Literature to Go

by Meyer, Michael

• ISBN13: 9781319037260
• ISBN10: 1319037267
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2016-08-19
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

Through carefully selected stories, poems, and plays spanning time periods, cultures, and voices, Literature to Go teaches you to read more closely and write more intentionally about literature.

Author Biography

Michael Meyer has taught writing and literature courses for more than thirty years—since 1981 at the University of Connecticut and before that at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the College of William and Mary. In addition to being an experienced teacher, Meyer is a highly regarded literary scholar. His scholarly articles have appeared in distinguished journals such as American Literature, Studies in the American Renaissance, and Virginia Quarterly Review. An internationally recognized authority on Henry David Thoreau, Meyer is a former president of the Thoreau Society and coauthor (with Walter Harding) of The New Thoreau Handbook, a standard reference source. The American Studies Association awarded his first book, Several More Lives to Live: Thoreau’s Political Reputation in America, the Ralph Henry Gabriel Prize. . He is also the editor of Frederick Douglass: The Narrative and Selected Writings. He has lectured on a variety of American literary topics from Cambridge University to Peking University. His books for Bedford/St. Martin's include The Bedford Introduction to Literature; The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature; Literature to Go; Poetry: An Introduction; and Thinking and Writing about Literature.

Table of Contents

Contents

Resources for Reading and Writing about Literature
Preface for Instructors

INTRODUCTION: READING IMAGINATIVE LITERATURE
The Nature of Literature
EMILY DICKINSON, A narrow Fellow in the Grass
The Value of Literature
The Changing Literary Canon

FICTION 

The Elements of Fiction

1. Reading Fiction
Reading Fiction Responsively
KATE CHOPIN, The Story of an Hour
A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Section of “The Story of an Hour”
A SAMPLE PAPER: Differences in Responses to Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”
Explorations and Formulas
A COMPARISON OF TWO STORIES
     KAREN VAN DER ZEE, From A Secret Sorrow 
     GAIL GODWIN, A Sorrowful Woman

2. Plot
EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS, From Tarzan of the Apes
*LYDIA DAVIS, Negative Emotions
WILLIAM FAULKNER, A Rose for Emily
ANDRE DUBUS, Killings

3. Character
CHARLES DICKENS, From Hard Times
MAY-LEE CHAI, Saving Sourdi
*RON CARLSON, Max
HERMAN MELVILLE, Bartleby, the Scrivener
 
4. Setting
ERNEST HEMINGWAY, Soldier’s Home
FAY WELDON, IND AFF, or Out of Love in Sarajevo
*MARK HALLIDAY, Young Man on Sixth Avenue

5. Point of View
Third-Person Narrator
First-Person Narrator
JOHN UPDIKE, A & P
DAVID UPDIKE, Summer
*CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN, If I Were a Man
MAGGIE MITCHELL, It Would Be Different If
 
6. Symbolism
TOBIAS WOLFF, That Room
RALPH ELLISON, Battle Royal
*MICHAEL OPPENHEIMER, The Paring Knife

7. Theme
EDGAR ALLAN POE, The Cask of Amontillado
*GAVIN FORD KOVITE, When Engaging Targets, Remember
JOYCE CAROL OATES, Hi Howya Doin’

8. Style, Tone, and Irony
Style
Tone
Irony

RAYMOND CARVER, Popular Mechanics
SUSAN MINOT, Lust
RICK MOODY, Boys
*GEOFF WYSS, How to Be a Winner

Fiction in Depth 

9. A Study of Flannery O’Connor
A Brief Biography and Introduction
FLANNERY O’CONNOR, A Good Man Is Hard to Find
PERSPECTIVES ON O’CONNOR
     FLANNERY O’CONNOR, On the Use of Exaggeration and Distortion
     JOSEPHINE HENDIN, On O’Connor’s Refusal to “Do Pretty”
     CLAIRE KATZ, The Function of Violence in O’Connor’s Fiction 
     TIME MAGAZINE, On “A Good Man is Hard to Find”

10. A Study of Dagoberto Gilb: The Author Reflects on Three Stories
A Brief Biography and An Introduction to His Work
INTRODUCTION: DAGOBERTO GILB, How Books Bounce
ESSAY: DAGOBERTO GILB, On Writing Love in L.A.
STORY: DAGOBERTO GILB: Love in L.A.
ESSAY: DAGOBERTO GILB, On Writing Shout
STORY: DAGOBERTO GILB: Shout
ESSAY: DAGOBERTO GILB, On Writing Uncle Rock
STORY: DAGOBERTO GILB, Uncle Rock
PERSPECTIVES
     DAGOBERTO GILB, On Physical Labor
     DAGOBERTO GILB, On Distortions of Mexican American Culture
     Michael Meyer Interviews Dagoberto Gilb
FACSIMILIES: Two Draft Manuscript Pages
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers

A Collection of Stories

11. Stories for Further Reading
*TONI CADE BAMBERA, Sweet Town
*STEPHEN CRANE, An Episode of War
*NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, Wakefield
JAMES JOYCE, Eveline
JAMAICA KINCAID, Girl
ANNIE PROULX, 55 Miles to the Gas Pump
MARK TWAIN, The Story of the Good Little Boy

POETRY

THE ELEMENTS OF POETRY

12. Reading Poetry
Reading Poetry Responsively
LISA PARKER, Snapping Beans
ROBERT HAYDEN, Those Winter Sundays
JOHN UPDIKE, Dog’s Death
The Pleasure of Words
WILLIAM HATHAWAY, Oh, Oh
A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Version of “Oh, Oh”
ROBERT FRANCIS, Catch
A SAMPLE STUDENT ANALYSIS: Tossing Metaphors Together in Robert Francis’s “Catch”
PHILIP LARKIN, A Study of Reading Habits
ROBERT MORGAN, Mountain Graveyard
E. E. CUMMINGS, l(a
ANONYMOUS, Western Wind
REGINA BARRECA, Nighttime Fires
Suggestions for Approaching Poetry
BILLY COLLINS, Introduction to Poetry
Poetry in Popular Forms
HELEN FARRIES, Magic of Love
JOHN FREDERICK NIMS, Love Poem
Poems for Further Study
CORNELIUS EADY, The Supremes
*TED KOOSER, Selecting a Reader
ALBERTO RÍOS, Seniors
*WILLA CATHER, Prairie Song
*ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, The Eagle
ROBERT FROST, Design
*EDGAR ALLAN POE, To Science
MARY OLIVER, The Poet with His Face in His Hands
 
13. Word Choice, Word Order, and Tone
Word Choice
Diction
Denotations and Connotations
RANDALL JARRELL, The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
Word Order
Tone
*ANGELA ALAIMO O’DONNELL, Messenger
KATHARYN HOWD MACHAN, Hazel Tells LaVerne
MARTÍN ESPADA, Latin Night at the Pawnshop
PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR, To a Captious Critic
Diction and Tone in Four Love Poems
ROBERT HERRICK, To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
ANDREW MARVELL, To His Coy Mistress
ANN LAUINGER, Marvell Noir
SHARON OLDS, Last Night
PERSPECTIVE: GENE WEINGARTEN, DAN WEINGARTEN, AND DAVID CLARK, Barney and Clyde
Poems for Further Study
*WALT WHITMAN, The Dalliance of Eagles
THOMAS HARDY, The Convergence of the Twain
DAVID R. SLAVITT, Titanic
*DANUSHA LAMERIS, Names
MARY OLIVER, Oxygen
*ALICE JONES, The Lungs
GWENDOLYN BROOKS, We Real Cool
JOAN MURRAY, We Old Dudes
LOUIS SIMPSON, In the Suburbs
JOHN KEATS, Ode on a Grecian Urn

14. Images
Poetry’s Appeal to the Senses

WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, Poem
WALT WHITMAN, Cavalry Crossing a Ford
DAVID SOLWAY, Windsurfing
MATTHEW ARNOLD, Dover Beach
RUTH FORMAN, Poetry Should Ride the Bus
Poems for Further Study
*ADELAIDE CRAPSEY, November Night
WILLIAM BLAKE, London
*CHALRES SIMIC, Fork
*SEAMUS HEANEY, The Pitchfork
EMILY DICKINSON, Wild Nights—Wild Nights!
WILFRED OWEN, Dulce et Decorum Est
RUTH FAINLIGHT, Crocuses
SALLY CROFT, Home-Baked Bread
JOHN KEATS, To Autumn
*STEPEHEN CRANE, The Wayfarer

15. Figures of Speech
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, From Macbeth (Act V, Scene v)
Simile and Metaphor
MARGARET ATWOOD, you fit into me
EMILY DICKINSON, Presentiment — is that long Shadow—on the lawn—
ANNE BRADSTREET, The Author to Her Book
Other Figures
EDMUND CONTI, Pragmatist
DYLAN THOMAS, The Hand That Signed the Paper
JANICE TOWNLEY MOORE, To a Wasp
J. PATRICK LEWIS, The Unkindest Cut
Poems for Further Study
GARY SNYDER, How Poetry Comes to Me
*KAY RYAN, Learning
ERNEST SLYMAN, Lightning Bugs
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, To Waken an Old Lady
JUDY PAGE HEITZMAN, The Schoolroom on the Second Floor of the Knitting Mill  
*MARTÍN ESPADA, The Mexican Cabdriver’s Poem for His Wife, Who Has Left Him
ROBERT FROST, Fire and Ice
JOHN DONNE, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
JIM STEVENS, Schizophrenia
*LUCILLE CLIFTON, Come Home from the Movies

16. Symbol, Allegory, and Irony
Symbol
ROBERT FROST, Acquainted with the Night
Allegory
EDGAR ALLAN POE, The Haunted Palace
Irony
EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON, Richard Cory
KENNETH FEARING, AD
E. E. CUMMINGS, next to of course god america i
STEPHEN CRANE, A Man Said to the Universe
Poems for Further Study
BOB HICOK, Making it in poetry
KEVIN PIERCE, Proof of Origin
*CARL SANDBURG, A Fence
*JANE KENYON, Not Writing
JIM TILLEY, Boys
ALDEN NOWLAN, The Bull Moose
JULIO MARZÁN, Ethnic Poetry
*PAUL MULDOON, Symposium
MARK HALLIDAY, Graded Paper
ROBERT BROWNING, My Last Duchess
*WILLIAM BLAKE, A Poison Tree

17. Sounds
Listening to Poetry
JOHN UPDIKE, Player Piano
EMILY DICKINSON, A Bird came down the Walk—
Rhyme
RICHARD ARMOUR, Going to Extremes
ROBERT SOUTHEY, From “The Cataract of Lodore”
*ANDREW HUDGINS, The Ice-Cream Truck
Poems for Further Study
LEWIS CARROLL (CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON), Jabberwocky
*KAY RYAN, Dew
EMILY DICKINSON, I heard a Fly buzz—when I Died
ROBERT FROST, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
WILLIAM HEYEN, The Trains
*JEAN TOOMER, Unsuspecting
JOHN DONNE, Song
PAUL HUMPHREY, Blow
ROBERT FRANCIS, The Pitcher
HELEN CHASIN, The Word Plum

18. Patterns of Rhythm
Some Principles of Meter
WALT WHITMAN, From “Song of the Open Road”
*SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, Mnemonic
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, My Heart Leaps Up
Suggestions for Scanning a Poem
TIMOTHY STEELE, Waiting for the Storm
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, That the Night Come
Poems for Further Study
JOHN MALONEY, Good!
WILLIAM TROWBRIDGE, Drumming Behind You in the High School Band
*VIRGINIA HAMILTON ADAIR, Pro Snake
ALICE JONES, The Foot
ROBERT HERRICK, Delight in Disorder
*E.E. CUMMINGS, O Sweet Spontaneous
WILLIAM BLAKE, The Lamb
WILLIAM BLAKE, The Tyger
ROBERT FROST, “Out, Out—”

19. Poetic Forms
Some Common Poetic Forms
A. E. HOUSMAN, Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
ROBERT HERRICK, Upon Julia’s Clothes
Sonnet
JOHN KEATS, On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, The World Is Too Much with Us
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun
R.S. GWYNN, Shakespearean Sonnet
*THOMAS HARDY, At the Altar-Rail
SHERMAN ALEXIE, The Facebook Sonnet
Villanelle
DYLAN THOMAS, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
Sestina
FLORENCE CASSEN MAYERS, All-American Sestina
Epigram
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, What Is an Epigram?
DAVID MCCORD, Epitaph on a Waiter
PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR, Theology
Limerick
ARTHUR HENRY REGINALD BUTLER, There was a young lady named Bright
LAURENCE PERRINE, The limerick’s never averse
Haiku
MATSUO BASHO, Under cherry trees
CAROLYN KIZER, After Basho
*AMY LOWELL, Last Night That It Rained
*GARY SNYDER, A Dent in a Bucket
Elegy
BEN JONSON, On My First Son
*ANDREW HUDGINS, Elegy for My Father Who Is Not Dead
Ode
*ALEXANDER POPE, Ode on Solitude
Parody
BLANCHE FARLEY, The Lover Not Taken
PERSPECTIVE: ELAINE MITCHELL, Form
Picture Poem
MICHAEL MCFEE, In Medias Res

20. Open Form
WALT WHITMAN, From “I Sing the Body Electric” 
DAVID SHUMATE, Shooting the Horse
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, The Red Wheelbarrow
*MICHAEL RYAN, I
JULIO MARZÁN, The Translator at the Reception for Latin American Writers
ANONYMOUS, The Frog
*CHARLES HARPER WEBB, Descent
NATASHA TRETHEWEY, On Captivity
*DAVID HERNANDEZ, All-American
*E.E. CUMMINGS, Old Age Sticks
Found Poem
DONALD JUSTICE, Order in the Streets

Poetry in Depth

21. A Study of Billy Collins: The Author Reflects on Five Poems
A Brief Biography and an Introduction to His Work
INTRODUCTION: BILLY COLLINS, How Do Poems Travel?
POEM: BILLY COLLINS, Osso Buco
ESSAY: BILLY COLLINS, On Writing “Osso Buco”
POEM: BILLY COLLINS, Nostalgia
ESSAY: BILLY COLLINS, On Writing “Nostalgia”
POEM: BILLY COLLINS, Questions About Angels
ESSAY: BILLY COLLINS, On Writing “Questions About Angels”
POEM: BILLY COLLINS, Litany
ESSAY: BILLY COLLINS, On Writing “Litany”
POEM: BILLY COLLINS, Building with Its Face Blown Off
PERSPECTIVE: On “Building with Its Face Blown Off”: Michael Meyer Interviews Billy Collins
FACSIMILE: BILLY COLLINS, Draft Manuscript Page of “Busy Day”
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers
Questions for Writing about an Author in Depth

22. A Thematic Case Study: The World of Work
DANA GIOIA, Money
TONY HOAGLAND, America
JAN BEATTY, My Father Teaches Me to Dream
MICHAEL CHITWOOD, Men Throwing Bricks
DAVID IGNATOW, The Jobholder
JOYCE SUTPHEN, Guys Like That
*TED KOOSER, Laundry
MARGE PIERCY, To be of use
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers

A Collection of Poems

23. Poems for Further Reading
ANONYMOUS, Bonny Barbara Allan
*APHRA BEHN, Song: Love Armed
WILLIAM BLAKE, Infant Sorrow
*ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways
ROBERT BURNS, A Red, Red Rose
*EMILY DICKINSON, Much Madness is divinest Sense—
*PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR, Sympathy
GEORGE ELIOT (MARY ANN EVANS), In a London Drawingroom
T.S. ELIOT, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
*RALPH WALDO EMERSON, Days
*ROBERT FROST, Dust of Snow
ROBERT FROST, The Road Not Taken
*THOMAS HARDY, I Looked Up from My Writing
FRANCES E. W. HARPER, Learning to Read
*GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS, Spring and Fall
*A. E. HOUSMAN, Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
LANGSTON HUGHES, Harlem
*GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON, Prejudice
BEN JONSON, To Celia
*JOHN KEATS, Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art—
JOHN KEATS, Written in Disgust of Vulgar Superstition
*D.H. LAWRENCE, How Beastly the Bourgeois Is
EMMA LAZARUS, The New Colossus
CLAUDE MCKAY, The Lynching
JOHN MILTON, When I consider how my light is spent
*EDGAR ALLEN POE, To Helen
*CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI, Uphill
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, That time of year thou mayst in me behold
*WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, When forty winters shall besiege thy brow
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, Ozymandias
LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY, Indian Names
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, Ulysses
WALT WHITMAN, When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer
*WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, Mutability
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, Leda and the Swan
* WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, The Lake Isle of Innisfree

DRAMA

The Study of Drama
 
24. Reading Drama
Reading Drama Responsively
SUSAN GLASPELL, Trifles
A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Section of Trifles
Elements of Drama 
JOAN ACKERMANN, Quiet Torrential Sound
Drama in Popular Forms
LARRY DAVID, “The Pitch,” a Seinfeld Episode

25. Sophocles and Greek Drama
Theatrical Conventions of Greek Drama
Tragedy
*SOPHOCLES, Oedipus the King (Translated by David Grene)

26. William Shakespeare and Elizabethan Drama
Shakespeare’s Theater
The Range of Shakespeare’s Drama: History, Comedy, and Tragedy
A Note on Reading Shakespeare
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Othello, The Moor of Venice

27. Henrik Ibsen and Modern Drama
Realism
Theatrical Conventions of Modern Drama
HENRIK IBSEN, A Doll’s House (Translated by R. Farquharson Sharp)

28. A Collection of Short Plays
*WENDY WASSERSTEIN, Tender Offer
MICHAEL HOLLINGER, Naked Lunch
SHARON E. COOPER, Mistaken Identity
*RICH ORLOFF, Playwriting 101: The Rooftop Lesson
DAVID HENRY HWANG, Trying to Find Chinatown
*DAVID IVES, Moby-Dude, Or: The Three-Minute Whale
JANE MARTIN, Rodeo
JANE ANDERSON, The Reprimand

CRITICAL THINKING AND WRITING

29. Reading and the Writing Process
The Purpose and Value of Writing about Literature
Reading the Work Closely
Annotating the Text and Journal Note Taking
     Annotated Text
     Journal Note
Choosing a Topic
Developing a Thesis
Arguing about Literature
Organizing a Paper
Writing a Draft
      Writing the Introduction and Conclusion
       Using Quotations
Revising and Editing
       QUESTIONS FOR WRITING: A REVISION CHECKLIST
Types of Writing Assignments

30. Writing about Fiction
From Reading to Writing
      QUESTIONS FOR RESPONSIVE READING AND WRITING
Analysis
      A SAMPLE STUDENT ANALYSIS: John Updike’s “A&P” as a State of Mind

31. Writing about Poetry
From Reading to Writing
      QUESTIONS FOR RESPONSIVE READING AND WRITING
Explication
A SAMPLE PAPER-IN-PROGRESS
      Mapping the Poem
      JOHN DONNE, Death Be Not Proud
      Asking Questions about the Elements
      A SAMPLE FIRST RESPONSE: First Response to John Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud”
      Organizing Your Thoughts
      A SAMPLE INFORMAL OUTLINE: Proposed Outline for Paper on John Donne’s             “Death  Be Not Proud”
       The Elements and Theme
        FINAL PAPER: A SAMPLE EXPLICATION
        The Use of Conventional Metaphors for Death in John Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud”
A SAMPLE STUDENT EXPLICATION
      EMILY DICKINSON, There’s a certain Slant of light
      A Reading of Emily Dickinson’s “There’s a certain Slant of light” 

32. Writing about Drama
From Reading to Writing
      QUESTIONS FOR RESPONSIVE READING AND WRITING
Comparison and Contrast
      A SAMPLE STUDENT COMPARISON: The Struggle for Women’s Self-Definition in Ibsen’s A Doll House and James Joyce’s Eveline

33. The Literary Research Paper
Choosing a Topic
Finding Sources
     Electronic Sources
Evaluating Sources and Taking Notes
Developing a Thesis and Organizing the Paper
Revising
Documenting Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
     The List of Works Cited
      Parenthetical References
A SAMPLE STUDENT RESEARCH PAPER: How William Faulkner’s Narrator Cultivates a Rose for Emily 

Glossary of Literary Terms
Index of First Lines
Index of Authors and Titles 
Index of Terms