Literature

About Edgar V. Roberts    Edgar V. Roberts, Emeritus Professor of English at Lehman College of The City University of New York, is a native of Minnesota. He graduated from the Minneapolis public schools in 1946, and received his Doctorate from the University of Minnesota in 1960. He taught English at Minnesota, the University of Maryland Overseas Division, Wayne State University, Hunter College, and Lehman College. From 1979 to 1988, He was Chair of the English Department of Lehman College.   He served in the U.S. Army in 1946 and 1947, seeing duty in Arkansas, the Philippine Islands, and Colorado.   He published articles about the plays of Henry Fielding, the subject of his Ph.D. dissertation. In 1968 he published a scholarly edition of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728), and in 1969 he published a similar edition of Fielding's The Grub-Street Opera (1731), both with the University of Nebraska Press. He first published Writing About Literature (then named Writing Themes About Literature) in 1964, with Prentice Hall. Since then, this book has undergone eleven separate revisions, for a total of twelve editions. In 1986, with Henry E. Jacobs of the University of Alabama, he published the first edition of Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. After Professor Jacobs's untimely death in the summer of 1986, Professor Roberts continued working on changes and revisions to keep this text up to date. The Ninth Edition was published early in 2009, with Pearson Longman. The Fourth Compact Edition of Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing was published in 2008.   Professor Roberts is an enthusiastic devoté of symphonic music and choral singing, having sung in local church choirs for forty years. Recently he has sung (bass) with the New Choral Society of Scarsdale, New York (where he lives), singing in classic works by Handel, Beethoven, Bruckner, Bach, Orff, Britten, Brahms, and others. He is a fan of both the New York Mets and the New York Yankees. When the two teams play in inter-league games, he is uneasy because he dislikes seeing either team lose. He also likes both the Giants and the Jets. He has been an avid jogger ever since the early 1960s, and he enjoys watching national and international track meets.   Professor Roberts encourages queries, comments, and suggestions from students who have been using any of the various books. Use the following email address: edgar.roberts@verizon.net.     About Robert Zweig   Robert Zweig is a tenured, full professor at Manhattan Community College of the City University of New York.  He teaches courses in Literature and Writing and for many years was the Intensive Writing Coordinator for the college.   He has a doctorate in English Literature from the City University of New York, a Masters from Queens College in creative writing and a bachelor’s degree from Queens College in English literature.  Dr. Zweig has numerous peer-reviewed publications in journals, encyclopedias and books.  In addition, he is currently writing two textbooks for McGraw-Hill on the writing process, due out in 2011, another textbook, Grammar in the Modern World (Pearson) due out in 2011 and is co-author of Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, a bestselling introduction to literature textbook by Longman Publishers.  His translations of the Italian poet and Nobel Laureate Eugentio Montale appear in this text.   Also, Dr. Zweig has lectured extensively throughout the United States and Italy on Victorian Literature, Poetics and contemporary culture. Some of the American universities he has addressed include Notre Dame, New York University, University of California, Harvard, University of Illinois, University of Delaware, Rutgers University and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York,   He has received several scholarships and awards, including a Mellon Fellowship and the Phi Beta Kappa award for “Outstanding Teaching Skills” as one of the Top Ten Professors at Manhattan Community College.            

***** NEW SECTIONS ARE INDICATED WITH "(NEW)" AT THE END OF THE LINE. 

 

Detailed Contents

 

Topical and Thematic Contents                                                                                              

 

Preface                                                                                                                                       

 

PART I  The Process of Reading, Responding to, and Writing About Literature

 

What Is Literature, and Why Do We Study It?          

Types of Literature: The Genres

Reading Literature and Responding to It Actively

Alice Walker  Everyday Use

Mrs. Johnson, with her daughter Maggie, is visited by her citified daughter Dee, whose return home is accompanied by surprises.

Reading and Responding in a Computer File or Notebook

Sample Notebook Entries on Walker’s “Everyday Use” 

Major Stages in Thinking and Writing about Literary Topics: Discovering Ideas, Preparing to Write, Making an Initial Draft of Your Essay, and Completing the Essay                                                   

Writing Does Not Come Easily–for Anyone

The Goal of Writing: To Show a Process of Thought 

     Discovering Ideas (“Brainstorming”)

     Study the Characters in the Work   

     Determine the Work’s Historical Period and Background 

     Analyze the Work’s Economic and Social Conditions

     Explain the Work’s Major Ideas

     Describe the Work’s Artistic Qualities

     Explain Any Other Approaches That Seem Important

Preparing to Write 

     Build Ideas from Your Original Notes

     Trace Patterns of Action and Thought 

The Need for the Actual Physical Process of Writing  

     Raise and Answer Your Own Questions 

     Put Ideas Together Using a Plus-Minus, Pro-Con, or Either-Or Method 

Originate and Develop Your Thoughts Through Writing 

Making an Initial Draft of Your Essay   

Base Your Essay on a Central Idea, Argument, or Statement 

The Need for a Sound Argument in Essays About Literature

Create a Thesis Sentence as Your Guide to Organization 

     Begin Each Paragraph with a Topic Sentence 

     Select Only One Topic–No More–for Each Paragraph

Referring to the Names of Authors 

Use Your Topic Sentences as the Arguments for Your Paragraph Development

The Use of Verb Tenses in the Discussion of Literary Works 

Develop an Outline as the Means of Organizing Your Essay 

Basic Writing Types: Paragraphs and Essays

Paragraph Assignment

Illustrative Student Essay (First Draft): Mrs. Johnson’s Overly Self-Assured Daughter, Dee, in Walker’s “Everyday Use”  (NEW)

Completing the Essay: Developing and Strengthening Your Essay Through Revision 

     Make Your Own Arrangement of Details and Ideas 

     Use Literary Material as Evidence to Support Your Argument 

     Always Keep to Your Point; Stick to It Tenaciously 

     Check Your Development and Organization 

     Try to Be Original 

     Write with Specific Readers as Your Intended Audience 

     Use Exact, Comprehensive, and Forceful Language 

Illustrative Student Essay (Improved Draft): Mrs. Johnson’s Overly Self-Assured Daughter, Dee, in Walker’s “Everyday Use”  (NEW)

     Commentary on the Essay

Essay Commentaries

A Summary of Guidelines 

Writing Topics About the Writing Process  

A Short Guide to the Use of References and Quotations in Essays About Literature                                                                       

Integrate Passages and Ideas into Your Essay  

Distinguish Your Thoughts from Those of Your Author 

Integrate Material by Using Quotation Marks 

Blend Quotations into Your Own Sentences 

Indent Long Quotations and Set Them in Block Format 

Use an Ellipsis to Show Omissions  

Use Square Brackets to Enclose Words That You Add Within Quotations 

Be Careful Not to Overquote

Preserve the Spellings in Your Source

 

PART II  Reading and Writing About Fiction                              

 

1   Fiction: An Overview

Modern Fiction  

The Short Story 

Elements of Fiction I: Verisimilitude and Donnée 

Elements of Fiction II: Character, Plot, Structure, and Idea or Theme 

Elements of Fiction III: The Writer’s Tools  

     Visualizing Fiction: Cartoons, Graphic Narratives, Graphic Novels

      Dan Piraro, Bizarro   •  Art Spiegelman, from Maus (Expanded)

Stories for Study 

AMBROSE BIERCE  An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

A condemned man dreams of escape, freedom, and family.

SANDRA CISNEROS   ’Mericans  (NEW)

Through an evil act, a man learns goodness.

WILLIAM FAULKNER  A Rose for Emily

Even seemingly ordinary people hide deep and bizarre mysteries.

TIM O’BRIEN  The Things They Carried

During the Vietnam War, American soldiers carry not only their weighty equipment but many memories.

LUIGI PIRANDELLO  War

During World War I in Italy, the loss of a loved one outweighs all rationalizations for the conflict.

Plot: The Motivation and Causality of Fiction 

Writing About the Plot of a Story

Illustrative Student Essay: Plot in William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" (NEW)

Writing Topics About Plot in Fiction  

 

2   Point of View: The Position or Stance of the Work’s Narrator or Speaker                                                               

An Exercise in Point of View: Reporting an Accident 

Conditions That Affect Point of View 

Point of View and Opinions  

Determining a Work’s Point of View  

Mingling Points of View 

Point of View and Verb Tense 

Summary: Guidelines for Points of View 

Stories for Study 

SHERMAN ALEXIE  This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona  (NEW)

Two old acquaintances friends embark on a journey to recover the body of one of their fathers. 

SHIRLEY JACKSON  The Lottery

What would it be like if the prize at a community-sponsored lottery were not the cash that people ordinarily hope to win?

JAMAICAKINCAID  What I Have Been Doing Lately (NEW)

Life develops from the repetition and recirculation of dreams and fantasies.

LORRIE MOORE  How to Become a Writer

There is more to becoming a writer than simply sitting down at a table and beginning to write.

Writing About Point of View 

Illustrative Student Essay: Shirley Jackson’s Dramatic Point of View in “The Lottery”

Writing Topics About Point of View 

 

3 Characters: The People in Fiction                  

Character Traits  

How Authors Disclose Character in Literature  

Types of Characters: Round and Flat  

Reality and Probability: Verisimilitude  

Stories for Study 

T. C. BOYLE  Greasy Lake   (NEW)

Young men discover more than a way to kill time at this local hangout.   

SUSAN GLASPELL  A Jury of Her Peers

In a small farmhouse kitchen, the wives of men investigating a murder discover significant evidence that forces them to make an urgent decision.

KATHERINE MANSFIELD  Miss Brill

Miss Brill goes to the park for a pleasant afternoon, but she does not find what she was expecting.

GUY DE MAUPASSANT  The Necklace

To go to a ball, Mathilde Loisel borrows a necklace from a rich friend, but her rhapsodic evening has unforeseen consequences.

AMY TAN  Two Kinds

Jing-Mei leads her own kind of life despite the wishes and hopes of her mother.

Writing About Character 

Illustrative Student Essay: The Character of Minnie Wright in Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” 

Writing Topics About Character 

 

4   Setting: The Background of Place, Objects, and Culture in Stories                                                                                 

What Is Setting? 

The Literary Uses of Setting

Stories for Study 

JAMES JOYCE  Araby

An introspective boy learns much about himself when he tries to keep a promise.

LU HSUN     My Old Home  (NEW)

A man revisits his childhood home. 

CYNTHIA OZICK  The Shawl

Can a mother in a Nazi concentration camp save her starving and crying baby?

EDGAR ALLEN POE The Cask of Amontillado

Writing About Setting

Illustrative Student Essay: The Interaction of Story and Setting in James Joyce’s “Araby” (NEW)

Writing Topics About Setting 

 

5   Structure: The Organization of Stories        

Formal Categories of Structure  

Formal and Actual Structure  

STORIES FOR STUDY  

RALPH ELLISON  Battle Royal

An intelligent black student, filled with hopes and dreams, is treated with monstrous indignity.

HA JIN  Saboteur (NEW)

Wrongfully detained, a man has revenge as a meal to celebrate his escape. 

JHUMPA LAHIRI         The Interpreter of Maladies  (NEW)

A tour guide learns about a troubled American family on a visit to ruins. 

EUDORA WELTY  A Worn Path

Phoenix Jackson, a devoted grandmother, walks a worn path on a mission of great love.

TOM WHITECLOUD  Blue Winds Dancing

A Native American student leaves college in California to spend Christmas in his hometown in Wisconsin.

Writing About Structure in a Story 

Illustrative Student Essay: The Structure of Eudora Welty’s ”A Worn Path” 

Writing Topics About Structure 

 

6   Tone and Style: The Words That Convey Attitudes in Fiction     

Diction: The Writer’s Choice and Control of Words 

Tone, Irony, and Style 

Tone, Humor, and Style

Stories For Study 

KATE CHOPIN  The Story of an Hour

Louise Mallard is shocked and grieved by news that her husband has been killed, but she is about to have an even greater shock.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY  Hills Like White Elephants

While waiting for a train, a man and woman reluctantly discuss an urgent situation.

ALICE MUNRO  The Found Boat

After winter snows have melted in a small Canadian community, young people start making discoveries about themselves.

FRANK O’CONNOR  First Confession

Jackie as a young man tells about his first childhood experience with confession.

JOHN UPDIKE  A & P

As a checkout clerk at the A & P near the local beaches, Sammy learns about the consequences of a difficult choice.

Writing About Tone and Style 

Illustrative Student Essay: Frank O’Connor’s Control of Tone and Style in “First Confession"

Writing Topics About Tone and Style

 

7   Symbolism and Allegory: Keys to Extended Meaning

Symbolism

Allegory

Fable, Parable, and Myth

Allusion in Symbolism and Allegory 

Stories For Study 

AESOPThe Fox and the Grapes

What do people think about things that they can’t have?

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE  Young Goodman Brown

In colonial Salem, Goodman Brown has a bewildering encounter that changes his outlook on life.

LUKE  The Parable of the Prodigal Son

Is there any limit to what a person can do to make divine forgiveness impossible?

GABRIEL GARCÍA MARQUEZ  A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

How do simple villagers respond to a miraculous visitor who appears in their town?

KATHERINE ANNE PORTER  The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

As the end nears, Granny Weatherall has her memories and is surrounded by her loving adult children.

JOHN STEINBECK  The Chrysanthemums

As a housewife on a small ranch, Elisa Allen experiences changes to her sense of self-worth.

Writing About Symbolism and Allegory 

Illustrative Student Essay (Symbolism): Symbols of Light and Darkness in Porter’s “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”   Second Illustrative Student Essay (Allegory): The Allegory of Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” 

Writing Topics About Symbolism and Allegory 

 

8   Idea or Theme: The Meaning and the Message in Fiction  

Ideas and Assertions

Ideas and Issues 

Ideas and Values 

The Place of Ideas in Literature 

How to Find Ideas 

Stories for Study 

TONI CADE BAMBARA  The Lesson

When a group of children visits a toy store for the wealthy, some of them draw conclusions about society and themselves.

ANTON CHEKHOV  The Lady with the Dog

Bored with life, Dmitri Gurov meets Anna Sergeyevna and discovers previously unknown emotions and extremely new problems.

D. H. LAWRENCE  The Horse Dealer’s Daughter

Dr. Jack Fergusson and Mabel Pervin find, in each other’s love, a new reason for being.

AMéRICO PAREDES  The Hammon and the Beans

Is American liberty restricted to people of only one group, or is it for everyone?

Writing About a Major Idea in Fiction

Illustrative Student Essay: D. H. Lawrence’s “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” as an Expression of the Idea that Loving Commitment is Essential in Life

Writing Topics About Ideas 

 

9   Four Stories for Additional Enjoyment and Study       

JOHN CHIOLES  Before the Firing Squad

During World War II, in Nazi-occupied Greece, a young German soldier learns the importance of personal obligations.

CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN  The Yellow Wallpaper

Who is the woman who is trying to emerge from behind the yellow wallpaper?

FLANNERY O’CONNOR  A Good Man Is Hard to Find

“The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit some of her connections in east Tennessee. . . .”

TOBIAS WOOLF  Powder

 A young man and his father brave snowy roads hoping to meet an important deadline.

 

9A Writing a Research Essay on Fiction              

Selecting a Topic  

Setting Up a Working Bibliography (NEW) 

Locating Sources (NEW)

      Searching the Internet (NEW) 

                Evaluating Sources (box) (NEW)

      Searching Library Resources (NEW)

                Important Considerations About Computer-Aided Research (box)

         Review the Bibliographies in Major Critical Studies on your Topic 

        Consult Bibliographical Guides

        Gaining Access to Books and Articles Through Databases (NEW)

Taking Notes and Paraphrasing Material  

                Plagiarism: An Embarrassing but Vital Subject—and a Danger to be Overcome  (box)

Being Creative and Original While Doing Research  

Documenting Your Work  (NEW)

Strategies for Organizing Ideas in Your Research Essay  

Illustrative Student Essay Using Research: The Structure of Katherine Mansfield’s “Miss Brill”

Writing Topics About How to Undertake a Research Essay  

 

 

PART III  Reading and Writing About Poetry

 

10   Meeting Poetry: An Overview                          

The Nature of Poetry 

BILLY COLLINS  Schoolsville

LISEL MUELLER  Hope

ROBERT HERRICK  Here a Pretty Baby Lies

Poetry of the English Language 

How to Read a Poem 

Studying Poetry 

Anonymous  Sir Patrick Spens

 Poems for Study 

GWENDOLYN BROOKS  The Mother

WILLIAM COWPER  The Poplar Field 

EMILY DICKINSON  Because I Could Not Stop for Death

ROBERT FRANCIS  Catch

ROBERT FROST  Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

THOMAS HARDY  The Man He Killed

JOY HARJO  Eagle Poem

RANDALL JARRELL  The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner

BEN JONSON  On My First Daughter

DORIANNE LAUX  The Life of Trees 

EMMA LAZARUS The New Colossus

LOUIS MACNEICE  Snow

JIM NORTHRUP  Ogichidag

NAOMI SHIHAB NYE  Where Children Live

JOYCE CAROL OATES  Loving 

OCTAVIO PAZ    Two Bodies  (NEW)

PHIL RIZZUTO  They Own the Wind  (NEW)

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE  Sonnet 55: Not Marble, Nor the Gilded Monuments

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY  To – [“Music, When Soft Voices Die”

ELAINE TERRANOVA  Rush Hour

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH  Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey 

Writing a Paraphrase of a Poem 

Illustrative Student Paraphrase: A Paraphrase of Thomas Hardy’s “The Man He Killed” 

Writing an Explication of a Poem

Illustrative Student Essay: An Explication of Thomas Hardy’s “ Man He Killed”

Writing Topics About the Nature of Poetry  

 

11   Words: The Building Blocks of Poetry

Choice of Diction: Specific and Concrete, General and Abstract

Levels of Diction 

Special Types of Diction 

Syntax

Decorum: The Matching of Subject and Word 

Denotation and Connotation 

Robert Graves  The Naked and the Nude

Poems for Study 

WILLIAM BLAKE  The Lamb

ROBERT BURNSGreen Grow the Rashes

LEWIS CARROLL  Jabberwocky

HAYDEN CARRUTH  An Apology for Using the Word “Heart” in Too Many Poems

E. E. CUMMINGS  next to of course god america i

JOHN DONNE  Holy Sonnet 14: Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God

RICHARD EBERHART  The Fury of Aerial Bombardment

BART EDELMAN  Chemistry Experiment

THOMAS GRAY  Sonnet on the Death of Richard West

A. E. HOUSMAN  Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now 

CAROLYN KIZER  Night Sounds 

DENISE LEVERTOV  Of Being 

EUGENIO MONTALE  English Horn (Corno Inglese) 

JUDITH ORTIZ [COFER]  Latin Women Pray 

HENRY REED  Naming of Parts 

EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON  Richard Cory 

THEODORE ROETHKE  Dolor 

KAY RYAN  Crib   (NEW)

STEPHEN SPENDERI Think Continually of Those Who Were Truly Great 

WALLACE STEVENS  Disillusionment of Ten O’Clock 

MARK STRAND  Eating Poetry 

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH  Daffodils (I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud) 

JAMES WRIGHT  A Blessing 

Writing About Diction and Syntax in Poetry

Illustrative Student Essay: Diction and Character in Robinson’s “Richard Cory” 

Writing Topics About the Words of Poetry 

 

 

12   Imagery: The Poem’s Link to the Senses    

Responses and the Writer’s Use of Detail 

The Relationship of Imagery to Ideas and Attitudes

Types of Imagery

JOHN MASEFIELD  Cargoes 

WILFRED OWEN  Anthem for Doomed Youth 

ELIZABETH BISHOPThe Fish 

POEMS FOR STUDY 

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING  Sonnets from the Portuguese, Number 14: If Thou Must Love Me 

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE  Kubla Khan 

T. S. ELIOTPreludes 

LOUISE ERDRICH          IndianBoarding School: The Runaways  (NEW)

SUSAN GRIFFIN  Love Should Grow Up Like a Wild Iris in the Fields 

THOMAS HARDY  Channel Firing 

GEORGE HERBERT  The Pulley 

GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS  Spring 

A. E. HOUSMAN  On Wenlock Edge 

DENISE LEVERTOV  A Time Past 

THOMAS LUX  The Voice You Hear When You Read Silently 

EUGENIO MONTALE  Buffalo(Buffalo) 

MARIANNE MOOREThe Fish 

PABLO NERUDA  Every Day You Play 

OCTAVIO PAZ    The Street (NEW)

EZRA POUNDIn a Station of the Metro 

MIKLÓS RADNÓTI  Forced March 

FRIEDRICH RÜCKERT  If You Love for the Sake of Beauty 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE  Sonnet 13: My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun 

STEPHEN STEPANCHEV  Seven Horizons (NEW)

JAMES TATE  Dream On 

Writing About Imagery 

Illustrative Student Essay: Imagery in T. S. Eliot’s “Preludes” 

Writing Topics About Imagery in Poetry 

 

13   Figures of Speech, or Metaphorical Language: A Source of Depth and Range in Poetry                                                   

Metaphors and Similes: The Major Figures of Speech 

Characteristics of Metaphorical Language 

JOHN KEATS  On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer

Vehicle and Tenor

Other Figures of Speech 

JOHN KEATSBright Star 

JOHN GAY  Let Us Take the Road 

POEMS FOR STUDY 

JACK AGÜEROSSonnet for You, Familiar Famine 

WILLIAM BLAKE  The Tyger 

ROBERT BURNS  A Red, Red Rose 

JOHN DONNE  A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning 

ABBIE HUSTON EVANS  The Iceberg Seven-Eighths Under 

THOMAS HARDYThe Convergence of the Twain 

JOY HARJO  Remember 

JOHN KEATSTo Autumn 

MAURICE KENNYLegacy 

JANE KENYON  Let Evening Come 

HENRY KING  Sic Vita 

ROBERT LOWELL  Skunk Hour 

JUDITH MINTY  Conjoined 

PABLO NERUDAIf You Forget Me 

MARY OLIVER   Showing the Birds (NEW)

MARGE PIERCY  A Work of Artifice 

MURIEL RUKEYSER  Looking at Each Other 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE  Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day? 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE  Sonnet 30: When to the Sessions of Sweet Silent Thought 

ELIZABETH TUDOR, QUEEN ELIZABETH I  On Monsieur’s Departure 

MONA VAN DUYNEarth Tremors Felt in Missouri  

DEBORAH WARREN     Clay and Flame (NEW)

WALT WHITMAN  Facing West from California’s Shores 

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH  London, 1820 

SIR THOMAS WYATT  I Find No Peace 

Writing About Figures of Speech

Illustrative Student Paragraph: Wordsworth’s Use of Overstatement in “London, 1820” 

Illustrative Student Essay: A Study of Shakespeare’s Metaphors in Sonnet 3: “When to the Sessions of Sweet Silent Thought” 

Writing Topics About Figures of Speech in Poetry 

 

14   Tone: The Creation of Attitude in Poetry    

Tone, Choice, and Response 

CORNELIUS WHUR  The First-Rate Wife 

Tone and the Need for Control 

WILFRED OWEN  Dulce et Decorum Est 

Tone and Common Grounds of Assent 

Tone in Conversation and Poetry 

Tone and Irony 

THOMAS HARDY  The Workbox 

Tone and Satire 

ALEXANDER POPE  Epigram from the French 

ALEXANDER POPE  Epigram, Engraved on the Collar of a Dog Which I Gave to His Royal Highness 

POEMS FOR STUDY 

WILLIAM BLAKEOn Another’s Sorrow 

ROBERT BROWNING My Last Duchess

JIMMY CARTER I Wanted to Share My Father’s World 

LUCILLE CLIFTONhomage to my hips 

BILLY COLLINS  The Names 

E. E. CUMMINGS  she being Brand /-new 

BART EDELMAN  Trouble 

MARTIN ESPADA   Bully  (NEW) 

MARI EVANSI Am a Black Woman 

SEAMUS HEANEYMid-Term Break 

WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY  When You Are Old 

DAVID IGNATOW  The Bagel 

YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA  Facing It 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN  My Childhood’s Home 

PAT MORA  La Migra 

SHARONOLDS  The Planned Child 

ROBERT PINSKY  Dying 

ALEXANDER POPEfromEpilogue to the Satires Dialogue I 

SALVATORE QUASÍMODO  Auschwitz 

ANNE RIDLER  Nothing Is Lost 

THEODORE ROETHKE  My Papa’s Waltz 

JANESHORE  A Letter Sent to Summer 

CATHY SONG      Lost Sister (NEW)

JONATHAN SWIFT  A Description of the Morning 

DAVID WAGONER  My Physics Teacher 

C. K. WILLIAMS  Dimensions 

WILLIAM WORDSWORTHThe Solitary Reaper 

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS  When You Are Old 

Writing About Tone in Poetry 

Illustrative Student Essay: The Speaker’s Attitudes in Sharon Olds’s “The Planned Child” 

Writing Topics About Tone in Poetry 

 

15   Form: The Shape of Poems                                  

Closed-Form Poetry 

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH  Fragment fromThe Prelude 

ALEXANDER POPE  Fragment fromThe Rape of the Locke 

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON  The Eagle 

JOHN MILTON Fragment fromLycidas 

ANONYMOUS  Spun in High, Dark Clouds 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE  Sonnet 116: Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds 

Open-Form Poetry 

WALT WHITMAN  Reconciliation 

Visualizing Poetry: Poetry and Artistic Expression: Visual Poetry, Concrete Poetry, and Prose Poems 

E. E. CUMMINGS  BuffaloBill’s Defunct 

GEORGE HERBERT  Colossians 3:3 (Our Life is Hid With Christ in God) 

GEORGE HERBERT  Easter Wings 

CHARLES HARPER WEBB  The Shape of History 

JOHN HOLLANDER  Swan and Shadow 

WILLIAM HEYEN  Mantle 

MAY SWENSON  Women 

CAROLYN FORCHÉ  The Colonel 

POEMS FOR STUDY 

ELIZABETHBISHOP  One Art 

BILLY COLLINS  Sonnet 

JOHN DRYDEN  To the Memory of Mr. Oldham 

ROBERTFROSTDesertPlaces 

ALLEN GINSBERG  A Supermarket in California 

ROBERTHASS  Museum 

GEORGE HERBERTVirtue 

JOHN HALL INGHAM George Washington(from Ch. 17)

JOHN KEATS  Ode to a Nightingale

YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA    Grenade  (NEW)

MAGUS MAGNUS  Empirical/Imperial Demonstration (NEW)

CLAUDE McKAY  In Bondage 

HERMAN MELVILLE Shiloh (from Ch. 17)

JOHN MILTONOn His Blindness (When I Consider How My Light Is Spent) 

DUDLEY RANDALL  Ballad of Birmingham 

THEODORE ROETHKE  The Waking 

GEORGE WILLIAM RUSSELL (Æ)  Continuity 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Sonnet 73 (from Ch. 17)

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY  Ozymandias 

DYLAN THOMASDo Not Go Gentle into That Good Night 

JEAN TOOMER  Reapers 

PHYLLIS WEBB  Poetics Aga the Angel of Death 

WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS  The Dance 

Writing About Form in Poetry 

Illustrative Student Essay: Form and Meaning in George Herbert’s “Virtue” 

Writing Topics About Poetic Form 

 

16. Symbolism and Allusion: Windows to Wide Expanses of Meaning     

Symbolism and Meanings 

VIRGINIA SCOTT  Snow 

The Function of Symbolism in Poetry 

Allusions and Meaning 

Studying for Symbols and Allusions 

POEMS FOR STUDY 

EMILY BRONTË  No Coward Soul Is Mine 

PETER DAVISON  Delphi

JOHN DONNE  The Canonization

STEPHEN DUNN  Hawk 

RALPH WALDO EMERSON ConcordHymn (From Ch. 17)

ISABELLA GARDNER  Collage of Echoes 

DAN GEORGAKIS  HiroshimaCrewman 

JORIE GRAHAM  The Geese 

THOMAS HARDY  In Time of “The Breaking of Nations” 

GEORGE HERBERT  The Collar 

JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN  Tears 

ROBINSON JEFFERS  The Purse-Seine 

JOHN KEATS  La Belle Dame Sans Merci: A Ballad 

X. J. KENNEDY  Old Men Pitching Horseshoes 

TED KOOSER  Year’s End 

PHILIP LARKIN  Next, Please 

DAVID LEHMAN  VeniceIs Sinking 

ANDREW MARVELL  To His Coy Mistress 

MARY OLIVER  Wild Geese 

KAY RYAN    We’re Building the Ship as We Sail It  (NEW)

GARY SNYDER  Milton by Firelight 

JUDITH VIORST  A Wedding Sonnet for the Next Generation 

WALT WHITMAN  A Noiseless Patient Spider 

RICHARD WILBUR  Year’s End 

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS  The Second Coming 

Writing About Symbolism and Allusion in Poetry   

Illustrative Student Essay: Symbolism in Oliver’s “Wild Geese” 

Writing Topics About Symbolism and Allusion in Poetry 

 

 

17. Four Major American Poets: Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, and Sylvia Plath  

EMILY DICKINSON’S Life and Work   

Writing Topics About the Poetry of Emily Dickinson 

POEMS BY EMILY DICKINSON (ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED) 

After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes (J341, F372) 

Because I Could Not Stop for Death (J712, F479) (Included in Chapter 11, p. )

The Bustle in a House (J178, F118) 

I Cannot Live with You (J64, F76) 

I Dwell in Possibility (F466, J657) 

I Felt a Funeral in My Brain (J28, F34) 

I Heard a Fly Buzz — When I Died (J465, F491) 

I Like to See It Lap the Miles (J585, F383) 

I Never Lost as Much but Twice (J49, F39) 

I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed (J214, F27) 

Much Madness Is Divinest Sense (J435, F62) 

My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close (J1732, F1773) 

My Triumph Lasted Till the Drums (J1227, F1212) 

Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers (J216, F124) 

Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church (J324, F236) 

The Soul Selects Her Own Society (J33, F49) 

Success Is Counted Sweetest (J67, F112) 

There’s a Certain Slant of Light (J258, F32) 

Triumph May Be of Several Kinds (J455, F68),     

Wild Nights — Wild Nights! (J249, F269) 

Edited Selections from Criticism of Dickinson’s Poems   

1. From “Orthodox Modernisms”   •  2. “The Landscape of the Spirit”   •  3. From “The American Plain Style”   •  4. From “The Histrionic Imagination”   •  5. From “The Gothic Mode”

 ROBERT FROST’S Life and Work

Writing Topics About the Poetry of Robert Frost 

POEMS BY ROBERT FROST (CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED) 

The Tuft of Flowers (1913) 

Pan with Us (in Chapter 2, p. )

Mending Wall (1914) 

Birches (1915) 

The Road Not Taken (1915) 

”Out, Out–” (1916)  

The Oven Bird (1916) 

Fire and Ice (192) 

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (1923) (In Chapter 11, p. )

Misgiving (1923) 

Nothing Gold Can Stay (1923) 

Acquainted with the Night (1928) 

Desert Places (1936) (In Chapter 18, p. )

Design (1936) 

The Silken Tent (1936) 

The Gift Outright (1941) 

A Considerable Speck (1942) 

Take Something Like a Star (1943) 

LANGSTON HUGHES’ Life and Work 

Writing Topics About the Poetry of Langston Hughes 

POEMS OF LANGSTON HUGHES (ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED) 

Bad Man 

Cross 

Dead in There 

Dream Variations 

Harlem 

Let America Be America Again 

Madam and Her Madam 

Negro 

The Negro Speaks of Rivers 

125th Street 

Po’ Boy Blues 

Silhouette 

Subway Rush Hour 

Theme for English B 

The Weary Blues 

SYLVIA PLATH’S Life and Work 

Writing Topics About the Poetry of Sylvia Plath 

POEMS OF SYLVIA PLATH (ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED) 

Ariel 

The Colossus 

Cut 

Daddy 

Edge 

The Hanging Man 

Lady Lazarus 

Last Words 

Metaphors 

Mirror 

The Rival 

Song for a Summer’s Day 

Tulips 

 

18. Eighty-four Poems for Additional Enjoyment and Study          

AI        Conversation (NEW)

ANNA AKHMATOVA         Willow  (NEW)

MAYA ANGELOU  Still I Rise Still  (NEW)

ANONYMOUS (NAVAJO)  Healing Prayer from the Beautyway Chant 

W.H. AUDEN, Musee des Beaux Arts

LOUISE BOGAN  Women 

ARNA BONTEMPS  A Black Man Talks of Reaping 

EMILY BRONTE     Love and Friendship (NEW)

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING  Sonnets from the Portuguese: Number 43,  How Do I Love Thee 

GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON  She Walks in Beauty 

LEONARD COHEN  “The killers that run . . .” 

BILLY COLLINS  Days 

STEPHEN CRANE  Do Not Weep, Maiden, for War Is Kind 

ROBERT CREELEY  “Do you think . . .” 

E. E. CUMMINGS  if there are any heavens 

CARL DENNIS  The God Who Loves You 

JOHN DONNE  Holy Sonnet 1: Death Be Not Proud 

PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR  Sympathy [I Know What the Caged Bird Feels] 

T. S. ELIOT  The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock 

JAMES EMANUEL  The Negro 

CHIEF DAN GEORGE  The Beauty of the Trees 

DANIEL HALPERN  Snapshot of Hué 

FRANCES E. W. HARPER  She’s Free! 

ROBERT HASS  Spring Rain 

ROBERT HAYDEN  Those Winter Sundays 

A. D. HOPE  Advice to Young Ladies 

GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS  Pied Beauty 

CAROLINAHOSPITAL  Dear Tia 

ROBINSON JEFFERS  The Answer 

JOHN KEATS  Ode on a Grecian Urn 

GALWAYKINNELL  After Making Love We Hear Footsteps 

YAHIA LABABIDI   What Do Animals Dream? (NEW)

KATHERINE LARSON  Statuary 

IRVINGLAYTON  RhineBoat Trip 

PHILIPLEVINE Islands(NEW)

ALAN P. LIGHTMAN  In Computers 

LIZ LOCHHEAD  The Choosing 

AUDRE LORDE  Every Traveler Has One Vermont Poem 

AMY LOWELL  Patterns 

MAGUS MAGNUS   Radical Crumb (NEW)

CLAUDE McKAY  The White City 

N. SCOTT MOMADAY  The Bear 

HOWARD NEMEROV  Life Cycle of Common Man 

JIM NORTHRUP  wahbegan  

MARY OLIVER  Ghosts 

SIMON ORTIZ  A Story of How a Wall Stands 

DOROTHY PARKER  Résumé 

LINDA PASTAN  Marks 

MARGE PIERCY  The Secretary Chant 

EDGAR ALLAN POE  Annabel Lee 

ALBERTO RÍOS  The Vietnam Wall 

LUIS OMAR SALINAS  In a Farmhouse 

CARL SANDBURG  Chicago 

SIEGFRIED SASSOON  Dreamers 

ALAN SEEGER  I Have a Rendezvous with Death 

BRENDA SEROTTE  My Mother’s Face 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE  Sonnet 29: When in Disgrace with Fortune and                          Men’s Eyes 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE  Sonnet 146: Poor Soul, the Center of My Sinful                           Earth 

KARL SHAPIRO  Auto Wreck 

STEVIE SMITH  Not Waving But Drowning 

GARY SOTO  Oranges 

WILLIAM STAFFORD  Traveling Through the Dark 

GERALD STERN  Burying an Animal on the Way to New York 

WALLACE STEVENS  The Emperor of Ice-Cream

MAY SWENSON  Question

DYLAN THOMAS  A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in                                              London

JOHN UPDIKE  Perfection Wasted

TINO VILLANUEVA  Day-Long Day

JUDITH VIORST  True Love
SHELLY WAGNER  The Boxes

ALICE WALKER  Revolutionary Petunias

EDMUND WALLER  Go, Lovely Rose

WALT WHITMAN  Beat! Beat! Drums!

WALT WHITMAN  Dirge for Two Veterans

WALT WHITMAN  Full of Life Now

WALT WHITMAN  I Hear America Singing

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER  The Bartholdi Statue

RICHARD WILBUR      Love Calls Us to the Things of the World (NEW)

WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS  The Red Wheelbarrow

LISA ZARAN            Go On   (NEW)

PAUL ZIMMER  The Day Zimmer Lost Religion

 

18A     Writing a Research Essay on Poetry

Topics to Discover in Research   

Illustrative Student Essay Written with the Aid of Research: “Beat! Beat! Drums!” and “I Hear America Singing”: Two Whitman Poems Spanning the Civil War

Commentary on the Essay 

 

PART IV   Reading and Writing About Drama

 

19. The Dramatic Vision: An Overview

Drama as Literature

Performance: The Unique Aspect of Drama

Drama from Ancient Times to Our Own: Tragedy, Comedy, and Additional Forms

ANONYMOUS  The Visit to the Sepulcher (Visitatio Sepulchri)

How do the Three Marys respond to the news told by the angel?

Visualizing Plays: Imagining Dramatic Scenes and Actions

PLAYS FOR STUDY

EDWARD ALBEE  The Sandbox

Mommy and Daddy take Grandma to a beach, but they plan more than relaxing in the sun.

SUSAN GLASPELL  Trifles

In a small farmhouse kitchen early in the twentieth century, the wives of men investigating a murder discover significant evidence that forces them to make an urgent decision  .

BETTY KELLER  Tea Party

How do two aged ladies try to invite other people to come in and visit?

JANE MARTIN   Beauty  (NEW)

            As Carla and Bethany talk together, they go through a transformational experience.

EUGENE O’NEILL  Before Breakfast

What happens to people facing disappointment, anger, alienation, and lost hope?

Writing About the Elements of Drama

Referring to Plays and Parts of Plays

Illustrative Student Essay: Eugene O’Neill’s Use of Negative Descriptions and Stage Directions in Before Breakfast as a Means of Revealing Character 

Writing Topics About the Elements of Drama

 

20. The Tragic Vision: Affirmation Through Loss

The Origins of Tragedy

The Ancient Athenian Competitions in Tragedy

The Origin of Tragedy in Brief

Aristotle and the Nature of Tragedy

Aristotle’s View of Tragedy in Brief

Irony in Tragedy

The Ancient Athenian Audience and Theater

Ancient Greek Tragic Actors and Their Costumes 

Performance and the Formal Organization of Greek Tragedy

Plays for Study

SOPHOCLES  Oedipus the King

Can anyone, even a powerful king, evade destiny or his own character?

Renaissance Drama and Shakespeare’s Theater

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE  The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

An initial act of evil is like an infestation.

Tragedy from Shakespeare’s Time to Our Own

Writing About Tragedy

Illustrative Student Essay: The Problem of Hamlet’s Apparent Delay

Writing Topics About Tragedy

 

21. The Comic Vision: Restoring the Balance

The Origins of Comedy

Comedy from Roman Times to the Renaissance

The Patterns, Characters, and Language of Comedy

Types of Comedy 

Plays for Study 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE  A Midsummer Night’s Dream

The problems of lovers are resolved through the magic of the natural world, not through custom and law.

Comedy Since Shakespeare

ANTON CHEKHOV  The Bear, A Joke in One Act

A bachelor and a widow meet and immediately berate each other, but their lives are about to undergo great change.

Writing About Comedy

Illustrative Student Essay: Setting as Symbol and Comic Structure in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Writing Topics About Comedy

 

22. Four Plays for Additional Study and Enjoyment

HENRIK IBSEN  A Dollhouse (Et Dukkehjem)

In their seemingly perfect household, Nora and Torvald discover the severe differences between them.

LANGSTON HUGHES  Mulatto

On a Southern plantation in the 193s, a young man tries to assert his rights, but there are those who will not grant him any rights at all.

LUIS VALDEZ  Los Vendidos  (NEW)

This play takes place in a “lot,” but not the kind of lot we might ordinarily expect.

August Wilson Biography 

The Background of Fences 

AUGUST WILSON  Fences

Troy Maxson, who as a young athlete could knock baseballs over fences, has led a life enclosed by other fences.

Writing About Realistic and Nonrealistic

Illustrative Student Essay: Realism and Nonrealism in Tom’s Triple Role in The Glass Menagerie

Writing Topics About Dramatic Reality and Nonreality

 

 

22A Writing a Research Essay on Drama

Topics to Discover in Research

Illustrative Student Essay Written with the Aid of Research: “The Ghost in Hamlet”

 

PART V Special Writing Topics About Literature

 

 

23 Critical Approaches Important in the Study of Literature

Moral/Intellectual

Topical/Historical

New Critical/Formalist

Structuralist

Feminist Criticism/Gender Studies/Queer Theory

Economic Determinist/Marxist

Psychological/Psychoanalytic

Archetypal/Symbolic/Mythic 

Deconstructionist

Reader-Response 

 

24. Three Types of Writing about Literature

1. Comparison-Contrast and Extended Comparison-Contrast: Learning by Seeing Literary Works together  

Guidelines for the Comparison-Contrast Method

The Extended Comparison-Contrast Essay

Citing References in a Longer Comparison-Contrast Essay

Writing a Comparison-Contrast Essay  

Illustrative Student Essay (Two Works): The Treatment of Responses to War in Amy Lowell’s “Patterns” and Wilfred Owen’s “Anthem for Doomed Youth”

Illustrative Student Essay (Extended Comparison-Contrast): Literary Treatments of the Conflicts Between Private and Public Life

Writing Topics for Comparison and Contrast 

2. Reader-Response: A Concentration on How a Reader’s Reactions Leads toward Interpretation

Important Elements of a Reader Response Essay

Illustrative Student Essay (Reader-Response): Opposite Personal Responses to W.H. Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts” 

Writing Topics for Reader-Response 

3. Argument: The Use of Persuasive Reasoning as a Means of Developing the Capacity to Improve Understanding by the Organized Use of Details

Defining an Argument Essay

Important Elements of an Argument Essay

Illustrative Student Essay (Literary Argument): Sammy’s Decision to Become an Adult

Writing Topics for Literary Argument 

 

25. Taking Examinations on Literature

Answer the Questions That Are Asked 

Systematic Preparation 

Two Basic Types of Questions About Literature 

 

Appendixes

I. Writing About Film   

II. MLA Recommendations for Documenting Sources

 

A Glossary of Important Literary Terms

 

Credits

 

Index of Authors, Titles, and First Lines