Writing Essays About Literature
ISBN: 9781428290419 | 1428290419
Edition: 8thFormat: Paperback
Publisher: Cengage Learning
Pub. Date: 1/25/2010
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Widely used in introductory literature courses as a style guide or as a supplement to anthologies, this book provides valuable guidelines for interpreting literature and writing essays. It includes full-length selections as well as essays.
| Preface | |
| Acknowledgments | |
| Introduction | |
| Interpreting Literature | |
| Strategies for Interpreting Literature | |
| Why Do People Read Literature? | |
| What Is Meaning? | |
| What Is Interpretation? | |
| How Do We Interpret? | |
| Checklist for Interpreting Literature | |
| Work Cited | |
| What is... MORE | |
| Literature Is Language | |
| Literature Is Fictional | |
| Walt Whitman, Cavalry Crossing a Ford | |
| Literature Is True | |
| Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, My Friend, the Things that Do Attain | |
| Literature Is Aesthetic | |
| Literature Is Intertextual | |
| Christopher Marlowe, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love | |
| Sir Walter Raleigh, The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd | |
| Checklist for the Elements of Literature | |
| Works Cited | |
| Interpreting Fiction | |
| The Elements of Fiction | |
| Theme | |
| Point of View | |
| Plot | |
| Characterization | |
| Setting | |
| Irony | |
| Symbolism | |
| Other Elements | |
| Checklist for Interpreting Fiction | |
| Works Cited | |
| Interpreting Drama | |
| The Nature of Drama | |
| The Elements of Drama | |
| Length | |
| Audience | |
| Plot | |
| Characterization | |
| Setting | |
| Theme. | |
| Irony | |
| Subgenres | |
| Checklist for Interpreting Drama | |
| Works Cited and Consulted | |
| Interpreting Poetry | |
| What Is Poetry? | |
| Emily Bront?, The Night Is Darkening Round Me | |
| Sensein Poetry: Elements that Convey Meaning | |
| Getting the Facts Straight (Reading a Poem the First Time) | |
| Diction | |
| "A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal." | |
| Syntax | |
| "Song for a Lyre." | |
| Characterization, Point of View, Plot, and Setting | |
| "In the Nursing Home." | |
| "Dover Beach." | |
| "My Last Duchess." | |
| Imagery: Descriptive Language | |
| Imagery: Figurative Language | |
| "Love Is a Sickness." | |
| "There Is a Garden in Her Face." | |
| Symbolism | |
| "The Sick Rose." | |
| The Sound of Poetry: Musical Elements | |
| Rhythm | |
| "Sonnet 129." | |
| Word Sounds | |
| "To Helen." | |
| Structure: Devices that Organize | |
| Lines | |
| Enjambment | |
| Blank Verse | |
| Stanza | |
| Rhyme Scheme | |
| Fixed and Nonce Forms | |
| The Sonnet | |
| "Sonnet 116." | |
| "I, Being Born a Woman." | |
| The Ballad | |
| "The Daemon Lover." | |
| Common Meter | |
| "Because I Could Not Stop for Death." | |
| The Haiku | |
| Matsuo Basho, haiku | |
| Taniguchi Buson, haiku | |
| Kobayashi Issa, haiku | |
| Free Verse | |
| Psalm 23 | |
| "Xenia." | |
| "Road to the Yoshiwara." | |
| "Vagabonds." | |
| The Villanelle | |
| "One Art." | |
| Sight: The Visual Qualities of Poetry | |
| Visual Poetry | |
| George Herbert, Easter Wings | |
| Modern Poetry. e. e. cummings, "l(a." | |
| "We Real Cool." | |
| Checklist for Interpreting Poetry | |
| Works Cited | |
| Specialized Approaches to Interpreting Literature | |
| Literary Criticism | |
| Cites of Meaning | |
| Literary Theory | |
| The Work | |
| Anglo-American Criticism | |
| Structuralism | |
| Archetypal Criticism | |
| Poststructuralism | |
| Resources | |
| Applications | |
| The Author | |
| Historical and Biographical Criticism | |
| New Historicist | |
| Criticism | |
| Resources | |
| Applications | |
| The Reader | |
| European Reader-Response Criticism | |
| American Reader-Response Criticism | |
| Resources | |
| Applications | |
| All of Reality | |
| Psychological Criticism | |
| Resources | |
| Marxist Criticism | |
| Resources | |
| Feminist and Gender Criticism | |
| Resources | |
| Applications | |
| Works | |
| Cited | |
| Writing About Literature | |
| Writing about Literature | |
| Why Write about Literature? | |
| How Can You Write about Literature? | |
| The Writing Process First Stage: Inventing | |
| Second Stage: Drafting | |
| Third Stage: Revising | |
| Fourth Stage: Editing and Publishing | |
| Choosing Topics | |
| Preliminary Steps | |
| Be an Active Reader | |
| Identify Your Audience | |
| Raise Questions about the Work | |
| Narrow Your Topic | |
| Search Strategies | |
| Focus on the Work's Conventions (Its Formal Qualities) | |
| Use Topoi (Traditional Patterns of Thinking) | |
| Respond to Comments by Critics | |
| Draw from Your Own Knowledge | |
| Talking and Writing Strategies | |
| Talk Out Loud | |
| Make Outlines | |
| Freewrite | |
| Brainstorm | |
| Create Graphic Organizers | |
| Make Notes | |
| Keep a Journal | |
| Sample Essay about Literature | |
| "Paradise Rejected in Homer's Odyssey." | |
| Comments on the Essay | |
| Checklist for Choosing Topics Works Cited | |
| Drafting the Essay | |
| The Argumentative Nature of Interpretive Essays | |
| The Structure of Essays about Literature | |
| The Argumentative Structure | |
| The Rhetorical Structure | |
| Guidelines for Writing First Drafts | |
| Keep in Mind the Needs of Your Audience | |
| Avoid Extreme Subjectivity (Overuse of "I") | |
| Draw Up a Rough Outline | |
| Begin Writing | |
| Use Sound Deductive Reasoning | |
| Support Key Claims with Facts | |
| Use Sound Inductive Reasoning | |
| Define Key Terms | |
| Organize Evidence According to a Coherent Plan | |
| Make Comparisons Complete and Easy to Follow | |
| Checklist for Drafting the Essay | |
| Works Cited | |
| Revising and Editing | |
| Revise Throughout the Writing Process | |
| Revise for the Final Draft | |
| Write a Clear and Readable Prose Style | |
| Have Other People Read and Respond to Your Draft | |
| Edit the Final Draft | |
| Rules of Usage | |
| Citations of Sources | |
| Quotations | |
| Other Rules of Usage Related to Essays about Literature | |
| Physical Format | |
| Sample Essay in Two Drafts | |
| Early Draft | |
| Comments on the Early Draft | |
| Final Draft | |
| "A Comparison of Mary and Warren in Robert Frost's 'The Death of the Hired Man'" | |
| Comments on the Final Draft | |
| Checklist for Revising and Editing | |
| Works Cited | |
| Documentation and Research | |
| Primary Sources | |
| Secondary Sources | |
| Research Papers and the Use of Secondary Sources | |
| How to Find Information and Opinions about Literature | |
| Library Catalogs and Stacks | |
| Library Reference Area | |
| Library Periodicals Area | |
| Information and Opinion on the Web | |
| Evaluating the Quality of Internet Sites | |
| Giving Credit to Sources | |
| Why Should You Give Credit? | |
| When Should You Give Credit? | |
| Where Should You Give Credit? | |
| Correct Documentary Form | |
| Guidelines for Parenthetical Citations | |
| Guidelines for Using Footnotes and Endnotes | |
| Guidelines and Form for the Works Cited List: General Rules | |
| Sample Entries for Non-periodical Print Materials | |
| Sample Entry for Periodical Publications in Print | |
| Sample Entries for Web Publications | |
| Sample Entries for Other Nonprint Sources | |
| Frequently Used Abbreviations | |
| Sample Research Paper | |
| "The Monster's Education in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." | |
| Comments on the Research Paper | |
| Checklist for Documentation and Research | |
| Taking Essay Tests | |
| Guidelines for Taking Essay Tests | |
| Sample Test Essays | |
| Essay 1 (A Mediocre Essay) | |
| Comments on Essay 1 | |
| Essay 2 (A Good Essay) | |
| Comments on Essay 2 | |
| Essay 3 (A Very Good Essay) | |
| Comments on Essay 3 | |
| Checklist for Taking Essay Tests | |
| Sample Essays | |
| Essay on a Poem | |
| "Point of View in Edwin Arlington Robinson's 'Richard Cory'." | |
| Essay on a Short Story | |
| "Montresor's Fate in Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Cask of Amontillado'." | |
| Essay on a Play | |
| "The Meaning of Physical Objects in Susan Glaspell's Trifles." | |
| Essay on a Novel | |
| "First Love, Lost Love in George Eliot's Adam Bede." | |
| Appendix | |
| Poems | |
| "Richard Cory" (1897) | |
| "The Death of the Hired Man" (1914) | |
| Short Stories | |
| "Hills Like White Elephants" (1927) | |
| "Yours" (1983) | |
| "The Cask of Amontillado" (1847) | |
| Play | |
| Susan Glaspell, Trifles (1916) | |
| Glossary | |
| Credits | |
| Index of Concepts and Terms | |
| Index of Critics, Authors, and Works | |
| Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved. |
