The perfect alternative to lengthy literature anthologies, this brief, affordable collection of fiction, poetry, and drama provides a concise but complete introduction to the study of literature, focusing almost exclusively on selections with brief discussion of writing about fiction, poetry, and drama. "Writing About Fiction, Poetry, and Drama" sections offer a brief overview of organizational strategies, research methods, style and MLA style citation. "The Telling of the Tale" is a discussion of the oral roots of short fiction. "The Short Story Genre" an account of the development of the modern short story. "Reading and Analyzing Short Fiction" a presentation of John Cheever's brief story, "Reunion," followed by a discussion of how the elements of fiction-plot, characterization, point of view, theme, setting, style-relate to this and other stories in the book. "An Anecdote: Where Poetry Starts" is a narrative account of a campus poetry reading with a discussion of poetry as oral performance art. "A Brief Note: Literary History and Poetic Conventions" a discussion of how schools of poetry have dominated during certain historical periods. Index of critical terms provides a cross-referenced list of terms covered. For anyone interested in literature.