Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama

* = new selection or sectionINTRODUCTIONCritical Thinking and the Pleasures of LiteratureThe Pleasures of Fiction Thinking Critically about a Story Learning to Be SilentCritical Thinking and Contexts The Pleasures of Poetry Thinking Critically about a Poem Robert Frost, Dust of SnowCritical Thinking and Contexts The Pleasures of Drama Drama and Imaginative Thinking Critical Thinking and Oprah's Book Club: An ExerciseApproaching Literature with Critical Thinking Experience Interpretation Evaluation Critical Thinking and ContextCritical Thinking and Writing about Literature Reasons for Writing about Literature Ways of Writing about Literature Arguing about Literature The Writing Process Stephen Crane, War is KindPART ONE: FICTION READING AND WRITING ABOUT FICTION Chapter 1: Reading Stories Luke, The Prodigal SonThe Experience of Fiction The Interpretation of Fiction Reading in ContextThe Evaluation of Fiction John Updike, A&PThe Act of Reading Fiction Kate Chopin, The Story of an HourChapter 2: Types of Short Fiction Early Forms: Parable, Fable, and Tale Aesop, The Wolf and the Mastiff Petronius, The Widow of EphesusThe Short Story The Nonrealistic Story The Short Novel Chapter 3: Elements of Fiction Plot and Structure Frank O'Connor, Guests of the NationCharacter Kay Boyle, Astronomer's WifeSetting Bobbie Ann Mason, ShilohPoint of View William Faulkner, A Rose for EmilyLanguage and Style James Joyce, ArabyTheme Eudora Welty, A Worn PathIrony and Symbol D. H. Lawrence, The Rocking-Horse WinnerChapter 4: Writing About Fiction Reasons for Writing about Fiction Informal Ways of Writing about FictionKatherine Anne Porter, MagicFormal Ways of Writing about Fiction Student Papers on Fiction Questions for Writing about Fiction Suggestions for WritingTHINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT FICTION Chapter 5: Three Fiction Writers In Context Reading Edgar Allan Poe and Flannery O'Connor in Depth Edgar Allan Poe in Context Poe and Journalism Poe and The Horror Story Poe and The Detective Story The Dimension of StyleEdgar Allan Poe: Stories: The Black Cat The Cask of Amontillado The Fall of the House of Usher Edgar Allan Poe: Letters, Essays Critics on Poe Flannery O'Connor in Context Southern Gothic The Catholic Dimension O'Connor's IronyFlannery O'Connor: Stories: Good Country People A Good Man is Hard to Find Everything That Rises Must Converge Flannery O'Connor: Letters, Essays Critics on O'Connor *Chapter 6: Envisioning Narrative *Visual Stories *Charles Schulz, Peanuts *Marjane Satrapi, The Veil *Rachel Masilamani, Two Kinds of PeopleAN ANTHOLOGY OF SHORT FICTION Chapter 7: A Selection of Contemporary Fiction Sherman Alexie, Indian Education *Gish Jen, Who's Irish? *Jhumpa Lahiri, Hell-Heaven Chapter 8: A Selection of World Fiction *Chinua Achebe, Marriage is a Private Affair Jorge Luis Borges, The Garden of Forking Paths Jamaica Kincaid, Girl *Gabriel Garcia Marquez, A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings translated by Gregory Rabassa *Isaac Bashevis Singer, Gimpel the Fool translated by Saul Bellow Chapter 9: For Further Reading Margaret Atwood, Happy Endings *James Baldwin, Sonny's Blues Raymond Carver, Cathedral *Anton Chekhov, The Lady with the Little Dog translated by Richard Peavear and Larissa Volokhonsky *Kate Chopin, The Storm *Sandra Cisneros, Barbie-QRalph Ellison, Battle Royal *William Faulkner, Barn Burning *F. Scott Fitzgerald, Babylon Revisited Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown Ernest Hemingway, Hills Like White Elephants *Zora Neale Hurston, Spunk *Shirley Jackson, The Lottery James Joyce, The Boarding House *Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried Tillie Olsen, I Stand Here Ironing Katherine Anne Porter, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall *John Steinbeck, The Chrysanthemums Amy Tan, Rules of the Game Alice Walker, Everyday Use Eudora Welty, Why I Live at the P.O.PART TWO: POETRY READING AND WRITING ABOUT POETRY Chapter 10: Reading Poems The Experience of Poetry Robert Hayden, Those Winter SundaysReading in Context The Interpretation of Poetry Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy EveningReading in Context The Evaluation of Poetry Gwendolyn Brooks, A Song in the Front Yard The Act of Reading Poetry Theodore Roethke, My Papa's WaltzChapter 11: Types of Poetry Narrative Poetry Lyric PoetryChapter 12: Elements of Poetry Voice: Speaker and Tone Stephen Crane, War is Kind Robert Browning, My Last Duchess Muriel Stuart, In the Orchard Gerard Manley Hopkins, "Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend" Anonymous, Western Wind Henry Reed, Naming of Parts*Randall Jarrell, Death of the Ball Turret GunnerDiction William Wordsworth, I wandered lonely as a cloud Edwin Arlington Robinson, Miniver Cheevy William Wordsworth, It is a beauteous evening Robert Herrick, Delight in Disorder Imagery Elizabeth Bishop, First Death in Nova Scotia William Butler Yeats, The Lake Isle of Innisfree Robert Browning, Meeting at Night H.D., Heat Thomas Hardy, Neutral TonesFigures of Speech: Simile and Metaphor William Shakespeare, That time of year thou may'st in me behold John Donne, Hymn to God the Father Robert Wallace, The Double-Play Louis Simpson, The Battle Judith Wright, Woman to ChildSymbolism and Allegory Peter Meinke, Advice to My Son Christina Rossetti, Up-Hill William Blake, A Poison Tree Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken George Herbert, Virtue Emily Dickinson, Because I could not stop for DeathSyntax John Donne, The Sun Rising Thomas Hardy, The Man He Killed William Butler Yeats, An Irish Airman Foresees His Death Robert Frost, The Silken Tent e.e. cummings, "Me up at does" Stevie Smith, Mother, Among the DustbinsSound: Rhyme, Alliteration, Assonance Gerard Manley Hopkins, In the Valley of the ElwyThomas Hardy, During Wind and Rain Alexander Pope, Sound and Sense Bob McKenty, Adam's Song May Swenson, The Universe Helen Chasin, The Word PlumRhythm and Meter Robert Frost, The Span of Life George Gordon, Lord Byron, The Destruction of Sennacherib Anne Sexton, Her Kind William Carlos Williams, The Red WheelbarrowStructure: Closed Form and Open Form John Keats, On First Looking into Chapman's Homer Walt Whitman, When I heard the learn'd astronomer e.e. cummings, l(a e.e. cummings, [Buffalo Bill's] William Carlos Williams, The Dance Denise Levertov, O Taste and See Theodore Roethke, The Waking Christine Kane Molito, Reflections in Black & Blue C.P. Cavafy, The City translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip SherrardTheme Emily Dickinson, Crumbling is not an instant's ActChapter 13: Writing about PoetryReasons for Writing about Poetry Informal Ways of Writing about Poetry Robert Graves, Symptoms of LoveFormal Ways of Writing about Poetry Sylvia Plath, MirrorStudent Papers on Poetry Questions for Writing about Poetry Suggestions for WritingTHINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT POETRY Chapter 14: Transformations Revisions William Blake, London William Butler Yeats, A Dream of Death Emily Dickinson, The Wind begun to knead the Grass D.H. Lawrence, Piano Langston Hughes, Ballad of Booker T.Parodies William Carlos Williams, This is Just to Say Kenneth Koch Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams William Shakespeare, Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Howard Moss, Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day? Robert Frost, Dust of Snow Bob McKenty, Snow on Frost*Responses *Christopher Marlowe, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love *Sir Walter Raleigh, The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd *William Shakespeare, Not marble, nor the gilded monuments *Archibald MacLeish, Not marble Nor the Gilded Monuments *William Blake, Chimney Sweeper (Innocence), Chimney Sweeper (Experience) *Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach *Anthony Hecht, The Dover Bitch: A Criticism of Life *Poetry and Song *Ecclesiastes, To Everything There is a Season *Pete Seeger, Turn, Turn, Turn! *Edwin Arlington Robinson, Richard Cory *Paul Simon, Richard Cory *John Newton, Amazing Grace *Don Maclean, VincentChapter 15: Envisioning Poetry Poems and Paintings Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night Anne Sexton, The Starry Night Francesco de Goya, The Third of May, 1808 David Gewanter, Goya's The Third of May, 1808 Pieter Breughel the Elder, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus W.H. Auden, Musee des Beaux Arts William Carlos Williams, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus William Blake, The Sick Rose (painting) William Blake, The Sick Rose (poem) Henri Matisse, The Dance Natalie Safir, Matisse's Dance Jan Vermeer, Young Woman with a Water Jug Stephen Mitchell, Vermeer Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase X.J. Kennedy, Nude Descending a Staircase Rembrandt van Rijn, The Return of the Prodigal Son Elizabeth Bishop, The Prodigal Kitagawa Utamaro, Girl Powdering Her Neck Cathy Song, Girl Powdering Her Neck Romare Bearden, At Five in the Afternoon Federico Garcia Lorca, Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías (pt. 2) *Giorgio de Chirico, The Melancholy and Mystery of a Street *Roy Jacobstein, The Melancholy and Mystery of the Street Lun-Yi Tsai, Disbelief Lucille Clifton, Tuesday 9/11/01Chapter 16: Three Poets in ContextReading Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and Langston Hughes in Depth Emily Dickinson in Context The 19th-Century New England Literary Scene Dickinson and Modern PoetryDickinson and ChristianityDickinson's Style Emily Dickinson, I cannot dance upon my Toes (326) Emily Dickinson, The soul selects her own Society (303)Emily Dickinson: Poems *67 Success is counted sweetest *108 Surgeons must be very careful *130 These are the days when Birds come back *135 Water, is taught by thirst *185 "Faith" is a fine invention 199 I'm "wife"--I've finished that 214 I taste a liquor never brewed 241 I like a look of Agony 249 Wild Nights--Wild Nights! *252 I can wade Grief *258 There's a certain Slant of light 280 I felt a Funeral, in my Brain *288 I’m Nobody! Who are you? 324 Some keep the Sabbath going to Church *328 A Bird came down the walk *341 After great pain, a formal feeling comes 348 I dreaded that first Robin, so 419 We grow accustomed to the Dark 435 Much Madness is divinest Sense *448 This was a Poet--It is that 449 I died for Beauty--but was scarce 465 I head a Fly buzz--when I died *501 This World is not Conclusion. *508 I'm ceded--I've stopped being Theirs-- *569 I reckon--when I count at all-- 585 I like to see it lap the Miles 599 There is a pain--so utter 632 The Brain--is wider than the Sky 650 Pain--has an element of Blank *657 I dwell in Possibility-- *668 "Nature" is what we see 754 My Life had stood--a Loaded Gun 986 A narrow Fellow in the Grass *1078 The Bustle in a House 1129 Tell all the Truth but tell it slant 1732 My life closed twice before its close Three Poems with Altered PunctuationPoets Inspired by Dickinson Jane Hirshfield, Three Times My Life has Opened Billy Collins, Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes *Francis Heaney, Skinny Domicile Linda Pastan, Emily DickinsonDickinson on Herself and Her First Poems Critics on Dickinson Robert Frost in Context Frost and Popularity Frost and Nature Frost and the Sonnet Frost's VoicesRobert Frost: Poems The Tuft of Flowers Mending Wall *MowingBirches Home Burial *After Apple-Picking Fire and Ice *Nothing Gold Can Stay Acquainted with the Night Tree at My Window Departmental Design Desert PlacesProvide, Provide Poets Inspired by Frost Edward Thomas, When First W.S. Merwin, Unknown Bird Seamus Heaney, The Forge Critical Comments by Frost Critics on Frost Langston Hughes in Context The Harlem Renaissance Hughes and Music Hughes's Influences Hughes's StyleLangston Hughes: Poems Dream Deferred The Negro Speaks of Rivers Mother to Son I, Too My People *Dream Variations *Song for a Dark Girl The Weary Blues Young Gal's Blues Morning After Trumpet Player Dream Boogie *Ballad of the Landlord Madam and the Rent Man *When Sue Wears Red *Listen Here Blues *Consider Me Theme for English B Aunt Sue's Stories *Madrid--1937 Let America Be America Again I'm Still Here Poets Inspired by Hughes Rita Dove, Testimonial Dudley Randall, The Ballad of Birmingham Kevin Young, Langston HughesHughes on Harlem, the Blues Critics on HughesANTHOLOGY OF POEMS Chapter 17: A Selection of Contemporary Poetry*Billy Collins, Sonnet (2002) Wendy Cope, The Ted Williams Villanelle (2001) *Deborah Garrison, A Working Girl Can’t Win (1998) Jane Kenyon, Peonies at Dusk (1995)*Ted Kooser, A Spiral Notebook (2004) *Taylor Mali, Like Lilly Like Wilson (2004) Chapter 18: A Selection of World Poetry Chairil Anwar (Indonesia), At the Mosque translated by Burton Raffel Matsuo Basho (Japan) Three Haiku translated by Robert Hass *Faiz Ahmed Faiz (Pakistan), Before You Came translated by Agha Shahid Ali Pablo Neruda (Chile), Ode to My Socks translated by Robert Bly Boris Pasternak (Russia), Hamlet translated by Jon Stallworthy and Peter France *Octavio Paz (Mexico), The Street translated by Muriel Rukeyeser Wole Soyinka (Nigeria), Hamlet *Wislawa Szymborska (Poland), The Acrobat *Derek Walcott (Caribbean) House of UmbrageChapter 19: For Further Reading Sherman Alexie, Indian Boy Love Songs 1 and 2 Anonymous, Barbara Allan Margaret Atwood, This is a Photograph of me *Margaret Atwood, Spelling W.H. Auden, The Unknown Citizen W.H. Auden, In Memory of W.B. Yeats W.H. Auden, Funeral Blues W.H Auden, September 1, 1939 Jimmy Santiago Baca, from Meditations on the South Valley XVII *Elizabeth Bishop, Sestina *Elizabeth Bishop, One Art *Elizabeth Bishop, The Fish William Blake, The Lamb William Blake, The Tyger William Blake, The Garden of Love *Eavan Boland, Anorexic Anne Bradstreet, To My Dear and Loving Husband Edward Kamau Brathwait, Ogun Gwendolyn Brooks, We Real Cool Gwendolyn Brooks, First fight. Then fiddle Elizabeth Barrett Browning, How do I love thee Robert Burns, A Red, Red Rose Lewis Carroll, Jabberwocky Raymond Carver, Photograph of My Father in His Twenty-Second Year Sandra Cisneros, Pumpkin Eater Lucille Clifton, Homage to My Hips Judith Ortiz Cofer, The Game Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan Billy Collins, Introduction to Poetry Billy Collins, History Teacher *Billy Collins, The Listener Countee Cullen, Incident e.e. cummings, anyone lived in a pretty how town e.e. cummings, i thank You god for this most amazing John Donne, Song: Go and catch a falling star John Donne, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning John Donne, The Flea John Donne, Death, be not proud John Donne, Batter my heart, three-personed God Rita Dove, Canary Paul Laurence Dunbar, We Wear the Mask T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Louise Erdrich, Indian Boarding School: The Runaways *Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Constantly Risking Absurdity *Carolyn Forche, The Memory of Elena Nikki Giovanni, Ego Tripping Nikki Giovanni, Nikki Rosa *Louise Gluck, The School Children George Gordon, Lord Byron, She walks in beauty Donald Hall, My son, my executioner *Thomas Hardy, The Ruined Maid *Thomas Hardy, Channel Firing *Joy Harjo, Eagle Poem *Robert Hayden, Frederick Douglass Seamus Heaney, Digging Seamus Heaney, Mid-Term Break George Herbert, The Altar Robert Herrick, Upon Julia's Clothes Robert Herrick, To the Virgins, to make Much of Time Gerard Manley Hopkins, God's Grandeur Gerard Manley Hopkins,The Windhover Gerard Manley Hopkins, Pied Beauty Gerard Manley Hopkins, Spring and Fall: To a Young Child A.E. Housman, When I was one-and-twenty A.E. Housman, To an Athlete Dying Young *Andrew Hudgins, Elegy for My Father, Who Is Not Dead Ben Jonson, On My First Son Ben Jonson, Song: To Celia John Keats, When I have fears that I may cease to be John Keats, La Belle Dame sans merci John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn John Keats, Ode to a Nightingale *Galway Kinnell, Blackberry Eating Yusef Komunyakaa, Facing It D.H. Lawrence, Snake *D.H. Lawrence, When I Read Shakespeare Audre Lorde, Hanging Fire Archibald MacLeish, Ars Poetica Andrew Marvell, To His Coy Mistress Claude McKay, The Tropics in New York *Edna St. Vincent Millay, I Being Born a Woman and Distressed *Cszeslaw Milosz, Encounter translated by the author and Lillian Vallee John Milton, When I consider how my light is spent *Marianne Moore, Poetry *Paul Muldoon, Hedgehog Sharon Olds, Size and Sheer Sharon Olds, Rite of Passage Sharon Olds, 35/10 *Mary Oliver, Poem for My Father's Ghost Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum Est Linda Pastan, Ethics *Robert Pinsky, Dying Sylvia Plath, Blackberrying Sylvia Plath, Metaphors Sylvia Plath, Morning Song Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Alexander Pope, from An Essay on Man *Ezra Pound, In a Station of the Metro Ezra Pound, The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter *Rainer Maria Rilke, The Cadet Picture of My Father Translated by Robert Lowell Alberto Rios, A Dream of Husbands Theodore Roethke, Elegy for Jane *Theodore Roethke, Root Cellar *Sonia Sanchez, Towhomitmayconcern Anne Sexton, Two Hands William Shakespeare, When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes William Shakespeare, Let me not to the marriage of true minds William Shakespeare, Th' expense of spirit in a waste of shame William Shakespeare, My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ozymandias Gary Soto, Behind Grandma's House William Stafford, Traveling through the Dark Wallace Stevens, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird *Wallace Stevens, Disillusionment of Ten O’clock May Swenson, Women Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ulysses Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Eagle: A Fragment *Dylan Thomas, Fern Hill Dylan Thomas, Do not go gentle into that good night *Jean Toomer, Song of the Sun Jean Toomer, Reapers Walt Whitman, One's-Self I Sing Walt Whitman, A Noiseless Patient Spider *Walt Whitman, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry William Carlos Williams, Spring and All William Carlos Williams, Danse Russe *William Carlos Williams The Young Housewife William Wordsworth, The world is too much with us William Wordsworth, The Solitary Reaper William Wordsworth, Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey William Butler Yeats, The Second Coming William Butler Yeats, The Wild Swans at Coole William Butler Yeats, Leda and the Swan William Butler Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium William Butler Yeats, When You are Old *William Butler Yeats, Adam's CurseChapter 20: Lives of the PoetsPART THREE: DRAMA READING AND WRITING ABOUT DRAMA Chapter 21: Reading PlaysThe Experience of Drama Isabella Augusta Persse, Lady Gregory, The Rising of the MoonThe Interpretation of Drama The Evaluation of DramaChapter 22: Types of Drama Tragedy ComedyChapter 23: Elements of Drama Plot Character Dialogue SubtextStaging Symbolism and Irony ThemeChapter 24: Writing about DramaReasons for Writing about Drama Informal Ways of Writing about Drama Annotation Double-columned NotebookFormal Ways of Writing about Drama Student Papers on Drama Questions for Writing about Drama Suggestions for WritingTHINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT DRAMA:PLAYS IN CONTEXT AND PERFORMANCE Chapter 25: The Greek Theater: Sophocles in Context Reading Sophocles in Context Athens in the Golden Age Greek Tragedy Sophocles and His WorksSophocles: Plays Oedipus Rex translated by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald Critics on SophoclesChapter 26: The Elizabethan Theater: Shakespeare in Context Reading Shakespeare in Context London in the Age of Elizabeth The Arts in the Age of Elizabeth Stagecraft in the Elizabethan Age Shakespeare and His Works / TimelineShakespeare: OthelloThe Tragedy of Othello Critics on ShakespeareChapter 27: The Modern Realistic Theater: Ibsen in Context Reading Ibsen in Context Realism A Note on the Theatre of the Absurd Ibsen, Exile, and ChangeIbsen: The Play Henrik Ibsen, A Doll House translated by Rolf Fjelde Chapter 28: Envisioning Drama: Miller and Williams in Performance *Envisioning Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman*Envisioning The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams, Production Notes to The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams, The Glass MenagerieAN ANTHOLOGY OF PLAYS Chapter 29: A Collection of Modern and Contemporary DramaSusan Glaspell, Trifles *Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being EarnestDavid Henry Hwang, M. Butterfly (and Afterward)*Milcha Sanchez-Scott, The Cuban Swimmer Wendy Wasserstein, Tender Offer August Wilson, FencesPART FOUR: RESEARCH AND CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES Chapter 30: Writing with Sources Why Do Research about Literature? Clarifying the Assignment Selecting a Topic Finding and Using Sources Using Computerized Databases Using the Internet for Research Developing a Critical Perspective Developing a Thesis Drafting and Revising Responding to the Ideas of Others: Using One source as a Stimulus for Ideas Conventions Documenting sources A Research Paper on a Single Work using Multiple Sources A Research Paper Using Multiple Works and Multiple SourcesChapter 31: Critical Theory: Approaches to the Analysis and Interpretation of Literature Readings for Analysis William Carlos Williams, The Use of Force Emily Dickinson, I'm 'wife'--I've finished thatThe Canon and the Curriculum Formalist Perspectives Biographical Perspectives Historical Perspectives Psychological Perspectives Feminist and Marxist Perspectives Reader-Response Perspectives Mythological Perspectives Structuralist Perspectives Deconstructive Perspectives Cultural Studies Perspectives Using Critical Perspectives as Heuristics