A brief and very affordable guide to reading and writing about literature.Far less expensive than comparable guides, Reading and Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide is an ideal supplement for writing courses where literature anthologies and individual literary works that lack writing instruction are assigned. This brief guide introduces strategies for reading literature, explains the writing process and common writing assignments for literature courses, provides instruction in writing about fiction, poetry, and drama, and includes coverage of writing a research paper as well as sections on literary criticism and theory.
E-book
Read online (or offline) with all the highlighting and notetaking tools you need to be successful in this course.
Learn More
Achieve
Achieve is a single, easy-to-use platform proven to engage students for better course outcomes
Learn More
Preface for InstructorsBrief Contents1. INTRODUCTION TO READING AND WRITING ABOUT LITERATUREWhy Read Literature?Why Write about Literature?What to Expect in a Literature ClassLiterature and Enjoyment2. THE ROLE OF GOOD READINGThe Value of RereadingCritical ReadingThe Myth of “Hidden Meaning”Active Reading Annotating*WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, The Second Coming (Annotated Poem) Note Taking Journal Keeping Using Reference MaterialsQuestions for Active Reading: FictionQuestions for Active Reading: PoetryQuestions for Active Reading: DramaAsking Critical Questions of LiteratureBEN JONSON, On My First Son (Annotated Poem)Checklist for Good Reading3. THE WRITING PROCESSPrewriting Choosing a Topic *Developing an Argument*The Thesis Gathering Support for Your ThesisOrganizing Your PaperDrafting the PaperRevising and Editing Global Revision Checklist Local Revision ChecklistFinal Editing ChecklistPeer Editing and WorkshopsTips for Writing about LiteratureUsing Quotations EffectivelyQuoting from StoriesQuoting from PoemsQuoting from PlaysFormatting Your Paper4. COMMON WRITING ASSIGNMENTSSummaryResponse *ZORA NEALE HURSTON, Sweat *STUDENT ESSAY: Taylor Plantan, “A Response to ‘Sweat’”*Explication ROBERT HERRICK, Upon Julia’s Clothes STUDENT ESSAY: Jessica Barnes, “Poetry in Motion: Herrick”s “Upon Julia”s Clothes””*Analysis ROBERT BROWNING, My Last Duchess STUDENT ESSAY: Adam Walker, “Possessed by the Need forPossession: Browning”s “My Last Duchess””Comparison and Contrast CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, After Death STUDENT ESSAY: Todd Bowen, “Speakers for the Dead: Narrators in “My Last Duchess” and “After Death””Essay Exams WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Sonnet 73” ROBERT HERRICK, To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time STUDENT ESSAY EXAM: Midterm Essay5. WRITING ABOUT STORIESElements of Fiction Plot Character Point of View Setting Theme Symbolism StyleStories for Analysis CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN, The Yellow Wallpaper KATE CHOPIN, The Story of an Hour (Annotated Story) STUDENT ESSAY: An Essay that Compares and Contrasts: MelanieSmith, “Good Husbands in Bad Marriages”6. WRITING ABOUT POEMSElements of Poetry The Speaker The Listener Imagery Sound and SenseTwo Poems for Analysis WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Sonnet 116 (Annotated Poem) T.S. ELIOT, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (Annotated Poem) STUDENT ESSAY: An Explication: Patrick McCorkle, “Shakespeare Defines Love”7. WRITING ABOUT PLAYSElements of Drama Plot, Character, and Theme Diction Spectacle SettingHow to Read a Play Watching a Play The Director’s Vision SUSAN GLASPELL, Trifles STUDENT ESSAY: An Analysis: Sarah Johnson, “Moral Ambiguity and Character Development in Trifles”8. WRITING A LITERARY RESEARCH PAPERFinding SourcesEvaluating SourcesWorking with Sources Quotations *Paraphrases and Summaries Commentaries Keeping Track of Your SourcesWriting the Paper Refine Your Thesis Organize Your Evidence Start Your Draft Revise Edit and Proofread*Understanding and Avoiding PlagiarismWhat to Document and WhatNotto DocumentDocumenting Sources: MLA FormatIn-Text Citations Preparing Your Works Cited List *STUDENT ESSAY: Research Paper: Rachel McCarthy, “The Widening Gyres of Chaos in Yeats’s ‘The Second Coming’”9. LITERARY CRITICISM AND LITERARY THEORYFormalism and New CriticismFeminist and Gender CriticismQueer TheoryMarxist CriticismCultural StudiesPostcolonial CriticismHistorical Criticism and New HistoricismPsychological TheoriesReader-Response TheoriesStructuralismPoststructuralism and Deconstruction*EcocriticismGlossary of Critical and Literary TermsAcknowledgmentsIndex of Terms
Janet E. Gardner
Janet E. Gardnerwas Associate Professor of English at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, where she taught courses in drama, British and world literature, and writing for many years. She has published numerous articles, reviews, and chapters on contemporary drama, especially modern British drama and the work of Caryl Churchill.
Joanne Diaz
Joanne Diaz is the recipient of fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Sustainable Arts Foundation. She is the author of My Favorite Tyrants and The Lessons, and with Ian Morris, she is the co-editor of The Little Magazine in Contemporary America. She is a Professor of English at Illinois Wesleyan University.
DO DIGITAL WITH ACHIEVEA brief and very affordable guide to reading and writing about literature
A brief and very affordable guide to reading and writing about literature.Far less expensive than comparable guides, Reading and Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide is an ideal supplement for writing courses where literature anthologies and individual literary works that lack writing instruction are assigned. This brief guide introduces strategies for reading literature, explains the writing process and common writing assignments for literature courses, provides instruction in writing about fiction, poetry, and drama, and includes coverage of writing a research paper as well as sections on literary criticism and theory.
E-book
Read online (or offline) with all the highlighting and notetaking tools you need to be successful in this course.
Learn More
Achieve
Achieve is a single, easy-to-use platform proven to engage students for better course outcomes
Learn More
Preface for InstructorsBrief Contents1. INTRODUCTION TO READING AND WRITING ABOUT LITERATUREWhy Read Literature?Why Write about Literature?What to Expect in a Literature ClassLiterature and Enjoyment2. THE ROLE OF GOOD READINGThe Value of RereadingCritical ReadingThe Myth of “Hidden Meaning”Active Reading Annotating*WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, The Second Coming (Annotated Poem) Note Taking Journal Keeping Using Reference MaterialsQuestions for Active Reading: FictionQuestions for Active Reading: PoetryQuestions for Active Reading: DramaAsking Critical Questions of LiteratureBEN JONSON, On My First Son (Annotated Poem)Checklist for Good Reading3. THE WRITING PROCESSPrewriting Choosing a Topic *Developing an Argument*The Thesis Gathering Support for Your ThesisOrganizing Your PaperDrafting the PaperRevising and Editing Global Revision Checklist Local Revision ChecklistFinal Editing ChecklistPeer Editing and WorkshopsTips for Writing about LiteratureUsing Quotations EffectivelyQuoting from StoriesQuoting from PoemsQuoting from PlaysFormatting Your Paper4. COMMON WRITING ASSIGNMENTSSummaryResponse *ZORA NEALE HURSTON, Sweat *STUDENT ESSAY: Taylor Plantan, “A Response to ‘Sweat’”*Explication ROBERT HERRICK, Upon Julia’s Clothes STUDENT ESSAY: Jessica Barnes, “Poetry in Motion: Herrick”s “Upon Julia”s Clothes””*Analysis ROBERT BROWNING, My Last Duchess STUDENT ESSAY: Adam Walker, “Possessed by the Need forPossession: Browning”s “My Last Duchess””Comparison and Contrast CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, After Death STUDENT ESSAY: Todd Bowen, “Speakers for the Dead: Narrators in “My Last Duchess” and “After Death””Essay Exams WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Sonnet 73” ROBERT HERRICK, To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time STUDENT ESSAY EXAM: Midterm Essay5. WRITING ABOUT STORIESElements of Fiction Plot Character Point of View Setting Theme Symbolism StyleStories for Analysis CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN, The Yellow Wallpaper KATE CHOPIN, The Story of an Hour (Annotated Story) STUDENT ESSAY: An Essay that Compares and Contrasts: MelanieSmith, “Good Husbands in Bad Marriages”6. WRITING ABOUT POEMSElements of Poetry The Speaker The Listener Imagery Sound and SenseTwo Poems for Analysis WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Sonnet 116 (Annotated Poem) T.S. ELIOT, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (Annotated Poem) STUDENT ESSAY: An Explication: Patrick McCorkle, “Shakespeare Defines Love”7. WRITING ABOUT PLAYSElements of Drama Plot, Character, and Theme Diction Spectacle SettingHow to Read a Play Watching a Play The Director’s Vision SUSAN GLASPELL, Trifles STUDENT ESSAY: An Analysis: Sarah Johnson, “Moral Ambiguity and Character Development in Trifles”8. WRITING A LITERARY RESEARCH PAPERFinding SourcesEvaluating SourcesWorking with Sources Quotations *Paraphrases and Summaries Commentaries Keeping Track of Your SourcesWriting the Paper Refine Your Thesis Organize Your Evidence Start Your Draft Revise Edit and Proofread*Understanding and Avoiding PlagiarismWhat to Document and WhatNotto DocumentDocumenting Sources: MLA FormatIn-Text Citations Preparing Your Works Cited List *STUDENT ESSAY: Research Paper: Rachel McCarthy, “The Widening Gyres of Chaos in Yeats’s ‘The Second Coming’”9. LITERARY CRITICISM AND LITERARY THEORYFormalism and New CriticismFeminist and Gender CriticismQueer TheoryMarxist CriticismCultural StudiesPostcolonial CriticismHistorical Criticism and New HistoricismPsychological TheoriesReader-Response TheoriesStructuralismPoststructuralism and Deconstruction*EcocriticismGlossary of Critical and Literary TermsAcknowledgmentsIndex of Terms
Janet E. Gardner
Janet E. Gardnerwas Associate Professor of English at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, where she taught courses in drama, British and world literature, and writing for many years. She has published numerous articles, reviews, and chapters on contemporary drama, especially modern British drama and the work of Caryl Churchill.
Joanne Diaz
Joanne Diaz is the recipient of fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Sustainable Arts Foundation. She is the author of My Favorite Tyrants and The Lessons, and with Ian Morris, she is the co-editor of The Little Magazine in Contemporary America. She is a Professor of English at Illinois Wesleyan University.