Contents
Preface 000
To the Instructor 000
About the Authors 000
Fiction 1
1
Reading a Story 3
Fable, Parable, and Tales 4
W. Somerset Maugham,
The Appointment in Samarra 4
A servant tries to gallop away from Death in this brief sardonic fable retold in memorable form by a popular storyteller.
Aesop,
The Fox and the grapes 5
Ever wonder where the phrase "sour grapes" comes from? Find out in this classic fable.
Bid pai,
The Camel and His Friends 6
With friends like these, you can guess what the camel doesn't need.
Chuang Tzu,
Independence 6
The Prince of Ch'u asks the philosopher Chuang Tzu to become his advisor and gets a surprising reply in this classic Chinese fable.
Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm,
Godfather Death 9
Neither God nor the Devil came to the christening. In this stark folk tale, a young man receives magical powers with a string attached.
Plot 12
The Short Story 13
John Updike,
A & P 15
In walk three girls in nothing but bathing suits, and Sammy finds himself no longer an aproned checkout clerk but an armored knight.
Writer's Perspective
John Updike on Writing,
Why Write 20
Writing Critically
What's the Plot? 21
Writing Assignment 22
Further Suggestions For Writing 22
2
Point of View 23
William Faulkner,
A Rose for Emily 29
Proud, imperious Emily Grierson defied the town from the fortress of her mansion. Who could have guessed the secret that lay within?
Jhumpa Lahiri,
Interpreter of Malbies 37
Mr. Kapasi's life had settled into a quiet pattern-and then Mrs. Das and her family came into it.
James Baldwin,
Sonny's Blues 53
Two brothers in Harlem see life differently. The older brother is the sensible family man, but Sonny wants to be a jazz musician.
Eudora Welty,
Why I Live at the P.O. 77
Since no one appreciated Sister, she decides to live at the Post Office. After meeting her family, you won't blame her.
Writer's Perspective
James Baldwin on Writing,
Race and the African American Writer 87
Writing Critically
How Point of View Shapes a Story 89
Writing Assignment ??
Further Suggestions For Writing 90
3
Character 91
Katherine Anne Porter,
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall 94
For sixty years Ellen Weatherall has fought back the memory of that terrible day, but now once more the priest waits in the house.
Alice Walker,
Everyday Use 102
When successful Dee visits from the city, she has changed her name. Her mother and sister notice other things have changed, too.
Raymond Carier
Cathedral 109
He had never expected to find himself crying to describe a cathedral to a blind man. He hadn't even wanted to meet this odd, old friend of his wife.
Writer's Perspective
Raymond Carier on Writing,
Common place but precise language 121
Writing Critically
How Character Creates Action 122
Writing Assignment 123
Further Suggestions For Writing 123
4
Setting 124
Kate Chopin,
The Storm 127
Even with her husband away, Calixta feels happily, securely married. Why then should she not shelter an old admirer from the rain?
Jack London,
To Build a Fire 132
Seventy-five degrees below zero. Alone except for one mistrustful wolf dog, a man finds himself battling a relentless force.
T. Coraghessan Boyle,
Greasy Lake 143
Murky and strewn with beer cans, the lake appears a wasteland. On its shore three "dangerous characters" learn a lesson one grim night.
Amy Tan,
A Pair of Tickets 157
A young woman flies with her father to China to meet two half sisters she never knew existed.
Writer's Perspective
Amy Tan on Writing,
Setting the Voice 167
Writing Critically
How Time and Place Set a Story 168
Writing Assignment 169
Further Suggestions For Writing 169
5
Tone and Style 170
Ernest Hemingway,
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place 174
All by himself each night, the old man lingers in the bright cafÄ. What does he need more than brandy? One other knew.
William Faulkner,
Barn Burning 178
This time when Ab Snopes wields his blazing torch, his son Sarty faces a dilemma: whether to obey or defy the vengeful old man.
Irony 192
Guy de Maupassant,
The Necklace 193
Having no jewels to wear to the ball, a young woman borrows her rich friend's diamond necklace-with disastrous results.
Ha Jin,
Saboteur 200
When the police unfairly arrest Mr. Chiu, he hopes for justice. After witnessing their brutality, he quietly plans revenge.
Writer's Perspective
Ernest Hemingway on Writing,
The Direct Style 209
Writing Critically
Be Style-Conscious 210
Writing Assignment 211
Further Suggestions For Writing 211
6
Theme 212
Stephen Crane,
The Open Boat 215
In a lifeboat circled by sharks, tantalized by glimpses of land, a reporter scrutinizes Fate and learns about comradeship.
Alice ??uafo,
Day of the Butterfly 234
A sixth-grader is surprised by some of her own reactions when one of her classmates becomes seriously ill.
Luke 15: 11-32,
The Parable of the Prodigal Son 241
A father has two sons. One demands his inheritance now and leaves to spend it with ruinous results.
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.,
Harrison Bergeron 242
Are you handsome? Off with your eyebrows! Are you brainy? Let a transmitter sound thought-shattering beeps inside your ear.
Writer's Perspective
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. on Writing,
The Themes of Science Fiction 248
Writing Critically
Stating the Theme 249
Writing Assignment 250
Further Suggestions For Writing 250
7
Symbol 251
John Steinbeck,
The Chrysanthemums 253
Fenced-in Elisa feels emotionally starved-then her life promises to blossom with the arrival of the scissors-grinding man.
Shirley Jackson,
The Lottery 262
Splintered and faded, the sinister black box had worked its annual terror for longer than anyone in town could remember.
Elizabeth Tallent,
No one is a mystery 269
A two-page story speaks volumes about an open-hearted girl and her married lover.
Ursula K. Le Guin,
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas 272
Omelas is the perfect city. All of its inhabitants are happy. But everyone's prosperity depends on a hidden evil.
Writer's Perspective
Ursula K. Le Guin on Writing,
Note on "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" 278
Writing Critically
Recognizing Symbols 279
Writing Assignment 279
Student Essay
An Analysis of The Symbolism in Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums" 280
Further Suggestions For Writing 283
8
Evaluating a Story 284
Writing Critically
Know What You're Judging 286
Writing Assignment 287
Further Suggestions For Writing 287
9
Reading Long Stories and Novels 288
Leo Tolstoy,
The Death of Ivan Ilych 294
The supreme Russian novelist tells how a petty, ambitious judge, near the end of his wasted life, discovers a harrowing truth.
Franz Kafka,
The Metamorphosis 336
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect." Kafka's famous opening sentence introduces one of the most chilling stories in world literature.
Writer's Perspective
Franz Kafka on Writing,
Discussing The Metamorphosis 371
Writing Critically
Leaving Things Out 373
Writing Assignment-Research Paper 373
Student Essay
Kafka's Greatness 374
Further Suggestions For Writing 380
10
Two Critical Casebooks: Edgar Alian Poe and Flannery O'Connor 381
Edgar Allan Poe 381
Stories
The Tell-Tale Heart 382
The smoldering eye at last extinguished, a murderer finds that, despite all his attempts at a cover-up, his victim will be heard.
The Masque of the Red Death 386
The uninvited guest at Prince Prospero's masquerade ball changes the life of everyone present, in this masterpiece of mood and effect.
The Fall of the House of Usher 391
A letter from a boyhood friend turns out to be an invitation to a world of horror and doom.
Edgar Allan Poe on Edgar Allan Poe
The Tale and Its Effect 405
On Imagination 406
The Philosophy of Composition 406
Critics on Edgar Allan Poe
Daniel Hoffman, The Father-Figure in "The Tell-Tale Heart" 408
Marie Bonaparte,
A Psychoanalytic Reading of "The Masque of the Red Death" 410
Charies Baudelaire,
On Pre?? Genius 412
James Tuttleton,
Poe's Quest for Supernal Beauty 413
Flannery O'Connor 415
Stories
Good Country People 416
Joy's mother thought the Bible salesman was a nice young man, but Joy will soon discover otherwise.
A Good Man Is Hard to Find 431
Wanted: The Misfit, a cold-blooded killer. An ordinary family vacation leads to horror-and one moment of redeeming grace.
Revelation 443
Mrs. Turpin thinks herself Jesus' favorite child, until she meets a troubled college girl. Soon violence flares in a doctor's waiting room.
Flannery O'Connor on Flannery O'Connor
Excerpt from "On Her Own Work" 459
On Her Catholic Faith 462
Excerpt from "The Grotesque in Southern Fiction": The Serious Writer and the Tired Reader 462
Yearbook Cartoons 464
Critics on Flannery O'Connor
Robert Brinkmeyer Jr.,
Flannery O'Connor and Her Readers 465
J. O. Tate,
A Good Source Is Not So Hard to Find: The Real Life Misfit 468
Mary Jane Schenck,
Deconstructing "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" 470
Kathleen Feeley,
Comic Perversion in "Good Country People" 472
Writing Critically
How One Story Imaging ?? Another 473
Writing Assignment 473
Further Suggestions for Writing on Edgar Allan Poc 473
Further Suggestions for Writing on Flannery O'Connor 474
11
Stories for Further Reading 475
Chinua Achebe,
Dead Men's Path 475
The new headmaster of the village school was determined to fight superstition, but the villagers did not agree.
Isabel Allende,
The Judge's Wife 478
Anjana Appachana,
The Prophecy 485
Seventeen years old and pregnant, Amrita doesn't know what to do, but before she visits the gynecologist, she consults a fortune teller.
Margaret Atwood,
Happy Endings 497
John and Mary meet. What happens next? This witty experimental story offers five different outcomes.
Ambrose Bierce,
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge 501
At last, Peyton Farquhar's neck is in the noose. Reality mingles with dream in this classic story of the American Civil War.
Jorge Luis Borges,
The Gospel According to Mark 505
A young man from Buenos Aires is trapped by a flood on an isolated ranch. To pass the time he reads the Gospel to a family with unforeseen results.
I sabel allende,
The Judge's Wife 478
Revenge can take many different forms, but few are as strange as the revenge taken in this passionate tale..
Willa Cather,
Paul's Case ??
Paul's teachers can't understand the boy. Then one day, with stolen cash, he boards a train for New York and the life of his dreams.
John Cheever,
The Five-Forty-Eight 528
After their brief affair, Blake fired his secretary. He never expected she would seek revenge.
Anton Chekhov,
The Lady with the Pet Dog 539
Lonely and bored at a seaside resort, they had sought a merely casual affair. How could they know it might deepen and trouble their separate marriages?
Kate Chopin,
The Story of an Hour 552
"There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name."
Sandra Cisneros,
The House on Mango Street 554
Does where we live tell what we are? A little girl dreams of a new house, but things don't always turn out the way we want them to.
Ralph Ellison,
Battle Royal 555
A young black man is invited to deliver his high school graduation speech to a gathering of a Southern town's leading white citizens. What promises to be an honor turns into a nightmare of violence, humiliation, and painful self-discovery.
Gabriel GarcÆa Mçrquez,
The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World 566
Even in death, a mysterious stranger has a profound effect on all of the people in the village.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman,
The Yellow Wallpaper 571
Her husband the doctor prescribed complete rest in the isolated and mysterious country house they rented for the summer. The cure proves worse than the disease in this gothic classic.
Nathaniel Hawthorne,
Young Goodman Brown 584
Urged on through deepening woods, a young Puritan sees-or dreams he sees-good villagers hasten toward a diabolic rite.
Zora Neale Hurston,
Sweat 594
Delia's hard work paid for her small house. Now her drunken husband, Sykes, has promised it to another woman.
Kazuo Ishiguro,
A Family Supper 604
Something very odd lurks beneath the surface of this family supper, and it might prove fatal.
James Joyce,
Araby 612
If only he can find her a token, she might love him in return. As night falls, a Dublin boy hurries to make his dream come true.
Jamaica Kincaid,
Girl 617
"Try to walk like a lady, and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming." An old-fashioned mother tells her daughter how to live.
D. H. Lawrence,
The Rocking-Horse Winner 619
Wild-eyed "as if something were going to explode in him," the boy predicts each winning horse, and gamblers rush to bet a thousand pounds.
Bernard Malamud,
Angel Levine 631
Broke, ill, and desperate, the tailor Manischevitz begs God for help. But when he discovers a black man in his living room who claims to be a Jewish angel, the tailor refuses to believe. A comic classic of how grace and need overcome prejudice.
Katherine Mansfield,
Miss Brill 639
Sundays had long brought joy to solitary Miss Brill, until one fateful day when she happened to share a bench with two lovers in the park.
Bobbie Ann Mason,
Shiloh 643
After the accident Leroy could no longer work as a truck driver. He hoped to make a new life with his wife, but she seemed strangely different.
Joyce Carol Oates,
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? 650
Alone in the house, Connie finds herself helpless before the advances of a spellbinding imitation teenager, Arnold Friend.
Tim O'Brien,
The Things They Carried 667
What each soldier carried into the combat zone was largely determined by necessity, but each man's necessities differed.
Frank O'Connor,
First Confession 680
A sympathetic Irish priest cross-examines a boy who takes a bread knife to his sister and wants to chop up his grandmother besides.
Tillie Olsen,
I Stand Here Ironing 687
Deserted by her husband, forced to send away her child, a woman remembers how both she and her daughter managed to survive.
Leslie Marmon Silko,
The Man to Send Rain Clouds 693
When old Teofilo dies, his friends give him a tribal burial to ensure that the rains will come for the pueblo. But can they also convince Father Paul to take part in the pagan ceremony?
Poetry 697
12
Reading a Poem 701
William Butler Yeats,
The Lake Isle of Innisfree 703
Lyric Poetry 706
D. H. Lawrence,
Piano 706
Adrienne Rich,
Aunt Jennifer's Tigers 707
Narrative Poetry 708
Anonymous,
Sir Patrick Spence 708
Robert Frost,
"Out, Out-" 710
Dramatic Poetry 711
Robert Browning,
My Last Duchess 712
Writer's Perspective
Adrienne Rich on Writing,
Recalling "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" 714
Writing Critically
Can a Poem be Paraphrased? 715
William Stafford,
Ask Me 715
William Stafford,
A Paraphrase of "Ask Me" 716
Writing Assignment 716
13
Listening to a Voice 717
Tone 717
Theodore Roethke,
My Papa's Waltz 718
Countee Cullen,
For a Lady I Know 719
Anne Bradstreet,
The Author to Her Book 719
Walt Whitman,
To a Locomotive in Winter 720
Emily Dickinson,
I like to see it lap the Miles 721
Benjamin Alire Sçenz,
To the Desert 722
Weldon Kees,
For My Daughter 723
The Person in the Poem 723
Natasha The then??,
White Lies 724
Edwin Arlington Robinson,
Luke Havergal 725
Ted Hughes,
Hawk Rodsting 726
William Wordsworth,
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud 727
Dorothy Wordsworth,
Journal Entry 728
James Stephens,
A Glass of Beer 729
Anne Sexton,
Her Kind 730
William Carlos Williams,
The Red Wheelbarrow 731
Irony 731
Robert Creeley,
Oh No 732
W. H. Auden,
The Unknown Citizen 733
Sharon Olds,
Rites of Passage 734
John Betjeman,
In Westminster Abbey 735
Sarah N. Cleghorn,
The Golf Links 736
Josephiae Wiles,
Civilian 737
Co??hic Beh??ley,
The Covetous Cat 737
Thomas Hardy,
The Workbox 738
For Review and Further Study 739
William Blake,
The Chimney Sweeper 739
Robert McDow??,
At Home with Dollface 740
William Stafford,
At the Un-National Monument Along the Canadian Border 740
H. L. Hix,
I Love the World, As Does Any Dancer 741
Richard Lovelace,
To Lucasta 741
Wilfred Owen,
Dulce et Decorum Est 742
Writer's Perspective
Wilfred Owen on Writing,
War Poetry 742
Writing Critically
Paying Attention to the Obvious 744
Writing Assignment 744
Student Essay
Word Choice, Tone, and Point of View in Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz" 745
Further Suggestions For Writing 748
14
Words 749
Literal Meaning: What a Poem Says First 749
William Carlos Williams,
This Is Just to Say 750
Marianne Moore,
Silence 751
Robert Graves,
Down, Wanton, Down! 752
John Donne,
Batter my heart, three-personed God, for You 753
The Value of a Dictionary 754
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
Aftermath 755
John Clare,
Mouse's Nest 756
J. V. Cunningham,
Friend, on this scaffold Thomas More lies dead 757
Kelly Cherry,
Advice to a Friend Who Paints 758
Carl Sandburg,
Grass 758
Word Choice and Word Order 758
Robert Herrick,
Upon Julia's Clothes 761
Kay Ryan,
Blandeur 763
Thomas Hardy,
The Ruined Maid 764
Richard Eberhart,
The Fury of Aerial Bombardment 765
Wendy Cope,
Lonely Hearts 766
For Review and Further Study 767
E. E. CUMMINGS,
anyone lived in a pretty how town 767
Billy Collins,
The Names 768
Anonymous,
Carnation Milk 770
William Wordsworth,
My heart leaps up when I behold 770
William Wordsworth,
Mutability 770
Anonymous,
Scottsboro 771
Lewis Carroll,
Jabberwocky 771
Writer's Perspective
Lewis Carroll on Writing,
Humpty Dumpty Explicates "Jabberwocky" 773
Writing Critically
How Much Difference Does a Word Make? 774
Writing Assignment 775
Further Suggestions For Writing 775
15
Saying and Suggesting 776
John Masefield,
Cargoes 777
William Blake,
London 778
Wallace Stevens,
Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock 780
awchaolyn Brooks,
The Independent Man 781
Timothy Steele,
Epitaph 781
Geoffrey Hill,
Merlin 782
Walter de la Mare,
The Listeners 782
Robert Frost,
Fire and Ice 784
Clare Rossini,
Final Love Note 784
Alfred, Lord Tennyson,
Tears, Idle Tears 785
Richard Wilbur,
Love Calls Us to the Things of This World 786
Writer's Perspective
Richard Wilbur on Writing,
Concerning "Love Calls Us to the Things of This World" 787
Writing Critically
The Ways a Poem Suggests 788
Writing Assignment 789
Further Suggestions For Writing 789
16
Imagery 790
Ezra Pound,
In a Station of the Metro 790
Taniguchi Buson,
The piercing chill I feel 790
T.S. Eliot,
The winter evening settles down 792
Theodore Roethke,
Root Cellar 792
Elizabeth Bishop,
The Fish 793
Anne Stevenson,
The Victory 795
Charles Simic,
Fork 796
Emily Dickinson,
A Route of Evanescence 796
Jean Toomer,
Reapers 797
Gerard Manley Hopkins,
Pied Beauty 797
About Haiku 798
Arakida Moritake,
The Falling Flower 798
Matsuo Basho,
Heat-lightning streak 799
Matsuo Basho,
In the old stone pool 799
Taniguchi Buson,
On the one-ton temple bell 799
Taniguchi Buson,
I go 799
Kobayashi Issa,
only one guy 799
Kobayashi Issa,
Cricket 799
Suiko Matsushita,
Rain shower from mountain 800
Suiko Matsushita,
Cosmos in bloom 800
Neiji Ozawa,
War forced us from California 800
Neigi Ozawa,
The war 800
Hakuro Wada,
Even the croaking of frogs 800
Etheridge Knight, Lee Gurga, Penny Haerter, John Ridland, Adelle Foley, Jennifer Brutschy, Connie Bensley,
A Selection of Haiku 800-801
For Review and Further Study 801
John Keats,
Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art 801
Walt Whitman,
The Runner 802
T. E. Hulme,
Image 802
Chana Bloch,
Tired Sex 802
Robert Bly,
Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter 803
Gary Snyder,
Piute Creek 803
H. D.,
Heat 804
Louise Glƒck,
Mock Orange 804
Billy Collins,
Embrace 805
John Haines,
Winter News 805
Stevie Smith,
Not Waving but Drowning 806
Writer's Perspective
Ezra Pound on Writing,
The Image 807
Writing Critically
Analyzing Images 808
Writing Assignment 809
Student Essay
Elizabeth Bishop's Use of Imagery in "The Fish" 809
Further Suggestions For Writing 813
17
Figures of Speech 814
Why Speak Figuratively? 814
Alfred, Lord Tennyson,
The Eagle 815
William Shakespeare,
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 815
Howard Moss,
Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day? 816
Metaphor and Simile 817
Emily Dickinson,
My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun 818
Alfred, Lord Tennyson,
Flower in the Crannied Wall 819
William Blake,
To see a world in a grain of sand 820
Sylvia Plath,
Metaphors 820
N. Scott Momaday,
Simile 820
Emily Dickinson,
It dropped so low - in my Regard 821
Craig Raine,
A Martian Sends a Postcard Home 821
Other Figures 824
James Stephens,
The Wind 825
Chidiock Tichborne,
Elegy, Written with His Own Hand in the Tower Before His Execution 827
Margaret Atwood,
You fit into me 828
John Ashberry,
The Cathedral Is 829
George Herbert,
The Pulley 829
Louis Macneice,
Plain Speaking 829
For Review and Further Study ??
Robert Frost,
The Silken Tent 830
Denise Levertov,
Leaving Forever 831
Jane Kenyon,
The Suitor 831
Robert Frost,
The Secret Sits 832
H. D.,
Love That I Bear 832
A. R. Ammons,
Coward 832
Kay Ryan,
Turtle 832
Robinson Jeffers,
Hands 833
Robert Burns,
Oh, my love is like a red, red rose 833
Writer's Perspective
Robert Frost on Writing,
The Importance of Poetic Metaphor 834
Writing Critically
How Metaphors Enlarge a Poem's Meaning 835
Writing Assignment 836
Further Suggestions For Writing 836
18
Song 837
Singing and Saying 837
Ben Jonson,
To Celia 838
Anonymous,
The Cruel Mother 839
William Shakespeare,
Take, O, take those lips away 841
Edwin Arlington Robinson,
Richard Cory 842
Paul Simon,
Richard Cory 843
Ballads 844
Anonymous,
Bonny Barbara Allan 844
Dudley Randall,
Ballad of Birmingham 847
Blues 848
Bessie Smith with Clarence Williams,
Jailhouse Blues 849
W. H. Auden,
Funeral Blues 850
Rap 850
Rsh D.M. Cog. From
Peter Piser 852
For Review and Further Study 853
John Lennon and Paul Mccartney,
Eleanor Rigby 853
Bob Dylan,
The Times They Are a-Changin' 854
??endolyn Brooks,
Queen of the Blues 856
Writer's Perspective
Paul McCartney on Writing,
Creating "Eleanor Rigby" 858
Writing Critically
Is There a Difference Between Poetry and Song? 859
Writing Assignment 860
Further Suggestions For Writing 860
19
Sound 861
Sound as Meaning 861
Alexander Pope,
True Ease in Writing comes from Art, not Chance 862
William Butler Yeats,
Who Goes with Fergus? 864
John Updike,
Recital 863
William Wordsworth,
A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal 865
Emanuel di Pasquale,
Rain 866
Aphra Behn,
When maidens are young 866
Alliteration and Assonance 866
A. E. Housman,
Eight O'Clock 868
Robert Herrick,
Upon Julia's Voice 868
Alfred, Lord Tennyson,
The splendor falls on castle walls 869
Rime 869
William Cole,
On my boat on Lake Cayuga 870
James Reeves,
Rough Weather 872
Hilaire Belloc,
The Hippopotamus 873
William Butler Yeats,
Leda and the Swan 874
Gerard Manley Hopkins,
God's Grandeur 875
Fred Chappell,
Narcissus and Echo 875
Robert Frost,
Desert Places 876
Reading and Hearing Poems Aloud 877
Michael Stillman,
In Memoriam John Coltrane 879
William Shakespeare,
Full fathom five thy father lies 879
Chryss Yost,
Lai with Sounds of Skin 880
T. S. Eliot,
Virginia 880
Writer's Perspective
T. S. Eliot on Writing,
The Music of Poetry 881
Writing Critically
Is it Possible to Write about Sound? 882
Writing Assignment 882
Further Suggestions For Writing 882
20
Rhythm 884
Stresses and Pauses 884
Gwendolyn Brooks,
We Real Cool 889
Alfred, Lord Tennyson,
Break, Break, Break 889
Ben Jonson,
Slow, slow, fresh fount, keep time with my salt tears 890
Alexander Pope,
Atticus 891
Sir Thomas Wyatt,
With serving still 892
Dorothy Parker,
RÄsumÄ 892
Meter 892
Max Beerbohm,
On the imprint of the first English edition of The Works of Max Beerbohm 893
Thomas Campion,
Rose-cheeked Laura, come 899
Vachel Lindsay,
Factory Windows Are Always Broken 900
Edna St. Vincent Millay,
Counting-out Rhyme 901
A. E. Housman,
When I was one-and-twenty 902
William Carlos Williams,
Heel & toe to the end 902
Walt Whitman,
Beat! Beat! Drums! 903
David Mason,
Song of the Powers 904
Langston Hughes,
Dream Boogie 904
Writer's Perspective
Gwendolyn Brooks on Writing,
Hearing "We Real Cool" 905
Writing Critically
Freeze-Framing the Sound 906
Writing Assignment 907
Further Suggestions For Writing 907
21
Closed Form 908
Formal Patterns 909
John Keats,
This living hand, now warm and capable 910
Robert Graves,
Counting the Beats 912
John Donne,
Song ("Go and catch a falling star") 913
Phillis Levin,
Brief Bio 914
Ronald Gross,
Yield 915
The Sonnet 917
William Shakespeare,
Let me not to the marriage of true minds 917
Michael Drayton,
Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part 918
Edna St. Vincent Millay,
What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why 919
Robert Frost,
Acquainted with the Night 919
Kim Addonizio,
First Poem for You 920
Mark Jarman,
Unholy Sonnet?? After the Praying 920
R. S. Gwynn,
Scenes from the Playroom 921
Timothy Steele,
Summer 922
A. E. Stallings,
Sine Qua Non 922
The Epigram 923
Alexander Pope, Sir John Harrington, Robert Herrick, William Blake, E. E. Cummings, Langston Hughes, J. V. Cunningham, John Frederick Nims, Stevie Smith, Brad Leithauser, Dick Davis, Anonymous, Hilaire Belloc, Wendy Cope,
A Selection of Epigrams 923-925
W. H. Auden, Edmund Clerihew Bentley, Cornelius J. Ter Maat,
Clerihews 925-926
Other Forms 926
Robert Pinsky,
Abc 926
Dylan Thomas,
Do not go gentle into that good night 927
Robert Bridges,
Triolet 927
Elizabeth Bishop,
Sestina 928
Writer's Perspective
Robert Graves on Writing,
Poetic Inspiration and Poetic Form 930
Writing Critically
Turning Points 931
Writing Assignment 932
Further Suggestions For Writing 932
22
Open Form 933
Denise Levertov,
Ancient Stairway 933
E. E. Cummings,
Buffalo Bill 's 938
W. S. Merwin,
For the Anniversary of My Death 938
William Carlos Williams,
The Dance 939
Stephen Crane,
The Heart 940
Walt Whitman,
Cavalry Crossing a Ford 940
Ezra Pounds,
The Barret 941
Carolyn ForchÄ,
The Colonel 944
Wallace Stevens,
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird 941
Visual Poetry 944
George Herbert,
Easter Wings 945
John Hollander,
Swan and Shadow 946
Terry Ehret,
from Papyrus 947
Dorthi Charles,
Concrete Cat 948
Seeing the Logic of Open Form Verse 949
e. e. cummings,
in Just- 949
Lucille Clifton,
Homage to my hips 950
Carole Satyamurti,
I Shall Paint My Nails Red 951
Alice Fulton,
What I Like 951
Writer's Perspective
Walt Whitman on Writing,
The Poetry of the Future 952
Writing Critically
Lining Up for Free Verse 953
Writing Assignment 953
Further Suggestions For Writing 954
23
Symbol 955
T.S. Eliot,
The Boston Evening Transcript 951
Emily Dickinson,
The Lightning is a yellow Fork 957
Thomas Hardy,
Neutral Tones 959
Matthew 13: 24-30,
The Parable of the Good Seed 960
George Herbert,
The Word 960
John Ciardi,
Most Like an Arch This Marriage 961
Robert Frost,
The Road Not Taken 962
Christina Rossetti,
Uphill 963
Gjertrud Schnackenberg,
Supernatural Love 963
For Review and Further Study 965
Robinson Jeffers,
The Beaks of Eagles 965
Sara Teasdale,
The Flight 966
William Carlos Williams,
The Term 967
Ted Kooser,
Carrie 968
Rafael Campo,
What the Body Told 968
John Stallworthy,
An Evening Walk 969
Lorine Niedecker,
Popcorn-can cover 970
Wallace Stevens,
Anecdote of the Jar 970
Writer's Perspective
William Butler Yeats On Writing,
Poetic Symbols 971
Writing Critically
How to Read a Symbol 972
Writing Assignment 972
Further Suggestions For Writing 973
24
Myth and Narrative 974
Robert Frost,
Nothing Gold Can Stay 976
D. H. Lawrence,
Bavarian Gentians 977
Thomas Hardy,
The Oxen 977
William Wordsworth,
The World Is Too Much with Us 978
H. D.,
Helen 979
Archetype 979
Louise Bogan,
Medusa 980
Personal Myth 981
William Butler Yeats,
The Second Coming 982
Jenathan Helden,
The Names of the Rapids 983
James Dickey,
The Heaven of Animals 984
Diane Thiel,
Memento Mori in Middle School 985
Myth and Popular Culture 987
Charles Martin,
Taken Up 988
A. D. Hope,
Imperial Adam 989
Anne Sexton,
Cinderella 990
Writer's Perspective
Anne Sexton on Writing,
Transforming Fairy Tales 994
Writing Critically
Demystifying Myth 995
Writing Assignment 996
Student Essay
The Bonds Between Love and Hatred In H. D.'S "Helen" 997
Further Suggestions For Writing 1001
25
Poetry and Personal Identity 1002
Sylvia Plath,
Lady Lazarus 1003
Julia Alvarez,
The women on my mother's side were known 1006
Culture, Race, and Ethnicity 1007
Claude Mckay,
America 1007
Rhina Espaillat,
Bilingual/Bilingƒe 1008
Samuel Menashe,
The Shrine Whose Shape I Am 1010
Francisco X. Alarcùn,
The X in My Name 1010
Wendy Rose,
For the White Poets Who Would Be Indian 1011
Shermin Alexie,
Indian Boy Love Song (A1) 1012
Yusef Komunyakaa,
Facing It 1012
Gender 1013
Anne Stevenson,
Sous-Entendu 1014
Emily Grosholz,
Listening 1014
Donald Justice,
Men at Forty 1015
Adrienne Rich,
Women 1016
For Review and Further Study 1016
Shirley Geok-Lin Lim,
Learning To Love America 1016
Andrew Hudgins,
Elegy for My Father, Who Is Not Dead 1017
Judith Ortiz Cofer,
Quinceaûera 1018
Alastair Reid, Speaking a Foreign Language 1019
Philip Larkin,
Aubade 1019
Writer's Perspective
Rhina Espaillat,
Being a Bilingual Writer 1021
Writing Critically
Poetic Voice and Personal Identity 1022
Writing Assignment 1023
Further Suggestions For Writing 1023
26
Translation 1024
Is Poetic Translation Possible? 1024
Rainier Maria Ri??ke,
Einban?? Raiging Macia Rilke, Translated by Dana Gjoja, Entrance 1025
World Poetry 1025
Li Po,
Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon (Chinese text) 1026
Li Po,
Yueh Hsia Tu Cho, Moon-beneath Alone Drink(literal translation) 1027
Li Po, translated by Arthur Waley,
Drinking Alone by Moonlight 1027
Horace,
Odes I (11) (Carpa Dien) 1028
Horace, translated by Edwin Arlington Robinson, James Michie, A. E. Stallings,
Odes I 1027-1030
Omar Khayyam,
Rubai 1031
Omar Khayyam, translated by Edward FitzGerald, Robert Graves and Omar Ali-Shah, Dick Davis,
Rubai 1031
Parody 1032
Anonymous,
We four lads from Liverpool are 1033
Wendy Cope,
A Nursery Rhyme (as it might hare been written by william ??) 1034
Hugh Kingsmill,
What, still alive at twenty-two? 1034
Bruce Bennett,
The Lady Speaks Again 1035
Gene Fehler,
If Richard Lovelace Became a Free Agent 1035
Aaron Abeyta,
thirteen ways of looking at a tortilla 1036
Writer's Perspective
Arthu?? Waley on Writing,
The Method of Translation 1038
Writing Critically
Parody Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery 1039
Writing Assignment 1039
Further Suggestions For Writing 1040
27
Critical Casebook: Latin American Poetry 1041
Sor Juana 1043
Asegura la Confianza de que Oculturç de todo un Secreto 1044
Translated by Diane Thiel, She Promises to Hold a Secret in Confidence 1044
Presente en que el Cariûo Hace Regalo la Llaneza 1044
Translated by Diane Thiel, A Simple Gift Made Rich by Affection 1044
Pablo Neruda 1045
Muchos Somos 1046
Translated by Alastair Reid, We Are Many 1046
Cien Sonetos de Amor (V) 1047
Translated by Stephen Tapscott, One Hundred Love Sonnets (V) 1048
Jorge Luis Borges 1049
Amorosa Anticipaciùn 1050
Translated by Roibert Fitzgerald, Anticipation of Love 1050
Los Engimas 1051
Translated by John Updike, The Enigmas 1051
Octavio Paz 1052
Con los Ojos Cerrados 1053
Translated by John Felstiner, With Our Eyes Shut 1053
Certeza 1053
Translated by Charles Tomlinson, Certainty 1053
Surrealism in Latin American Poetry 1053
Frida Kahlo,
Two Tiedas 1055
CÄsar Vallejo,
La Cùlera que Quiebra al Hombore en Niûos 1055
CÄsar Vallejo, Translated by Thomas Merton,
Anger 1055
Olga Orozco,
La Realidad y el Deseo 1056
Olga Orozco, Translated by Stephen Tapscott,
Reality and Desire 1056
For Review and Further Study 1058
Alfonsina Storni,
Peso Ancestral 1058
Alfonsina Stoni, Translated by Diane Thiel,
Ancestral Burden 1058
JosÄ Emilio Pacheco,
Alta Traiciùn 1058
JosÄ Emilio Pacheco, Translated by Alastair Reid,
High Treason 1058
Latin American Poets on Poetry
So Juana,
La Respuesta (Response) 1059
Pablo Neruda,
Towards the Splendid City 1060
Jorge Luis Borges,
The Riddle of Poetry 1060
Octavio Paz,
In Search of the Present 1061
Critics on Latin American Poetry
Stephanie Merrim,
Endgames: Sor Juana InÄs de la Cruz 1062
Alastair Reid,
Translating Neruda 1063
Emir Rodriguez Monegal,
Borges and Paz 1063
Suggestions for Writing 1065
28
Recognizing Excellence 1066
Anonymous,
O Moon, when I gaze on thy beautiful face 1068
Grace Treasone,
Life 1068
Emily Dickinson,
A Dying Tiger-moaned for Drink 1069
Rod McKuen,
Thoughts on Capital Punishment 1072
William Stafford,
Traveling Through the Dark 1072
Wallace McRae,
Reincarnation 1073
Recognizing Excellence 1075
William Butler Yeats,
Sailing to Byzantium 1075
Arthur Guiterman,
On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness 1078
Percy Bysshe Shelley,
Ozymandias 1078
Robert Hayden,
The Whipping 1079
Elizabeth Bishop,
One Art 1080
?? Auden,
September 1, 1081
Walt Whitman,
O Captain! My Captain! 1084
Carl Sandburg,
Fog 1086
Emma Lazarus,
The New Colossus 1087
Edgar Allan Poe,
Annabel Lee 1087
Writer's Perspective
Edgar Allan Poe on Writing,
A Long Poem Does Not Exist 1089
Writing Critically
How to Begin Evaluating a Poem 1089
Writing Assignment 1090
Further Suggestions For Writing 1091
29
What Is Poetry? 1092
Archibald MacLeish,
Ars Poetica 1092
Dante, Samuel Johnson, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Thomas Carlyle, Thomas Hardy, Emily Dickinson, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, Mina Loy, T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, J. V. Cunningham, Elizabeth Bishop, Jorge Luis Borges, Octavio Paz, William Stafford, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Bly,
Some Definitions of Poetry 1093-1094
Ha Jin,
Missed Time 1096
30
Two Critical Casebooks: Emily Dickinson and Langston Hughes 1097
Emily Dickinson 1097
Poems
Success is counted sweetest 1098
Wild Nights - Wild Nights! 1098
Therezs a Certain Slant of Light 1099
I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain 1099
I'm Nobody! Who are you? 1100
The Soul selects her own Society 1100
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church 1100
After great pain, a formal feeling comes 1101
This is my letter to the World 1101
I heard a Fly buzz - when I died 1102
I started Early - Took my Dog 1102
Because I could not stop for Death 1103
The bustle in a House 1104
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant 1104
Emily Dickinson on Emily Dickinson
Recognizing Poetry 1105
Self-Description 1106
Critics on Emily Dickinson
Thomas Wentworth Higginson,
Meeting Emily Dickinson 1108
Thomas H. Johnson,
The Discovery of Emily Dickinson's Manuscripts 1109
Richard Wilbur,
The Three Privations of Emily Dickinson 1111
Cynthia Griffin Wolff,
Dickinson and Death (A Reading of "Because I could not stop for Death") 1112
Judith Farr,
A Reading of "My Life had stood-a Loaded Gun" 1114
Langston Hughes 1116
Poems
The Negro Speaks of Rivers 1117
Mother to Son 1117
Dream Variations 1118
I, Too 1118
The Weary Blues 1119
Song for a Dark Girl 1120
Desire Prayer 1120
End Island 1121
Battle of the Landlord 1121
Theme for English B 1122
Subway Rush Hour 1123
Sliver 1123
Harlem [Dream Deferred] 1124
Langston Hughes on Langston Hughes
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain 1125
The Harlem Renaissance 1126
Critics on Langston Hughes
Arnold Rampersad,
Hughes as an Experimentalist 1128
Rita Dove and Marilyn Nelson,
Langston Hughes and Harlem 1129
Darryl Pinckney,
Black Identity in Langston Hughes 1131
Peter Townsend,
Langston Hughes and Jazz 1132
Onwuchekwa Jemie,
A Reading of "Dream Deferred" 1132
For Further Reading 1136
Suggestions for Writing 1136
31
Poems for Further Reading 1137
Anonymous,
Load Randall 1138
Anonymous,
The Three Ravens 1139
Anonymous,
The Twa Corbies 1140
Anonymous,
Western Wind 1140
Anonymous,
Last Words of the Prophet 1141
Matthew Arnold,
Dover Beach 1141
John Ashbery,
At North Farm 1142
Margaret Atwood,
Romantic 1143
W. H. Auden,
As I Walked Out One Evening 1144
W. H. Auden,
MusÄe des Beaux Arts 1146
Elizabeth Bishop,
Filling Station 1147
William Blake,
The Tyger 1149
William Blake,
The Sick Rose 1150
Eavan Boland,
Anorexic 1151
Gwendolyn Brooks,
The Mother 1152
Gwendolyn Brooks,
The Preacher Runi??: Behind the sermon 1153
Elizabeth Barrett Browning,
How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways 1154
Robert Browning,
Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister 1154
Geoffrey Chaucer,
Merciless Beauty 1157
G. K. Chesterton,
The Donkey 1157
Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
Kubla Khan 1158
Billy Collins,
Care and Feeding 1159
Hart Crane,
My Grandmother's Love Letters 1160
E. E. Cummings,
somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond 1161
John Donne,
Death be not proud 1162
John Donne,
The Flea 1163
John Donne,
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning 1164
Rita Dove,
Summit Beach 1165
John Dryden,
To the Memory of Mr. Oldham 1166
T.S. Eliot,
Journey of the Magi 1167
T.S. Eliot,
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock 1169
Louise Erdrich,
Indian Boarding School: The Runaways 1173
Bohd Fairchild,
A Starli??t Night 1174
Robert Frost,
Birches 1175
Robert Frost,
Mending Wall 1176
Robert Frost,
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening 1177
Allen Ginsberg,
A Supermarket in California 1178
Dana Gioia,
California Hills in August 1179
Thom Gunn,
The Man with Night Sweats 1180
Donald Hall,
Names of Horses 1181
Thomas Hardy,
The Convergence of the Twain 1182
Thomas Hardy,
The Darkling Thrush 1183
Thomas Hardy,
Hap 1184
Robert Hayden,
Those Winter Sundays 1185
Seamus Heaney,
Digging 1186
Seamus Heaney,
Mother of the Groom 1187
Anthony Hecht,
Adam 1188
George Herbert,
Love 1190
Robert Herrick,
To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time 1191
Gerard Manley Hopkins,
Spring and Fall 1191
Gerard Manley Hopkins,
No worst, there is nine 1192
Gerard Manley Hopkins,
The Windhover 1193
A. E. Housman,
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now 1193
A. E. Housman,
To an Athlete Dying Young 1194
Randall Jarrell,
The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner 1195
Robinson Jeffers,
To the Stone-cutters 1196
Ben Jonson,
On My First Son 1196
Donald Justice,
Counting the Mad 1197
John Keats,
Ode on a Grecian Urn 1197
John Keats,
On First Looking into Chapman's Homer 1199
John Keats,
When I have fears that I may cease to be 1200
John Keats,
To Autumn 1201
Philip Larkin,
Home is so Sad 1202
Philip Larkin,
Poetry of Departures 1203
Irving Layton,
The Bull Calf 1204
Philip Levine,
They Feed Trey Lion 1205
Adrian Louis,
Looking For Judas 1206
Robert Lowell,
Skunk Hour 1206
Andrew Marvell,
To His Coy Mistress 1208
James Merrill,
Kite Poem 1209
Charlotte Mew,
The Farmer's Bride 1200
Edna St. Vincent Millay,
Recuerdo 1211
John Milton,
How soon hath time 1212
John Milton,
When I consider how my light is spent 1212
Marianne Moore,
Poetry 1213
Frederick Morgan,
The Master 1214
Marilyn Nelson,
A Strange Beautiful Woman 1215
Howard Nemerov,
The War in the Air 1216
Lorine Niedecker,
Sorrow Moves in Wide Waves 1217
Yone Noguchi,
A Selection of Hokku 1218
Sharon Olds,
The One Girl at the Boys' Party 1219
Wilfred Owen,
Anthem for Doomed Youth 1220
Linda Pastan,
Ethics 1220
Robert Phillips,
Running on Empty 1221
Sylvia Plath,
Daddy 1222
Edgar Allan Poe,
A Dream within a Dream 1225
Alexander Pope,
A little Learning is a dang'rous Thing 1226
Ezra Pound,
The River-Merchant's Wife: a Letter 1226
Dudley Randall,
A Different Image 1228
John Crowe Ransom,
Piazza Piece 1229
Henry Reed,
Naming of Parts 1229
Adrienne Rich,
Living in Sin 1230
Adrienne Rich,
Power 1231
Edwin Arlington Robinson,
Miniver Cheevy 1232
Theodore Roethke,
Elegy for Jane 1233
Mary Jo Salter,
Welcome to Hiroshima 1234
William Shakespeare,
When, in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes 1236
William Shakespeare,
Not marble nor the gilded monuments 1237
William Shakespeare,
Weary with toll, I Haste me to my bed 1237
William Shakespeare,
That time of year thou mayst in me behold 1238
William Shakespeare,
My Mistress eyes are nothing like the sun 1238
Louis Simpson,
American Poetry 1239
David R. Slavitt,
Titanic 1239
Christopher Smart,
For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry 1240
William Jay Smith,
American Primitive 1242
Cathy Song,
Stamp Collecting 1243
William Stafford,
The Farm on the Great Plains 1244
Wallace Stevens,
Peter Quince at the Clavier 1245
Wallace Stevens,
The Emperor of Ice-Cream 1247
Ruth Stone,
Second Hand Coat 1248
Jonathan Swift,
A Description of the Morning 1248
Alfred, Lord Tennyson,
Dark house, by which once more I stand 1248
Alfred, Lord Tennyson,
Ulysses 1250
Dylan Thomas,
Fern Hill 1252
John Updike,
Ex-Basketball Player 1253
Amy Uyematsu,
The Ten Million Flames of los Angeles 1255
Derek Walcott,
The Virgins 1257
Edmund Waller,
Go, Lovely Rose 1258
Walt Whitman,
A Noiseless Patient Spider 1258
Walt Whitman,
I Hear America Singing 1259
Richard Wilbur,
The Writer 1260
C. K. Williams,
Elms 1261
William Carlos Williams,
Spring and All 1261
William Carlos Williams,
To Waken an Old Lady 1262
William Wordsworth,
Composed upon Westminster Bridge 1263
James Wright,
A Blessing 1264
James Wright,
Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio 265
Mary Sidney Wroth,
In this strange labyrinth 1265
Sir Thomas Wyatt,
They flee from me that sometime did me sekæ 1266
William Butler Yeats,
Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop 1267
William Butler Yeats,
The Magi 1267
William Butler Yeats,
When You Are Old 1267
32
Lives of the Poets 1269
Drama 1317
33
Reading a Play 1321
A Play in Its Elements 1323
Susan Glaspell,
Trifles 1323
Was Minnie Wright to blame for the death of her husband? While the menfolk try to unravel a mystery, two women in the kitchen turn up revealing clues.
Tragedy 1338
John Millington Synge,
Riders to the Sea 1339
From her island home off the west coast of Ireland, Maurya has already lost seven loved ones to the sea. How can she stop her youngest son from venturing forth?
Comedy 1349
David Ives,
Sure Thing 1351
Bill wants to pick up Betty in a cafe, but he makes every mistake in the book. Luckily, he not only gets a second chance, but a third and a fourth as well.
Jare Martin,
Beauty
We've all wanted to be someone else at one time or another. But what would happen if we got our wish?
Writer's Perspective
Susan Glaspell on Drama,
Creating Trifles 1367
Writing Critically
Conflict Resolution 1368
Writing Assignment 1369
Student Essay
Outside Trifles 1369
Further Suggestions for Writing 1374
34
Critical Casebook: Sophocles 1375
The Theater of Sophocles 1375
Staging 1375
The Civic Role of Greek Drama 1379
Aristotle's Concept of Tragedy 1380
Sophocles 1382
Plays
The Origins of Oedipus the King 1382
Sophocles,
Oedipus the King (Translated by ?? Fagles) 1383
"Who is the man proclaimed / by Delphi's prophetic rock / as the bloody handed murderer, / the doer of deeds that none dare name? / . . . Terribly close on his heels are the Fates that never miss."
The Background of AntigonÉ 1424
Sophocles,
AntigonÉ (Translated by Richart Fagles) 1425
In one of the great plays of classical Greek drama, a daughter of Oedipus strives to give the body of her slain brother a proper burial. Soon she finds herself in conflict with a king.
Robert Fitzgerald on Sophocles
Robert Fitzgerald,
Translating Sophocles 1456
Critics on Sophocles
Aristotle,
Defining Tragedy 1457
Sigmund Freud,
The Destiny of Oedipus 1458
E. R. Dodds,
On Misunderstanding Oedipus 1459
A. E. Haigh,
The Irony of Sophocles 1460
Patricia M. Lines,
AntigonÉ's Flaw 1462
Writing Critically
Some Things Change, Some Things Don't 1464
Writing Assignment 1465
Further Suggestions For Writing 1465
35
Critical Casebook: Shakespeare 1466
The Theater of Shakespeare 1466
William Shakespeare 1468
Plays
A Note on Othello 1468
William Shakespeare,
Othello, the Moor of Venice 1469
Here is a story of jealousy, that "green-eyed monster which doth mock / The meat it feeds on"-of a passionate, suspicious man and his blameless wife, of a serpent masked as a friend.
The Background of Hamlet 1568
William Shakespeare,
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 1569
In perhaps the most celebrated play in English, a ghost demands that young Prince Hamlet avenge his father's "most foul and unnatural murder." But how can Hamlet be sure that the apparition is indeed his father's spirit?
The Background of A Midsummer Night's Dream 1682
William Shakespeare,
A Midsummer Night's Dream 1683
"The course of true love never did run smooth" is the right motto for this romantic comedy in which love, magic, and mistaken identity combine for madcap results.
Ben Jonson on Shakespeare
Ben Jonson,
On His Friend and Rival William Shakespeare 1742
Critics on Shakespeare
A. C. Bradley,
Hamlet's Melancholy 1743
Rebecca West,
Hamlet and Ophelia 1744
Jan Kott,
Producing Hamlet 1745
Joel Wingard,
Reader-Response Issues in Hamlet 1747
W. H. Auden,
Iago as a Triumphant Villain 1748
Maud Bodkin,
Lucifer in Shakespeare's Othello 1749
Virginia Mason Vaughan,
Black and White in Othello 1749
Anthony Burgess,
An Asian Culture Looks at Shakespeare 1750
John Russell Brown,
Recognizing Love in A Midsummer Night's Dream 1751
Germaine Greece,
Shakespeareis "Honest Mirth"
Linda Bamber,
Female Power in A Midsummer Night's Dream 1754
Writing Critically
Breaking the Language Barrier 1755
Writing Assignment 1755
Student Essay
Othello: Tragedy or Soap Opera? 1756
Further Suggestions For Writing 1761
36
The Modern Theater 1762
Realism and Naturalism 1762
Henrik Ibsen,
A Doll's House (Translated by James McFarlane) 1765
The founder of modern drama portrays a troubled marriage. Helmer, the bank manager, regards his wife Nora as a chuckleheaded pet-not knowing the truth may shatter his smug world.
Writer's Perspective
George Bernard Shaw on Drama,
Ibsen and the Familiar Situation 1822
Tragicomedy and the Absurd 1823
Tom Stoppard,
The Real Inspector Hound 1826
An isolated mansion, an escaped madman roaming the countryside, a drawing room full of suspects, and murder most foul. Who is the culprit? Perhaps Moon should never have asked.
Milcha Sanchez-Scatt,
The Cuban Swimmer 2023
Nineteen-year-old Margarita Sudrez wants to ?? a Southern California distance swimming race. Is her family behind her? Quire biterally!
Writer's Perspective
Milcha Sanchez-Scott on Drama,
Writing The Cuban Swimmer 2037
Writing Critically
What's So Realistic About Realism? 1867
Writing Assignment 1867
Student Essay
Helmer vs. Helmer 1868
Further Suggestions For Writing 1871
37
Evaluating a Play 1872
Writing Critically
Critical Performance 1873
Writing Assignment 1874
Further Suggestions For Writing 1874
38
Plays for Further Reading 1876
Arthur Miller,
Death of a Salesman 1877
Willy Loman has bright dreams for himself and his two sons, but he is an aging salesman whose only assets are a shoeshine and a smile. A modern classic about the downfall of an ordinary American.
Writer's Perspective
Arthur Miller on Drama,
Tragedy and the Common Man 1948
Tennessee Williams,
The Glass Menagerie 1951
Painfully shy and retiring, shunning love, Laura dwells in a world as fragile as her collection of tiny figurines-until one memorable night a gentleman comes to call.
Writer's Perspective
Tennessee Williams on Drama,
How to Stage The Glass Menagerie 2000
39
New Voices in American Drama 2003
Beth Henley,
Am I Blue Writer's Per Spective
Beth Henley,
A Playwright Is Born
His friends want to give John Polk a good time for his eighteenth birthday, but he finds something much more valuable instead.
David Henry Hwang,
The Sound of a Voice 2003
A strange man arrives at a solitary woman's home in the remote countryside. As they fall in love, they discover disturbing secrets about one another's past.
Writer's Perspective
David Henry Hwang on Drama,
Multicultural Theater 2018
Terrence McNally,
Andre's Mother 2019
After Andre's funeral the four people who loved him most walk into Central Park together. Three of them talk about their grief, but Andre's mother remains silent about her son, dead of AIDS.
Writer's Perspective
Terrence McNally on Drama,
How to Write a Play 2022
August Wilson,
Joe Turner's Come and Gone 2038
When Herald Loomis turns up at Seth Holly's boardinghouse, he arouses suspicion. And why is the voodoo man out in the garden burying a pigeon and praying over its blood?
Writer's Perspective
August Wilson on Drama,
Black Experience in America 2087
Writing 2089
40
Writing About Literature 2091
Beginning 2091
Keeping a Journal
Using Sources and Maintaining Academic Integrity
Taking Notes and Documenting Researched Material
Discovering Essay Ideas
Drafting and Revising, or Creativity vs. Analysis
The Form of Your Finished Paper
Using Spell-Check and Grammer-Check Programs
Anonymous, after a poem by Jerrold H. Zar,
A Little Poem Regarding Computer S?? heckers
41
Writing About a Story 2116
Explicating 2116
Sample Student Essay (Explication) 2117
Analyzing 2121
Sample Student Essay (Analysis) 2122
Sample Student Card Report 2126
Comparing and Contrasting 2128
Suggestions for Writing 2130
42
Writing About a Poem 2134
Explicating 2135
Robert Frost,
Design 2136
Sample Student Essay (Explication) 2136
Analyzing 2141
Sample Student Essay (Analysis) 2142
Comparing and Contrasting 2144
Abbie Huston Evans,
Wing-Spread 2144
Sample Student Essay (Comparison) 2145
How to Quote a Poem 2147
Before You Begin 2150
Suggestions for Writing 2151
Robert Frost,
In White (early draft of "Design") 2153
43
Writing About a Play 2155
Methods 2155
How to Quote a Play 2157
Writing a Card Report 2158
Sample Student Card Report 2160
Reviewing a Play 2162
Sample Student Drama Review 2163
Suggestions for Writing 2165
44
Writing a Research Paper
Doing Research for an Essay
Evaluating and Using Internet Sources
Guarding Academic Integrity
Acknowledging and Documenting Sources
Concluding Thoughts
Reference Guide for Citations
45
Critical Approaches to Literature 2168
Formalist Criticism 2169
Cleanth Brooks,
The Formalist Critic 2170
Michael Clark,
Light and Darkness in "Sonny's Blues" 2171
Robert Langbaum,
On Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" 2172
Biographical Criticism 2174
Virginia Llewellyn Smith,
Chekhov's Attitude to Romantic Love 2175
Brett C. Millier,
On Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art" 2177
Emily Toth,
The Source for AlcÄe LaballiÅre in "The Storm"
Historical Criticism 2180
Hugh Kenner,
Imagism 2181
Joseph Moldenhauer,
"To His Coy Mistress" and the Renaissance Tradition 2182
Barbara T. Christian,
"Everyday use" and the Black Power Movement
Psychological Criticism 2185
Sigmund Freud,
The Nature of Dreams 2186
Gfetchen Sa??uiz and R. T. R. Rockwood,
Fairy Jale Motifs in "Where Are You Gazy, Where Have You Been?"
Harold Bloom,
Poetic Influence 2189
Mythological Criticism 2189
C. J. Jung,
The Collective Unconscious and Archetypes 2190
Northrop Frye,
Mythic Archetypes 2191
Edmond Volpe,
Myth in Faulkner's "Barn Burning" 2192
Sociological Criticism 2194
Georg Lukacs,
Content Determines Form 2195
Daniel P. Watkins,
Money and Labor in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" 2196
Alfred Kazin,
Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln 2197
Gender Criticism 2198
Elaine Showalter,
Toward a Feminist Poetics 2199
Juliann Fleenor,
Gender and Pathology in "The Yellow Wallpaper" 2200
Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar,
The Freedom of Emily Dickinson 2201
Reader-Response Criticism 2202
Stanley Fish,
An Eskimo "A Rose for Emily" 2203
Robert Scholes,
"How Do We Make a Poem?" 2204
Michael J. Colacurcio,
The End of Young Goodman Brown 2206
Deconstructionist Criticism 2207
Roland Barthes,
The Death of the Author 2208
Barbara Johnson,
Rigorous Unreliability 2209
Geoffrey Hartman,
On Wordsworth's "A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal" 2210
Cultural Studies 2212
Vincent b. Leitch,
Poststructuralist Cultural Critique 2214
Mark Bauerlein,
What is Cultural Studies? 2215
Heather Glen,
The Stance of Observation in William Blake's "London" 2216
Glossary of Literary Terms G1
Acknowledgments A1
Index of First Lines of Poetry I8
Index of Authors and Titles I13
List of Authors (front endpapers)
Index of Literary Terms (back endpapers)




Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Literature Collections