Literature for Composition

NOTE: Brief and Comprehensive Tables of Contents follow.

BRIEF CONTENTS

I. THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT LITERATURE
1. How to Write an Effective Essay about Literature: A Crash Course
2. What is Critical Thinking about Literature? A Crash Course
3. The Writer as Reader
4. The Reader as Writer
5. The Pleasures of Reading, Writing and Thinking about Literature

II. WRITING ARGUMENTS ABOUT LITERATURE
6. Close Reading: Paraphrase, Summary, and Explication
7. Analysis: Inquiry, Interpretation and Argument
8. Pushing Analysis Further: Re-Interpreting and Revision
9. Comparison and Synthesis
10. Research: Writing with Sources

III. ANALYZING LITERARY FORMS AND ELEMENTS
11. Reading and Writing about Essays
12. Reading and Writing about Stories
13. Reading and Writing about Graphic Fiction
14. Reading and Writing about Plays
15. Reading and Writing about Poems

IV. ENJOYING LITERARY THEMES: A THEMATIC ANTHOLOGY
16. The World Around Us
17. Technology and Human Identity
18. Love and Hate, Men and Women
19. Innocence and Experience
20. All in a Day's Work
21. American Dreams and Nightmares
22. Law and Disorder
23. Journeys

Appendix A: Writing About Literature: An Overview of Critical Strategies
Appendix B: Remarks about Manuscript Form
Literary Credits
Photo Credits
Index of Authors, Titles, and First Lines
Index of Terms


COMPREHENSIVE CONTENTS

Contents by Genre

Preface to Instructors




I: THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT LITERATURE

1: How to Write an Effective Essay about Literature: A Crash Course

The Basic Strategy

Reading Closely: Approaching a First Draft

Checklist: Generating Ideas for a Draft

Writing and Revising: Achieving a Readable Draft

Checklist: Writing and Revising a Draft

Revising: Working with Peer Review

Preparing the Final Draft



2: What is Critical Thinking about Literature?: A Crash Course

The Basic Strategy

What Is Critical Thinking?

How Do We Engage in Critical Thinking?

Close Reading

Checklist: Close Reading

Analysis: Inquiry, Interpretation, Argument

Checklist: Inquiry and Question-Asking

Checklist: Interpretation

Checklist: Argument

Comparison and Synthesis

Checklist: Comparison and Synthesis

Revision and Self-Awareness

Standing Back: Kinds of Writing

Non-Analytic vs. Analytic Writing



3: The Writer as Reader

Reading and Responding

KATE CHOPIN * Ripe Figs

Reading as Re-creation

Reading for Understanding: Collecting Evidence and Making Reasonable Inferences

Reading with Pen in Hand: Close Reading and Annotation

Sample Student Work: Annotation

Reading for Response: Recording First Reactions

Sample Student Work: Response Writing

Reading for Inquiry: Ask Questions and Brainstorm Ideas

Sample Student Work: Inquiry Notes

Reading in Context: Identifying Your Audience and Purpose

From Reading to Writing: Developing an Analytical Essay with an Argumentative Thesis

Sample Student Analytical Essay: "Images of Ripening in Kate Chopin's 'Ripe Figs'"

The Analytical Essay: Argument and Structure Analyzed

The Writing Process: From First Responses to Final Essay

Other Possibilities for Writing

From Reading to Writing: Moving from Brainstorming to an Analytical Essay

BRUCE HOLLAND ROGERS * Three Soldiers

The Writing Process: From Response Writing to Final Essay

Sample Student Work: Response Writing

Sample Student Analytical Essay: "Thinking about Three Soldiers Thinking"

The Analytical Essay: The Development of Ideas Analyzed

From Reading to Writing: Moving from a Preliminary Outline to an Analytical Essay

RAY BRADBURY * August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains

The Writing Process: From Outlining to Final Essay

Sample Student Work: Outlining

Sample Student Analytical Essay: "The Lesson of 'August 2026'"



Your Turn: Additional Stories for Analysis

MICHELE SERROS * Senior Picture Day

HARUKI MURAKAMI * On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning

JOHN UPDIKE * A & P



4: The Reader as Writer

Developing Ideas through Close Reading and Inquiry

Getting Ideas

Annotating a Text

KATE CHOPIN * The Story of an Hour

Brainstorming Ideas

Focused Freewriting

Sample Student Work: Freewriting

Listing

Sample Student Work: Listing

Asking Questions

Sample Student Work: Inquiry Notes

Keeping a Journal

Sample Student Work: Journal-writing

Developing a Thesis through Critical Thinking

Arguing with Yourself

Arguing a Thesis

Checklist: Thesis Sentence

From Reading to Writing to Revising: Drafting an Argument in an Analytical Essay

Sample Preliminary Draft of Student's Analytical Essay: "Ironies in an Hour"

Revising an Argument

Outlining an Argument

Soliciting Peer Review, Thinking about Counterarguments

From Reading to Writing to Revising: Finalizing an Analytical Essay

Sample Final Draft of a Student's Analytical Essay: "Ironies of Life in Kate Chopin's 'The Story of an Hour'"

The Analytical Essay: The Final Draft Analyzed

From Reading to Writing to Revising: Finalizing an Analytical Essay

KATE CHOPIN * Desiree's Baby

Sample Student Analytical Essay: "Race and Identity in 'Desiree's Baby'"

From Reading to Writing to Revising: Drafting a Comparison Essay

KATE CHOPIN * The Storm

Sample Student Work: Comparison Notes

Sample Student Comparison Essay: "Two New Women"

The Comparison Essay: Organization Analyzed

Your Turn: Additional Stories for Analysis

DAGOBERTO GILB * Love in L.A.

ELIZABETH TALLENT * No One's a Mystery

JUNOT DIAZ * How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie

T. CORAGHESSAN BOYLE * Greasy Lake

MARY ANNE HOOD * How Far She Went



5: The Pleasures of Reading, Writing and Thinking about Literature

The Pleasures of Literature

ALLEN WOODMAN * Wallet

The Pleasures of Analyzing the Texts that Surround Us

The Pleasures of Authoring Texts

The Pleasures of Interacting with Texts

Interacting with Fiction: Literature as Connection

JAMAICA KINCAID * Girl

Sample Student Personal Response Essay: "The Narrator in Jamaica Kincaid's 'Girl': Questioning the Power of Voice"

Interacting with Graphic Fiction: Literature as (Making and Breaking) Rules

LYNDA BARRY * Before You Write

Interacting with Poetry: Literature as Language

JULIA BIRD * 14: a txt msg pom.

Interacting with Drama: Literature as Performance

OSCAR WILDE* excerpt from The Importance of Being Ernest

Interacting with Essays: Literature as Discovery

ANNA LISA RAYA * It's Hard Enough Being Me



Your Turn: Additional Stories, Poems, Plays and Essays for Pleasurable Analysis

Poems

ALBERTO RIOS * Nani

JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA * Green Chili

HELEN CHASIN * The Word Plum

WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS * This Is Just to Say

GARY SOTO * Oranges

SARAH N. CLEGHORN * The Golf Links

STEVIE SMITH * Not Waving but Drowning

Stories

MARGARET ATWOOD * Happy Endings

AMBROSE BIERCE * An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Play

MICHAEL GOLAMCO * The Heartbreaker

Essay

GEORGE SAUNDERS Commencement Speech on Kindness



II: WRITING ARGUMENTS ABOUT LITERATURE

6 Close Reading: Paraphrase, Summary, and

Explication



What Is Literature?

Literature and Form

Form and Meaning

ROBERT FROST * The Span of Life

Close Reading: Reading in Slow Motion

Exploring a Poem and Its Meaning

LANGSTON HUGHES * Harlem

Paraphrase

Sample Student Work: Paraphrase

Summary

Sample Student Work: Summary

Explication

Working Toward an Explication

Sample Student Work: Annotation

Sample Student Work: Journal Entries

Sample Student Work: Listing

Sample Student Explication Essay: "Langston Hughes's 'Harlem'"

Explication as Argument

CATHY SONG * Stamp Collecting

Sample Student Argumentative Explication Essay: "Giving Stamps Personality in 'Stamp Collecting'"

Checklist: Drafting an Explication



Your Turn: Additional Poems for Explication

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE * Sonnet 73

JOHN DONNE * Holy Sonnet XIV

EMILY BRONT? * Spellbound

LI-YOUNG LEE * I Ask My Mother to Sing

RANDALL JARRELL * The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner



7 Analysis: Inquiry, Interpretation and Argument

Analysis

Understanding Analysis as a Process of Inquiry, Interpretation, Argument

Analyzing a Story from the Hebrew Bible: The Judgment of Solomon

The Judgment of Solomon

Developing an Analysis of the Story

Opening Up Additional Ways to Analyze the Story

Analyzing a Story from the New Testament: The Parable of the Prodigal Son

The Parable of the Prodigal Son

Asking Questions that Trigger an Analysis of the Story

From Inquiry to Interpretation to Argument: Developing an Analytical Paper

ERNEST HEMINGWAY * Cat in the Rain

Close Reading

Sample Student Work: Annotations

Inquiry Questions

Sample Student Work: Inquiry Notes

Interpretation Brainstorming

Sample Student Work: Journal Writing

The Argument-Centered Paper

Sample Student Argument Paper: "Hemingway's American Wife"

From Inquiry to an Analytical Paper: A Second Example

Sample Student Work: Inquiry Notes

Sample Student Work: Journal Writing

JAMES JOYCE * Araby

Sample Student Analytical Essay: "'Araby's' Everyday and Imagined Setting"

From Inquiry to Interpretation to Argument: Maintaining an Interpretation in an Analytical Paper

APHRA BEHN * Song: Love Armed

Maintaining Interpretive Interest

Sample Student Work: Inquiry Notes

Sample Student Work: Journal Writing

Sample Student Essay: "The Double Nature of Love"

Checklist: Editing a Draft



Your Turn: Additional Short Stories and Poems for Analysis

EDGAR ALLAN POE * The Cask of Amontillado

LESLIE MARMON SILKO * The Man to Send Rain Clouds

BILLY COLLINS * Introduction to Poetry

ROBERT FROST * The Road Not Taken

JOHN KEATS * Ode on a Grecian Urn

MARTIN ESPADA * Bully



8 Pushing Analysis Further: Re-Interpreting and

Revision

Interpretation and Meaning

Is the Author's Intention a Guide to Meaning?

What Characterizes a Sound Interpretation?

Interpreting Pat Mora's "Immigrants"

PAT MORA * Immigrants

Checklist: Writing an Interpretation

Strategy #1: Pushing Analysis by Rethinking First Responses

JEFFREY WHITMORE * Bedtime Story

Sample Student Work: Response Writing Revisited

DOUGLAS L. HASKINS * Hide and Seek

Sample Student Work: Response Writing Revisited

MARK PLANTS * Equal Rites

Sample Student Work: Response Writing Revisited

Strategy #2: Pushing Analysis by Exploring Literary Form

LANGSTON HUGHES * Mother to Son

Sample Student Work: Annotation Exploring Form

Sample Student Work: Inquiry Notes Exploring Form

Sample Student Analytical Essay: "Accepting the Challenge of a Difficult Climb in Langston Hughes' 'Mother to Son'"

Strategy #3: Pushing Analysis by Emphasizing Concepts and Insights

ROBERT FROST * Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Sample Student Analytical Essay: "Stopping by Woods-and Going On"

Analyzing the Analytical Essay's Development of a Conceptual Interpretation

Sample Student Analytical Essay: "?'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' as a Short Story"

Strategy #4: Pushing Analysis Through Revision

Revising for Ideas vs. Mechanics

Revising Using Instructor Feedback, Peer Feedback, and Self-Critique

Examining a Preliminary Draft with Revision in Mind

HA JIN * Saboteur

Sample Student Preliminary Draft of an Analytical Essay: "Individual and Social Morals in Ha

Jin's 'Saboteur'"

Developing a Revision Strategy: Thesis, Ideas, Evidence, Organization, Correctness

Sample Student Final Draft of an Analytical Essay: "Individual and Social Morals in Ha

Jin's 'Saboteur'"



Your Turn: Additional Poems and Stories for Interpretation

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

JOHN KEATS * Ode on a Grecian Urn

THOMAS HARDY * The Man He Killed

ANNE BRADSTREET * Before the Birth of One of Her Children

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI * After Death

FRED CHAPELLE * Narcissus and Echo

JOYCE CAROL OATES * Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

RAYMOND CARVER * Cathedral





9 Comparison and Synthesis

Comparison and Critical Thinking

Organizing a Comparison Paper

Comparison and Close Reading

Comparison and Asking Questions

Comparison and Analyzing Evidence

Sample Student Work: Comparison Arguments

Comparison and Arguing with Yourself

E. E. CUMMINGS * Buffalo Bill 's

Checklist: Developing a Comparison

Synthesis Through Close Reading: Analyzing a Revised Short Story

RAYMOND CARVER * Mine

RAYMOND CARVER * Little Things

Sample Student Writing: Innovative Listing

Synthesis Through Building a Concept Bridge: Connecting Two Poems

THYLIAS MOSS * Tornadoes

KWAME DAWES * Tornado Child

Sample Student Writing: Innovative Response Writing

Synthesis Using Theme

SANDRA CISNEROS * Barbie-Q

MARYANNE O'HARA *Diverging Paths and All That

JAYNE ANNE PHILLIPS * Sweethearts

Sample Student Writing: Innovative Mapping

Synthesis Using Form

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

HOWARD MOSS * Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day

Sample Student Comparison Essay: "A Comic Re-Writing of a Shakespeare Sonnet"

Checklist: Revising a Comparison



Your Turn: Additional Poems and Stories for Comparison and Synthesis

Poetry

"Carpe diem" poems

ROBERT HERRICK * To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE * The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

SIR WALTER RALEIGH * The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd

ANDREW MARVELL * To His Coy Mistress

JOHN DONNE * The Bait



"blackberry" poems

GALWAY KINELL *Blackberry Eating

SYLVIA PLATH * Blackberrying

SEAMUS HEANEY *Blackeberry-Picking

YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA *Blackberries



"America" poems

WALT WHITMAN * I Hear America Singing

LANGSTON HUGHES * I, Too [Sing America]



Stories

Stories about reading and writing

JULIO CORTAZAR * Continuity of Parks

A.M. HOMES * Things You Should Know



Stories about grandmothers

LAN SAMANTHA CHANG * Water Names

KATHERINE ANNE PORTER * The Jilting of Granny Weatherall



10: Research: Writing with Sources

Creating a Research Plan

Enter Research with a Plan of Action

What Does Your Own Institution Offer?

Plan the Type of Research You Want to Do

Selecting a Research Topic and Generating Research Questions

Use Close Reading as Your Starting Point

Select Your Topic

Skim Resources Through Preliminary Research

Narrow Your Topic and Form a Working Thesis

Sample Student Work: Digital Research Folder Assignment and Research Plan Notes

Sample Student Work: Digital Research Folder "Working Thesis" Notes

Generate Key Concepts as Keywords

Create Inquiry Questions

Sample Student Work: Digital Research Folder "Research Keywords" and "Inquiry Questions" Notes

Locating Materials Through Productive Searches

Generate Meaningful Keywords

Checklist: Creating Meaningful Keywords for a Successful Search

Using Academic Databases to Locate Materials

Search Full-Text Academic Databases

Search the MLA Database

Perform Advanced Keyword Searches

Sample Student Work: Searching the Academic Database

Using the Library Catalog to Locate Materials

Locate Books and Additional Resources

Sample Student Work: Searching the Library Catalog

Using the Internet to Perform Meaningful Research

Sample Student Work: Searching the Internet

Evaluating Sources for Academic Quality

Checklist: Evaluating Web Sites for Quality

Sample Student Work: Evaluating Sources for Academic Quality

Evaluate Sources for Topic "Fit"

Checklist: Evaluating Sources for Topic "Fit"

Sample Student Work: Evaluating Sources for Topic "Fit"

Taking Notes on Secondary Sources

A Guide to Note-Taking

Sample Student Work: Annotation of Research Sources

Sample Student Work: Digital Research Folder Critical Thinking Notes

Drafting the Paper

Focus on Primary Sources

Integrate Secondary Sources

Create a Relationship Between Your Writing and the Source

Surround the Source with Your Writing

Agree with a Source in Order to Develop Your Ideas

Sample Student Work: Source Integration

Avoiding Plagiarism

Sample Student Research Essay: "Dickinson's Representation of Changing Seasons and Changing Emotions"




III: ANALYZING LITERARY FORMS AND ELEMENTS

11: Reading and Writing about Essays

Types of Essays

Elements of Essays

The Essayist's Persona

Voice

Tone

Topic and Thesis

BRENT STAPLES * Black Men and Public Space

Checklist: Getting Ideas for Writing about Essays

Student Writing Portfolio (summary paper): Brent Staples "Black Men and

Public Space"

Your Turn: Additional Essays for Analysis

LANGSTON HUGHES * Salvation

LAURA VANDERKAM * Hookups Starve the Soul

STEVEN DOLOFF * The Opposite Sex

GRETEL EHRLICH * About Men



12: Reading and Writing about Stories

Stories True and False

GRACE PALEY * Samuel

Elements of Fiction

Character

Plot

Foreshadowing

Setting and Atmosphere

Symbolism

Narrative Point of View

Style and Point of View

Theme

WILLIAM FAULKNER * A Rose for Emily

Checklist: Getting Ideas for Writing about Stories

Student Writing Portfolio (analysis paper): William Faulkner "A Rose for

Emily"



Your Turn: Additional Stories for Analysis

KATHERINE MANSFIELD * Miss Brill

TIM O'BRIEN * The Things They Carried

Gabriel Garcia Marquez * A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children

An Author In Depth: Flannery O'Connor

FLANNERY O'CONNOR * A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Remarks from Essays and Letters

From "The Fiction Writer and His Country"

From "Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction"

From "The Nature and Aim of Fiction"

From "Writing Short Stories"

On Interpreting "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"

"A Reasonable Use of the Unreasonable"





13: Reading and Writing about Graphic Fiction

Letters and Pictures, Words and Images

GRANT WOOD * Death on the Ridge Road

Reading an Image: A Short Story Told in One Panel

TONY CARRILLO * F Minus

Elements of Graphic Fiction

Visual Elements

Narrative and Graphic Jumps

Graphic Style

Reading a Series of Images: A Story Told in Sequential Panels

ART SPIEGELMAN * Nature vs. Nurture

Checklist: Getting Ideas for Writing Arguments about Graphic Fiction

Your Turn: Additional Graphic Fiction for Analysis

WILL EISNER * Hamlet on a Rooftop

An Example of a Graphic Adaptation

R. CRUMB and DAVID ZANE MAIROWITZ * A Hunger Artist



14: Reading and Writing about Plays

Types of Plays

Tragedy

Comedy

Elements of Drama

Theme

Plot

Gestures

Setting

Characterization and Motivation

Checklist: Getting Ideas for Writing Arguments about Plays

Thinking about a Filmed Version of a Play

Getting Ready to Write about a Filmed Play

Checklist: Writing about a Filmed Play

Student Writing Portfolio (comparison paper): Susan Glaspell "Trifles" and "A Jury of Her Peers"

Susan Glaspell * Trifles

Susan Glaspell * A Jury of Her Peers (short story version of play)



Your Turn: Additional Plays for Analysis

A Modern Comedy

DAVID IVES * Sure Thing

A Note on Greek Tragedy

Sophocles * Antigone



An Author In Depth: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

A Note on the Elizabethan Theater

A Note on Hamlet on the Stage

A Note on the Text of Hamlet

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE * The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

ANNE BARTON * The Promulgation of Confusion

STANLEY WELLS * On the First Soliloquy

ELAINE SHOWALTER * Representing Ophelia

BERNICE W. KLIMAN * The BBC Hamlet: A Television Production

WILL SARETTA * Branagh's Film of Hamlet



15: Reading and Writing about Poems

Elements of Poetry

The Speaker and the Poet

EMILY DICKINSON * I'm Nobody! Who are you?

EMILY DICKINSON * Wild Nights-Wild Nights

The Language of Poetry: Diction and Tone

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE * Sonnet 146

Figurative Language

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE * Sonnet 130

Imagery and Symbolism

EDMUND WALLER * Song (Go, lovely rose)

WILLIAM BLAKE * The Sick Rose

Verbal Irony and Paradox

Structure

Rhythm and Versification: A Glossary for Reference

Meter

Patterns of Sound

Stanzaic Patterns

BILLY COLLINS * Sonnet

Blank Verse and Free Verse

Checklist: Getting Ideas for Writing Arguments about Poems

Student Writing Portfolio (explication paper): Gwendolyn Brooks "kitchenette building"

GWENDOLYN BROOKS * kitchenette building



Your Turn: Additional Poems for Analysis

ROBERT BROWNING * My Last Duchess

E. E. CUMMINGS * anyone lived in a pretty how town

SYLVIA PLATH * Daddy

GWENDOLYN BROOKS * We Real Cool

ETHERIDGE KNIGHT * For Malcolm, a Year After

ANNE SEXTON * Her Kind

JAMES WRIGHT * Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota

An Author in Depth: Robert Frost

Robert Frost on Poetry: The Figure a Poem Makes

ROBERT FROST * The Pasture

ROBERT FROST * Mowing

ROBERT FROST * The Wood-Pile

ROBERT FROST * The Oven Bird

ROBERT FROST * The Need of Being Versed in Country Things

ROBERT FROST * The Most of It

ROBERT FROST * Design

PART IV: ENJOYING LITERARY THEMES: A THEMATIC ANTHOLOGY



16: The World around Us

Essays

HENRY DAVID THOREAU * From Walden

BILL McKIBBEN * Now or Never

Stories

AESOP * The Ant and the Grasshopper

AESOP * The North Wind and the Sun

JACK LONDON * To Build a Fire

SARAH ORNE JEWETT * A White Heron

PATRICIA GRACE * Butterflies

Poems

MATTHEW ARNOLD * In Harmony with Nature

THOMAS HARDY * Transformations

GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS * God's Grandeur

WALT WHITMAN * A Noiseless Patient Spider

EMILY DICKINSON * A Narrow Fellow in the Grass

EMILY DICKINSON * There's a certain Slant of light

EMILY DICKINSON * The name-of it-is "Autumn"

JOY HARJO * Vision

MARY OLIVER * The Black Walnut Tree

KAY RYAN * Turtle

Chapter Overview: Looking Backward/Looking Forward





17: Technology and Human Identity

Essay

NICHOLAS CARR * Is Google Making Us Stupid?



Stories

KURT VONNEGUT JR. * Harrison Bergeron

AMY STERLING CASIL * Perfect Stranger

MARK TWAIN * A Telephonic Conversation

DOROTHY PARKER * A Telephone Call

MARIA SEMPLE * Dear Mountain Room Parents

ROBIN HEMLEY * Reply All

JOHN CHEEVER * The Enormous Radio

RAY BRADBURY * The Veldt

STEPHEN KING * Word Processor of the Gods

KIT REED * The New You

Poems

WALT WHITMAN * To a Locomotive in Winter (from Leaves of Grass)

EMILY DICKINSON * I Like to see it lap the Miles

LISEL MUELLER * The End of Science Fiction

DANIEL NYIKOS * Potato Soup

A. E. STALLINGS * Sestina: Like

PHILIP NIKOLAYEV * Dodging 1985

MARCUS WICKER * Ode to Browsing the Web

Play

LUIS VALDEZ * Los Vendidos

Chapter Overview: Looking Backward/Looking Forward



18: Love and Hate, Men and Women

Essay

JUDITH ORTIZ COFER * I Fell in Love, or My Hormones Awakened

Stories

ZORA NEALE HURSTON * Sweat

JHUMPA LAHIRI, This Blessed House

Poems

ANONYMOUS * Western Wind

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE * Sonnet 116 (Let me not to the marriage of true minds)

JOHN DONNE * A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY * Love Is Not All: It Is Not Meat nor Drink

ROBERT BROWNING, Porphyria's Lover

NIKKI GIOVANNI * Love in Place

ANONYMOUS * Higamus, Hogamus

DOROTHY PARKER * General Review of the Sex Situation

FRANK O'HARA * Homosexuality

MARGE PIERCY * Barbie Doll

Play

TERRENCE McNALLY * Andre's Mother

Chapter Overview: Looking Backward/Looking Forward



19: Innocence and Experience

Essay

GEORGE ORWELL * Shooting an Elephant

Stories

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN * The Emperor's New Clothes

CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN * The Yellow Wallpaper

JOHN STEINBECK * The Chrysanthemums

ALICE WALKER * Everyday Use



Poems

WILLIAM BLAKE * Infant Joy

WILLIAM BLAKE * Infant Sorrow

WILLIAM BLAKE * The Echoing Green

WILLIAM BLAKE * The Lamb

WILLIAM BLAKE * The Tyger

THOMAS HARDY, The Ruined Maid

E. E. CUMMINGS * in Just-

LOUISE GLUECK * The School Children

LINDA PASTAN * Ethics

THEODORE ROETHKE * My Papa's Waltz

SHARON OLDS * Rites of Passage

NATASHA TRETHEWEY * White Lies





20: All in a Day's Work

Essay

Barbara Ehrenreich * Wal-Mart Orientation Program

Stories

Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm * Mother Holle

WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS * The Use of Force

Will Eisner * The Day I Became a Professional

Daniel Orozco * Orientation

Lorrie Moore * How to Become a Writer

Poems

William Wordsworth * The Solitary Reaper

Carl Sandburg * Chicago

Gary Snyder * Hay for the Horses

Robert Hayden * Those Winter Sundays

Seamus Heaney * Digging

JULIA ALVAREZ * Woman's Work

Marge Piercy * To be of use

JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA * So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans

Plays

Jane Martin * Rodeo

Arthur Miller * Death of a Salesman

Chapter Overview: Looking Backward/Looking Forward



21: American Dreams and Nightmares

Essays

CHIEF SEATTLE * My People

ELIZABETH CADY STANTON * Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions

ABRAHAM LINCOLN * Address at the Dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery

STUDS TERKEL * Arnold Schwarzenegger's Dream

ANDREW LAM * Who Will Light Incense When Mother's Gone?

Stories

SHERMAN ALEXIE * The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

RALPH ELLISON * Battle Royal

TONI CADE BAMBARA * The Lesson

AMY TAN * Two Kinds

Poems

ROBERT HAYDEN * Frederick Douglass

LORNA DEE CERVANTES * Refugee Ship

EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON * Richard Cory

W. H. AUDEN * The Unknown Citizen

EMMA LAZARUS * The New Colossus

THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH * The Unguarded Gates

JOSEPH BRUCHAC III * Ellis Island

AURORA LEVINS MORALES * Child of the Americas

GLORIA ANZALDUA * To Live in the Borderlands Means You

MITSUYE YAMADA * To the Lady

NILA NORTHSUN * Moving Camp Too Far

YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA * Facing It

BILLY COLLINS * The Names

Play

LORRAINE HANSBERRY * A Raisin in the Sun

Chapter Overview: Looking Backward/Looking Forward



22: Law and Disorder

Essay

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. * Letter from Birmingham Jail

Stories

ELIZABETH BISHOP * The Hanging of the Mouse

URSULA K. LE GUIN * The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

SHIRLEY JACKSON * The Lottery

WILLIAM FAULKNER * Barn Burning

TOBIAS WOLFF * Powder

Poems

ANONYMOUS * Birmingham Jail

A. E. HOUSMAN * The Carpenter's Son

A. E. HOUSMAN * Oh who is that young sinner

DOROTHY PARKER * Resume

CLAUDE McKAY * If We Must Die

JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA * Cloudy Day

CAROLYN FORCHE * The Colonel

HAKI MADHUBUTI, The B Network

JILL McDONOUGH, Three a.m.

Plays

BILLY GODA * No Crime

Chapter Overview: Looking Backward/Looking Forward



23: Journeys

Essays

JOAN DIDION * On Going Home

MONTESQUIEU * Persian Letters

Stories

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE * Young Goodman Brown

EUDORA WELTY * A Worn Path

AMY HEMPEL * Today Will Be a Quiet Day

JAMES JOYCE * Eveline

Poems

JOHN KEATS * On First Looking into Chapman's Homer

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY * Ozymandias

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON * Ulysses

COUNTEE CULLEN * Incident

WILLIAM STAFFORD * Traveling through the Dark

DEREK WALCOTT * A Far Cry from Africa

SHERMAN ALEXIE * On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS * Sailing to Byzantium

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI * Uphill

A Note on Spirituals

Anonymous * Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Anonymous * Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel

Play

HENRIK IBSEN * A Doll's House

Chapter Overview: Looking Backward/Looking Forward



APPENDIX A: Writing about Literature: An Overview of Critical Strategies