIN BAITZ, Other Desert Cities
AUGUST WILSON, Fences
PERSPECTIVE
DAVID SAVRAN, An Interview with August Wilson
*DAVID IVES, The Blizzard
Critical Thinking and Writing
55. Critical Strategies for Reading
Critical Thinking
The Literary Canon: Diversity and Controversy
Formalist Strategies
Biographical Strategies
Psychological Strategies
Historical Strategies
Literary History Criticism
Marxist Criticism
New Historicist Criticism
Cultural Criticism
Gender Strategies
Feminist Criticism
Gay and Lesbian Criticism
Mythological Strategies
Reader-Response Strategies
Deconstructionist Strategies
56. Reading and Writing
The Purpose and Value of Writing about Literature
Reading the Work Closely
Annotating the Text and Journal Note Taking
Annotated Text
Journal Note
Choosing a Topic
Developing a Thesis
Arguing about Literature
Questions for Arguing about Literature
Organizing a Paper
Writing a Draft
Writing the Introduction and Conclusion
Using Quotations
Revising and Editing
Questions for Writing: A Revision Checklist
Manuscript Form
Types of Writing Assignments
Explication
A SAMPLE STUDENT EXPLICATION: A Reading of Dickinson’s "There’s a certain Slant of light"
EMILY DICKINSON, There’s a certain Slant of light
Analysis
A SAMPLE STUDENT ANALYSIS: "The A & P" as a State of Mind
Comparison and Contrast
A SAMPLE STUDENT COMPARISON: The Struggle for Women’s Self-Definition in "Eveline" and A Doll House
57. The Literary Research Paper
Choosing a Topic
Finding Sources
Annotated List of References
Electronic Sources
Evaluating Sources and Taking Notes
Developing a Thesis and Organizing the Paper
Revising
Documenting Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
The List of Works Cited
Parenthetical References
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESEARCH PAPER: How the Narrator Cultivates a Rose for Emily
58. Taking Essay Examinations
Preparing for an Essay Exam
Keep Up with the Reading
Take Notes and Annotate the Text
Anticipate Questions
Types of Exams
Closed-Book versus Open-Book Exams
Essay Questions
Strategies for Writing Essay Exams
Glossary of Literary Terms
Index of First Lines
Index of Authors and Titles
Index of Terms