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Sylvan Barnet, is a former Fletcher Professor of English Emeritus and director of writing at Tufts University. Barnet is the author of numerous books and articles on Shakespeare. He was the general editor of the Signet Classics Shakespeare, the author of A Short Guide for Writing about Art, and has written many textbooks about literature and drama. He is the co-author with William Burto of occasional essays on aspects of Japanese art. He has also written books about the art of writing.
William Burto is a former Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, where he served as chair of the Department of English. Burto is the co-author of several highly successful college textbooks on literature, drama, and composition. He was also the editor of the Signet Classic Edition of Shakespeare's sonnets and of Shakespeare's narrative poems.
William E. Cain is Mary Jewett Gaiser Professor of English at Wellesley College. Among his many publications is a monograph on American literary and cultural criticism, 1900-1945, in The Cambridge History of American Literature, vol. 5 (2003). He is a co-editor of the Norton Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism (2nd ed., 2010), and, with Sylvan Barnet, he co-authored a wide variety of books on literature and composition. His recent publications include essays on Ralph Ellison, Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, Shakespeare, Edith Wharton, and Willa Cather.
Cheryl Nixon is an Associate Professor of English and Chair of the English Department at UMass-Boston. In addition to her undergraduate courses, she teaches graduate Teaching of Literature courses and works with a staff of teaching interns to design and deliver general-education literature courses. Her courses feature project-based assignments and she often uses out-of-classroom learning to spark curiosity about literature. For example, she has worked with students to create rare books exhibitions for the Boston Public Library, including “Crooks, Rogues, and Maids Less than Virtuous: Books in the Streets of 18th-Century London.” Her research focuses on literary and legal representations of the family, and her recent works include The Orphan in Eighteenth-Century Law and Literature: Estate, Blood, and Body and Novel Definitions: An Anthology of Commentary on the Novel, 1688-1815.
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 • Désirée’s Baby
Sample Student Analytical Essay: “Race and Identity in ‘Désirée’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 BRONTË • 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 García Márquez • 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 • I s 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 GLÜCK • 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 ANZALDÚA • 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 • Résumé
CLAUDE McKAY • If We Must Die
JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA • Cloudy Day
CAROLYN FORCHÉ • 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
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