Rent 9780130978028 | Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, Compact | Roberts, Edgar V.; Jacobs, Henry E. @knetbooks.com

Summary Table of Contents

For Introduction to Literature courses; and 2nd semester Freshman Composition courses that emphasize writing about literature. This compact version of the best-selling Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing retains the dedication to integrating unequalled writing about literature coverage throughout. It is dedicated throughout to the interlocking processes of reading and writing. In addition to carefully chosen literary selections, each chapter contains detailed information about the process of writing about literature, with hundreds of thought-provoking questions and sample student essays.

Thematic Table of Contents

xxxvii

Preface to the Second Compact Edition

xlvi

Introduction: Reading, Responding To, And Writing About Literature

(56)

... MORE

What Is Literature, and why Do We study It?

(1)

Types of Literature: The Genres

(1)

Reading Literature and Responding to It Actively

(2)

The Necklace

(7)

Guy de Maupassant

To go to a ball, Mathilde Loisel borrows a necklace from a rich friend, but her rhapsodic evening has unforseen consequences that alter her life

Reading and Responding in a Notebook or Computer File

(3)

Writing Essays on Literary Topics

(1)

Three Major Stages in Thinking and Writing: Discovering Ideas, Making Initial Drafts, and Completing the Essay

(1)

The Discovery of Ideas (``Brainstorming'')

(6)

Assembling Materials and Beginning to Write

(3)

Drafting the Essay

(3)

Writing a First Draft

(2)

Developing an Outline

(1)

Demonstrative Student Essay, First Draft: Ho IV Setting in ``The Necklace'' Is Related to the Character of Mathilde

(1)

Developing and Strengthening Essays through Revision

(4)

Checking Development and Organization

(2)

Using Exact Comprehensive and Forceful Language

(3)

Demonstrative Student Essay, Improved Draft: How Maupassant Uses Setting in ``The Necklace'' to Show the Character of Mathilde

(2)

Essay Commentaries

(1)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about the Writing Process

(1)

Responding to Literature: Likes and Dislikes

(2)

Stating Reasons for Favorable Responses

(1)

Stating Reasons for Unfavorable Responses

(3)

Writing about Responses: Likes and Dislikes

(1)

Demonstrative Student Essay: Some Reasons for Liking Maupassant's ``The Necklace''

(2)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Responses to Literature

(5)

Reading and Writing About Fiction

Fiction: An Overview

(41)

Modern fiction

(1)

The Short Story

(1)

Elements of Fiction I: Verisimilitude and Donnee

(2)

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

(3)

Elements of Fiction III: The Writer's Tools

(5)

Stories For Study

(29)

Neighbors

(5)

Raymond Carver

Bill and Arlene Miller are looking after the apartment of the Stones, their neighbors, whose life seems to be brighter and fuller than theirs

The Things They Carried

(11)

Tim O'Brien

In Vietnam, American soldiers carry not only their weighty equipment, but many memories

Everyday Use

(7)

Alice Walker

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

The Precis or Abridgment

(1)

Guidelines for Precis Writing

(3)

Writing a Precis

(1)

Demonstrative Student Essay: A Precis of Alice Walker's ``Everyday Use,''

(2)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Fiction

(1)

Plot and Structure: The Development and Organization of Stories

(37)

Plot, the Motivation and Causation of Fiction

(2)

The Structure of Fiction

100

(1)

Formal Categories of Structure

100

(2)

Formal and Actual Structure

102

(2)

Stories for Study

104

(31)

The Three Strangers

104

(15)

Thomas Hardy

The rustic and isolated country-shepherds of Higher Crowstairs celebrate a christening, but the evening provides more action than they expected

What I Have Been Doing Lately

119

(2)

Jamaica Kincaid

Life develops from the recirculation of dreams and fantasies

Blue Winds Dancing

121

(5)

Tom Whitecloud

Yearning to spend Christmas at home, a young Indian student travels from his university in California to his native village in Wisconsin

Writing about the Plot of a Story

126

(1)

Demonstrative Student Essay: Conflicting Values in Thomas Hardy's ``The Three Stranger,''

127

(2)

Writing about Structure in a Story

129

(2)

Demonstrative Student Essay: Conflict and Suspense in Thomas Hardy's ``The Three Stranger

131

(2)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Plot and Structure

133

(2)

Characters: The People in Fiction

135

(57)

Character Traits

136

(1)

How Authors Disclose Character in Literature

137

(2)

Types of Characters: Round and flat

139

(2)

Reality and Probability: Verisimilitude

141

(1)

Stories for Study

142

(50)

Barn Burning

142

(12)

William Faulkner

A young country boy grows in awareness, conscience, and individuality despite his hostile father

A Jury of Her Peers

154

(15)

Susan Glaspell

On a small family farm, two women accompanying their husbands on a criminal investigation discover interesting details in the farmhouse kitchen. Their growing realizations force them to make an unexpected decision

Shopping

169

(9)

Joyce Carol Oates

Mrs. Dietrich and her daughter Nola go shopping on Saturday morning, but does their time together bring hoped-for intimacy?

Two Kinds

178

(8)

Amy Tan

Jing-Mei follows her own wishes and leads her own kind of life despite her mother's hopes and guidance

Writing about Character

186

(2)

Demonstrative Student Essay: The Character of Minnie Wright in Susan Glaspell's ``A Jury of Her Peers,''

188

(3)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Character

191

(1)

Point of View: The Position or Stance of the Narrator or Speaker

192

(46)

An Exercise in Point of View: Reporting an Accident

194

(1)

Conditions That Affect Point of View

195

(1)

Determining a Work's Point of View

196

(4)

Mingling Points of View

200

(1)

Summary: Guidelines for Point of View

201

(1)

Stories For Study

202

(36)

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

202

(7)

Ambrose Bierce

A condemned man dreams of escape, freedom, and family

The Song of Songs

209

(4)

Ellen Gilchrist

In despair and uncertainty, Barrett Clare receives a phone call from her real mother, whose ``song'' is one of need

The Lottery

213

(6)

Shirley Jackson

What would it be like if the prize at a community-sponsored lottery were not the cash that people ordinarily expect from lottery drawings)?

The Old Chief Mshlanga

219

(8)

Doris Lessing

A woman recalls rural conditions of racial inequality and oppression in colonial Rhodesia

How to Become a Writer

227

(5)

Lorrie Moore

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

Writing about Point of View

232

(2)

Demonstrative Student Essay: Shirley Jackson's Dramatic Point of View in ``The Lottery''

234

(3)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Point of View

237

(1)

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

238

(50)

What Is Setting?

238

(1)

The Literary Uses of Setting

239

(5)

Stories For Study

244

(44)

The Portable Phonograph

244

(5)

Walter Van Tilburg Clark

In civilized times, listening to music brings people together, but what happens in a future time when civilization has been destroyed?

The Secret Sharer

249

(26)

Joseph Conrad

What punishment does a man deserve if he committed his crime while attempting to save many people?

The Shawl

275

(3)

Cynthia Ozick

In a Nazi concentration camp, can a mother save her starving and crying baby?

The Masque of the Red Death

278

(5)

Edgar Allan Poe

In a time of plague, Prince Prospero surrounds himself with friends, locks his doors, and throws great parties, but an uninvited guest suddenly appears

Writing about Setting

283

(2)

Demonstrative Student Essay: The Setting of Conrad's ``The Secret Sharer,''

285

(2)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Setting

287

(1)

Tone and Style: The Words that Convey Attitudes in Fiction

288

(38)

Diction: The Writer's Choice and Control of Words

289

(4)

Tone, Irony, and Style

293

(1)

Tone, Humor, and Style

294

(1)

Stories for Study

295

(31)

The Story of an Hour

295

(2)

Kate Chopin

Louise Mallard is shocked by news of her husband's death, but there is still a greater shock in store for her

Soldier's Home

297

(6)

Ernest Hemingway

Harold Krebs, a veteran of World War I combat, returns home and finds that adjusting to peacetime life is unsettling

The Found Boat

303

(7)

Alice Munro

After the snows of winter have melted, young people begin learning about themselves as they start putting aside their childish ways

First Confession

310

(6)

Frank O'Connor

Jackie as a young man recalls his mixed memories of the events surrounding his first childhood experience with confession

Luck

316

(3)

Mark Twain

The career of a famous general and knight is described by a follower who was there at all the battles

Writing about Tone and Style

319

(2)

Demonstrative Student Essay: Frank O'Connor's Control of Tone and Style in ``First Confession,''

321

(3)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about one Style

324

(2)

Symbolism and Allegory: Keys to Extended Meaning

326

(50)

Symbolism

326

(3)

Allegory

329

(2)

Fable Parable, and Myth

331

(1)

Allusion in Symbolism and Allegory

332

(1)

Stories For Study

332

(44)

The Fox and the Grapes

332

(1)

Aesop

What do people say about things they can't have?

The Myth of Atalanta

333

(2)

Anonymous

In ancient times, how did a superior woman maintain her power and her integrity?

Unfinished Masterpieces

335

(2)

Anita Scott Coleman

Worthiness does not rise when suppressed by poverty and racial inequality

Young Goodman Brown

337

(10)

Nathaniel Hawthorne

In colonial Salem, Goodman Brown has a bewildering encounter that changes his outlook on life and his attitude toward people

The Loons

347

(6)

Margaret Laurence

The dark side of progress and change is that much potential beauty and ability are shunted aside and lost

The Payable of the Prodigal Son

353

(2)

St. Luke

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

The Hammon and the Beans

355

(4)

Americo Paredes

Are the principles of American liberty and equality to be confined to people of only one group or should they be safeguards for everyone?

The Chrysanthemums

359

(8)

John Steinbeck

On a small California ranch, Elisa Allen's hopes are raised, along with her sense of self-worth

The Thimble

367

(2)

Michel Tremblay

Can people capably shoulder the responsibilities that life delivers to them?

Writing about Symbolism or Allegory

369

(3)

Demonstrative Student Essay: Allegory and Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's ``Young Goodman Brown,''

372

(2)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Symbolism and Allegory

374

(2)

Idea or Theme: The Meaning and the Message in Fiction

376

(34)

Ideas and Assertions

376

(1)

Ideas and Values

377

(2)

The Place of Ideas in Literature

379

(1)

How to Find Ideas

380

(2)

Stories for Study

382

(28)

The Lesson

383

(5)

Tony Cade Bambara

A group of children is taken to an expensive toy store, and some of them draw conclusions about society and themselves

Araby

388

(5)

James Joyce

An introspective boy develops insights after keeping his promise to attend a street bazaar and trying to buy a gift

The Horse Dealer's Daughter

393

(11)

D. H. Lawrence

A man and woman, whose lives have been indeterminate, find in each other a new reason for being

Writing about a Major Idea in Fiction

404

(2)

Demonstrative Student Essay: D. H. Lawrence's Idea in ``The Horse Dealer's Daughter'' That Commitment Is Essential to Life

406

(3)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Ideas

409

(1)

Five Stories for Additional Study and Enjoyment

410

(41)

Snow

410

(6)

Robert Olen Butler

From disrupted times and separate cultures, a man and woman reach out to each other

The Curse

416

(4)

Andre Dubus

A man who witnesses a gang attack on a defenseless woman experiences deep anguish and self-reproach

The Point of It

420

(10)

E. M. Forster

Though life sometimes seems pointless and worthy only of being forgotten the life well-lived has great value

The Yellow Wallpaper

430

(11)

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

441

(10)

Katherine Anne Porter

At the very last, Granny Weatherall has her memories and is surrounded by her loving adult children

Reading and Writing About Poetry

Meeting Poetry: An Overview

451

(29)

The Nature of Poetry

451

(1)

Schoolsville

451

(2)

Billy Collins

What scenes of school are memorable and also droll?

Hope

453

(1)

Lisel Mueller

What is hope, and where do we find it?

Here a Pretty Baby Lies

454

(2)

Robert Herrick

Do nothing that might disturb this sleeping child

Poetry of the English Language

456

(1)

How to Read a Poem

456

(2)

Studying Poetry

458

(1)

Sir Patrick Spens

458

(3)

Anonymous

What happens when Sir Patrick and his men go out to sea?

Poems for Study

461

(19)

My Last Duchess

461

(2)

Robert Browning

The Duke shows his wife's portrait to the visiting envoy of the Count

Because I Could Not Stop for Death

463

(1)

Emily Dickinson

Is Death a!1 invited or uninvited guest?

Catch

464

(1)

Robert Francis

Why is a poem like a baseball?

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

464

(1)

Robert Frost

Why docs the speaker tell about driving on after pausing to see winter scene?

The Man He Killed

465

(1)

Thomas Hardy

The battlefield soldier thinks about his fallen enemy

Eagle Poem

466

(1)

Joy Harjo

How is prayer like the circular flight of the eagle?

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner

467

(1)

Randall Jarrell

What was the duly, even at birth, of the ball turret gunner?

Ogichidag

467

(1)

Jim Northrup

What has been the life's purpose of three generations of men?

Where Children Live

468

(1)

Naomi Shihab Nye

What permanent effects do children produce on a home?

A Christmas Carol

469

(1)

Christina Rossetti

What present can a poor worshiper give the newly born Christ child?

Sonnet 55: Not Marble, Nor the Gilded Monuments

470

(1)

William Shakespeare

How can powerful rhyme outlive politics, war, and history?

True Love

471

(1)

Judith Viorst

True love transcends the obstacles of daily life together

It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free

472

(1)

William Wordsworth

We live in the divine presence even ``when we know it not.''

Writing a Paraphrase of a Poem

473

(1)

Demonstrative Student Paraphrase: A Paraphrase of Thomas Hardy's ``The Man He Killed,''

474

(1)

Writing an Explication of a Poem

474

(2)

Demonstrative Student Essay: An Explication of Thomas Hardy's ``The Man He Killed,''

476

(2)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about the Nature of Poetry

478

(2)

Words: The Building Blocks of Poetry

480

(26)

Choice of Diction: Specific and Concrete, General and Abstract

481

(1)

Levels of Diction

481

(1)

Special Types of Diction

482

(3)

Syntax

485

(1)

Denotation and Connotation

486

(1)

The Naked and the Nude

487

(2)

Robert Graves

Word choices have profound effects on Our perceptions

Poems for Study

489

(17)

The Lamb

489

(1)

William Blake

Why is the Iamb worthy of being blessed?

Green Grow the Rashes, O

490

(1)

Robert Burns

If one finds love everything else is insignificant

Jabberwocky

491

(1)

Lewis Carroll

Who is the Jabberwock, and why should he be fought?

next to of course god america i

492

(1)

E.E. Cummings

Is this speaker saying anything significant, even if he has the platform?

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

493

(1)

John Donne

Why is God's care superior to human reason?

The Fury of Aerial Bombardment

493

(1)

Richard Eberhart

What eternal truth does humankind possess?

Sonnet on the Death of Richard West

494

(1)

Thomas Gray

Why does the speaker believe he grieves in vain?

Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now

495

(1)

A.E. Housman

What should we do with the time we have on earth?

Of Being

496

(1)

Denise Levertov

What makes the world a mystery?

Richard Cory

496

(1)

Edwin Arlington Robinson

Can anyone ever understand the personal pain of others?

Dolor

497

(1)

Theodore Roethke

What are the major costs of our commercial society?

I Think Continually of Those Who Were Truly Great

498

(1)

Stephen Spender

Does true greatness mean what we usually think it does?

Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock

498

(1)

Wallace Stevens

What is this disillusionment, and how can it be overcome?

Eating Poetry

499

(1)

Mark Strand

Can it be fun to eat poetry? Can poetry be digested? Understood?

Daffodils

500

(1)

William Wordsworth

How do daffodils bring both immediate and recollected pleasure?

Writing about Diction and Syntax in Poetry

501

(1)

Demonstrative Student Essay: Extraordinary Definitions in Stephen Spender's ``I Think Continually of Those Who Were Truly Great,''

502

(3)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about the Words of Poetry

505

(1)

Imagery: The Poem's Link to the Senses

506

(28)

Responses and the Writer's Use of Detail

506

(1)

The Relationship of Imagery to Ideas and Attitudes

507

(1)

Types of Imagery

508

(1)

Cargoes

508

(1)

John Masefield

What do cargo-bearing ships tell us about the past and the present?

Anthem for Doomed Youth

509

(2)

Wilfred Owen

How do sounds of war disturb the sounds of peaceful ritual?

The Fish

511

(3)

Elizabeth Bishop

What does the speaker think upon catching a battle-hardened fish?

Poems for study

514

(20)

The Tyger

514

(1)

William Blake

Is the source of good also the source of evil?

Sonnets from the Portuguese, No 14: If Thou Must Love Me

515

(1)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Is there any reason for Love beyond Love itself?

Kubla Khan

516

(1)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

What is the nature of Kubla Khan's dome of pleasure?

I Know I'm Not Sufficiently Obscure

517

(1)

Ray Durem

What is the speaker saying when he says that he is not ``sufficiently obscure''?

Preludes

518

(2)

T. S. Eliot

Why should the various scenes be considered as introductions to life? What kind of life is it?

Channel Firing

520

(1)

Thomas Hardy

What is so loud that it wakens the dead, and what can the dead say?

The Pulley

521

(1)

George Herbert

How does God draw people to belief and faith?

Spring

522

(1)

Gerard Manley Hopkins

How do images of earthly spring lead to thoughts of Edenic paradise?

A Time Past

523

(1)

Denise Levertov

Can the fondest of memories persist despite disaffection and change?

The Voice You Hear When You Read Silently

524

(1)

Thomas Lux

How is our voice when reading silently the clearest voice we know?

Photos of a Salt Mine

525

(1)

P.K. Page

How can a salt mine be the subject of a poem?

In a Station of the Metro

526

(1)

Ezra Pound

What do people at the subway station resemble?

Sonnet 130: My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun

527

(1)

William Shakespeare

What is the difference between real praise and exaggerated praise?

Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802

527

(1)

William Wordsworth

Can the morning panorama of the city be considered beautiful?

Writing about Imagery

528

(2)

Demonstrative Student Essay: The Image's of John Masefield's ``Cargoes,''

530

(2)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Imagery in Poetry

532

(2)

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

534

(29)

Metaphors and Similes: The Major Figures of Speech

535

(1)

Characteristics of Metaphorical Language

536

(1)

On First Looking into Chapman's Homer

537

(1)

John Keats

How can a Renaissance translation of Homer's ancient epic poems be as exciting as discovering a new planet, or a new ocean?

Other Figures of Speech

538

(1)

Bright Star

539

(2)

John Keats

How can a distant star be an incentive to constancy in love?

Let Us Take the Road

541

(1)

John Gay

Is it possible to turn lead to gold?

Poems for Study

542

(21)

A Red, Red Rose

543

(1)

Robert Burns

The speaker compares the beauty of his love to the beauty of a rose

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

543

(2)

John Donne

The speaker tells his sweetheart not to grieve while he is on a trip

The Iceberg Seven-eighths Under

545

(1)

Abbie Huston Evans

How much do we know, but how much more do we not know?

Harlem

546

(1)

Langston Hughes

What can happen when hopeful dreams are suppressed?

To Autumn

546

(1)

John Keats

All seasons are beautiful in their way, and autumn is especially beautiful

Sic Vita

547

(1)

Henry King

There are a number of things and actions with which life may be compared

Conjoined

548

(1)

Judith Minty

In what way can married people be compared to a large onion?

A Work of Artifice

549

(1)

Marge Piercy

How can culture and artifice stultify the lives of women?

Metaphors

550

(1)

Sylvia Plath

What are these metaphors, and what are they about?

Looking at Each Other

550

(1)

Muriel Rukeyser

More is described here than simply looking

Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?

551

(1)

William Shakespeare

Despite the passage of time, it is possible to retain life

Sonnet 30: When to the Sessions of Sweet Silent Thought

552

(1)

William Shakespeare

When thoughts are about loss, what other thoughts can restore them?

On Monsieur's Departure

552

(1)

Elizabeth Tudor

Queen Elizabeth I

How does this famous queen of England express her secret uneasiness?

Earth Tremors Felt in Missouri

553

(1)

Mona Van Duyn

How can human discontents seem as great as actual earthquake tremors?

Facing West from California's Shores

554

(1)

Walt Whitman

Despite a life of wandering, there are still many deep secrets

London, 1802

555

(1)

William Wordsworth

What is necessary for restoring an aimless society to a sense of purpose?

I Find No Peace

555

(1)

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Why does the speaker say his loved one causes both delight and strife?

Writing about Figures of Speech

556

(3)

Demonstrative Student Paragraph: Wordsworth's Use of Overstatement in ``London, 1802,''

559

(1)

Demonstrative Student Essay: A Study of Shakespeare's Metaphors in Sonnet 30

560

(1)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Figures of Speech in Poetry

561

(2)

Tone: The Creation of Attitude in Poetry

563

(30)

Tone, Choice, and Response

564

(1)

The First-Rate Wife

564

(1)

Cornelius Whur

The speaker obligingly describes how a woman may become a first-rate wife. What are we to make of this speaker?

Tone and the Need for Control

565

(1)

Dulce et Decorum Est

566

(1)

Wilfred Owen

Can ideals of war be sustained in the face of the reality of war?

Tone and Common Grounds or Assent

567

(1)

Tone and Irony

568

(1)

The Workbox

569

(2)

Thomas Hardy

This dialogue between a husband and wife reveals much about both

Tone and Satire

571

(1)

Epigram from the French

571

(1)

Alexander Pope

The speaker presents a stinging but ironic insult

Epigram, Engraved on the Collar or a Dog which I Gave to His Royal Highness

572

(1)

Alexander Pope

Are social pretensions confined only to human beings?

Poems for Study

573

(20)

Homage to my hips

573

(1)

Lucille Clifton

The speaker takes delight in the power other body

she being Brand

574

(1)

E.E. Cummings

What do making love and driving a new car have in common?

I Am A Black Woman

575

(1)

Mari Evans

What anguish has an American black woman experienced?

Theme for English B

576

(1)

Langston Hughes

How would you grade this poem if you were the English instructor?

The Planned Child

577

(1)

Sharon Olds

How important was the speaker to her mother?

Late Movies with Skyler

578

(2)

Michael Ondaatje

How can watching late movies bring two people together?

Dying

580

(1)

Robert Pinsky

What do all living beings have in common?

From Epilogue to the Satires, Dialogue I

581

(1)

Alexander Pope

What can be held sacred when morality is under attack?

Nothing Is Lost

582

(1)

Anne Ridler

In what ways are our ancestors still alive?

My Papa's Waltz

583

(1)

Theodore Roethke

How does the speaker remember his father's behavior after taking on a load of whiskey?

A Description of the Morning

584

(1)

Jonathan Swift

Is there anything heroic about life at the beginnings of the day?

My Physics Teacher

585

(1)

David Wagoner

Classroom demonstrations in physics don't always work out as hoped for

Dimensions

586

(1)

C.K. Williams

Would any world anywhere else be any better than the one we have?

Writing about Tone in Poetry

587

(2)

Demonstrative Student Essay: The Shifting Attitudes of Sharon Olds's Speaker in ``The Planned Child,''

589

(2)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Tone in Poetry

591

(2)

Form: The Shape of the Poem

593

(46)

Characteristics of Closed-Form Poetry

593

(1)

Types of Closed Forms

594

(2)

The Eagle

596

(3)

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

What words can describe this most majestic of all birds?

Spun in High, Dark Clouds

599

(1)

Anonymous

What is the essential quality of falling snow?

The Uses of the Closed Form to Shape and Polish Meaning

600

(1)

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

600

(1)

William Shakespeare

True love does not change, no matter what is often done against it

Open-Form Poetry

601

(1)

Reconciliation

602

(1)

Walt Whitman

What does it take to bring human beings to reconciliation with each other?

Visual and Concrete Poetry

603

(1)

Easter Wings

604

(1)

George Herbert

How can God's grace be described and also pictured at the same time?

Poems For Study

605

(34)

One Art

606

(1)

Elizabeth Bishop

What constitutes the greatest loss of all?

We Real Cool

607

(1)

Gwendolyn Brooks

Of what value is it to indulge in destructive delights?

Sonnet

607

(1)

Billy Collins

How do you write a sonnet about a sonnet?

Buffalo Bill's

608

(1)

E.E. Cummings

What one thing happens to everyone, no matter how great they are?

To the Memory of Mr. Oldham

609

(1)

John Dryden

What can be said in a final goodbye?

Desert Places

610

(1)

Robert Frost

What is more frightening than the emptiness of outer space?

Nikki-Rosa

610

(1)

Nikki Giovanni

``Black love is Black wealth

Museum

611

(1)

Robert Hass

How does life go on despite many forces opposing it?

Virtue

612

(1)

George Herbert

What one thing gives lasting life?

Mantle

613

(1)

William Heyen

What happens to youthful energy and glory?

Swan and Shadow

614

(1)

John Hollander

Have you ever seen a poem shaped like a swimming swan?

God's Grandeur

615

(1)

Gerard Manley Hopkins

An expression of amazement and gratitude for the earth's beauty

Ode to a Nightingale

615

(3)

John Keats

The nightingale's beautiful song provides an insight into eternal beauty

The Sound of the Sea

618

(1)

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The sea is impelled by mysterious forces, as we are

In Bondage

618

(1)

Claude McKay

``Life is greater than the thousand wars / Men wage for it.''

When I Consider How My Light is Spent

619

(1)

John Milton

Human beings serve God best when they follow God's ways

Annabel Lee

620

(1)

Edgar Allan Poe

Ideal love, now lost, can still exist in memory

Ballad of Birmingham

621

(1)

Dudley Randall

A mother's hopes and plans for her child's safety are cruelly thwarted

The Waking

622

(1)

Theodore Roethke

What does it take to learn how to live?

Sonnet 73: That Time of Year Thou May'st in Me Behold

623

(1)

William Shakespeare

Despite encroaching age, living requires present commitment

Ode to the West Wind

624

(2)

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Today's thoughts create the future, just as spring follows winter

Ozymandias

626

(1)

Percy Bysshe Shelley

What has happened to the superpowers of past ages?

Women

627

(1)

May Swenson

Women should be pedestals to men, shouldn't they?

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

628

(1)

Dylan Thomas

What is, is, but we should not therefore be happy about accepting ill

Reapers

628

(1)

Jean Toomer

What is hurt by progress?

The Shape of History

629

(1)

Charles H. Webb

How can history be compared to the shape of a cone?

Poetics Against the Angel of Death

630

(1)

Phyllis Webb

Does the writing of poems preserve life despite inevitable death?

The Dance

631

(1)

William Carlos Williams

Brueghel's painting captures life in an active and joyous moment

The Solitary Reaper

632

(1)

William Wordsworth

An ordinary experience gives permanent thoughts of beauty

Writing about Form in Poetry

633

(2)

Demonstrative Student Essay: form and Meaning in George Herbert's ``Virtue,''

635

(2)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Poetic Form

637

(2)

Symbolism and Allusion: Windows to Wide Expanses of Meaning

639

(37)

Symbolism and Meanings

639

(2)

Snow

641

(2)

Virginia Scott

Tradition of place gives permanence to life

The Function of Symbolism in Poetry

643

(2)

Allusions and Meaning

645

(1)

Studying for Symbols and Allusions

646

(1)

Poems for Study

647

(29)

Dover Beach

648

(1)

Matthew Arnold

When you lose certainty, what remains for you?

Beach Glass

649

(1)

Amy Clampitt

Even the most beautiful objects come from sand and return to sand

The Poplar Field

650

(1)

William Cowper

Nothing stays the same; everything changes, and much is lost

In Just-

651

(1)

E.E. Cummings

In springtime, children dance, and play, and grow. Whee!

The Canonization

652

(2)

John Donne

How does spiritual love parallel human love?

Collage of Echoes

654

(1)

Isabella Gardner

What stays in the memory after a long life?

The Geese

655

(1)

Jorie Graham

Should life be measured by wars and politics, or by everyday actions?

In Time of ``The Breaking of Nations,''

656

(1)

Thomas Hardy

What continues even though kingdoms fade into nothingness?

The Collar

656

(2)

George Herbert

What does it mean to be dedicated to the service of God?

Tears

658

(1)

Josephine Jacobsen

Why are tears uniquely human, and what do they tell about us?

The Purse-Seine

659

(2)

Robinson Jeffers

The circle of the net is closing

La Belle Dame Sans Merci

661

(1)

John Keats

What happened when the knight met the lady in the meadows?

To His Coy Mistress

662

(2)

Andrew Marvell

Why should we not live our lives to the utmost now?

Wild Geese

664

(1)

Mary Oliver

The world goes on, and love goes on

A Noiseless Patient Spider

665

(1)

Walt Whitman

In measureless space, the soul, somewhere, needs to find a place

Year's End

665

(2)

Richard Wilbur

We want more time, more time, but is there ever to be more time?

Lines Written in Early Spring

667

(1)

William Wordsworth

A beautiful spot in the woods leads the speaker to moral thoughts

The Second Coming

668

(1)

William Butler Years

Harmful forces are being loosened in our modern world

Writing about Symbolism and Allusion in Poetry

669

(3)

Demonstrative Student Essay: Symbolism and Allusion in William Butler Yeats's ``The Second Coming,''

672

(2)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Symbolism and Allusion in Poetry

674

(2)

Myths: Systems of Symbolic Allusion in Poetry

676

(29)

Mythology as an Explanation of How Things Are

676

(4)

Mythology and Literature

680

(1)

Leda and the Swan

681

(2)

William Butler Yeats

We have the power to live, but do we have the knowledge?

Six Poems Related to the Myth of Odysseus

683

(1)

Poems for Study

683

(7)

Penelope's Song

684

(1)

Louise Gluck

Penelope is waiting for Odysseus' return, but is she pleased?

Odysseus

685

(1)

W.S. Merwin

When people wander, do they really ever have a sense of home?

Penelope

685

(1)

Dorothy Parker

Why should not Penelope be called brave?

The Suitor

686

(1)

Linda Pastan

This is the story that usually no one bothers to tell

Ulysses

687

(2)

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

What can we learn from all our journeys and experiences?

Odyssey: 20 Years Later

689

(1)

Peter Ulisse

What is it like to return home after a seemingly endless journey?

Six Poems Related to the Myth of Icarus

689

(1)

Poems For Study

690

(5)

Flight 063

690

(1)

Brian Aldiss

The challenge is there for us, if only we are brave enough to accept it

Musee des Beaux Arts

691

(1)

W.H. Auden

Even when someone suffers, life goes on

Icarus

692

(1)

Edward Field

When you've been up, can you bear being down?

Waiting for Icarus

693

(1)

Muriel Rukeyser

If you stay home and wait, life is not without frustrations

To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph

694

(1)

Anne Sexton

Rejoice when brave and planned efforts succeed

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

694

(1)

William Carlos Williams

In spring when there are many jobs to do, is there time to worry about someone else?

Three Poems Related to the Myth of the Phoenix

695

(1)

Poems for Study

695

(3)

Berceuse

696

(1)

Amy Clampitt

When something new arises, are things necessarily better than before?

Hunting the Phoenix

696

(1)

Denise Levertov

Is growth automatic, or must it be sought?

The Phoenix Again

697

(1)

May Sarton

Even over seas of grief, the phoenix will take flight

Two Poems Related to the Myth or Oedipus

698

(1)

Poems for Study

698

(7)

Myth

699

(1)

Muriel Rukeyser

Why was not Oedipus' answer to the Sphinx inclusive?

On the Way to Delphi

699

(1)

John Updike

In the actual physical locations of ancient Thebes, where Oedipus was king, everything is changed, or is it?

Writing about Myths in Poetry

700

(2)

Demonstrative Student Essay: Myth and Meaning in Dorothy Parker's ``Penelope,''

702

(2)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Myth in Poetry

704

(1)

Two Poetic Careers: Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost

705

(33)

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

705

(8)

Life and Work

705

(3)

Poetic Characteristics

708

(1)

Poetic Subjects

709

(2)

Bibliographic Sources

711

(1)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about the Poetry of Dickinson

712

(1)

Poems

713

(10)

Emily Dickinson

After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes (J 341, F 372)

714

How can ceremony salve a wounded heart?

Because I Could Not Stop for Death (J712, F479)

463

(251)

Is Death all invited or uninvited guest?

The Bustle in a House (J 1078, F 1108)

714

(1)

What actions follow a death in the family?

The Heart Is the Capital of the Mind (J 1354, F1381)

714

(1)

What controls the mind and also the world?

Cannot Live with You (J 640, F 706)

714

(2)

Why would life together be impossible?

I Died for Beauty-but Was Scarce (J 449, F 448)

716

(1)

Beauty and Truth are insignificant in the face of death

I Felt a Funeral in My Brain (J 280, F 340)

716

(1)

What is it like when knowledge ends?

I Heard a Fly Buzz -When I Died (J 465, F 491)

716

(1)

What continues after the loss of vision and life?

I Like to See It Lap the Miles (J 585, F 383)

717

(1)

The railroad train is like a huge but playful monster

I'm Nobody! Who Are you? (J 288, F 260)

717

(1)

What is the difference between Nobody and Somebody?

I Never Lost as Much But Twice (J 49, F 39)

718

(1)

I have been comforted twice, and I need comfort again

I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed (J 214, F 207)

718

(1)

Here's a riddle: Who or what can taste a liquor that was never brewed?

Much Madness Is Divinest Sense (J435, D620)

718

(1)

Who makes and controls the definitions of madness and sanity?

My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close (J 1732, F 1773)

719

(1)

How deep is the grief at parting with loved ones?

My Triumph Lasted Till the Drums (J 1227, F 1212)

719

(1)

Before doing battle, people should think of the horror of warfare

One Need Not Be a Chamber-To Be Haunted (J 670, F 407)

719

(1)

One can wall out danger, but not the danger within oneself

Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers (J 216, F 124)

720

(1)

When is one safe from natural and political change?

Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church (J 324, F 236)

720

(1)

Does one need to attend church to practice religion?

The Soul Selects Her Own Society (J 303, F 409)

721

(1)

What is the effect of limiting one's life and friends?

Success Is Counted Sweetest (J 67, F 112)

721

(1)

Who recognizes success better than the unsuccessful?

Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant (J 1129, F 1263)

721

(1)

People sometimes cannot bear the immediate light of truth

There's a Certain Slant of Light (J 258, F 320)

722

(1)

How can a certain slant of light disturb our souls?

This World Is Not Conclusion (J 501, F 373)

722

(1)

Why have believers borne contempt and crucifixion?

Wild Nights -Wild Nights! (J 249, F 269)

723

(1)

Do wild nights give moorage and peace to the spirit?

Robert Frost (1874-1963)

723

(6)

Life and Work

723

(3)

Poetic Characteristics

726

(1)

Poetic Subjects

727

(1)

Bibliographic Sources

728

(1)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about the Poetry of Robert Frost

728

(1)

Poems

729

(5)

Robert frost

Alphabetical List

Acquainted with the Night (1928)

734

Birches (1915)

730

(6)

Choose Something like a Star (1943)

736

A Considerable Speck (1942)

735

Desert Places (1936)

610

(124)

Design (1936)

734

Fire and Ice (1920)

733

Mending Wall (1914)

729

(4)

Misgiving (1923)

733

(1)

Nothing Gold Can Stay (1923)

733

'Out, Out-'(1916)

732

The Road Not Taken (1915)

731

(4)

The Silken Tent (1936)

735

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (1923)

464

(271)

The Strong Are Saying Nothing (1937)

735

Chronological List

Mending Wall (1914)

729

(1)

Is neighborliness created only by good fences?

Birches (1915)

730

(1)

How is life like a boy swinging from a birch tree to the ground?

The Road Not Taken (1915)

731

(1)

How important is choosing the road that has been less traveled?

'Out, Out-'(1916)

732

(1)

Shouldn't children play rather than work?

Fire and Ice (1920)

733

Which is more destructive, rage or indifference?

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (1923)

464

(269)

Why does the speaker tell about driving on after pausing to see the winter scene?

Misgiving (1923)

733

(1)

Falling autumn leaves suggest thoughts of continued life

Nothing Gold Can Stay (1923)

733

(1)

What happens to dawn, and to spring days?

Acquainted with the Night (1928)

734

This genial poet confesses to having a dark side

Desert Places (1936)

610

(124)

What is more frightening than the emptiness of outer space?

Design (1936)

734

(1)

Does design, or destiny, govern all life, from big to small?

The Silken Tent (1936)

735

(1)

How can the attractiveness of a loved one be explained?

Strong Are Saying Nothing (1937)

735

(1)

Does seasonal growth suggest ``little or much'' about eternity?

A Considerable Speck (1942)

735

(1)

What does the speaker feel glad about seeing ``on any sheet'' of paper?

Choose Something like a Star (1943)

736

(2)

What can keep people steady even though their ideas are different?

Eighty-Six Poems for Additional Study and Enjoyment

738

(63)

Healing Prayer from the Beautyway Chant

740

(1)

Anonymous (Navajo)

What is the hope of this prayer?

Variation on the Word Sleep

741

(1)

Margaret Atwood

What is the hope of one in deepest love?

Ka 'Ba

741

(1)

Imamu Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones)

How can Blacks create a new correspondence with themselves?

Another Descent

742

(1)

Wendell Berry

How does the melting snow suggest a return to our roots?

Women

742

(1)

Louise Bogan

Is it the role of women to be provident?

A Black Man Talks of Reaping

743

(1)

Arna Bontemps

Why should a Black man not receive the fruits of his toil?

Sonnets from the Portuguese, No. 43: How Do I Love Thee?

743

(1)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Is it possible to count the ways in which one loves?

Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister

744

(2)

Robert Browning

Does this monk sound like a monk?

The killers that run...'

746

(1)

Leonard Cohen

Is there ally possible good end to political agitation?

Days

746

(1)

Billy Collins

Each day is precious, though also precarious

From A Letter to America on a Visit to Sussex, Spring 1942

747

(1)

Frances Cornford

While men train for battle, larks sing

Do Not Weep, Maiden, for War Is Kind

748

(1)

Stephen Crane

The rationalization for war cannot overbalance the horror of war

if there are any heavens

748

(1)

E.E. Cummings

The speaker's mother and father deserve any and all heavens

The Lifeguard

749

(1)

James Dickey

The boy drowns, and guilt overwhelms the unsuccessful lifeguard

The Good Morrow

750

(1)

John Donne

This clever poem exalts love and lovemaking

Holy Sonnet 10: Death Be Not Proud

751

(1)

John Donne

How does eternal life put down death?

Sympathy

751

(1)

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Why does the caged bird sing?

The Negro

752

(1)

James Emanuel

How can Negroes achieve their own identities?

Like God

752

(2)

Lynn Emanuel

Does God script our lives the way a story writer creates fiction?

The Beauty of the Trees

754

(1)

Chief Dan George

What is it that makes the speaker's heart soar?

Woman

754

(1)

Nikki Giovanni

Can a woman be anyone else than a woman?

Sonnet Ending with a film Subtitle

755

(1)

Marilyn Hacker

How does a woman steel herself against betrayal?

Little Cosmic Dust Poem

755

(1)

John Haines

Love is undeniably the center of the universe

Snapshot of Hue

756

(1)

Daniel Halpern

Once the debris of war is gone, the horror is only a dim memory

Leaves

756

(1)

H.M. (SAM) Hamod

The son follows in the footsteps of his Arabic father

She's Free!

757

(1)

Frances E.W. Harper

In this pre-Civil War poem, a former slave rejoices in gaining freedom

Called

758

(1)

Michael S. Harper

It is dangerous for domesticated animals to break free

Spring Rain

759

(1)

Robert Hass

Spring rain is part of a natural cycle of planting and growth

Those Winter Sundays

759

(1)

Robert Hayden

A father does many loving duties that are unknown to his children

The Hair: Jacob Korman's Story

760

(1)

William Heyen

Polish Jews resisted fiercely before being forced to go to the Nazi death Camp

Advice to Young Ladies

760

(1)

A.D. Hope

How difficult has it been for women, historically, to assert themselves?

Pied Beauty

761

(1)

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Praise God for all of Nature's varied beauty

Negro

762

(1)

Langston Hughes

What are just a few of the outrages experienced by Blacks?

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

762

(1)

Langston Hughes

Blacks have worked as slaves along all the famous rivers of history

The Answer

763

(1)

Robinson Jeffers

Love should preserve and save all creation, not just the human race

Ode on a Grecian Urn

763

(2)

John Keats

Beauty and truth alone remain though generations pass from the earth

Rhine Boat Trip

765

(1)

Irving Layton

What terrible memory overshadows the beauty of German traditions?

A Final Thing

765

(1)

Li-Young Lee

How miraculous and transforming is the birth of a child?

In Computers

766

(1)

Alan P. Lightman

If all experience is saved in computers, will anything be lost?

The Choosing

767

(1)

Liz Lochhead

What choices made in childhood make such differences in adulthood?

Every Traveler Has One Vermont Poem

768

(1)

Audre Lorde

Even in Arcadia there is ugliness

Patterns

769

(2)

Amy Lowell

A woman learns that her fiance has been killed in overseas battle

The White City

771

(1)

Claude McKay

What things about the ``white city'' make the speaker hate?

Listen

772

(1)

W.S. Merwin

Despite everything bad, there is cause for thanks

The Bear

772

(1)

Scott Momaday

An aged bear represents the force and mystery of Nature

Life Cycle of Common Man

773

(1)

Howard Nemerov

A life of living accumulates a good deal of physical and cultural detritis

wahbegan

774

(1)

Jim Northrup

Not all casualties of war are named on tombstones

Ghosts

775

(1)

Mary Oliver

As Americans won the West, they created vast fields of death

Marks

776

(1)

Linda Pastan

How is life as a mother and wife comparable to a student's life?

The Secretary Chant

777

(1)

Marge Piercy

How does business life affect womanhood?

Last Words

777

(1)

Sylvia Plath

How is the speaker's entombment like that of an Egyptian mummy?

Mirror

778

(1)

Sylvia Plath

Over time, what does the mirror itself see?

Bells for John Whiteside's Daughter

779

(1)

John Crowe Ransom

Why did death take away the life in so vigorous a little body?

Assailant

779

(1)

John Raven

The speaker describes a surprising and unusual assailant

rite on: white america

779

(1)

Sonia Sanchez

Because of the treatment of Blacks, America is still a pioneer land

Chicago

780

(1)

Carl Sandburg

Why does this city sing and laugh so proudly?

Dreamers

781

(1)

Siegfried Sassoon

Even when the guns begin, what do soldiers really think about?

The Paperweight

781

(1)

Gjertrud Schnackenberg

A paperweight house in falling snow tells us what?

I Have a Rendezvous with Death

782

(1)

Alan Seeger

What is this rendezvous, and what rendezvous would be better?

My Mother's Face

783

(1)

Brenda Serotte

In the mirror, whom does the speaker think she sees?

Fear No More the Heat o' the Sun

783

(1)

William Shakespeare

How does death mark an end of fear and care?

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

784

(1)

William Shakespeare

In the midst of despair and self-doubt, what can lift up the soul?

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

784

(1)

William Shakespeare

How can the soul outlast death itself?

Auto Wreck

784

(1)

Karl Shapiro

What is the meaning and where is the purpose in accidental death?

Where Mountain Lion Lay Down with Deer

785

(1)

Leslie Marmon Silko

How long has it been since the earth itself created lift?

Bluejays

786

(1)

Dave Smith

In danger, the birds stay in the trees, cautious hut also interested

Not Waving But Drowning

787

(1)

Stevie Smith

Can a friendly wave be distinguished from a gesture for help?

Oranges

787

(1)

Gary Soto

On a first date, a boy benefits from a clerk's understanding

Traveling Through the Dark

788

(1)

William Stafford

To save others, should some be sacrificed?

Burying an Animal on the Way to New York

789

(1)

Gerald Stern

Hurrying cars leave the ghosts of dead animals in their wake

The Emperor of Ice-Cream

789

(1)

Wallace Stevens

The empire of ice cream melts, but it gives pleasure while it exists

Question

790

(1)

May Swenson

Where do we go without our bodies to carry us?

The Blue Booby

790

(1)

James Tate

How little, or how much, is needed by males to court females?

Perfection Wasted

791

(1)

John Up Dike

What happens when your own brand of magic ceases forever?

The Boxes

792

(1)

Shelly Wagner

A mother thinks of the boxes with which her son might have played

Revolutionary Petunias

793

(1)

Alice Walker

What is the difference between vengeance and justice?

Go, Lovely Rose

793

(1)

Edmund Waller

What is the common fate of all things rare?

Song of Napalm

794

(1)

Bruce Weigl

Is there any way to deny the agony of those lost in war?

On Being Brought from Africa to America

795

(1)

Phillis Wheatley

This eighteenth-century poem tells us that Blacks, too, may be angels

Full of Life Now

795

(1)

Walt Whitman

Be not too certain but I am now with you

Dirge for Two Veterans

796

(1)

Walt Whitman

At what point during war can human beings be reconciled?

April 5, 1974

797

(1)

Richard Wilbur

From the soft ground will come flowers

The Red Wheelbarrow

797

(1)

William Carlos Williams

The world consists of things and beings

The Wild Swans at Coole

797

(1)

William Butler Yeats

Where will the wild swans go when I am no longer here to see them?

The Day Zimmer Lost Religion

798

(3)

Paul Zimmer

Can the threat of punishment make us religious?

Reading and Writing about Drama

The Dramatic Vision: An Overview

801

(49)

Drama as Literature

801

(8)

Performance: The Unique Aspect of Drama

809

(3)

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

812

(3)

The Visit to the Sepulchre (Visitatio Sepulchri)

815

(4)

Anonymous

How do the three Marys respond to what the Angel tells them?

Reading Plays

819

(1)

Plays For Study

820

(30)

The More the Merrier

820

(11)

Stanley Kauffmann

Do problems stop, or start, once people say ``Yes'' to each other?

Tea Party

831

(4)

Betty Keller

How can people be made interested in coming into the house for a visit?

Before Breakfast

835

(7)

Eugene O'Neill

What happens in the face of anger, alienation, and lost hope?

Writing about the Elements of Drama

842

(4)

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

846

(3)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about the Elements of Drama

849

(1)

The Tragic Vision: Affirmation Through Loss

850

(177)

The Origins of Tragedy

851

(2)

The Ancient Competitions in Tragedy

853

(2)

Aristotle and the Nature of Tragedy

855

(5)

Irony in Tragedy

860

(2)

The Ancient Athenian Audience and Theater

862

(2)

Ancient Greek Tragic Actors and Their Costumes

864

(1)

Performance and the Formal Organization of Greek Tragedy

865

(2)

Plays for Study

867

(160)

Oedipus the King

867

(42)

Sophocles

Can anyone, even a great king, evade Destiny or Fate?

Renaissance Drama and Shakespeare's Theater

909

(5)

Hamlet

914

(104)

William Shakespeare

In this, the greatest play in English literature, the harmfulness of an initial act of evil affects the highest and most influential people in the kingdom of Denmark

Writing about Tragedy

1018

(1)

An Essay about a Problem

1019

(3)

Demonstrative Student Essay: The Problem of Hamlet's Apparent Delay

1022

(3)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Tragedy

1025

(2)

The Comic Vision: Restoring the Balance

1027

(100)

The Origins of Comedy

1027

(3)

Comedy from Roman Times to the Renaissance

1030

(1)

The Patterns, Characters, and Language of Comedy

1031

(2)

Types of Comedy

1033

(3)

Plays for Study

1036

(91)

A Midsummer Night's Dream

1036

(57)

William Shakespeare

The problems faced by lovers are resolved through the magic of the natural world, not the legal rules of government and custom

Comedy from Shakespeare's Day to the Present

1093

(2)

The Bear

1095

(10)

Anton Chekhov

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

Am I Blue

1105

(16)

Beth Henley

Two souls in the process of getting lost find each other and regain much of what they were losing

Writing about Comedy

1121

(2)

Demonstrative Student Essay: Setting as Symbol and Comic Structure in A Midsummer Night's Dream

1123

(2)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Comedy

1125

(2)

Three Plays for Additional Study and Enjoyment

1127

(152)

Henrik Ibsen, A Dollhouse

1127

(1)

Ibsen's Life and Early Work

1128

(1)

Ibsen's Major Prose Plays

1128

(1)

A Dollhouse: Ibsen's Best-Known Realistic Problem Play

1129

(2)

A Dollhouse (Et Dukkehjem)

1131

(51)

Henrik Ibsen

In a seemingly perfect household, both Nora and then Torvald discover that all is not and was not well in their lives

Langston Hughes, Mulatto

1182

(1)

Hughes and the African-American Theater after 1920

1183

(1)

Hughes's Career as a Dramatist

1183

(1)

Mulatto and the Reality of the Southern Black Experience

1184

(1)

Mulatto

1185

(24)

Langston Hughes

Life on a Georgia plantation in the 1930s begins to shake, and then it crumbles

Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman

1209

(1)

Miller's Career in the Post-World War II Years

1209

(1)

Death of a Salesman and the Well-Made Play

1209

(1)

Death of a Salesman: Tragedy, Symbolism, and Broken Dreams

1210

(2)

Death of a Salesman

1212

(67)

Arthur Miller

Willie Loman, the salesman, after many years of responbilities, hard work, failure, and unfulfilled hopes, still clings to his dreams of success

Special Writing Topics about Literature

1279

(70)

Writing and Documenting the Research Essay

1281

(28)

Selecting a Topic

1281

(2)

Setting up a Bibliography

1283

(1)

Online Library Services

1284

(2)

Taking Notes and Paraphrasing Material

1286

(9)

Documenting Your Work

1295

(4)

Strategies for Organizing Ideas in Your Research Essay

1299

(2)

Demonstrative Student Research & say: The Ghost in Hamlet

1301

(8)

Critical Approaches Important in the Study of Literature

1309

(15)

Moral/Intellectual

1310

(1)

Topical/Historical

1311

(1)

Critical/Formalist

1312

(2)

Structuralist

1314

(1)

Feminist

1315

(1)

Economic Determinist/Marxist

1316

(1)

Psychological/ Psychoanalytic

1317

(2)

Archetypal/Symbolic/Mythic

1319

(1)

Deconstructionist

1320

(1)

Reader-Response

1321

(3)

Taking Examinations on Literature

1324

(11)

Answer the Questions That Are Asked

1324

(2)

Systematic Preparation

1326

(3)

Two Basic Types of Questions about Literature

1329

(6)

Comparison-Contrast and Extended Comparison-Contrast: Learning By Seeing Literary Works Together

1335

(14)

Guidelines for the Comparison-Contrast Method

1336

(3)

The Extended Comparison-Contrast Essay

1339

(1)

Writing a Comparison Contrast Essay

1340

(1)

Demonstrative Student Essay (Two Works): The Treatment of Responses to War in Amy Lowell's ``Patterns'' and Wilfred Owen's ``Anthem for Doomed Youth,''

1341

(3)

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

1344

(4)

Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Comparison and Contrast

1348

(1)

Appendix I. MLA Recommendations for Documenting Electronic Sources

1349

(4)

Appendix II. Brief Biographies of the Poets in Part II