Reading and Writing about Literature with 2021 MLA Update by Janet Gardner; Joanne Diaz - Fifth Edition, 2021 from Macmillan Student Store

Reading and Writing about Literature with 2021 MLA Update

Fifth  Edition©2021  Janet Gardner; Joanne Diaz

About

A brief and very affordable guide to reading and writing about literature.

This ebook has been updated to provide you with the latest guidance on documenting sources in MLA style and follows the guidelines set forth in the MLA Handbook, 9th edition (April 2021).

Far less expensive than comparable guides, Reading and Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide is an ideal supplement for writing courses where literature anthologies and individual literary works that lack writing instruction are assigned. This brief guide introduces strategies for reading literature, explains the writing process and common writing assignments for literature courses, provides instruction in writing about fiction, poetry, and drama, and includes coverage of writing a research paper as well as sections on literary criticism and theory.

Table of Contents

[* Indicates sections or material new to this edition]

Preface for Instructors
Brief Contents
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

2. THE ROLE OF GOOD READING
The Value of Rereading
Critical Reading
The Myth of "Hidden Meaning"
Active Reading
     Annotating

*WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, The Second Coming (Annotated Poem)
     Note Taking
     Journal Keeping
     Using Reference Materials
Questions for Active Reading: Fiction
Questions for Active Reading: Poetry
Questions for Active Reading: Drama
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
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

Janet E. Gardner

Janet E. Gardnerwas Associate Professor of English at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, where she taught courses in drama, British and world literature, and writing for many years. She has published numerous articles, reviews, and chapters on contemporary drama, especially modern British drama and the work of Caryl Churchill.

Joanne Diaz

Joanne Diaz is the recipient of fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Sustainable Arts Foundation. She is the author of My Favorite Tyrants and The Lessons, and with Ian Morris, she is the co-editor of The Little Magazine in Contemporary America. She is a Professor of English at Illinois Wesleyan University.