Detailed Table of ContentsPrefaceLetter to StudentsPart I READING, THINKING, AND WRITING CRITICALLY ABOUT LITERATURE1. Reading and Responding to LiteratureWhat Is Literature?Literature as Performance: Robert Frost, The Span of LifeSignificanceTwo Poems about Immigration:Robert Frost,Immigrants Robert Frost, Immigrants Pat Mora,ImmigrantsTwo Contemporary Short Stories Lydia Davis, Childcare Lydia Davis, City PeopleThinking About a Classic Story Luke, The Parable of the Prodigal SonStories True and False: Grace Paley, SamuelWhat's Past Is Prologue Jamaica Kincaid, Girl Tobias Wolff, Powder James Merrill, Christmas Tree 2. The Pleasures of Reading--and of Writing Arguments about LiteratureThe Open Secret of Good Writing Emily Wu, The Lesson of the MasterGetting Ready to WriteA Student Writes: From Jottings to a Final Draft Will Berger, Less Is More: Characterization in "The Lesson of the Master"The Student's Analysis AnalyzedA Second Short Story, and a Student's Analysis Tobias Wolff, Say Yes A Sample Student Essay: Bob Williams, He's the Problem The Analysis Briefly AnalyzedThree Poems Diane Ackerman, Pumping Iron Anonymous, Tweed to Till William Blake, The Clod and the PebbleTwo Additional Stories Katherine Mansfield, Miss Brill Toni Cade Bambara, The Lesson 3. More about Writing About Literature: From Idea to EssayWhy Write Arguments about Literature?Getting Ideas: Pre-Writing.Annotating a Text.Brainstorming for Ideas for Writing Kate Chopin, The Story of an HourFocused Free WritingListing and ClusteringDeveloping an Awareness of the Writer's Use of LanguageAsking QuestionsKeeping a JournalArguing at a Thesis.Writing a Draft Sample Draft of an Essay on Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" Lynn Crowe, Ironies in an HourRevising a DraftPeer ReviewThe Final Version A Brief Overview of the Final VersionExplication.A Sample Explication William Butler Yeats, The Balloon of the MindExplication as ArgumentComparison and Contrast: A Way of ArguingReview: How to Write an Effective EssayAdditional ReadingKate Chopin, Ripe FigsWilliam Stafford, Traveling through the DarkLorna Dee Cervantes, Refugee ShipJose Armas, El Tonto del Barrio Part II FICTION4. Approaching Fiction: Responding in Writing. Ernest Hemingway, Cat in the RainResponses: Annotations and Journal Entries.A Sample Essay by a Student: Bill Yanagi, Hemingway's American Wife 5. Stories and Meanings: Plot, Character, Theme. Aesop, The Vixen and the LionessW. Somerset Maugham, The Appointment in SamaraAnonymous, Muddy RoadAnton Chekhov, MiseryKate Chopin, Desiree's Baby Alice Walker, Everyday UseMargaret Atwood, Happy Endings William Carlos Williams,The Use of Force 6. Narrative Point of View Participant (or First-Person) Points of ViewNon-participant (or Third-Person) Points of ViewThe Point of a Point of ViewJohn Updike, A & PGrace Paley, A Man Told Me the Story of His Life Jean Rhys, I Used to Live Here OnceAnonymous, The Judgment of SolomonAmbrose Bierce, An Occurrence at Owl Creek BridgeKatherine Anne Porter, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall 7 Allegory and SymbolA Note on SettingNathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman BrownJohn Steinbeck, The Chrysanthemums Eudora Welty, A Worn PathGabriel Garcia Marquez, A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: A Tale for ChildrenD. H. Lawrence, The Horse Dealer's Daughter Shirley Jackson, The Lottery 8. Students Writing about Stories Prompts for Writing about Plot, Character, Point of View, Setting, Symbolism, Style, and ThemeFiction into Film Asking Questions, Thinking Critically, Making Comparisons Film as a Medium Film Techniques ThemeComparing Filmed and Printed StoriesGetting Ready to writeDrafting an Essay Checklist: Getting Ideas for Writing Arguments about FilmYour Turn: Thinking about Filming FictionSeven Students Write about Short Stories Anne Geraghty Thinks about Character in Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado"Notes. The Final Version of the Essay: Anne Geraghty, Revenge, Noble and IgnobleGender Criticism: A Response to "The Judgment of Solomon" A Sample Essay: Anne McCauley, How Wise Was Solomon A Feminist Reading of James Thurber's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"Working Toward a Thesis: Journal entriesDeveloping the Thesis: List Notes Sample Draft: Susan Levy, "Walter Mitty Is No Joke"A Note on Reading against the Grain A Skeptical Look at the Parable of he Prodigal Son Steve Scipione, "The Parable of the Shrewd Son" Talking about Setting as Symbolic: Notes and an Essay on Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" Amy Jones, "Spring Comes to Mrs. Mallard"Two Students Interpret Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery": Notes and Essays Nat Komor, "We All Participate in the Lottery" Anne Hearn "Is `The Lottery' Fair?"Sample Essay with Documentation Jean Lee, ""Do the Pink Ribbons in Hawthorne`s `Young Goodman Brown' Have a Meaning?" 9. A Fiction Writer in Depth: Flannery O'ConnorFlannery O'Connor: Three Stories and Observations on LiteratureFlannery O'Connor, A Good Man Is Hard to FindFlannery O'Connor, Good Country People Flannery O'Connor,RevelationOn Fiction: Remarks from Essays and Letters.From "The Fiction Writer and His Country"From "Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction" From "The Nature and Aim of Fiction"From "Writing Short Stories" A Reasonable Use of the Unreasonable"On Interpreting "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" 10. A Collection of Short Fiction Chris Adrian, Every Night for a Thousand YearsMargaret Atwood, Gertrude Talks Back Jorge Luis Borges, The Gospel According to Mark Raymond Carver, Cathedral Oscar Casares, YolandaDiana Chang, The Oriental Contingent Kate Chopin, The Storm Alice Elliot Dark, In the Gloaming Ralph Ellison, Battle Royal Louise Erdrich, The Red Convertible William Faulkner, A Rose for EmilyWilliam Faulkner, Barn BurningJack Forbes, Only Appproved Indians Can Play: Made in USACharlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper Patricia Grace, Flies Gish Jen, Who's Irish? James Joyce,Araby Franz Kafka, A Hunger ArtistJack London, To Build a Fire Bobbie Ann Mason, Shiloh Guy de Maupassant, MademoiselleGuy de Maupassant, The NecklaceKatherine Min, Courting a MonkLorrie Moore, How to Become a Writer Alice Munro Boys and GirlsGloria Naylor, The Two Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried Cynthia Ozick, The ShawlEdgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado Michele Serros, Senior Picture DayLeslie Marmon Silko, The Man to Send Rain CloudsAmy Tan, Two Kinds Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Illych John Updike, The Rumor Part III. POETRY 11. Approaching Poetry: Responding in Writing Langston Hughes, Harlem.Thinking About "Harlem"Some Journal Entries. A Sample Essay by a Student: Michael Locke, Langston Hughes's `Harlem'Aphra Behn, Song: Love Armed.Journal Entries. A Sample Essay by a Student: Geoffrey Sullivan "The Double Nature of Love." 12. Narrative PoetryThe Limerick, the Popular Ballad, and Other Narrative PoemsAnonymous, There was a young fellow from RigaAnonymous British Ballad, Sir Patrick SpenceAnonymous British Ballad, The Demon LoverJohn Keats, La Belle Dame sans MerciSiegfried Sassoon, The GeneralCountee Cullen,Incident Edward Arlington Robinson, Richard CoryEmily Dickinson, Because I could not stop for DeathJohn Lennon and Paul McCartney, Eleanor RigbyE. E. Cummings, anyone lived in a pretty how town 13. Lyric Poetry Anonymous, Michael Row the Boat AshoreAnonymous, Careless LoveAnonymous, The Colorado TrailAnonymous, Western WindJulia Ward Howe, Battle Hymn of the Republic William Shakespeare, SpringWilliam Shakespeare, WinterW. H. Auden, Stop All the Clocks, Cut Off the TelephoneEmily Bronte, SpellboundSpirituals, or Sorrow SongsAnonymous African-American, Go Down, Moses Anonymous African-American, Swing Low, Sweet ChariotLangston Hughes, Evenin' Air BluesLi-Young Lee, I Ask My Mother to SingEdna St. Vincent Millay, The Spring and the FallWilfred Owen, Anthem for Doomed YouthWalt Whitman, A Noiseless Patient SpiderJoseph Addison, OdeJohn Keats, Ode on a Grecian UrnPaul Laurence Dunbar, SympathyJack Forbes, Something Nice Linda Pastan, Jump CablingBilly Collins, The Names 14. The Speaking Tone of Voice. Emily Dickinson, I'm Nobody! Who are you?Gwendolyn Brooks, We Real Cool.Gwendolyn Brooks, The Mother Linda Pastan, MarksThe Reader as the Speaker.Stevie Smith, Not Waving but DrowningWislawa Szymborska, The Terrorist, He WatchesJohn Updike, IcarusAurora Levins Morales, Child of the AmericasJoseph Bruchac III, Ellis Island The Dramatic Monologue.Robert Browning, My Last DuchessPaula Gunn Allen, Pocahontas to Her English Husband, John Rolfe Diction and Tone.Robert Herrick, To the Virgins, to Make Much of TimeEzra Pound, The River-Merchant's Wife: A LetterWilfred Owens, Dulce et Decorum EstThomas Hardy, The Man He KilledThomas Hardy, The Ruined MaidWalter de la Mare, An EpitaphGerard Manley Hopkins, Spring and Fall: To a Young Child.Countee Cullen, For a Lady I KnowLyn Lifshin, My Mother and the BedThe Voice of the Satirist.E.E. Cummings, next to of course god America Marge Piercy, Barbie DollLouise Erdrich, Dear John WayneAlexander Pope, Engraved on the Collar of a Dog 15. Figurative Language: Simile, Metaphor, Personification, and Apostrophe. Robert Burns, A Red, Red Rose.Sylvia Plath, MetaphorSimile.Richard Wilbur, A Simile for Her SmileMetaphor.John Keats, On First Looking into Chapman's HomerPersonificationMichael Drayton, Since There's No Help ApostropheEdmund Waller, SongWilliam Carlos Williams, The Red WheelbarrowAlfred Lord Tennyson, The EagleSeamus Heaney, Digging Dana Gioia, MoneyLinda Pastan, Baseball Craig Raine, A Martian Sends a Postcard Home William Shakespeare, Sonnet 130 16. Imagery and Symbolism. William Blake, The Sick RoseWalt Whitman, I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla KhanEmma Lazarus, The New Colossus Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Kraken Dan Chiasson, The Elephant Claude McKay, The Tropics in New YorkAdrienne Rich, Diving into the WreckChristina Rossetti, UphillWallace Stevens, The Emperor of Ice CreamEdgar Allan Poe, To HelenHerman Melville,DuPont's Round FightNaomi Shihab Nye, The Traveling Onion A Note on HaikuMoritake, Fallen petals riseSokan, If only we couldShiki, River in summerRichard Wright, Four HaikuWriting a Haiku.Taigi, Look, O look, there goCyber-Haiku 17. Irony Percy Bysshe Shelley, OzymandiasAndrew Marvell, To His Coy MistressJohn Donne, Holy Sonnet XIV ("Batter my heart, three-personed God")Langston Hughes, Dream BoogieMartin Espada, Tony Went to the Bodega but He Didn't Buy AnythingEdna St. Vincent Millay, Love Is Not All: It Is Not Meat nor DrinkSherman Alexie, EvolutionHenry Reed, Naming of PartsSarah N. Cleghorn, The Golf Links 18. Rhythm and Versification. Ezra Pound, An ImmoralityA. E. Housman, Eight O'ClockWilliam Carlos Williams, The DanceRobert Francis, The PitcherVersification: A Glossary for Reference MeterPatterns of SoundGalway Kinnell, Blackberry EatingWilliam Carlos Williams, The Artist Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Constantly Risking Absurdity A Note about Poetic Forms Stanzaic Patterns Three Complex Forms: The Sonnet, The Villanelle, and the SestinaThe SonnetSix Sonnets.William Shakespeare, Sonnet 73 ("That time of year thou mayst in me behold")William Shakespeare, Sonnet 146 ("Poor soul, the center of my sinful earth")John Milton, When I Consider How My Light Is SpentJohn Crowe Ransom, Piazza PieceX. J. Kennedy, Nothing in Heaven Functions as It OughtBilly Collins, SonnetThe VillanelleEdward Arlington Robinson, The House on the HillDylan Thomas, Do Not go Gentle into that Good NightElizabeth Bishop, One ArtThe SestinaElizabeth Bishop, SestinaShaped Poetry or Pattern PoetryGeorge Herbert, Easter WingsLillian Morrison, The Sidewalk RacerBlank Verse and Free Verse.Walt Whitman, When I Heard the Learn'd AstronomerThe Prose PoemCarolyn Forche, The Colonel 19. Students Writing about PoemsFirst Response.Speaker and Tone.Audience.Structure and Form.Center of Interest and Theme.Diction.Sound Effects.A Note on Explication.Eight Essays by StudentsLouise Gluck, Gretel in DarknessJennifer Anderson's Annotation's, Journal, and Final Draft Jennifer Anderson, A Memory Poem: Louise Gluck's "Gretel in Darkness"Adrienne Rich, Aunt Jennifer's TigersA Student's Annotations and Essay Maria Fuentes, Aunt Jennifer's Screen and Adrienne Rich's Poem A Student's Essay on a Theme in Several Poems by One Poet Peter Gottsegen Religion and Religious Imagery in Emily Dickinson An Essay on the Structure of a Poem Robert Herrick, Upon Julia's Clothes Annotations David Thurston, Herrick's Julia, Julia's HerrickAn Essay on Metrics Julia Jeffords, Sound and Sense in Housman's "Eight O'Clock" A Brief Overview of the EssayThree Essays, for Evaluation, on Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" Darrel MacDonald's Annotations and Essay, "Stopping by Woods and Going On" Sara Fong's Journal Entry and Essay, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" as a Short Story" Peter Franken's Journal Entry and Essay, "The Meaning of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" 20. Poets at Work Walt Whitman, Enfans d'Adam, number 9 Cathy Song, Out of Our HandsWilliam Butler Yeats, Leda and the Swan (three versions)William Butler Yeats, Annunciation William Butler Yeats, Leda and the Swan (1924)William Butler Yeats, Leda and the Swan (1933) 21. Variations on Themes: Poems and Paintings Writing about Poems and PaintingsA Sample Student Essay Tina Washington, Two Ways of Looking at a Starry NightJane Flanders, Van Gogh's BedAdrienne Rich, Mourning PictureCathy Song, Beauty and SadnessCarl Phillips, Luncheon on the GrassAnne Sexton, The Starry NightW. H. Auden, Musee des Beaux ArtsX. J. Kennedy, Nude Descending a StaircaseSherman Alexie, At Navajo Monument Valley Tribal School.John Updike, Before the MirrorGreg Pape, American Flamingo 22. Three Poets in Depth: Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and Langston Hughes On Reading Authors Represented in DepthEmily DickinsonThese are the days when Birds come backPapa above!Wild Nights-Wild Nights!There's a certain Slant of lightI got so I could hear his name-The Soul selects her own SocietyThis was a Poet-It is ThatI heard a Fly Buzz-when I diedThe World is not ConclusionI like to see it lap the MilesA narrow Fellow in the GrassFurther in Summer than the BirdsTell all the Truth but tell it slantA Route of EvanesenceThose-dying, thenApparently with no surpriseI felt a funeral, in my BrainI felt a Cleaving in my MindThe Dust behind I strove to joinLetters about Poetry.Letter to Susan Gilbert (Dickinson).Letters to T.W. HigginsonLetter to T.W. HigginsonRobert Frost.The PastureMending WallThe Wood-PileThe Road Not Taken.The Telephone.The Oven Bird.The Vanishing RedThe Aim Was SongThe Need of Being Versed in Country ThingsStopping by Woods on a Snowy EveningAcquainted with the NightDesert PlacesDesignThe Silken TentCome InThe Most of ItRobert Frost on PoetryThe Figure a Poem MakesFrom "The Constant Symbol" Langston HughesThe Negro Speaks of RiversMother to SonThe Weary BluesThe SouthRuby Brown.Poet to Patron.Ballad of the LandlordToo BlueHarlem[1].Theme for English BPoet to BigotLangston Hughes on PoetryThe Negro and the Racial MountainOn the Cultural Achievement of African-Americans 23. Poetry and TranslationA Poem Translated from Spanish, in an Essay by a Student George Guzman, Garcia Lorca's "Despedida"A Note on Using the First-Person Singular Pronoun in EssaysTranslating a Poem of your Choice, and Commenting on the Translation Last-Minute Help: Three Spanish PoemsAnonymous, Ya se van los pastoresAnonymous, Una gallina con pollos Gabriela Mistral, El Pensador de RodinTranslating HaikuBasho, Old pondFurther Thoughts about Translating PoetryCatullus, Odi et amoCan Poetry Be Translated?Looking at Translations of a Poem by Charles BaudelaireCharles Baudelaire, L'Albatros 24. A Collection of Poems. A Note on Folk BalladsAnonymous British Ballad, The Three Ravens Anonymous British Ballad, The Twa CorbiesAnonymous British Ballad,Edward Anonymous, John HenrySherman Alexie, On the Amtrak from Boston to New York CityMatthew Arnold, Dover BeachW. H. Auden, The Unknown Citizen Jimmy Santiago Baca, So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from AmericansAmiri Baraka, A Poem for Black Hearts Elizabeth Bishop, The FishWilliam Blake, Infant Joy William Blake, Infant SorrowWilliam Blake, The LambWilliam Blake, The TygerWilliam Blake, LondonRobert Bly, Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter Gwendolyn Brooks, Martin Luther King Jr.Gwendolyn Brooks, The Bean Eaters Robert Browning, Porphyria's Lover George Gordon, Lord Byron, She Walks in BeautyLucille Clifton, in the inner cityJudith Ortiz Cofer, My Father in the Navy: A Childhood Memory John Donne, A Valediction: Forbidding MourningJohn Donne, The Flea John Donne, Death Be Not ProudRita Dove, Daystar Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A-Changin'T. S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockRalph Waldo Emerson, Hymn Martin Espada, BullyAllen Ginsberg, A Supermarket in California Nikki Giovanni, Master Charge Blues Louise Gluck, The School ChildrenH.D., Helen Thomas Hardy, Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave Joy Harjo, Vision Robert Hayden, Those Winter SundaysAnthony Hecht, The Dover Bitch Robert Herrick, Delight in Disorder Gerard Manley Hopkins, God's GrandeurGerard Manly Hopkins, Pied Beauty A. E. Housman, To an Athlete Dying Young A. E. Housman, When I Was One-and-TwentyA. E. Housman, Loveliest of Trees James Weldon Johnson, To AmericaBen Jonson, On My First Son.Ben Jonson, Still to be NeatJohn Keats, To Autumn X. J. Kennedy, For Allen GinsbergYusef Komunyakaa, Facing ItArchibald MacLeish, Ars PoeticaClaude McKay, AmericaHerman Melville, MisgivingsHermanMelville, The Tuft of Kelp Pat Mora, Illegal AlienPat Mora, Legal AlienCarol Muske, Chivalry Sharon Olds, Rites of PassageLinda Pastan, Love Poem Marge Piercy, To be of use Sylvia Plath,DaddyEzra Pound, In a Station of the MetroWyatt Prunty, Learning the Bicycle Dudley Randall, The Melting Pot Adrienne Rich, For the Felling of an Elm in the Harvard YardAdrienne Rich, Living in SinAnne Sexton, Her Kind William Shakespeare, Sonnet 29 (When, in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes) William Shakespeare, Sonnet 116 (Let me not to the marriage of true minds)Alfred, Lord Tennyson, UlyssesKitty Tsui, A Chinese Banquet John Updike, Ex-Basketball PlayerDerek Walcott, A Far Cry from Africa Phillis Wheatley, On Being Brought from Africa to AmericaWalt Whitman, Reconciliation Walt Whitman, A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and GrimWalt Whitman, The Dalliance of Eagles William Carlos Williams, Spring and AllWilliam Wordsworth, The World Is Too Much with UsWilliam Wordsworth, I Wondered Lonely as a CloudWilliam Wordsworth, The Solitary ReaperJames Wright, Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, MinnesotaWilliam Butler Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium Part IV DRAMA 25. How to Read a Play Thinking About the Language of Drama.Plot and Character.Susan Glaspell, TriflesTennessee Williams, The Glass MenagerieA Context for The Glass MenagerieTennessee Williams, Production Notes 26. Tragedy A Note on Greek TheaterTwo Plays by SophoclesSophocles, Oedipus the KingSophocles, AntigoneA Play by ShakespeareA Note on the Elizabethan Theater HamletA Note on the Text of HamletPortfolio: Hamlet on the StageWilliam Shakespeare, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 27. Comedy William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream 28. Two Plays about Marriage Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's HouseContexts for A Doll's HouseHenrik Ibsen, Notes for the Tragedy of Modern TimesHenrik Ibsen, Adaptations of A Doll's House for a German ProductionHenrik Ibsen, Speech at the Banquet of the Norwegian League for Women's RightsClare Boothe Luce, Slam the Door Softly 29. Students Writing About Plays Plot and Conflict.Character.Tragedy.Comedy.Nonverbal Language.The Play in PerformanceWriting about a Filmed Version of a PlayChecklist: Writing about a Filmed PlayFive Essays by Students An Essay on Plot: Joel Shapiro, "The Solid Structure of The Glass Menagerie" An Essay on Setting: Margaret Hammer, "What the Kitchen in Trifles Tells Us" An Essay on Character and Theme: Carlos Alonso, "Fairy Mischief and Morality in A Midsummer's Night's Dream" An Essay on a Film: Will Saretta, "Branagh's Film of Hamlet" A Sample Student Essay Using Sources: Ruth Katz, "The Women in Death of a Salesman" 30. A Collection of Plays Arthur Miller, Death of a SalesmanA Context for Death of a SalesmanArthur Miller, Tragedy and the Common ManLuis Valdez, Los Vendidos A Context for Los VendidosLuis Valdez, The ActosJane Martin, Rodeo August Wilson, Fences A Context for Fences August Wilson, Talking About FencesDavid Ives, Sure ThingTerrence McNally, Andre's Mother 31 Critical Approaches: The Nature of Criticism Formalist (or New) CriticismDeconstructionReader Response CriticismArchetypal (or Myth) CriticismHistorical ScholarshipMarxist CriticismThe New HistoricismBiographical CriticismPsychological (or Psychoanalytic) CriticismGender (Feminist, and Lesbian and Gay) CriticismSuggestions for Further Reading Appendix ABasic Manuscript FormCorrections in Final CopyQuotations and Quotation MarksDocumentation: Footnotes, Internal Parenthetical Citations, and a List of Works Cited (MLA format)Citing Sources on the World Wide Web Appendix B: Writing Essay ExaminationsWhy Do Instructors give Essay ExaminationsGetting ReadyWriting Essay Answers Appendix C Glossary of Literary Terms