I. MAKING CONNECTIONS
1. Participation: Personal Response and Critical Thinking
The Personal Dimension of Reading Literature
Personal Response and Critical Thinking
Writing to Learn
Your First Response
Checklist: Your First Response
Keeping a Journal or Reading Log
Double-Entry Journals and Logs
The Social Nature of Learning: Collaboration
Personal, Not Private
Ourselves as Readers
Different Kinds of Reading
PETER MEINKE, Advice to My Son
Making Connections with Literature
Images of Ourselves
Connecting Through Experience
PAUL ZIMMER, Zimmer in Grade School
Connecting Through Experience
Culture, Experience, and Values
Connecting Through Experience
ROBERT HAYDEN, Those Winter Sundays
Connecting Through Experience
MARGE PIERCY, Barbie Doll
Being in the Moment
NEW YORK TIMES, “Birmingham Bomb Kills 4”
DUDLEY RANDALL, Ballad of Birmingham
Participating, Not Solving
Using Our Imaginations
The Whole and Its Parts
2. Communication: Writing a Response Essay
The Response Essay
Checklist: The Basics of a Response Essay
Voice and Writing
Voice and Response to Literature
Connecting Through Experience
COUNTEE CULLEN, Incident
Writing to Describe
Choosing Details
Choosing Details from Literature
Connecting Through Experience
SANDRA CISNEROS, Eleven
Writing to Compare
Comparing and Contrasting Using a Venn Diagram
Connecting Through Experience
ANNA QUINDLEN, Mothers
Connecting Through Experience
LANGSTON HUGHES, Salvation
Possible Worlds
From First Response to Final Draft
The Importance of Revision
Using Your First Response
Using First or Third Person in Formal Essays
II. ANALYSIS, ARGUMENTATION, AND RESEARCH
3. Exploration and Analysis: Genre and the Elements of Literature
Close Reading
Annotating the Text
First Annotation: Exploration
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, Ozymandias
Second Annotation: Analysis
Literature in Its Many Contexts
Your Critical Approach
Reading and Analyzing Fiction
Summary Checklist: Analyzing Fiction
Narration
Point of View
Setting
Conflict
Plot
Character
Language and Style
Diction
Symbol
Irony
Theme
Getting Ideas for Writing About Fiction
KATE CHOPIN, The Story of an Hour
Reading and Analyzing Poetry
Summary Checklist: Analyzing Poetry
Language and Style
Denotation and Connotation
Voice
Tone
Irony
STEPHEN CRANE, War Is Kind
Imagery
HELEN CHASIN, The Word Plum
ROBERT BROWNING, Meeting at Night
Parting at Morning
Figurative Language: Everyday Poetry
LANGSTON HUGHES, A Dream Deferred
N. SCOTT MOMADAY, Simile
CARL SANDBURG, Fog
JAMES STEPHENS, The Wind
Symbol
ROBERT FROST, The Road Not Taken
Sound and Structure
Rhyme, Alliteration, and Assonance
Finding the Beat: Limericks
Meter
Formal Verse: The Sonnet
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Sonnet No. 29
Blank Verse
Free or Open Form Verse
WALT WHITMAN, When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
Interpretation: What Does the Poem Mean?
Explication
Types of Poetry
Lyric Poetry
Narrative Poetry
Getting Ideas for Writing About Poetry
MAY SWENSON, Pigeon Woman
Reading and Analyzing Drama
Summary Checklist: Analyzing Drama
Reading a Play
Point of View
Set and Setting
Conflict
Plot
The Poetics
Tragedy
Comedy
Characterization
Language and Style
Diction
Symbol
Irony
Theme
Periods of Drama: A Brief Background
Greek Drama
Shakespearean Drama
Modern Drama
Getting Ideas for Writing About Drama
Tips on Reading Antigonê
SOPHOCLES, Antigonê
Reading and Analyzing Essays
Summary Checklist: Analyzing Essays
Types of Essays
Narrative
Expository
Argumentative
Language, Style, and Structure
Formal or Informal
Voice
Word Choice and Style
Theme or Thesis: What's the Point?
The Aims of an Essay: Inform, Preach, or Reveal
Getting Ideas for Writing About the Essay
AMY TAN, Mother Tongue
4. Argumentation: Writing a Critical Essay
The Critical Essay
Interpretation and Evaluation
Interpretation: What Does it Mean?
Evaluation: How Well Does it Work?
Options for a Critical Essay: Process and Product
Checklist: Options for a Critical Essay
An Analytical Essay
A Comparative Essay
A Thematic Essay
A Philosophical or Ethical Evaluation
A Contextual Essay
Argumentation: Writing a Critical Essay
The Shape of an Argument
Planning Your Argument
Supporting Your Argument: Induction and Substantiation
Opening, Closing, and Revising Your Argument
The Development of a Critical Essay
5. Research: Writing with Secondary Sources
The Research Essay
Creating, Expanding, and Joining Interpretive Communities
It Is Your Interpretation
Getting Started
Choosing a Topic
Some Popular Areas of Literary Research
Your Search
Peer Support
The Library
Reference Works
Finding Sources on the Internet
Evaluating Internet Sources
Checklist: Evaluating Internet Sources
Integrating Sources into Your Writing
What Must Be Documented
Where and How
Paraphrasing and Summarizing
Quoting
Avoiding Plagiarism
From First Response to Research Essay
Checklist: Writing a Research Essay
CASE STUDY IN RESEARCH
Step 1: Using Your First Response
JAMES JOYCE, Eveline
Step 2: Composing a Draft
Prof. Devenish's Commentary
Step 3: Revising the Essay
Step 4: Kevin's Revised Essay
III. A THEMATIC ANTHOLOGY
FAMILY AND FRIENDS
A Dialogue Across History
Family and Friends: Exploring Your Own Values and Beliefs
Reading and Writing About Family and Friends
Fiction
Connecting through Comparison: Sibling Relationships***
JAMES BALDWIN, Sonny's Blues
LOUISE ERDRICH, The Red Convertible
CHINUA ACHEBE, Marriage Is a Private Affair
JOHN CHEEVER, Reunion
LINDA CHING SLEDGE, The Road
Connecting through Comparison: Parents and Children***
AMY TAN, Two Kinds
JULIA ALVAREZ, Dusting
JANICE MIRIKITANI, For My Father
THEODORE ROETHKE, My Papa's Waltz
CATHY SONG, The Youngest Daughter
MARGARET ATWOOD, Siren Song
JOHN CIARDI, Faces***
ROBERT FROST, Mending Wall
SEAMUS HEANEY, Digging
PHILIP LARKIN, This Be the Verse
LI-YOUNG LEE, The Gift
SHARON OLDS, 35/10
WILLIAM STAFFORD, Friends ***
STEVIE SMITH, Not Waving But Drowning
Connecting Through Comparison: Remembrance
ELIZABETH GAFFNEY, Losses That Turn Up in Dreams
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, When to the Sessions of Sweet Silent Thought (Sonnet No. 30)
Drama
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS, The Glass Menagerie
Essays
BELL HOOKS, Inspired Eccentricity
CHRISTINE O'HAGAN, Friendship's Gift***
CASE STUDY IN BIOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT
Thinking About Interpretation and Biography
Lorraine Hansberry and A Raisin in the Sun
LORRAINE HANSBERRY, A Raisin in the Sun
Lorraine Hansberry-In Her Own Words
In Others' Words
JAMES BALDWIN, Sweet Lorraine
JULIUS LESTER, The Heroic Dimension in A Raisin in the Sun
ANNE CHENEY, The African Heritage in A Raisin in the Sun
STEVEN R. CARTER, Hansberry's Artistic Misstep
MARGARET B. WILKERSON, Hansberry's Awareness of Culture and Gender
MICHAEL ANDERSON, A Raisin in the Sun: A Landmark Lesson in Being Black
A Student's Research Essay
Exploring the Literature of FAMILY AND FRIENDS: Options for Making Connections, Building Arguments, and Using Research
INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE
A Dialogue Across History
Innocence and Experiences: Exploring Your Own Values and Beliefs
Reading and Writing About Innocence and Experience
Fiction
Connecting through Comparison: Illusion and Disillusion
LILIANA HEKER, The Stolen Party
JAMES JOYCE, Araby
JULIA ALVAREZ, Snow
TONI CADE BAMBARA, The Lesson
THOMAS BULFINCH, The Myth of Daedalus and Icarus
RALPH ELLISON, Battle Royal
HARUKI MURAKAMI, On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning***
JOYCE CAROL OATES, WHERE ARE YOU GOING, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?
FRANK O'CONNOR, Guests of the Nation
TWO READERS/TWO DIFFERENT VIEWS: JOHN UPDIKE, A&P
Two Sample Student Essays
Poetry
Connecting Through Comparison: Images of Innocence and Experience
WILLIAM BLAKE, London
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, Composed Upon Westminster Bridge,September 3, 1802
Connecting Through Comparison: The Chimney Sweeper
WILLIAM BLAKE, The Chimney Sweeper (From Songs of Innocence), The Chimney Sweeper (From Songs of Experience)
A. E. HOUSMAN, When I Was One-and-Twenty
ALBERTO RIOS, In Second Grade Miss Lee I Promised Never to Forget You and I Never Did***
EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON, Richard Cory
ANNE SEXTON, Pain for a Daughter
WALT WHITMAN, There was a Child Went Forth
STEPHEN CRANE, The Wayfarer
Connecting through Comparison: Young Death***
ROBERT FROST, “Out, Out ...”
SEAMUS HEANEY, Mid-Term Break
Essays
DAN BARRY, Hurricane Katrina: The Corpse on Union Street
JUDITH ORTIZ COFER, I Fell in Love, or My Hormones Awakened
DAVID SEDARIS, The Learning Curve
CASE STUDY IN THEATRICAL CONTEXT
Interpretation and Performance
Multiple Interpretations of Hamlet
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
Desperately Seeking Hamlet: Four Interpretations
Olivier's Hamlet
Jacobi's Hamlet
Gibson's Hamlet
Branagh's Hamlet
From Part to Whole, From Whole to Part
A Student's Critical Essay-An Explication and Analysis of the “To Be, or Not To Be” Soliloquy
HAMLET ON SCREEN
A Critic's Influential Interpretation
Ernest Jones, Hamlet's Oedipus Complex
Hamlet On Screen
Bernice Kliman, The BBC Hamlet: A Television Production
Claire Bloom, Playing Gertrude on Television
Stanley Kauffmann, At Elsinore: Branagh's Hamlet
Russell Jackson, A Film Diary of the Shooting of
Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet
Exploring the Literature of INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE: Options for Making Connections, Building Arguments, and Using Research
CASE STUDY IN AESTHETIC CONTEXT
PIETER BRUEGHEL, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus / W. H. AUDEN, Musée des Beaux Arts and ALAN DEVENISH, Icarus Again
JACOPO TINTORETTO, Crucifixion / N. SCOTT MOMADAY, Before an Old Painting of the Crucifixion
EDWARD HOPPER, Nighthawks / SAMUEL YELLEN, Nighthawks
VINCENT VAN GOGH, Starry Night / ANNE SEXTON, The Starry Night
HENRI MATISSE, Dance / NATALIE SAFIR, Matisse's Dance
UTAMARO, Two Women Dressing their Hair/ CATHY SONG, Beauty and Sadness***
EDWIN ROMANZO ELMER, The Mourning Picture / ADRIENNE RICH, Mourning Picture
JAN VERMEER, The Loveletter / SANDRA NELSON, When a Woman Holds a Letter
A Student's Comparison and Contrast Essay: Process and Product
Exploring POETRY AND PAINTING: Options for Making Connections, Building Arguments, and Using Research
WOMEN AND MEN
A Dialogue Across History
Women and Men: Exploring Your Own Values and Beliefs
Reading and Writing About Women and Men
Fiction
ROBERT OLSEN BUTLER, Jealous Husband Returns as a Parrot***
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN, The Yellow Wallpaper
ERNEST HEMINGWAY, Hills Like White Elephants
D. H. LAWRENCE, The Horse Dealer's Daughter
BOBBIE ANN MASON, Shiloh
ROSARIO MORALES, The Day It Happened
GLORIA NAYLOR, The Two***
Poetry
Connecting Through Comparison: Be My Love
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
WALTER RALEIGH, The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd
ANDREW MARVELL, To His Coy Mistress
MAYA ANGELOU, Phenomenal Woman
MARGARET ATWOOD, You Fit into Me
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, How Do I Love Thee?
ROBERT BROWNING, Porphyria's Lover
NIKKI GIOVANNI, Woman
JUDY GRAHN, Ella, in a Square Apron, Along Highway 80
DONALD HALL, The Wedding Couple***
ESSEX HEMPHILL, Commitments
MICHEAL LASSELL, How to Watch Your Brother Die
EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY, What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, and Where, and Why; Love Is Not All
SHARON OLDS, Sex Without Love
OCTAVIO PAZ, Two Bodies***
SYLVIA PLATH, Mirror
Connecting Through Comparison: Shall I Compare Thee?
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day? (Sonnet No. 18)
HOWARD MOSS, Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun (Sonnet No. 130)
Connecting and Comparing Across Genres: Cinderella
JACOB LUDWIG CARL GRIMM AND WILHELM CARL GRIMM, Cinderella
ANNE SEXTON, Cinderella
BRUNO BETTELHEIM, Cinderella
Drama
ANTON CHEKHOV, The Proposal
Connecting and Comparing Across Genres: Drama and Fiction
SUSAN GLASPELL, The Play: Trifles
SUSAN GLASPELL, The Short Story: A Jury of Her Peers
Essays
STEVEN DOLOFF, The Opposite Sex***
VIRGINIA WOOLF, If Shakespeare Had a Sister
CASE STUDY IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Women in Culture and History
HENRIK IBSEN, A Doll's House
The Adams Letters
A Husband's Letter to His Wife
SOJOURNER TRUTH, “Ain't I a Woman”
HENRIK IBSEN, Notes for the Modern Tragedy; The Changed Ending of A Doll's House for a German Production; Speech at the Banquet of the Norwegian League for Women's Rights
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, Excerpt from The Solitude of Self
WILBUR FISK TILLETT, Excerpt from Southern Womanhood
DOROTHY DIX, The American Wife; Women and Suicide
CHARLOTTE PERKINS STETSON (GILMAN), Excerpt from Women and Economics
NATALIE ZEMON DAVIS AND JILL KER CONWAY, The Rest of the Story
A Student's Response Essay
Exploring the Literature of WOMEN AND MEN: Options for Making Connections, Building Arguments, and Using Research
CULTURE AND IDENTITY
A Dialogue Across History
Culture and Identity: Exploring Your Own Values and Beliefs
Reading and Writing About Culture and Identity
Fiction
JOSE ARMAS, El Tonto del Barrio***
KATE CHOPIN, Désirée's Baby
WILLIAM FAULKNER, A Rose for Emily
JAMAICA KINCAID, Girl
THOMAS KING, Borders
GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ, The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World***
TAHIRA NAQVI, Brave We Are
ALICE WALKER, Everyday Use
Poetry
Connecting Through Comparison: The Mask We Wear
W. H. AUDEN, The Unknown Citizen
PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR, We Wear the Mask
T. S. ELIOT, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
SHERMAN ALEXIE, Evolution***
GLORIA ANZALDÚA, To Live in the Borderlands Means You
ELIZABETH BISHOP, In the Waiting Room
GWENDOLYN BROOKS, We Real Cool
E.E. CUMMINGS, anyone lived in a pretty how town
MARTIN ESPADA, Coca-Cola and Coco Fria***
Connecting Through Comparison: Immigration***
EMILY LAZARUS, The New Colossus***
SHIRLEY GEOCK-LIN LIM, Learning to Love America***
PAT MORA, Immigrants
JOHN UPDIKE, Ex-Basketball Player
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, At the Ball Game
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, The Lake Isle of Innisfree
Connecting Through Comparison: What Is Poetry?
ARCHIBALD MACLEISH, Ars Poetica
LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI, Constantly Risking Absurdity
BILLY COLLINS, Introduction to Poetry
Drama
SOPHOCLES, Oedipus Rex
LUIS VALDEZ, Los Vendidos
Essays
CHARLES FRUEHLING SPRINGWOOD AND C. RICHARD KING, “Playing Indian”: Why Native American Mascots Must End
JOAN DIDION, Why I Write
FREDERICK DOUGLASS, Learning to Read and Write
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., I Have a Dream
RICHARD RODRIGUEZ, Workers
JONATHAN SWIFT, A Modest Proposal
HENRY DAVID THOREAU, From Civil Disobedience
CASE STUDY IN CULTURAL CONTEXT
Writers of the Harlem Renaissance
ALAIN LOCKE, The New Negro
LANGSTON HUGHES, From The Big Sea
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
I, Too
The Weary Blues
One Friday Morning
Theme for English B
CLAUDE MCKAY, America
GWENDOLYN B. BENNETT, Heritage
JEAN TOOMER, Reapers
COUNTEE CULLEN, Yet Do I Marvel
From the Dark Tower
ANNE SPENCER, Lady, Lady
GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON, I Want to Die While You Love Me
ZORA NEALE HURSTON, Sweat
Commentary on The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes
Jessie Fauset
Onwuchekwa Jemie
R. Baxter Miller
ALICE WALKER, Zora Neale Hurston: A Cautionary Tale and a Partisan View
A Student's Critical Essay
Exploring the Literature of CULTURE AND IDENTITY: Options for Making Connections, Building Arguments, and Using Research
FAITH AND DOUBT
A Dialogue Across History
Faith and Doubt: Exploring Your Own Values and Beliefs
Reading and Writing About Faith and Doubt
Fiction
RAYMOND CARVER, Cathedral
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, Young Goodman Brown
TIM O'BRIEN, The Things They Carried
FLANNERY O'CONNOR, A Good Man Is Hard To Find
JOHN STEINBECK, The Chrysanthemums
Poetry
Connecting Through Comparison: Facing Our Own Mortality
JOHN DONNE, Death, Be Not Proud
JOHN KEATS, When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be
MARY OLIVER, When Death Comes***
Connecting Through Comparison: Nature and Humanity
MATTHEW ARNOLD, Dover Beach
ROBERT BRIDGES, London Snow
ROBERT FROST, Fire and Ice
GALWAY KINNELL, Saint Francis and the Sow
WILLIAM STAFFORD, Traveling Through the Dark
WALT WHITMAN, Song of Myself 6
Connecting Through Comparison: September 11, 2001
DEBORAH GARRISON, I Saw You Walking
BRIAN DOYLE, Leap
BILLY COLLINS, The Names
Connecting Through Comparison: Belief in a Supreme Being
STEPHEN CRANE, A Man Said to the Universe,
THOMAS HARDY, HAP
Connecting Through Comparison: The Impact of War
THOMAS HARDY, The Man He Killed
WILFRED OWEN, Dulce et Decorum Est
CARL SANDBURG, Grass
YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA, Facing It
Connecting Through Comparison: Responding to the Deaths of Others
MARK DOTY, Brilliance
A. E. HOUSMAN, To an Athlete Dying Young
PABLO NERUDA, The Dead Woman***
DYLAN THOMAS, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
Drama
JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE, Riders to the Sea
DAVID MAMET, Oleanna
Essays
ALBERT CAMUS, The Myth of Sisyphus
PLATO, The Allegory of the Cave
PHILIP SIMMONS, Learning to Fall
CASE STUDY IN CONTEXTUAL CONTEXT
Poetry and Criticism: Emily Dickinson
Her Life
Her Work
The Poems
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Faith is a fine invention
There's a Certain Slant of Light
I like a look of agony
Wild Nights-Wild Nights!
The Brain-is wider than the Sky
Much Madness Is Divinest Sense
I've seen a dying eye
I Heard a Fly Buzz-When I Died-
After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church
This world is not conclusion
There is a pain-so utter-
Because I could not stop for death
The Bustle in a House
Tell All the Truth But Tell It Slant
Making Connections
Emily Dickinson-In Her Own Words
A Letter to Susan Gilbert Dickinson-her sister-in-law. (1852)
A Letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1862)
In Others' Words
Thomas Wentworth Higginson, letter (1870)
Mary Loomis Todd, letter (1881)
Richard Wilbur, On Her Sense of Privation (1960)
Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, On Her White Dress (1979)
Critical Commentary on Her Poetry
Helen McNeil, Dickinson's Method
Cynthia Griffin Woolf, The Voices in Dickinson's Poetry
Allan Tate, On Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Paula Bennett, On I Heard a Fly Buzz-When I Died
Poems about Emily Dickinson
Linda Pastan, Emily Dickinson
Billy Collins, Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes
A Student's Critical Essay
Exploring the Literature of FAITH AND DOUBT: Options for Making Connections, Building Arguments, and Using Research
Appendix A: Critical Approaches to Literature
Appendix B: Writing About Film
Appendix C: Documentation