The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, and Writing

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The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature is a best-seller for a reason: It brings literature to life for students, helping to make them lifelong readers and better writers. Classic works drawn from many periods and cultures appear alongside a strong showing from today’s authors. There is plenty of support for students, with a dozen chapters of critical reading and writing support, helpful sample close readings, writing assignments, and student papers. And, because everyone teaches and learns a little differently, there are lots of options for working with the literature, including case studies on individual works and themes that everyone can relate to. In-depth chapters on major authors like Flannery O’Connor and Emily Dickinson take students deeper into their work, and the new tenth edition features a chapter on the fiction of Dagoberto Gilb, created in collaboration with the author himself—one more way that the anthology showcases literature as a living, changing art form.

Resources for Reading and Writing about Literature
Preface for Instructors

INTRODUCTION: READING IMAGINATIVE LITERATURE
The Nature of Literature
EMILY DICKINSON, A narrow Fellow in the Grass
The Value of Literature
The Changing Literary Canon

FICTION 

The Elements of Fiction

1. Reading Fiction
Reading Fiction Responsively
KATE CHOPIN, The Story of an Hour
A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Section of “The Story of an Hour”
A SAMPLE PAPER: Differences in Responses to Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”
Explorations and Formulas
A COMPARISON OF TWO STORIES
     KAREN VAN DER ZEE, From A Secret Sorrow
     GAIL GODWIN, A Sorrowful Woman
PERSPECTIVES
     KAY MUSSELL, Are Feminism and Romance Novels Mutually Exclusive?
     THOMAS JEFFERSON, On the Dangers of Reading Fiction

2. Writing about Fiction
From Reading to Writing
     Questions for Responsive Reading and Writing
     A SAMPLE PAPER IN PROGRESS
     A First Response to A Secret Sorrow and “A Sorrowful Woman”
     Brainstorming
     A Sample Brainstorming List
     Revising: First and Second Drafts
     A Sample First Draft: Separate Sorrows
     A Sample Second Draft: Separate Sorrows
     Final Paper: Fulfillment or Failure? Marriage in A Secret Sorrow and “A Sorrowful Woman”

3. Plot
EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS, From Tarzan of the Apes
ANNIE PROULX, Job History
WILLIAM FAULKNER, A Rose for Emily
PERSPECTIVE
WILLIAM FAULKNER, On “A Rose for Emily”
A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Section of “A Rose for Emily”
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Conflict in the Plot of Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”
ANDRE DUBUS, Killings
PERSPECTIVE
A. L. BADER, Nothing Happens in Modern Short Stories
ENCOUNTERING FICTION: COMICS AND GRAPHIC STORIES
EDWARD GOREY, From The Hapless Child
 
4. Character
CHARLES DICKENS, From Hard Times
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Character Development in Dickens’s Hard Times
JUNOT DIAZ, How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, Halfie
XU XI, Famine
HERMAN MELVILLE, Bartleby, the Scrivener
PERSPECTIVES
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, On Herman Melville’s Philosophic Stance
DAN McCALL, On the Lawyer’s Character in “Bartleby, the Scrivener”
ENCOUNTERING FICTION: COMICS AND GRAPHIC STORIES
LYNDA BARRY, Spelling
 
5. Setting
ERNEST HEMINGWAY, Soldier’s Home
PERSPECTIVE
ERNEST HEMINGWAY, On What Every Writer Needs
FAY WELDON, IND AFF, or Out of Love in Sarajevo
PERSPECTIVE
FAY WELDON, On the Importance of Place in “IND AFF”
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: The Significance of Setting in Fay Weldon’s “IND AFF”  
MAY-LEE CHAI, Saving Sourdi

6. Point of View
Third-Person Narrator
First-Person Narrator
JOHN UPDIKE, A&P
MAGGIE MITCHELL, It Would Be Different If  
JUNE SPENCE, Missing Women  
ENCOUNTERING FICTION: COMICS AND GRAPHIC STORIES
MARJANE SATRAPI, “The Trip,” From Persepolis

7. Symbolism
TOBIAS WOLFF, That Room
RALPH ELLISON, Battle Royal
PERSPECTIVE
MORDECAI MARCUS, What Is an Initiation Story?
A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Section of “Battle Royal”
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Symbolism in Ellison’s “Battle Royal”
MICHAEL OPPENHEIMER, The Paring Knife

8. Theme
STEPHEN CRANE, The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky
KATHERINE MANSFIELD, Miss Brill
DAGOBERTO GILB, Romero’s Shirt
 
9. Style, Tone, and Irony
Style
Tone
Irony
RAYMOND CARVER, Popular Mechanics
PERSPECTIVE
JOHN BARTH, On Minimalist Fiction
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: The Minimalist Style of Carver’s “Popular Mechanics”
SUSAN MINOT, Lust
NATHAN ENGLANDER, Free Fruit for Young Widows
ENCOUNTERING FICTION: COMICS AND GRAPHIC STORIES
MATT GROENING, Life in Hell

10. Combining the Elements of Fiction: A Writing Process
The Elements Together
Mapping the Story
DAVID UPDIKE, Summer
Questions for Writing: Developing a Topic into a Revised Thesis
A Sample Brainstorming List
A Sample First Thesis
A Sample Revised Thesis
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Plot and Setting in David Updike’s “Summer”

Approaches to Fiction
 
11. A Study of Nathaniel Hawthorne
A Brief Biography and Introduction
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, Young Goodman Brown
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, The Minister’s Black Veil
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, The Birthmark
PERSPECTIVES ON HAWTHORNE
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, On Solitude
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, On the Power of the Writer’s Imagination NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, On His Short Stories
HERMAN MELVILLE, On Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tragic Vision  
GAYLORD BREWER, “The Joys of Secret Sin”

12. A Study of Flannery O’Connor
A Brief Biography and Introduction
FLANNERY O’CONNOR, A Good Man Is Hard to Find
FLANNERY O’CONNOR, Good Country People
FLANNERY O’CONNOR, Revelation
PERSPECTIVES ON O’CONNOR
FLANNERY O’CONNOR, On Faith
FLANNERY O’CONNOR, On Theme and Symbol
JOSEPHINE HENDIN, On O’Connor’s Refusal to “Do Pretty”
CLAIRE KAHANE, The Function of Violence in O’Connor’s Fiction
EDWARD KESSLER, On O’Connor’s Use of History
TIME MAGAZINE, On “A Good Man is Hard to Find”

13. A Cultural Case Study: James Joyce’s “Eveline”
A Brief Biography and Introduction
CHRONOLOGY
JAMES JOYCE, Eveline
Documents
THE ALLIANCE TEMPERANCE ALMANACK, On the Resources of Ireland
BRIDGET BURKE, A Letter Home from an Irish Emigrant
A Plot Synopsis of The Bohemian Girl

14. A Study of Dagoberto Gilb: The Author Reflects on Three Stories
A Brief Biography and An Introduction to His Work
INTRODUCTION: DAGOBERTO GILB, How Books Bounce
ESSAY: On Writing Love in L.A.
STORY: DAGOBERTO GILB: Love in L.A.
ESSAY: On Writing Shout
STORY: DAGOBERTO GILB: Shout
ESSAY: On Writing Uncle Rock
STORY: DAGOBERTO GILB: Uncle Rock
PERSPECTIVES
DAGOBERTO GILB, On Physical Labor
DAGOBERTO GILB, On Distortions of Mexican American Culture
INTERVIEW: Michael Meyer Interviews Dagoberto Gilb
FACSIMILIES: Two Draft Manuscript Pages
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers

15. A Thematic Case Study: The Literature of the South
MAP: U.S. Bureau of the Census, “The South”
JOHN SHELTON REED and DALE VOLBERG REED, Definitions of the South
W. J. CASH, The Old and the New South
MOVIE STILL: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Gone with the Wind
LITHOGRAPH: Currier and Ives, The Old Plantation Home
IRVING HOWE, The Southern Myth
PAINTING: John Richards, The Battle of Gettysburg, 1863
FLANNERY O’CONNOR, The Regional Writer
PAINTING: Clyde Broadway, Trinity — Elvis, Jesus, and Robert E. Lee
MARGARET WALKER, The Southern Writer and Race
PHOTO: Ernest C. Withers, “Bus Station, Colored Waiting Room, Memphis, Tennessee”
PHOTO: Library of Congress, Elizabeth Eckford at Little Rock Central High School
PHOTO: Ernest C. Withers, “Sanitation Workers’ Strike, Memphis, Tennessee” COLLAGE: Romare Bearden, Watching the Good Trains Go By
DONALD R. NOBLE, The Future of Southern Writing
LEE SMITH, On Southern Change and Permanence

16. An Album of Humor and Satire
ANNIE PROULX, 55 Miles to the Gas Pump
RON HANSEN, My Kid’s Dog
MURIEL SPARK, The First Year of My Life
JOYCE CAROL OATES, Hi Howya Doin’
MARK TWAIN, The Story of the Good Little Boy

17. Remarkably Short Contemporary Stories
KIM ADDONIZIO, Survivors
RON CARLSON, Max 
MARK HALLIDAY, Young Man on Sixth Ave
MARK BUDMAN, The Diary of a Salaryman
PETER MEINKE, The Cranes
TERRY L. TILTON, That Settles That
 
A Collection of Stories

18. Stories for Further Reading
ZORA NEALE HURSTON, Spunk
D. H. LAWRENCE, The Horse Dealer’s Daughter
JACK LONDON, To Build a Fire
KATHERINE MANSFIELD, The Fly
RICK MOODY, Boys
EDGAR ALLAN POE, The Cask of Amontillado

POETRY

THE ELEMENTS OF POETRY

19. Reading Poetry
Reading Poetry Responsively
LISA PARKER, Snapping Beans
ROBERT HAYDEN, Those Winter Sundays
JOHN UPDIKE, Dog’s Death
The Pleasure of Words
WILLIAM HATHAWAY, Oh, Oh
A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Version of “Oh, Oh”
ROBERT FRANCIS, Catch
A SAMPLE STUDENT ANALYSIS: Tossing Metaphors Together in Robert Francis’s “Catch”
PHILIP LARKIN, A Study of Reading Habits
ROBERT MORGAN, Mountain Graveyard
E. E. CUMMINGS, l(a
ANONYMOUS, Western Wind
REGINA BARRECA, Nighttime Fires
Suggestions for Approaching Poetry
BILLY COLLINS, Introduction to Poetry
Poetry in Popular Forms
HELEN FARRIES, Magic of Love
JOHN FREDERICK NIMS, Love Poem
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, Devils & Dust
S. PEARL SHARP, It’s the Law: A Rap Poem
PERSPECTIVE: ROBERT FRANCIS, On “Hard” Poetry
Poems for Further Study
MARY OLIVER, The Poet with His Face in His Hands
JIM TILLEY, The Big Questions
ALBERTO RÍOS, Seniors
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, Crossing the Bar
EDGAR ALLAN POE, The Raven
CORNELIUS EADY, The Supremes
 

Encountering Poetry: Images of Poetry in Popular Culture
POSTER: Dorothy Parker, Unfortunate Coincidence
PHOTO: Carl Sandburg, Window
CARTOON: Roz Chast, The Love Song of J. Alfred Crew
PHOTO: Tim Taylor, I shake the delicate apparatus
POSTER: Eric Dunn and Mike Wigton, National Poetry Slam
PHOTO: Kevin Fleming
WEB: Ted Kooser, American Life in Poetry
POEM IN NEWSPAPER: MICHAEL MCFEE, Spitwads

20. Writing about Poetry
From Reading to Writing
Questions for Responsive Reading and Writing
ELIZABETH BISHOP, Manners
A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Version of “Manners”
A SAMPLE STUDENT ANALYSIS: Memory in Elizabeth Bishop’s “Manners”

21. Word Choice, Word Order, and Tone
Word Choice
Diction
Denotations and Connotations
RANDALL JARRELL, The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
Word Order
Tone
COLETTE INEZ, Back When All Was Continuous Chuckles
MARILYN NELSON, How I Discovered Poetry
KATHARYN HOWD MACHAN, Hazel Tells LaVerne
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Tone in Katharyn Howd Machan’s “Hazel Tells LaVerne”
MARTÍN ESPADA, Latin Night at the Pawnshop
PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR, To a Captious Critic
Diction and Tone in Four Love Poems
ROBERT HERRICK, To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
ANDREW MARVELL, To His Coy Mistress
ANN LAUINGER, Marvell Noir
SHARON OLDS, Last Night
PERSPECTIVE: BARNEY AND CLYDE, The Defenestration of Frog
Poems for Further Study
THOMAS HARDY, The Convergence of the Twain
DAVID R. SLAVITT, Titanic
JOANNE DIAZ, On My Father’s Loss of Hearing
MARY OLIVER, Oxygen
CATHY SONG, The Youngest Daughter
JOHN KEATS, Ode on a Grecian Urn
GWENDOLYN BROOKS, We Real Cool
JOAN MURRAY, We Old Dudes
ALICE JONES, The Larynx
LOUIS SIMPSON, In the Suburbs
GARRISON KEILLOR, The Anthem
A Note on Reading Translations
Three Translations of a Poem by Sappho
SAPPHO, Immortal Aphrodite of the broidered throne
(translated by Henry T. Wharton)
SAPPHO, Beautiful-throned, immortal Aphrodite
(translated by Thomas Wentworth Higginson)
SAPPHO, Prayer to my lady of Paphos (translated by Mary Barnard)

22. Images
Poetry’s Appeal to the Senses
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, Poem
WALT WHITMAN, Cavalry Crossing a Ford
DAVID SOLWAY, Windsurfing
MATTHEW ARNOLD, Dover Beach
RUTH FORMAN, Poetry Should Ride the Bus
Poems for Further Study
AMY LOWELL, The Pond
RUTH FAINLIGHT, Crocuses
MARY ROBINSON, London’s Summer Morning
WILLIAM BLAKE, London
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Imagery in William Blake’s “London” and Mary  Robinson’s “London’s Summer Morning”
WILFRED OWEN, Dulce et Decorum Est
PATRICIA SMITH, What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl (for Those of You Who Aren’t)
RAINER MARIA RILKE, The Panther
JANE KENYON, The Blue Bowl
SALLY CROFT, Home-Baked Bread
JOHN KEATS, To Autumn
CATHY SONG, The White Porch
MELANIE MCCABE, Paperboy
PERSPECTIVE: T. E. HULME, On the Differences between Poetry and Prose

23. Figures of Speech
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, From Macbeth (Act V, Scene v)
Simile and Metaphor
MARGARET ATWOOD, you fit into me
EMILY DICKINSON, Presentiment — is that long Shadow—on the lawn—
ANNE BRADSTREET, The Author to Her Book
RICHARD WILBUR, The Writer
Other Figures
DYLAN THOMAS, The Hand That Signed the Paper
JANICE TOWNLEY MOORE, To a Wasp
J. PATRICK LEWIS, The Unkindest Cut
Poems for Further Study
GARY SNYDER, How Poetry Comes to Me
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Metaphor in Gary Snyder’s “How Poetry Comes  to Me”
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, To Waken an Old Lady
ERNEST SLYMAN, Lightning Bugs
JUDY PAGE HEITZMAN, The Schoolroom on the Second Floor of the Knitting Mill  
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, London, 1802
JIM STEVENS, Schizophrenia
WALT WHITMAN, A Noiseless Patient Spider
JOHN DONNE, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
KAY RYAN, Hailstorm
RONALD WALLACE, Building an Outhouse
ELAINE MAGARRELL, The Joy of Cooking
SCOTT HIGHTOWER, My Father
PERSPECTIVE: JOHN R. SEARLE, Figuring Out Metaphors

24. Symbol, Allegory, and Irony
Symbol
ROBERT FROST, Acquainted with the Night
Allegory
EDGAR ALLAN POE, The Haunted Palace
Irony
EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON, Richard Cory
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Irony in Edwin Arlington Robinson’s “Richard  Cory”
KENNETH FEARING, AD
E. E. CUMMINGS, next to of course god america i
STEPHEN CRANE, A Man Said to the Universe
Poems for Further Study
BOB HICOK, Making it in poetry
JANE KENYON, Surprise
MARTÍN ESPADA, Bully
KEVIN PIERCE, Proof of Origin
CARL SANDBURG, Buttons
DENISE DUHAMEL, How It Will End
JULIO MARZÁN, Ethnic Poetry
MARK HALLIDAY, Graded Paper
CHARLES SIMIC, The Storm
JAMES MERRILL, Casual Wear
HENRY REED, Naming of Parts
ALLEN BRADEN, The Hemlock Tree
ROBERT BROWNING, My Last Duchess
RICHARD WILBUR, A Finished Man
WILLIAM BLAKE, The Chimney Sweeper
PERSPECTIVE: EZRA POUND, On Symbols

25. Sounds
Listening to Poetry
ANONYMOUS, Scarborough Fair
JOHN UPDIKE, Player Piano
MAY SWENSON, A Nosty Fright
EMILY DICKINSON, A Bird came down the Walk—
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Sound in Emily Dickinson’s “A Bird came down  the Walk—”
ANYA KRUGOVOY SILVER, French Toast
Rhyme
RICHARD ARMOUR, Going to Extremes
ROBERT SOUTHEY, From The Cataract of Lodore
PERSPECTIVE: DAVID LENSON, On the Contemporary Use of Rhyme
Sound and Meaning
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS, God’s Grandeur
Poems for Further Study
DIANE LOCKWARD, Linguine
LEWIS CARROLL (CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON), Jabberwocky
WILLIAM HEYEN, The Trains
JOHN DONNE, Song
ALEXANDER POPE, From An Essay on Criticism
HAKI R. MADHUBUTI, The B Network
ANDREW HUDGINS, The Cow
PAUL HUMPHREY, Blow
ROBERT FRANCIS, The Pitcher
HELEN CHASIN, The Word Plum
RICHARD WAKEFIELD, The Bell Rope
JOHN KEATS, Ode to a Nightingale
HOWARD NEMEROV, Because You Asked about the Line between Prose and Poetry

26. Patterns of Rhythm
Some Principles of Meter
WALT WHITMAN, From Song of the Open Road
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, My Heart Leaps Up
Suggestions for Scanning a Poem
TIMOTHY STEELE, Waiting for the Storm
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: The Rhythm of Anticipation in Timothy Steele’s  “Waiting for the Storm”
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, That the Night Come
Poems for Further Study
JOHN MALONEY, Good!
WILLIAM TROWBRIDGE, Drumming Behind You in the High School Band
ALICE JONES, The Foot
A. E. HOUSMAN, When I was one-and-twenty
ROBERT HERRICK, Delight in Disorder
BEN JONSON, Still to Be Neat
SONIA SANCHEZ, Summer Words of a Sistuh Addict
WILLIAM BLAKE, The Lamb
WILLIAM BLAKE, The Tyger
CARL SANDBURG, Chicago
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, The Charge of the Light Brigade
PERSPECTIVE: LOUISE BOGAN, On Formal Poetry

27. Poetic Forms
Some Common Poetic Forms
A. E. HOUSMAN, Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
ROBERT HERRICK, Upon Julia’s Clothes
Sonnet
JOHN KEATS, On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, The World Is Too Much with Us
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun
SHERMAN ALEXIE, The Facebook Sonnet
MARK JARMAN, Unholy Sonnet
WILLIAM BAER, Letter of Resignation
R.S. GWYNN, Shakespearean Sonnet
Villanelle
DYLAN THOMAS, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON, The House on the Hill
Sestina
ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE, Sestina
FLORENCE CASSEN MAYERS, All-American Sestina
Epigram
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, What Is an Epigram?
DAVID MCCORD, Epitaph on a Waiter
PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR, Theology
Limerick
ARTHUR HENRY REGINALD BUTLER, There was a young lady named Bright
LAURENCE PERRINE, The limerick’s never averse
Haiku
MATSUO BASHO, Under cherry trees
CAROLYN KIZER, After Basho-
Elegy
BEN JONSON, On My First Son
BRENDAN GALVIN, An Evel Knievel Elegy
Ode
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, Ode to the West Wind
Parody
BLANCHE FARLEY, The Lover Not Taken
Picture Poem
MICHAEL MCFEE, In Medias Res
PERSPECTIVE: ELAINE MITCHELL, Form

28. Open Form
WALT WHITMAN, From I Sing the Body Electric
PERSPECTIVE: WALT WHITMAN, On Rhyme and Meter
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: The Power of Walt Whitman’s Open Form Poem  “I Sing the Body Electric”
DAVID SHUMATE, Shooting the Horse
RICHARD HAGUE, Directions for Resisting the SAT
ELLEN BASS, Gate C22
NATASHA TRETHEWEY, On Captivity
JULIO MARZÁN, The Translator at the Reception for Latin American Writers
ROBERT MORGAN, Overalls
KEVIN YOUNG, Eddie Priest’s Barber Shop and Notary
ANONYMOUS, The Frog
TATO LAVIERA, AmeRícan
PETER MEINKE, The ABC of Aerobics
CHRISTINA GEROGIANNIS, Headland
Found Poem
DONALD JUSTICE, Order in the Streets

29. Combining the Elements of Poetry: A Writing Process
The Elements Together
Mapping the Poem
JOHN DONNE, Death Be Not Proud
Asking Questions about the Elements
A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Version of “Death Be Not Proud”
A SAMPLE FIRST RESPONSE
Organizing Your Thoughts
A SAMPLE INFORMAL OUTLINE
The Elements and Theme
A SAMPLE EXPLICATION: The Use of Conventional Metaphors for Death in John  Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud”

APPROACHES TO POETRY

30. A Study of Emily Dickinson
A Brief Biography and An Introduction to Her Work
EMILY DICKINSON
If I can stop one Heart from breaking
If I shouldn’t be alive
The Thought beneath so slight a film—
To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee
EMILY DICKINSON
Success is counted sweetest
Water, is taught by thirst
Safe in their Alabaster Chambers—(1859 version)
Safe in their Alabaster Chambers—(1861 version)
Portraits are to daily faces
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church—
“Heaven”— is what I cannot reach!
I felt a Funeral in my Brain—
I like a look of Agony
Wild Nights—Wild Nights!
What Soft—Cherubic Creatures—
The Soul selects her own Society—
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
I dwell in Possibility—
After great pain, a formal feeling comes—
I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—
Because I could not stop for Death—
They say that “Time assuages”
I felt a Cleaving in my Mind—
The Bustle in a House
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant—
There is no Frigate like a Book
From all the Jails the Boys and Girls
PERSPECTIVES ON EMILY DICKINSON
EMILY DICKINSON, A Description of Herself
THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON, On Meeting Dickinson for the First Time
MABEL LOOMIS TODD, The Character of Amherst
RICHARD WILBUR, On Dickinson’s Sense of Privation
SANDRA M. GILBERT AND SUSAN GUBAR, On Dickinson’s White Dress
CYNTHIA GRIFFIN WOLFF, On the Many Voices in Dickinson’s Poetry
PAULA BENNETT, On “I heard a Fly buzz— when I died—”
MARTHA NELL SMITH, On “Because I could not stop for Death—”
RONALD WALLACE, Miss Goff
Questions for Writing about an Author in Depth
A SAMPLE IN-DEPTH STUDY
EMILY DICKINSON
“Faith” is a fine invention
I know that He exists
I never saw a Moor—
Apparently with no surprise
A SAMPLE STUDENT PAPER
Religious Faith in Four Poems by Emily Dickinson
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers 

31. A Study of Robert Frost
A Brief Biography and An Introduction to His Work
ROBERT FROST
The Road Not Taken
The Pasture
ROBERT FROST
Mowing
Mending Wall
Home Burial
After Apple-Picking
Birches
“Out, Out—”
 The Oven Bird
Fire and Ice
Dust of Snow
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
The Need of Being Versed in Country Things
Neither Out Far nor In Deep
Design
PERSPECTIVES ON ROBERT FROST
ROBERT FROST, “In White”: An Early Version of “Design”
ROBERT FROST, On the Living Part of a Poem
AMY LOWELL, On Frost’s Realistic Technique
ROBERT FROST, On the Figure a Poem Makes
ROBERT FROST, On the Way to Read a Poem
HERBERT R. COURSEN JR., A Parodic Interpretation of “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers

32. A Study of Billy Collins: The Author Reflects on Five Poems
A Brief Biography and an Introduction to His Work
INTRODUCTION: BILLY COLLINS, How Do Poems Travel?
POEM: BILLY COLLINS, Osso Buco
ESSAY: BILLY COLLINS, On Writing “Osso Buco”
POEM: BILLY COLLINS, Nostalgia
ESSAY: BILLY COLLINS, On Writing “Nostalgia”
POEM: BILLY COLLINS, Questions About Angels
ESSAY: BILLY COLLINS, On Writing “Questions About Angels”
POEM: BILLY COLLINS, Litany
ESSAY: BILLY COLLINS, On Writing “Litany”
POEM: BILLY COLLINS, Building with Its Face Blown Off
PERSPECTIVE: On “Building with Its Face Blown Off”: Michael Meyer Interviews  Billy Collins
FACSIMILES: BILLY COLLINS, Three Draft Manuscript Pages
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers

33. A Study of Julia Alvarez: The Author Reflects on Five Poems
A Brief Biography and An Introduction to Her Work
ESSAY: JULIA ALVAREZ, On Writing “Queens, 1963”
POEM: JULIA ALVAREZ, Queens, 1963
PERSPECTIVE: MARNY REQUA, From an Interview with Julia Alvarez
ESSAY: JULIA ALVAREZ, On Writing “Housekeeping Cages” and Her Housekeeping
Poems  
POEM: JULIA ALVAREZ, Housekeeping Cages
ESSAY: JULIA ALVAREZ, On Writing “Dusting”
POEM: JULIA ALVAREZ, Dusting
ESSAY: JULIA ALVAREZ, On Writing “Ironing Their Clothes”
POEM: JULIA ALVAREZ, Ironing Their Clothes
ESSAY: JULIA ALVAREZ, On Writing “Sometimes the Words Are So Close” (From
the “33” Sonnet Sequence)
POEM: JULIA ALVAREZ, Sometimes the Words Are So Close
FACSIMILES: JULIA ALVAREZ, Four Draft Manuscript Pages
ESSAY: JULIA ALVAREZ, On Writing “First Muse”
POEM: JULIA ALVAREZ, First Muse
PERSPECTIVE: KELLI LYON JOHNSON, Mapping an Identity

34. A Cultural Case Study: Harlem Renaissance Poets Claude McKay, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Langston Hughes, and Countee Cullen
INTRODUCTION
CLAUDE MCKAY, A Brief Biography and an Introduction to His Work
CLAUDE MCKAY
The Harlem Dancer
If We Must Die
The Tropics in New York
 The Lynching
America
Outcast
GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON, A Brief Biography and an Introduction to Her Work
GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON
Youth
Foredoom
Calling Dreams
Lost Illusions
Fusion
Cosmopolite
I Want to Die While You Love Me
LANGSTON HUGHES, A Brief Biography and an Introduction to His Work
LANGSTON HUGHES
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Jazzonia
Lenox Avenue: Midnight
Ballad of the Landlord
125th Street
Harlem
COUNTEE CULLEN, A Brief Biography and an Introduction to His Work
COUNTEE CULLEN
Yet Do I Marvel
Incident
For a Lady I Know
Tableau
From the Dark Tower
To Certain Critics
PERSPECTIVES
KAREN JACKSON FORD, Hughes’s Aesthetics of Simplicity
DAVID CHINITZ, The Romanticization of Africa in the 1920s
ALAIN LOCKE, Review of Georgia Douglas Johnson’s Bronze: A Book of
Verse
COUNTEE CULLEN, On Racial Poetry
ONWUCHEKWA JEMIE, On Universal Poetry
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers

35. A Thematic Case Study: Love and Longing
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
ANNE BRADSTREET, To My Dear and Loving Husband
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways  
EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY, Recuerdo
EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY, I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed
JOAN MURRAY, Play-by-Play
BILLIE BOLTON, Memorandum
LUISA LOPEZ, Junior Year Abroad
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers

36. Contemporary Humor and Satire
JOHN CIARDI, Suburban
HARRYETTE MULLEN, Dim Lady
RONALD WALLACE, In a Rut
HOWARD NEMEROV, Walking the Dog
PETER SCHMITT, Friends with Numbers
MARTÍN ESPADA, The Community College Revises Its Curriculum in Response to  Changing Demographics
GEORGE BILGERE, Stupid
GARY SOTO, Mexicans Begin Jogging
THOMAS MOORE, At the Berkeley Free Speech Café
X. J. KENNEDY, On a Young Man’s Remaining an Undergraduate for Twelve Years

[[COLOR INSERT]]
Poetry and the Visual Arts
Painting: GRANT WOOD, American Gothic
Poem: JOHN STONE, American Gothic
Woodblock print: KIAGAWA UTAMARO, Girl Powdering Her Neck
Poem: CATHY SONG, Girl Powdering Her Neck
Sculpture: MAYA LIN, The Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
Poem: YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA, Facing It
Painting: PIETER BRUEGHEL THE ELDER, Two Chained Monkeys
Poem: WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA, Brueghel’s Two Monkeys
Painting: EDWARD HOPPER, House by the Railroad
Poem: EDWARD HIRSCH, Edward Hopper and the House by the Railroad
Painting: HENRI MATISSE, Woman Before an Aquarium
Poem: PATRICIA HAMPL, Woman Before an Aquarium

37. A Thematic Case Study: The Natural World
TOM DISCH, Birdsong Interpreted
JANE HIRSHFIELD, Optimism
GAIL WHITE, Dead Armadillos
DAVE LUCAS, November
WALT MCDONALD, Coming Across It
ALDEN NOWLAN, The Bull Moose
ROBERT B. SHAW, Wild Turkeys
KAY RYAN, Turtle
PAUL ZIMMER, What I Know about Owls
MARY OLIVER, Wild Geese
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers

38. A Thematic Case Study: The World of Work
DANA GIOIA, Money
TONY HOAGLAND, America
JAN BEATTY, My Father Teaches Me to Dream
MICHAEL CHITWOOD, Men Throwing Bricks
BARON WORMSER, Labor
ANGELA ALAIMO O’DONNELL, Touring the Mine
DAVID IGNATOW, The Jobholder
JOYCE SUTPHEN, Guys Like That
MARGE PIERCY, To be of use
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers

AN ANTHOLOGY OF POEMS 

39. A Collection of Poems
ANONYMOUS, Bonny Barbara Allan
W.H. AUDEN, The Unknown Citizen
WILLIAM BLAKE, The Garden of Love
WILLIAM BLAKE, Infant Sorrow
ANNE BRADSTREET, Before the Birth of One of Her Children
ROBERT BURNS, A Red, Red Rose
GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON, She Walks in Beauty
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, Kubla Khan: or, a Vision in a Dream
JOHN DONNE, Batter My Heart
JOHN DONNE, The Flea
GEORGE ELIOT (MARY ANN EVANS), In a London Drawingroom
T.S. ELIOT, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN, Queer People
THOMAS HARDY, In Time of “The Breaking of Nations”
FRANCES E. W. HARPER, Learning to Read
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS, Pied Beauty
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS, The Windhover
A. E. HOUSMAN, Is my team ploughing
BEN JONSON, To Celia
JOHN KEATS, To one who has been long in city pent
JOHN KEATS, When I have fears that I may cease to be
JOHN KEATS, La Belle Dame sans Merci
EMMA LAZARUS, The New Colossus
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW, Snow-Flakes
AMY LOWELL, A Decade
JILL MCDONOUGH, Accident, Mass. Ave.
JOHN MILTON, On the Late Massacre in Piedmont
JOHN MILTON, When I consider how my light is spent
CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI, Some Ladies Dress in Muslin Full and White
CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI, Promises Like Pie-Crust
SIEGFRIED SASSOON, “They”
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, That time of year thou mayst in me behold
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, When forty winters shall besiege thy brow
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, When, in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, Ozymandias
LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY, Indian Names
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, Ulysses
RICHARD WAKEFIELD, In a Poetry Workshop
WALT WHITMAN, When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer
WALT WHITMAN, One’s-Self I Sing
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, The Solitary Reaper
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, Mutability
STEFANIE WORTMAN, Mortuary Art
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, Leda and the Swan

DRAMA

The Study of Drama
 
40. Reading Drama
Reading Drama Responsively
SUSAN GLASPELL, Trifles
A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Section of Trifles
PERSPECTIVE
SUSAN GLASPELL, From the Short Story Version of Trifles
Elements of Drama 
MICHAEL HOLLINGER, Naked Lunch
ANDREW BISS, What’s the Meta?
Drama in Popular Forms
LARRY DAVID, “The Pitch,” a Seinfeld Episode
PERSPECTIVE
GEOFFREY O’BRIEN, On Seinfeld as Sitcom Moneymaker 

41. Writing about Drama
From Reading to Writing
Questions for Responsive Reading and Writing
A SAMPLE STUDENT PAPER: The Feminist Evidence in Trifles

Plays in Performance
Photos of scenes from:
Oedipus the King
Othello
A Doll House
Dead Right
Rodeo
Fences
Trying to Find Chinatown
No Child…
Playwriting 101
Naked Lunch

42. A Study of Sophocles 
Theatrical Conventions of Greek Drama
Tragedy
SOPHOCLES, Oedipus the King (Translated by Robert Fagles)
PERSPECTIVES ON SOPHOCLES
ARISTOTLE, On Tragic Character
SIGMUND FREUD, On the Oedipus Complex
SOPHOCLES, Another Translation of a Scene from Oedipus the King
MURIEL RUKEYSER, On Oedipus the King
DAVID WILES, On Oedipus the King as a Political Play
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers 

43. A Study of William Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s Theater
The Range of Shakespeare’s Drama: History, Comedy, and Tragedy
A Note on Reading Shakespeare
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Othello the Moor of Venice
PERSPECTIVES ON SHAKESPEARE
THE MAYOR OF LONDON (1597), Objections to the Elizabethan Theater
LISA JARDINE, On Boy Actors in Female Roles
SAMUEL JOHNSON, On Shakespeare’s Characters
JANE ADAMSON, On Desdemona’s Role in Othello
DAVID BEVINGTON, On Othello’s Heroic Struggle
JAMES KINCAID, On the Value of Comedy in the Face of Tragedy
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers

44. Modern Drama
Realism
Naturalism
Theatrical Conventions of Modern Drama
HENRIK IBSEN, A Doll House (Translated by Rolf Fjelde)
PERSPECTIVE
HENRIK IBSEN, Notes for A Doll House
Beyond Realism 

45. A Critical Case Study: Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House
PERSPECTIVES
A Nineteenth-Century Husband’s Letter to His Wife
BARRY WITHAM and JOHN LUTTERBIE, A Marxist Approach to A Doll House
CAROL STRONGIN TUFTS, A Psychoanalytic Reading of Nora
JOAN TEMPLETON, Is A Doll House a Feminist Text?
Questions for Writing: Applying a Critical Strategy
SAMPLE STUDENT PAPER: On the Other Side of the Slammed Door in A Doll House

46. An Album of Contemporary Humor and Satire
JANE ANDERSON, The Reprimand
SHARON E. COOPER, Mistaken Identity
ELAINE JARVIK, Dead Right
JANE MARTIN, Rodeo
JOAN ACKERMANN, Quiet Torrential Sound
RICH ORLOFF, Playwriting 101: The Rooftop Lesson

A Collection of Plays

47. Plays for Further Reading
DAVID HENRY HWANG, Trying to Find Chinatown
NILAJA SUN, No Child…
AUGUST WILSON, Fences
PERSPECTIVE
DAVID SAVRAN, An Interview with August Wilson
DAVID IVES, The Blizzard
 

Critical Thinking and Writing
 
48. Critical Strategies for Reading
Critical Thinking
The Literary Canon: Diversity and Controversy
Formalist Strategies
Biographical Strategies
Psychological Strategies
Historical Strategies
Literary History Criticism
Marxist Criticism
New Historicist Criticism
Cultural Criticism
Gender Strategies
Feminist Criticism
Gay and Lesbian Criticism
Mythological Strategies
Reader-Response Strategies
Deconstructionist Strategies

49. Reading and the Writing Process
The Purpose and Value of Writing about Literature
Reading the Work Closely
Annotating the Text and Journal Note Taking  
Annotated Text
Journal Note
Choosing a Topic
Developing a Thesis
Arguing about Literature
Questions for Arguing about Literature
Organizing a Paper
Writing a Draft
Writing the Introduction and Conclusion
Using Quotations
Revising and Editing
Questions for Writing: A Revision Checklist
Manuscript Form
Types of Writing Assignments
Explication
A SAMPLE STUDENT EXPLICATION: A Reading of Dickinson’s “There’s a certain Slant of light”
EMILY DICKINSON, There’s a certain Slant of light
Analysis
A SAMPLE STUDENT ANALYSIS: “The A & P” as a State of Mind
Comparison and Contrast
A SAMPLE STUDENT COMPARISON: The Struggle for Women’s Self-Definition in “Eveline” and A Doll House
 
50. The Literary Research Paper
Choosing a Topic
Finding Sources
Annotated List of References
Electronic Sources
Evaluating Sources and Taking Notes
Developing a Thesis and Organizing the Paper
Revising
 Documenting Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
The List of Works Cited
Parenthetical References
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESEARCH PAPER: How the Narrator Cultivates a Rose for Emily

51. Taking Essay Examinations
Preparing for an Essay Exam
Keep Up with the Reading
Take Notes and Annotate the Text
Anticipate Questions
Types of Exams
Closed-Book versus Open-Book Exams
Essay Questions
Strategies for Writing Essay Exams

Glossary of Literary Terms
Index of First Lines
Index of Authors and Titles
Index of Terms
 
 
 

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