Reading and Writing about Literature

Reading and Writing about Literature

* indicates sections or material new to this edition

1. INTRODUCTION TO READING AND WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE

Why Read Literature?

Why Write about Literature?

What to Expect in a Literature Class

Literature and Enjoyment

*Literature and Difficulty

2. THE ROLE OF GOOD READING

The Value of Rereading

Close Reading:

The Myth of Hidden Meaning

Questions for Close Reading: Fiction

Annotating

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, The Second Coming (Annotated Poem):

Questions for Close Reading: Poetry

Note Taking

Questions for Close Reading: Drama

Informal Writing

Using Reference Materials

Asking Critical Questions of Literature

BEN JONSON, "On My First Son" (Annotated Poem)

Checklist for Good Reading

3. THE WRITING PROCESS

Prewriting:

Choosing a Topic

Developing an Argument

The Thesis:

Gathering Support for Your Thesis

Organizing Your Paper

Drafting the Paper

Revising and Editing:

Global Revision Checklist

Local Revision Checklist

Final Editing Checklist

Peer Editing and Workshops

Tips for Writing about Literature

Using Quotations Effectively

Quoting from Stories

Quoting from Poems

Quoting from Plays

Formatting Your Paper

4. COMMON WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Summary

Response:

ZORA NEALE HURSTON, “Sweat”

STUDENT ESSAY: Taylor Plantan, "A Response to ‘Sweat’"

Explication:

ROBERT HERRICK, "Upon Julia's Clothes"

STUDENT ESSAY: Jessica Barnes, "Poetry in Motion:

Herrick's 'Upon Julia's Clothes'"

Analysis:

ROBERT BROWNING "My Last Duchess"

STUDENT ESSAY: Adam Walker, "Possessed by the Need for Possession: Browning's 'My Last Duchess'"

Comparison and Contrast:

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, "After Death"
STUDENT ESSAY: Todd Bowen, "Speakers for the Dead: Narrators in 'My Last Duchess' and 'After Death'"

Essay Exams:

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, "Sonnet 73"

ROBERT HERRICK, "To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time"

STUDENT ESSAY EXAM: Midterm Essay

5. WRITING ABOUT STORIES

Elements of Fiction:

Plot

Character

Point of View

Setting

Theme

Symbolism

Style

Stories for Analysis:

CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN, "The Yellow Wallpaper"

KATE CHOPIN, "The Story of an Hour" (Annotated Story)

STUDENT ESSAY: An Essay that Compares and Contrasts: Melanie Smith, "Good Husbands in Bad Marriages"

6. WRITING ABOUT POEMS

Elements of Poetry

The Speaker

The Listener

Imagery

Sound and Sense

Two Poems for Analysis:

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, "Sonnet 116" (Annotated Poem)

T.S. ELIOT, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (Annotated Poem)

STUDENT ESSAY: An Explication: Patrick McCorkle, "Shakespeare Defines Love"

7. WRITING ABOUT PLAYS

Elements of Drama:

Plot, Character, and Theme

Diction

Spectacle

Setting

How to Read a Play:

Watching a Play

The Director’s Vision

SUSAN GLASPELL, Trifles

STUDENT ESSAY: An Analysis: Sarah Johnson, "Moral Ambiguity and Character Development in Trifles"

8. WRITING A LITERARY RESEARCH PAPER

Finding Sources

Evaluating Sources

Working with Sources:

Quotations

Paraphrases and Summaries

Commentaries

Keeping Track of Your Sources

Writing the Paper:

Refine Your Thesis

Organize Your Evidence

Start Your Draft

Revise

Edit and Proofread

Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism

*Understanding Artificial Intelligence

What to Document and What Not to Document

Documenting Sources: MLA Format

In-Text Citations

Preparing Your Works Cited List

STUDENT ESSAY: Research Paper: Rachel McCarthy, "The Widening Gyres of Chaos in Yeats’s ‘The Second Coming’"

9. LITERARY CRITICISM AND LITERARY THEORY

Formalism and New Criticism

Feminist and Gender Criticism

Queer Theory

Marxist Criticism

Cultural Studies

Postcolonial Criticism

Historical Criticism and New Historicism

Psychological Theories

Reader-Response Theories

Structuralism

Poststructuralism and Deconstruction

Ecocriticism

Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms

Acknowledgments

Index of Terms