Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, Compact Edition

by Roberts, Edgar V.; Jacobs, Henry E.

• ISBN13: 9780131534353
• ISBN10: 0131534351
• Additional ISBN(s): 9780132233927
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-01-01
• Publisher: Pearson
• More Book Details

Summary

For Introduction to Literature courses and Freshman Composition courses that emphasize writing about literature. Message: Roberts has the best coverage of writing about literature. Complete coverage of writing about each element and a total of 23 student essays with accompanying commentary ensure student comprehension of writing about literature and therefore, produce better student papers. Story: When Edgar Roberts taught literature and composition many years ago, a large part of his course work involved essay writing assignments. He would dedicate a substantial amount of his class time explaining how the students should prepare their writing assignments and he discovered that the more he described to his students what he wanted, and the longer he explained things, the better the final essays turned out to be. He realized that there was a direct correlation between the way he made his assignments and the quality of student work he received. However, giving his students such explicit essay-writing directions was taking up too much of his classroom time. At that point, Professor Roberts started to write and hand out directions, thus saving him valuable classroom time. Over the years, he tried and tested each assignment in his own classes. In addition to writing coverage, Professor Roberts recognized that literature classrooms needed both writing about literature instruction and an anthology to meet the needs of the literature and composition course. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, Compact Edition is founded on the principles of writing about literature. It is not an afterthought and it is not treated as a separate chapter or appendix; but rather, it is the carefully integrated philosophy of Professor Roberts approach to teaching literature and composition. In addition to his own contributions to the book, Professor Roberts has also made innumerable changes and improvements based on both student questions and student writing as well as from professor feedback. To this day, each new edition is revised and perfected based on professor and student needs to meet the changing needs of todays students.

Table of Contents

Topical and Thematic Table of Contents	xliii
Preface to the Third Compact Edition	lv
Introduction: Reading, Responding to, and Writing About Literature	1	(56)
What Is Literature, and Why Do We Study It?	1	(1)
Types of Literature: The Genres	2	(1)
Reading Literature and Responding to It Actively	3	(1)
The Necklace	4	(8)
Guy de Maupassant
To go to a ball, Mathilde Loisel borrows a necklace from a rich friend, but her rhapsodic evening has unforeseen consequences.
Reading and Responding in a Notebook or Computer File	12	(3)
Writing Essays on Literary Topics	15	(1)
The Goal of Writing: To Show a Process of Thought	16	(1)
Three Major Stages in Thinking and Writing: Discovering Ideas, Making Initial Drafts, and Completing the Essay	17	(1)
Discovering Ideas (``Brainstorming'')	18	(2)
The Need to Present an Argument when Writing Essays about Literature	20	(3)
Assembling Materials and Beginning to Write	23	(4)
Drafting the Essay	27	(1)
Writing by Hand, Typewriter, or Word Processor	28	(2)
Writing a First Draft	30	(1)
Using Verb Tenses in the Discussion of Literary Works	30	(2)
Developing an Outline	32	(1)
Using References and Quotations in Writing about Literature	33	(4)
Do Not Change the Spellings in Your Source	37	(1)
Demonstrative Student Essay (First Draft): How Setting in ``The Necklace'' Is Related to the Character of Mathilde	38	(2)
Developing and Strengthening Essays Through Revision	40	(4)
Checking Development and Organization	44	(2)
Using Exact, Comprehensive, and Forceful Language	46	(2)
Using the Names of Authors	48	(1)
Demonstrative Student Essay (Improved Draft): How Maupassant Uses Setting in ``The Necklace'' to Show the Character of Mathilde	49	(4)
Essay Commentaries	53	(1)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about the Writing Process	53	(4)
Reading and Writing About Fiction
Fiction: An Overview	57	(43)
Modern Fiction	58	(1)
The Short Story	59	(1)
Elements of Fiction I: Verisimilitude and Donnee	60	(1)
Elements of Fiction II: Character, Plot, Structure, and Idea or Theme	61	(3)
Elements of Fiction III: The Writer's Tools	64	(6)
Stories for Study	69	(1)
Neighbors	70	(4)
Raymond Carver
Bill and Arlene Miller are looking after the apartment of the Stones, their neighbors, whose life seems to be brighter and fuller than theirs.
A Rose for Emily	74	(6)
William Faulkner
Seemingly ordinary people hide deep and sometimes bizarre mysteries.
The Things They Carried	80	(11)
Tim O'Brien
In Vietnam, American soldiers carry not only their weighty equipment, but many memories.
Plot: the Motivation and Causation of Fiction	91	(2)
Writing about the Plot of a Story	93	(1)
Demonstrative Student Essay: Plot in Faulkner's ``A Rose for Emily''	94	(5)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Plot in Fiction	99	(1)
Structure: The Organization of Stories	100	(27)
Formal Categories of Structure	100	(2)
Formal and Actual Structure	102	(2)
Stories for Study	103	(1)
Everyday Use	104	(6)
Alice Walker
Mrs. Johnson with her daughter Maggie is visited by her citified daughter Dee, whose return home is accompanied by surprises.
A Worn Path	110	(6)
Eudora Welty
Phoenix Jackson walks a worn path on a mission of great love.
Blue Winds Dancing	116	(4)
Tom Whitecloud
At Christmas time, a young Indian student leaves college in California to return to his native village in Wisconsin.
Writing about Structure in a Story	120	(2)
Demonstrative Student Essay: The Structure of Eudora Welty's ``A Worn Path''	122	(4)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Structure	126	(1)
Characters: The People in Fiction	127	(61)
Character Traits	128	(1)
How Authors Disclose Character in Literature	129	(2)
Types of Characters: Round and Flat	131	(2)
Reality and Probability: Verisimilitude	133	(2)
Stories for Study	135	(1)
Paul's Case	135	(13)
Willa Cather
Paul is a boy whose imagination and wishes far exceed his capacity for fulfillment.
A Jury of Her Peers	148	(15)
Susan Glaspell
In the kitchen of a small family farmhouse early in the twentieth century, the wives of lawmen investigating a murder discover vitally important details. Their knowledge forces them to make an urgent decision.
Shopping	163	(9)
Joyce Carol Oates
Mrs. Dietrich and her daughter Nola go shopping on Saturday morning, but does their time together bring the intimacy that Mrs. Dietrich hopes for?
Two Kinds	172	(7)
Amy Tan
Jing-Mei follows her own wishes and leads her own kind of life despite the wishes and hopes of her mother.
Writing about Character	179	(3)
Demonstrative Student Essay: The Character of the Mother in Amy Tan's ``Two Kinds''	182	(5)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Character	187	(1)
Point of View: The Position or Stance of the Work's Narrator or Speaker	188	(40)
An Exercise in Point of View: Reporting an Accident	189	(2)
Conditions That Affect Point of View	191	(1)
Point of View and Opinions	191	(1)
Determining a Work's Point of View	192	(3)
Mingling Points of View	195	(1)
Point of View and Verb Tense	196	(1)
Summary: Guidelines for Points of View	196	(2)
Stories for Study	197	(1)
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge	198	(6)
Ambrose Bierce
A condemned man dreams of escape, freedom, and family.
The Song of Songs	204	(4)
Ellen Gilchrist
In despair and uncertainty, Barrett Clare receives a phone call from her birth mother, whose song is one of need.
The Lottery	208	(6)
Shirley Jackson
What would it be like if the prize at a community-sponsored lottery were not the cash that people ordinarily hope to win in lottery drawings?
How to Become a Writer	214	(5)
Lorrie Moore
There is more to becoming a writer than simply sitting down at a table and beginning to write.
Writing about Point of View	219	(3)
Demonstrative Student Essay: Bierce's Control over Point of View in ``An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge''	222	(5)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Point of View	227	(1)
Setting: The Background of Place, Objects, and Culture in Stories	228	(30)
What Is Setting?	228	(1)
The Literary Uses of Setting	229	(4)
Stories for Study	232	(1)
The Portable Phonograph	233	(5)
Walter Van Tilburg Clark
In civilized times, listening to music brings people together, but what happens in the future if war has destroyed civilization?
Araby	238	(4)
James Joyce
An introspective boy develops insights after keeping his promise to attend a street bazaar and trying to buy a gift.
The Shawl	242	(3)
Cynthia Ozick
In a Nazi concentration camp, can a mother preserve herself and also save her starving and crying baby?
The Masque of the Red Death	245	(5)
Edgar Allan Poe
In a time of plague, Prince Prospero surrounds himself with friends, locks his doors, and throws great parties, but an uninvited guest suddenly appears.
Writing about Setting	250	(2)
Demonstrative Student Essay: The Interaction of Story and Setting in James Joyce's ``Araby''	252	(5)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Setting	257	(1)
Tone and Style: The Words That Convey Attitudes in Fiction	258	(38)
Diction: The Writer's Choice and Control of Words	259	(4)
Tone, Irony, and Style	263	(1)
Tone, Humor, and Style	264	(1)
Stories for Study	265	(1)
The Story of an Hour	265	(2)
Kate Chopin
Louise Mallard is shocked by news of her husband's death, but there is still an even greater shock in store for her.
Soldier's Home	267	(5)
Ernest Hemingway
Harold Krebs, a veteran of World War I combat, returns home and discovers that adjusting to peacetime life is unsettling.
The Found Boat	272	(7)
Alice Munro
After the snows of winter have melted, young people begin learning about themselves as they start putting aside their childish ways.
First Confession	279	(6)
Frank O'Connor
Jackie as a young man recalls his mixed memories of the events surrounding his first childhood experience with confession.
Luck	285	(3)
Mark Twain
The career of a famous British general and knight is described by a follower who was there at all times.
Writing about Tone and Style	288	(2)
Demonstrative Student Essay: Frank O'Connor's Control of Tone and Style in ``First Confession''	290	(5)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Tone and Style	295	(1)
Symbolism and Allegory: Keys to Extended Meaning	296	(54)
Symbolism	296	(3)
Allegory	299	(1)
Fable, Parable, and Myth	300	(1)
Allusion in Symbolism and Allegory	301	(1)
Stories for Study	302	(1)
The Fox and the Grapes	302	(1)
Aesop
What do people say about the things that are denied to them?
The Myth of Atalanta	303	(1)
Anonymous
In ancient times, how did a superior woman maintain her power and integrity?
Unfinished Masterpieces	304	(3)
Anita Scott Coleman
Worthiness cannot rise when it is depressed by poverty and inequality.
Young Goodman Brown	307	(9)
Nathaniel Hawthorne
In colonial Salem, Goodman Brown has a bewildering encounter that changes his outlook on life and his attitudes toward the people around him.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son	316	(2)
St. Luke
Is there any limit to what a person can do to make divine forgiveness impossible?
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall	318	(6)
Katherine Anne Porter
At the very last, Granny Weatherall has her memories and is surrounded by her loving adult children.
The Chrysanthemums	324	(8)
John Steinbeck
On a small California ranch, Elisa Allen's sense of self-worth is raised.
The Thimble	332	(1)
Michel Tremblay
Can people capably shoulder the responsibilities that life delivers to them?
Writing about Symbolism or Allegory	333	(4)
Demonstrative Student Essay (Symbolism): Symbols of Light and Darkness in Porter's ``The Jilting of Granny Weatherall''	337	(5)
Demonstrative Student Essay (Allegory): The Allegory of Hawthorne's ``Young Goodman Brown''	342	(6)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Symbolism and Allegory	348	(2)
Idea or Theme: The Meaning and the Message in Fiction	350	(34)
Ideas and Assertions	350	(1)
Ideas and Issues	351	(1)
Ideas and Values	351	(1)
The Place of Ideas in Literature	352	(1)
How to Find Ideas	353	(3)
Stories for Study	355	(1)
The Lesson	356	(5)
Toni Cade Bambara
A group of children is taken to an expensive toy store, and some of the children draw conclusions about society and themselves.
The Horse Dealer's Daughter	361	(12)
D.H. Lawrence
Dr. Jack Fergusson and Mabel Pervin, whose lives have been indeterminate, find in each other a new reason for being.
The Hammon and the Beans	373	(3)
Americo Paredes
Are the principles of American liberty and equality to be confined to people of only one group, or should they be safeguards for everyone?
Writing about a Major Idea in Fiction	376	(3)
Demonstrative Student Essay: Toni Cade Bambara's Idea of Justice and Economic Equality in ``The Lesson''	379	(4)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Ideas	383	(1)
Six Stories for Additional Enjoyment and Study	384	(45)
Butler Snow	384	(6)
Robert Olen
From disrupted times and separate cultures, a man and a woman reach out to each other.
Before the Firing Squad	390	(5)
John Chioles
During World War II, in Nazi-occupied Greece, a young German soldier learns the importance of personal obligations.
The Curse	395	(4)
Andre Dubus
A man who has witnessed a gang attacking a defenseless woman experiences deep anguish and self-reproach.
The Yellow Wallpaper	399	(11)
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Who is that woman trying to crawl out of the yellow wallpaper?
A Good Man Is Hard to Find	410	(10)
Flannery O'Connor
``The grandmother didn't want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit some of her connections in east Tennessee. ...''
Home Soil	420	(5)
Irene Zabytko
After his son returns from the Vietnamese War, the narrator thinks of his own experiences in Ukraine during World War II.
Additional Research Questions---Emphasizing Online Research---On the Fiction in Part I	425	(4)
Reading and Writing about Poetry
Meeting Poetry: An Overview	429	(30)
The Nature of Poetry	429	(1)
Schoolsville	429	(2)
Billy Collins
What scenes of school are memorable and also droll?
Hope	431	(1)
Lisel Mueller
What is hope, and where do we find it?
Here a Pretty Baby Lies	432	(2)
Robert Herrick
Do nothing that might disturb this sleeping child.
Poetry of the English Language	434	(1)
How to Read a Poem	435	(1)
Studying Poetry	436	(1)
Sir Patrick Spens	437	(2)
Anonymous
What happens when Sir Patrick and his men go out to sea?
Poems for Study	439	(1)
My Last Duchess	440	(1)
Robert Browning
The Duke shows his dead wife's portrait to the envoy of the Count.
Because I Could Not Stop for Death	441	(1)
Emily Dickinson
Is Death an invited or uninvited guest?
Catch	442	(1)
Robert Francis
In what way is a poem like a baseball?
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening	443	(1)
Robert Frost
Why does the speaker tell about driving on after pausing to enjoy a winter scene?
The Man He Killed	444	(1)
Thomas Hardy
The battlefield soldier thinks about his fallen enemy.
Eagle Poem	445	(1)
Joy Harjo
How is prayer like the circular flight of the eagle?
The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner	445	(1)
Randall Jarrell
What was the duty, even at birth, of the ball turret gunner?
Ogichidag	446	(1)
Jim Northrup
What has been the life's purpose of three generations of men?
Where Children Live	447	(1)
Naomi Shihab Nye
What permanent effects do children produce on a home?
Sonnet 55: Not Marble, Nor the Gilded Monument	448	(1)
William Shakespeare
How can powerful rhyme outlive politics, war, and history?
Rush Hour	448	(1)
Elaine Terranova
Ordinary people often live in fear, and cannot tell others about it.
A Blessing	449	(1)
James Wright
Witnessing two ponies at the side of a road is a great blessing.
Writing a Paraphrase of a Poem	450	(1)
Demonstrative Student Paraphrase: A Paraphrase of Thomas Hardy's ``The Man He Killed''	451	(1)
Writing an Explication of a Poem	452	(2)
Demonstrative Student Essay: An Explication of Thomas Hardy's ``The Man He Killed''	454	(4)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about the Nature of Poetry	458	(1)
Words: The Building Blocks of Poetry	459	(35)
Choice of Diction: Specific and Concrete, General and Abstract	459	(1)
Levels of Diction	460	(1)
Special Types of Diction	461	(2)
Decorum: the Matching of Subject and Word	463	(1)
Syntax	464	(1)
Denotation and Connotation	465	(2)
The Naked and the Nude	467	(1)
Robert Graves
Word choices have profound effects on our perceptions.
Poems for Study	468	(1)
The Lamb	469	(1)
William Blake
Why is the lamb worthy of being blessed?
Green Grow the Rashes, O	470	(1)
Robert Burns
If one finds love, everything else is insignificant.
Jabberwocky	471	(1)
Lewis Carroll
Who is the Jabberwock, and why should he be fought?
An Apology for Using the Word ``Heart'' in Too Many Poems	472	(1)
Hayden Carruth
At present the word ``heart'' is needed as much as ever, and maybe even more.
Next to of course god america i	473	(1)
E.E. Cummings
Is this speaker saying anything significant, even if he has the platform?
Holy Sonnet 14: Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God	474	(1)
John Donne
Why is God's care superior to human reason?
The Fury of Aerial Bombardment	474	(1)
Richard Eberhart
What eternal truth does humankind possess?
Chemistry Experiment	475	(1)
Bart Edelman
What happens to personal relationships when people share in a failure?
Sonnet on the Death of Richard West	476	(1)
Thomas Gray
Why does the speaker believe he grieves in vain?
The Ruined Maid	477	(1)
Thomas Hardy
There are certain advantages to being ``ruined.''
Loveliest of Trees	478	(1)
A.E. Housman
What should we do with the time we have on earth?
Night Sounds	479	(1)
Carolyn Kizer
Everything is tinged with terror or nostalgia.
Of Being	480	(1)
Denise Levertov
What makes the world a mystery?
Desire	481	(1)
Molly Peacock
What greater reality can there be than the ``drive to feel?''
Naming of Parts	481	(1)
Henry Reed
What is a soldier really thinking of when listening to a lecture on the parts of a gun?
Richard Cory	482	(1)
Edwin Arlington Robinson
Can anyone ever experience or understand the personal pain of others?
Dolor	483	(1)
Theodore Roethke
What are the major costs of our commercial society?
I Think Continually of Those Who Were Truly Great	484	(1)
Stephen Spender
Does true greatness mean what we usually think it does?
Eating Poetry	484	(1)
Mark Strand
Can a person eat poetry? Is it fun? Can it be swallowed? Can it be digested?
Daffodils (I Wandered, Lonely as a Cloud)	485	(1)
William Wordsworth
The vision of springtime flowers provides ineffable delight.
Writing about Diction and Syntax in Poetry	486	(2)
Demonstrative Student Essay: Extraordinary Definitions in Stephen Spender's ``I Continually Think of Those Who Were Truly Great''	488	(4)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about the Words of Poetry	492	(2)
Imagery: The Poem's Link to the Senses	494	(36)
Responses and the Writer's Use of Detail	494	(1)
The Relationship of Imagery to Ideas and Attitudes	495	(1)
Types of Imagery	496	(1)
Cargoes	496	(1)
John Masefield
What do cargo-bearing ships tell us about the past and the present?
Anthem for Doomed Youth	497	(2)
Wilfred Owen
Sounds of war disturb and disrupt the sounds of peaceful rituals.
The Fish	499	(2)
Elizabeth Bishop
The speaker considers the battle-hardened fish she has caught.
Poems for Study	501	(1)
The Tyger	502	(1)
William Blake
Can it be that the source of good is also the source of evil?
Sonnets from the Portuguese, No 14: If Thou Must Love Me	503	(1)
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Is there any reason for Love beyond Love itself?
Kubla Khan	504	(1)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
What is the nature of Kubla Khan's dome of pleasure?
I Know I'm Not Sufficiently Obscure	505	(1)
Ray Durem
What does the speaker mean when he says that he is not ``sufficiently obscure''?
Preludes	506	(2)
T.S. Eliot
What is this life like, and what is it about?
Love Should Grow Up Like a Wild Iris in the Fields	508	(1)
Susan Griffin
If love should grow and be beautiful, why doesn't it?
Channel Firing	509	(2)
Thomas Hardy
What is loud enough to waken the dead, and what do the dead then think?
The Pulley	511	(1)
George Herbert
How does God draw people to belief and faith?
Spring	511	(1)
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Images of earthly spring lead to thoughts of Edenic paradise.
A Time Past	512	(1)
Denise Levertov
Can the fondest of memories persist despite disaffection and change?
The Voice You Hear When You Read Silently	513	(1)
Thomas Lux
How is our voice when reading silently the clearest voice we know?
Loving	514	(1)
Joyce Carol Oates
Love both connects and isolates lovers.
Abundance	515	(1)
Micheal O'Siadhail
Life is rich, and varied, and precious.
Photos of a Salt Mine	516	(2)
P.K. Page
How can a salt mine, of all things, be the subject of a poem?
In a Station of the Metro	518	(1)
Ezra Pound
What do people at the subway station resemble?
A Christmas Carol	518	(2)
Christina Rossetti
``Yet what I can I give Him, / Give my heart.''
Sonnet 130: My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun	520	(1)
William Shakespeare
What is the difference between real praise and exaggerated praise?
Composed upon Westminster Bridge	520	(1)
William Wordsworth
Can anything be more beautiful than the morning panorama of the city?
Writing about Imagery	521	(2)
Demonstrative Student Essay: Imagery in T.S. Eliot's ``Preludes''	523	(5)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Imagery in Poetry	528	(2)
Figures of Speech, or Metaphorical Language: A Source of Depth and Range in Poetry	530	(39)
Metaphors and Similes: The Major Figures of Speech	531	(1)
Characteristics of Metaphorical Language	532	(1)
On First Looking into Chapman's Homer	533	(1)
John Keats
A Renaissance translation of Homer's ancient epics is as exciting as discovering a new planet, or a new ocean.
Vehicle and Tenor	534	(1)
Other Figures of Speech	534	(1)
Bright Star	535	(2)
John Keats
How can a distant star be an incentive to be constant in love?
Let Us Take the Road	537	(2)
John Gay
Is it possible to turn lead to gold?
Poems for Study	539	(1)
Sonnet for You, Familiar Famine	539	(1)
Jack Agueros
``Nobody's waiting for any apocalypse to meet you, Famine!''
A Red, Red Rose	540	(1)
Robert Burns
The speaker compares the beauty of his love to the beauty of a rose.
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning	541	(1)
John Donne
The speaker tells his sweetheart not to worry when he is going on a trip.
The Iceberg Seven-eighths Under	542	(1)
Abbie Huston Evans
We know a great deal, but how much more do we not know?
The Convergence of the Twain	543	(2)
Thomas Hardy
People expected great things from a new and great passenger ship, but Fate did not share these expectations.
Remember	545	(1)
Joy Harjo
``Remember the dance that language is, that life is.''
Harlem	546	(1)
Langston Hughes
What can happen when hopeful dreams are suppressed?
To Autumn	546	(1)
John Keats
All seasons are beautiful, but autumn is especially beautiful
Sic Vila	547	(1)
Henry King
Life is like many different things and different actions.
Ars Poetica	548	(1)
Archibald Macleish
``A poem should not mean / But be.''
Reply to the Question: ``How Can You Become a Poet?''	549	(1)
Eve Merriam
To write a poem, you need to learn, memorize, feel, listen, watch, invent.
Conjoined	550	(1)
Judith Minty
Do married people really fit the image of a large onion? Is this idea possible?
A Work of Artifice	551	(1)
Marge Piercy
Culture and artifice stultify the lives of many women.
Metaphors	552	(1)
Sylvia Plath
What are these metaphors, and what are they about?
Looking at Each Other	552	(1)
Muriel Rukeyser
More is described here than simply looking.
Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?	553	(1)
William Shakespeare
What is it that gives life to thee?
Sonnet 30: When to the Sessions of Sweet Silent Thought	554	(1)
William Shakespeare
When thoughts are about loss, what other thoughts can restore them?
On Monsieur's Departure	555	(1)
Elizabeth Tudor
Queen Elizabeth I
This famous queen of England confesses that she, too, had secret uneasiness.
Earth Tremors Felt in Missouri	556	(1)
Mona Van Duyn
Human discontents may seem as great as actual earthquake tremors.
Facing West from California's Shores.	556	(1)
Walt Whitman
Despite a life of wandering, the speaker finds many questions still unanswered.
London, 1802	557	(1)
William Wordsworth
What can restore an aimless society to a sense of purpose?
I Find No Peace	558	(1)
Sir Thomas Wyatt
Why does the speaker say his loved one causes both delight and strife?
Writing about Figures of Speech	559	(3)
Demonstrative Student Paragraph: Wordsworth's Use of Overstatement in ``London, 1802''	562	(1)
Demonstrative Student Essay: Personification in Hardy's ``The Convergence of the Twain''	563	(4)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Figures of Speech in Poetry	567	(2)
Tone: The Creation of Attitude in Poetry	569	(39)
Tone, Choice, and Response	570	(1)
The First-Rate Wife	570	(1)
Cornelius Whur
What are we to make of this speaker of this poem?
Tone and the Need for Control	571	(1)
Dulce et Decorum Est	571	(2)
Wilfred Owen
Can ideals of war be sustained in the face of the reality of war?
Tone and Common Grounds of Assent	573	(1)
Tone and Irony	573	(1)
Tone in Conversation and Poetry	574	(1)
The Workbox	575	(2)
Thomas Hardy
This dialogue between a husband and wife reveals much about both.
Tone and Satire	577	(1)
Epigram from the French	577	(1)
Alexander Pope
The speaker presents a stinging but ironic insult.
Epigram, Engraved on the Collar of a Dog which I Gave to His Royal Highness	578	(1)
Alexander Pope
Are social pretensions confined only to human beings?
Poems for Study	578	(1)
I Wanted to Share My Father's World	579	(1)
Jimmy Carter
The former President explains that his ``father. . .will never cease to be'' alive in him.
homage to my hips	580	(1)
Lucille Clifton
The speaker takes delight in the power of her body.
The Names	580	(2)
Billy Collins
This memorial poem is dedicated to the victims of the attacks on September 11, 2001.
she being Brand /-new	582	(1)
E.E. Cummings
What do making love and driving a new car have in common?
I Am a Black Woman	583	(2)
Mari Evans
What anguish has an American black woman experienced?
Mid-term Break	585	(1)
Seamus Heaney
A student returns home on a heartbreaking occasion.
Theme for English B	586	(1)
Langston Hughes
This poem is a surprising response to a classroom English essay assignment.
My Childhood's Home	587	(2)
Abraham Lincoln
Many years before he became our sixteenth President, Abraham Lincoln revisited his boyhood home in Indiana.
The Planned Child	589	(1)
Sharon Olds
How important was the speaker to her mother?
Late Movies with Skyler	589	(2)
Michael Ondaatje
How can watching late movies bring two people together?
Dying	591	(1)
Robert Pinsky
What do all living beings have in common?
From Epilogue to the Satires, Dialogue I	592	(2)
Alexander Pope
What can be held sacred when morality is under attack?
Auschwitz	594	(1)
Salvatore Quasimodo
``No tree, no birds in the grey air / or above our thought''
Nothing Is Lost	595	(1)
Anne Ridler
In what ways do our ancestors still live?
My Papa's Waltz	596	(1)
Theodore Roethke
The speaker remembers things his father did after tanking up on whiskey.
A Description of the Morning	597	(1)
Jonathan Swift
Is there anything heroic about life at the beginnings of the day?
My Physics Teacher	598	(1)
David Wagoner
Classroom science demonstrations don't always work out as hoped for.
Dimensions	599	(1)
C.K. Williams
Would any world anywhere else be better than the one we have?
When You Are Old	600	(1)
William Butler Yeats
``One man'' fervently loved the ``pilgrim soul'' of his beloved.
Writing about Tone in Poetry	600	(3)
Demonstrative Student Essay: The Confident Tone of ``Theme for English B'' by Langston Hughes	603	(4)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Tone in Poetry	607	(1)
Form: The Shape of the Poem	608	(47)
Closed-Form Poetry	608	(1)
Types of Closed Forms	609	(2)
The Eagle	611	(4)
Alfred
Lord Tennyson
What words can describe this most majestic of all birds?
Spun in High, Dark Clouds	615	(1)
Anonymous
What is the essence of a winter snowfall?
Sonnet 116: Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds	616	(1)
William Shakespeare
In the face of adversity, uncertainty, and misfortune, true love remains constant.
Open-Form Poetry	617	(1)
Reconciliation	618	(1)
Walt Whitman
What does it take to reconcile human beings with each other?
Visual and Concrete Poetry	619	(1)
Easter Wings	620	(1)
George Herbert
How can God's grace be described and also pictured at the same time?
Poems for Study	621	(1)
One Art	622	(1)
Elizabeth Bishop
What is the greatest loss of all?
Sonnet	623	(1)
Billy Collins
How do you write a sonnet about a sonnet?
Buffalo Bill's	624	(1)
E.E. Cummings
What one thing happens to everyone, no matter how great they are?
To the Memory of Mr. Oldham	624	(1)
John Dryden
What can be said in a final goodbye?
Concord Hymn	625	(1)
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The ``embattled farmers'' who fought at Concord Bridge will never be forgotten.
The Colonel	626	(1)
Carolyn Forche
The Colonel is both gracious and brutal.
Desert Places	627	(1)
Robert Frost
What could be more frightening than the emptiness of outer space?
Nikki-Rosa	627	(1)
Nikki Giovanni
``Black love is Black wealth.''
Museum	628	(1)
Robert Hass
How can life go on despite many forces opposing it?
Virtue	629	(1)
George Herbert
There is one thing that gives everlasting life.
Mantle	630	(1)
William Heyen
Where is it now, all that youthfully athletic energy and glory?
Swan and Shadow	631	(1)
John Hollander
Have you ever seen a poem shaped like a swimming swan?
George Washington	632	(1)
John Hall Ingham
``The lives that serve the eternal verities / Alone do mold mankind.''
Ode to a Nightingale	633	(2)
John Keats
The nightingale's beautiful song provides a clue of eternal beauty.
In Bondage	635	(1)
Claude McKay
``Life is greater than the thousand wars / Men wage for it.''
On His Blindness	636	(1)
John Milton
We serve God best when we follow God's ways.
Ballad of Birmingham	637	(1)
Dudley Randall
A mother's hopes for her child's safety are outraged by terror.
The Waking	638	(1)
Theodore Roethke
What does it take to learn how to live?
Sonnet 73: That Time of Year Thou May'st in Me Behold	639	(1)
William Shakespeare
Love should be more strong.
Ode to the West Wind	640	(2)
Percy Bysshe Shelley
``Dead thoughts'' will someday, somewhere, somehow, create a new birth of life.
Ozymandias	642	(1)
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Evidence of a past superpower is lying in ruins on Egyptian sand.
Women	643	(1)
May Swenson
Women should be pedestals to men, or should they?
Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night	644	(1)
Dylan Thomas
What is, is, but we should not therefore accept it without rage.
Reapers	644	(1)
Jean Toomer
What is hurt by the continual march of progress?
The Shape of History	645	(1)
Charles Harper Webb
How can history be compared to the shape of a cone?
Poetics Against the Angel of Death	646	(1)
Phyllis Webb
Does the writing of poems preserve life despite inevitable death?
The Dance	647	(1)
William Carlos Williams
Brueghel's painting captures life in an active and joyous moment.
Writing about Form in Poetry	647	(2)
Demonstrative Student Essay: Form and Meaning in George Herbert's ``Virtue''	649	(5)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Poetic Form	654	(1)
Symbolism and Allusion: Windows to Wide Expanses of Meaning	655	(41)
Symbolism and Meanings	655	(2)
Snow	657	(1)
Virginia Scott
Tradition of place gives permanence to life.
Allusions
The Function of Symbolism in Poetry	658	(2)
Allusions and Meaning	660	(2)
Studying for Symbols and Allusions	662	(1)
Poems for Study	663	(1)
No Coward Soul Is Mine	663	(2)
Emily Bronte
``Faith shines equal, arming me from fear.''
Beach Glass	665	(1)
Amy Clampitt
Even the most beautiful objects come from sand and return to sand.
Say Not the Struggle Nought Availeth	666	(1)
Arthur Hugh Clough
``But westward, look, the land is bright.''
Delphi	667	(1)
Peter Davison
``The place is sacred with a sanctity / Now faded. ...''
The Canonization	668	(2)
John Donne
How does spiritual love parallel human love?
Hawk	670	(1)
Stephen Dunn
``It glides above the pines and I / turn back into the room ...''
The Geese	671	(1)
Jorie Graham
Should life be measured by wars and politics, or by everyday actions?
In Time of ``The Breaking of Nations''	672	(1)
Thomas Hardy
What continues even though kingdoms fade into nothingness?
The Collar	673	(1)
George Herbert
The speaker makes clear that he is completely devoted to the service of God.
Tears	674	(2)
Josephine Jacobsen
Why are tears uniquely human?
The Purse-Seine	676	(1)
Robinson Jeffers
The circle of the net is closing, and not just for the fish of the ocean.
La Belle Dame Sans Merci	677	(2)
John Keats
What happened when the knight met the lady in the meadows?
Next, Please	679	(1)
Philip Larkin
As soon as things come into the present they immediately become part of the past.
To His Coy Mistress	680	(2)
Andrew Marvell
Let us live our lives to the utmost, and let us do it now.
Wild Geese	682	(1)
Mary Oliver
The world goes on, life goes on, and love goes on.
The Spirit Is Too Blunt an Instrument	682	(1)
Anne Stevenson
The exactness of creation transcends the capacities of the human mind.
A Wedding Sonnet for the Next Generation	683	(1)
Judith Viorst
Love is a poem, and each life is a poem.
A Noiseless Patient Spider	684	(1)
Walt Whitman
In measureless oceans of space, the soul, like the spider, needs to find an anchor.
Year's End	685	(1)
Richard Wilbur
We always want more time, but is there ever to be more time?
The Second Coming	686	(1)
William Butler Yeats
What horrible, rough forces are being unleashed in our modern world?
Writing about Symbolism and Allusion in Poetry	687	(3)
Demonstrative Student Essay: Symbolism in Oliver's ``Wild Geese''	690	(4)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Symbolism and Allusion in Poetry	694	(2)
Myths: Systems of Symbolic Allusion in Poetry	696	(36)
Mythology as an Explanation of How Things Are	696	(4)
Mythology and Literature	700	(1)
Leda and the Swan	701	(2)
William Butler Yeats
We have the power to live, but do we have the knowledge?
Leda	703	(1)
Mona Van Duyn
Has the story of Leda been understood and properly told by male poets?
Six Poems Related to the Myth of Odysseus	704	(1)
Poems for Study	705	(1)
Penelope's Song	705	(1)
Louise Gluck
Penelope is waiting for Odysseus's return, but is she happy about it?
Odysseus	706	(1)
W. S. Merwin
When people wander, do they really ever have a sense of home?
Penelope	707	(1)
Dorothy Parker
Why should not Penelope be the one to be called brave?
The Suitor	707	(1)
Linda Pastan
This is the story that no one bothers to tell.
Ulysses	708	(2)
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
What can we learn from all our journeys and experiences?
Odyssey: 20 Years Later	710	(1)
Peter Ulisse
What is it like to return home after a seemingly endless journey?
Six Poems Related to the Myth of Icarus	711	(1)
Poems for Study	711	(1)
Flight 063	711	(2)
Brian Aldiss
It is up to us to be brave enough to overcome our challenges.
Musee des Beaux Arts	713	(1)
W. H. Auden
Even when someone suffers, not many people care.
Icarus	713	(1)
Edward Field
When you've been up, can you bear being down?
Waiting for Icarus	714	(1)
Muriel Rukeyser
Even if you stay home and do nothing but wait, life still has many frustrations.
To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph	715	(1)
Anne Sexton
Rejoice when brave and planned efforts succeed.
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus	716	(1)
William Carlos Williams
When there is so much to do, is there time to worry about someone else?
Three Poems Related to the Myth of the Phoenix	717	(1)
Poems for Study	717	(1)
Berceuse	717	(1)
Amy Clampitt
When something new arises, are things better than before?
Hunting the Phoenix	718	(1)
Denise Levertov
Is growth automatic, or must it be sought, and created?
The Phoenix Again	719	(1)
May Sarton
High above seas of grief, the phoenix will take flight.
Two Poems Related to the Myth of Oedipus	720	(1)
Poems for Study	720	(1)
Myth	721	(1)
Muriel Rukeyser
Why was Oedipus' answer to the Sphinx not inclusive?
On the Way to Delphi	721	(1)
John Updike
At the site of ancient Thebes, the home of Oedipus, all is changed, isn't it?
Two Poems Related to the Myth of Pan	722	(1)
Poems for Study	723	(1)
in Just-	723	(1)
E. E. Cummings
Who is this goat-footed balloonman, and what power does he have?
Song for a Forgotten Shrine to Pan	724	(1)
John Chipman Farrar
What is missing in life that the followers of Pan knew in ancient times?
Writing about Myths in Poetry	724	(2)
Demonstrative Student Essay: Myth and Meaning in Dorothy Parker's ``Penelope,''	726	(4)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Myths in Poetry	730	(2)
Two Poetic Careers: Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost	732	(36)
Emily Dickinson (1830--1886)	732	(1)
Life and Work	732	(4)
Poetic Characteristics	736	(1)
Poetic Subjects	737	(1)
Bibliographic Sources	738	(2)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about the Poetry of Dickinson	740	(1)
Poems by Emily Dickinson	740	(1)
After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes (J341, F372)	741
How can ceremony salve a wounded heart?
Because I Could Not Stop for Death (J712, F479), in Chapter 11	441	(301)
Is Death an invited or uninvited guest?
The Bustle in a House (J1078, F1108)	742	(1)
What actions follow a death in the family?
The Heart Is the Capital of the Mind (J1354, F1381)	742	(1)
What controls the mind and also the world?
I Cannot Live with You (J640, F706)	742	(2)
Why would life together be impossible?
I Died for Beauty -- but Was Scarce (J449, F448)	744	(1)
Beauty and Truth are insignificant in the face of death.
I Felt a Funeral in My Brain (J280, F340)	744	(1)
What is it like when knowledge ends?
I Heard a Fly Buzz -- When I Died (J465, F491)	744	(1)
What continues after the loss of vision and life?
I Like to See It Lap the Miles (J585, F383)	745	(1)
The railroad train is like a huge but playful monster.
I'm Nobody! Who Are You? (J288, F260)	745	(1)
Here's a riddle: What is the difference between Nobody and Somebody?
I Never Lost as Much But Twice (J49, F39)	746	(1)
I have been comforted twice, and I need comfort again.
I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed (J214, F207)	746	(1)
Here's another riddle: Who or what can taste a liquor that was never brewed?
Much Madness Is Divinest Sense (J435, F620)	746	(1)
Who makes and controls the definitions of madness and sanity?
My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close (J1732, F1773)	747	(1)
How deep is the grief when one parts with loved ones?
My Triumph Lasted Till the Drums (J1227, F1212)	747	(1)
Before doing battle, people should think of the horror of warfare.
One Need Not Be a Chamber - To Be Haunted (J670, F407)	747	(1)
One can wall out danger, but not the danger within oneself.
Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers (J216, F124)	748	(1)
When is one safe from natural and political changes?
Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church (J324, F236)	748	(1)
Does one need to attend church to practice religion?
The Soul Selects Her Own Society (J303, F409)	749	(1)
What is the effect of limiting one's life and friends?
Success Is Counted Sweetest (J67, F112)	749	(1)
Who recognizes success better than the unsuccessful?
Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant (J1129, F1263)	749	(1)
People sometimes cannot bear the immediate light of truth.
There's a Certain Slant of Light (J258, F320)	749	(1)
How can light coming in at a slant affect our souls?
This World Is Not Conclusion (J501, F373)	750	(1)
Why have believers borne contempt and crucifixion?
To Hear an Oriole Sing (J526, F402)	750	(1)
Is the song of an oriole a common or a divine thing?
Wild Nights-Wild Nights! (J249, F269)	751	(1)
Wild nights give moorage and peace to the spirit.
Robert Frost (1873--1963)	751	(1)
Life and Work	751	(3)
Poetic Characteristics	754	(1)
Poetic Subjects	755	(1)
Bibliographic Sources	756	(1)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about the Poetry of Robert Frost	757	(1)
Poems by Robert Frost (Chronologically Arranged)	757	(1)
The Tuft of Flowers (1913)	757	(2)
People work together whether they are together or apart.
Mending Wall (1914)	759	(1)
Is neighborliness created only by good fences?
Birches (1915)	760	(1)
How can life be compared to a boy swinging from a birch tree to the ground?
The Road Not Taken (1915)	761	(1)
How important is choosing the road that has been less traveled?
``Out, Out---'' (1916)	762	(1)
Shouldn't children play rather than work?
The Oven Bird (1916)	762	(1)
``There is a singer everyone has heard.''
Fire and Ice (1920)	763
Which is more destructive, rage or indifference?
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (1923) (Chapter 11)	443	(320)
Why does the speaker stop to look at the winter scene?
Misgiving (1923)	763	(1)
Falling autumn leaves suggest thoughts of continued life.
Nothing Gold Can Stay (1923)	763	(1)
What happens to dawn, and to spring days?
Acquainted with the Night (1928)	764
This genial poet confesses to having a dark side.
Desert Places (1936) (Chapter 17)	627	(137)
What could be more frightening than the emptiness of outer space?
Design (1936)	764	(1)
Is it design or destiny that governs life, from big to small?
The Silken Tent (1936)	765	(1)
How can one explain the attractiveness of a loved one?
The Gift Outright (1941)	765	(1)
``The land was ours before we were the land's.''
A Considerable Speck (1942)	765	(1)
What does the speaker feel glad about seeing ``on any sheet'' of paper?
Take Something like a Star (1943)	766	(2)
How can we maintain a balanced perspective despite our inclinations ``To carry praise or blame too far''?
Ninety-Three Poems for Additional Enjoyment and Study	768	(77)
Healing Prayer from the Beautyway Chant	770	(1)
Anonymous (Navajo)
``We will be forever restored, forever whole.''
Dover Beach	771	(1)
Matthew Arnold
When you lose certainty, what remains?
The Unknown Citizen	772	(1)
W. H. Auden
What details characterize the lives of most people in our modern age?
Another Descent	772	(1)
Wendell Berry
How does the melting snow suggest a return to our roots?
London	773	(1)
William Blake
The speaker finds weakness and woe in every face he sees on London's streets.
Women	773	(1)
Louise Bogan
Is it the only role of women to be provident?
A Black Man Talks of Reaping	774	(1)
Arna Bontemps
Why should a black man not receive the fruits of his toil?
How Do I Love Thee?	774	(1)
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
A detailed count of the ways of love.
Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister	775	(2)
Robert Browning
Does this monk's speech make him sound like a true person of God?
To Cole, the Painter, Departing for Europe	777	(1)
William Cullen Bryant
``Keep that earlier, wilder image bright.''
`The killers that run . . .'	777	(1)
Leonard Cohen
Can any good possibly come out of political agitation?
Days	778	(1)
Billy Collins
Each day is precious, though also precarious.
From a Letter to America on a Visit to Sussex, Spring 1942	779	(1)
Frances Cornford
Even where men train for battle, larks continue to sing.
The Poplar Field	779	(1)
William Cowper
``Progress'' changes the wooded field for the worse.
Do Not Weep, Maiden, for War is Kind	780	(1)
Stephen Crane
The rationalization for war cannot overbalance the horrors of war.
``Do you think . . .''	781	(1)
Robert Creeley
Is reality what exists, or what we think exists?
if there are any heavens	782	(1)
E. E. Cummings
The speaker's mother and father deserve any and all heavens.
The God Who Loves You	782	(1)
Carl Dennis
Might our lives have been better if we had followed one of our many other possible futures?
Kudzu	783	(3)
James Dickey
Of what is the invasive weed, Kudzu, symbolic?
The Good Morrow	786	(1)
John Donne
This clever poem exalts love and lovemaking.
Holy Sonnet 10: Death Be Not Proud	786	(1)
John Donne
How does eternal life put down death?
Sympathy	787	(1)
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Why does the caged bird sing?
The Negro	787	(1)
James Emanuel
How can Negroes achieve their own identities?
Like God	788	(1)
Lynn Emanuel
Does God script our lives the way a storywriter creates fiction?
The Beauty of the Trees	789	(1)
Chief Dan George
What is it that makes the speaker's heart soar?
Woman	790	(1)
Nikki Giovanni
Can a woman be anyone other than a woman?
Snowdrops	790	(1)
Louise Gluck
Who is the speaker of this poem, and why does this speaker ask us to ``risk joy / in the raw wind of the new world.''
Sonnet Ending with a Film Subtitle	791	(1)
Marilyn Haines
How does a woman steel herself against betrayal?
Little Cosmic Dust Poem	791	(1)
John Haines
Love is undeniably the center of the universe.
Snapshot of Hue	792	(1)
Daniel Halpern
Once the debris of war is gone, the horror is only a dim memory.
Leaves	793	(1)
H. S. (Sam) Hamod
The son follows in the footsteps of his Arabic father.
She's Free!	794	(1)
Frances E. W. Harper
In this pre-Civil War poem, a former slave rejoices in gaining freedom.
Spring Rain	794	(1)
Robert Hass
Spring rain is part of a natural cycle of planting and growth.
Those Winter Sundays	795	(1)
Robert Hayden
A father does many loving duties that are unknown to his children.
The Hair: Jacob Korman's Story	795	(1)
William Heyen
Polish Jews resisted fiercely before being forced to go to the Nazi death camps.
Advice to Young Ladies	795	(2)
A. D. Hope
How difficult has it been for women, historically, to assert themselves?
Pied Beauty	797	(1)
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Praise God for all of Nature's varied beauty.
Dear Tia	797	(1)
Carolina Hospital
``I write because I cannot remember at all.''
The Negro Speaks of Rivers	798	(1)
Langston Hughes
Blacks have worked as slaves along all the famous rivers of history.
The Answer	798	(2)
Robinson Jeffers
Love should preserve and save all creation, not only the human race.
Ode on a Grecian Urn	800	(1)
John Keats
Beauty and truth alone remain though generations pass from the earth.
After Making Love We Hear Footsteps	801	(1)
Galway Kinnell
Our son ``flops down between us and hugs us.''
Rhine Boat Trip	802	(1)
Irving Layton
What terrible memory overshadows the beauty of German traditions?
In Computers	802	(1)
Alan P. Lightman
If all experience is saved in computers, what more could possibly be needed?
The Choosing	803	(1)
Liz Lochhead
Childhood choices make huge differences in adulthood.
The Sound of the Sea	804	(1)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Our inspirations ``Are some divine foreshadowing and foreseeing.''
Every Traveler Has One Vermont Poem	804	(1)
Audre Lorde
Ugliness is to be found even in Arcadia.
Patterns	805	(3)
Amy Lowell
A woman learns that her fiance has been killed in overseas battle.
The White City	808	(1)
Claude McKay
What things about the ``white city'' bring the speaker to hatred?
Shiloh: A Requiem	808	(1)
Herman Melville
``All is hushed at Shiloh.''
Listen	809	(1)
W. S. Merwin
Despite everything bad, there is cause for thanks.
The Bear	809	(1)
N. Scott Momaday
An aged bear represents the force and mystery of Nature.
Life Cycle of Common Man	810	(1)
Howard Nemerov
A life of living accumulates a good deal of physical and cultural detritus.
wahbegan	811	(1)
Jim Northrup
Not all casualties of war are named on tombstones.
Ghosts	812	(2)
Mary Oliver
As Americans won the West, they created vast fields of death.
Marks	814	(1)
Linda Pastan
How is life as a mother and wife comparable to a student's life?
The Secretary Chant	814	(1)
Marge Piercy
How does business life affect womanhood?
Last Words	815	(1)
Sylvia Plath
How might the speaker's entombment be like that of an Egyptian mummy?
Mirror	816	(1)
Sylvia Plath
Over time, what does the mirror itself see?
Annabel Lee	816	(1)
Edgar Allan Poe
Their love was stronger than the love of those who were older and wiser.
Bells for John Whiteside's Daughter	817	(1)
John Crowe Ransom
Why did death take away the life in so vigorous a little body?
Assailant	818	(1)
John Raven
The speaker describes a surprising and unusual assailant.
In a Farmhouse	818	(1)
Luis Omar Salinas
The eight-year-old speaker raises deep and serious issues.
rite on: white america	819	(1)
Sonia Sanchez
In a major respect, America is still a pioneer land.
Chicago	819	(1)
Carl Sandburg
Why does this city sing and laugh so proudly?
Dreamers	820	(1)
Siegfried Sassoon
Even when the guns begin, what do soldiers really think about?
The Paperweight	821	(1)
Gjertrud Schnackenberg
The scene of snow swirling around a paperweight house tells us what?
I Have a Rendezvous with Death	821	(1)
Alan Seeger
What is this rendezvous, and what rendezvous would be better?
My Mother's Face	822	(1)
Brenda Serotte
In the mirror, whom does the speaker think she sees?
Sonnet 29: When in Disgrace with Fortune and Men's Eyes	822	(1)
William Shakespeare
In the midst of despair and self-doubt, what can lift up the soul?
Sonnet 146: Poor Soul, the Center of My Sinful Earth	823	(1)
William Shakespeare
How can the soul outlast death itself?
Auto Wreck	823	(1)
Karl Shapiro
What is the meaning and where is the purpose in accidental death?
Where Mountain Lion Lay Down with Deer	824	(1)
Leslie Marmon Silko
How long has it been since life was created on earth?
Not Waving But Drowning	825	(1)
Stevie Smith
Can a friendly wave be distinguished from a gesture for help?
Oranges	825	(2)
Gary Soto
On a first date, a boy benefits from a clerk's understanding.
Traveling Through the Dark	827	(1)
William Stafford
To save others, should some be sacrificed?
Burying an Animal on the Way to New York	827	(1)
Gerald Stern
Hurrying cars leave the ghosts of dead animals in their wake.
The Emperor of Ice-Cream	828	(1)
Wallace Stevens
The empire of ice cream melts, but it gives pleasure in the brief time it exists.
Question	828	(1)
May Swenson
Where could we go without our bodies to carry us?
A Refusal to Mourn . . .	829	(1)
Dylan Thomas
After the first death, there is no other.
Perfection Wasted	830	(1)
John Updike
What happens when your own brand of magic stops?
The Boxes	830	(1)
Shelly Wagner
A mother thinks of the boxes with which her son might have played.
Revolutionary Petunias	831	(1)
Alice Walker
What is the difference between vengeance and justice?
Go, Lovely Rose	832	(1)
Edmund Waller
What is ``The common fate of all things rare''?
Song of Napalm	832	(2)
Bruce Weigl
Is there any way to deny the agony of those lost in war?
On Being Brought from Africa to America	834	(1)
Phillis Wheatley
This eighteenth-century poem tells us that blacks, too, may be angels.
Dirge for Two Veterans	834	(1)
Walt Whitman
What, if anything, can bring about peace among human beings?
Full of Life Now	835	(1)
Walt Whitman
Be not too certain but I am now with you.
I Hear America Singing	835	(1)
Walt Whitman
The songs of Americans at work are ``varied carols.''
The Bartholdi Statue	836	(1)
John Greenleaf Whittier
A poem written for the dedication of the Statue of Liberty
April 5, 1974	836	(1)
Richard Wilbur
From the soft ground will come flowers.
Lines Written in Early Spring	837	(1)
William Wordsworth
Human beings must heed the moral imperative of Nature's sights and sounds.
The Day Zimmer Lost Religion	838	(1)
Paul Zimmer
Can the threat of punishment make us religious?
Additional Research Questions---Emphasizing Online Research---On the Poetry in Part II	839	(6)
Reading and Writing About Drama
The Dramatic Vision: An Overview	845	(86)
Drama as Literature	845	(8)
Performance: The Unique Aspect of Drama	853	(3)
Drama from Ancient Times to Our Own: Tragedy, Comedy, and Additional Forms	856	(3)
The Visit to the Sepulcher (Visitatio Sepulchri)	859	(4)
Anonymous
How do the three Marys respond to what the Angel tells them?
Reading Plays	863	(2)
Plays for Study	864	(1)
The Sandbox	865	(7)
Edward Albee
Mommy and Daddy come with Grandma to a beach where they find a sandbox and a Young Man exercising, but they are there to do more than just relax in the sun.
Trifles	872	(11)
Susan Glaspell
In the kitchen of a small family farmhouse early in the twentieth century, the wives of lawmen investigating a murder discover vitally important details. Their knowledge forces them to make an urgent decision.
Tea Party	883	(5)
Betty Keller
How do two aged ladies try to interest other people enough to come in and visit?
Before Breakfast	888	(8)
Eugene O'Neill
What happens when people face anger, alienation, and lost hope?
The ``Wakefield Master'' The Second Shepherds' Play	896	(25)
On the morning of the first Christmas, three shepherds complain loudly about the unfairness of life, but they are worshipful nevertheless.
Writing about the Elements of Drama	921	(3)
Referring to Plays and Parts of Plays	924	(1)
Demonstrative Student Essay: Eugene O'Neill's Use of Negative Descriptions and Stage Directions in Before Breakfast as a Means of Revealing Character	925	(5)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about the Elements of Drama	930	(1)
The Tragic Vision: Affirmation Through Loss	931	(174)
The Origins of Tragedy	932	(2)
The Origin of Tragedy in Brief	934	(1)
The Ancient Competitions in Tragedy	934	(2)
Aristotle and the Nature of Tragedy	936	(1)
Aristotle's View of Tragedy in Brief	936	(5)
Irony in Tragedy	941	(1)
The Ancient Athenian Audience and Theater	942	(3)
Ancient Greek Tragic Actors and Their Costumes	945	(1)
Performance and the Formal Organization of Greek Tragedy	946	(2)
Plays for Study	948	(1)
Oedipus the King	948	(39)
Sophocles
Can anyone, even a powerful king, evade guilt, or Destiny, or Fate?
Renaissance Drama and Shakespeare's Theater	987	(5)
Hamlet	992	(102)
William Shakespeare
In this, the greatest play in English literature, the harmfulness of an initial act of evil affects the highest and most influential people in the kingdom of Denmark.
Writing about Tragedy	1094	(1)
An Essay about a Problem	1095	(3)
Demonstrative Student Essay: The Problem of Hamlet's Apparent Delay	1098	(5)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Tragedy	1103	(2)
The Comic Vision: Restoring the Balance	1105	(102)
The Origins of Comedy	1105	(3)
Comedy from Roman Times to the Renaissance	1108	(1)
The Patterns, Characters, and Language of Comedy	1109	(3)
Types of Comedy	1112	(2)
Plays for Study	1114	(1)
A Midsummer Night's Dream	1114	(56)
William Shakespeare
The problems faced by lovers are resolved through the magic of the natural world, not the legal rules of government and custom.
Comedy after Shakespeare	1170	(2)
The Bear	1172	(10)
Anton Chekhov
A bachelor Russian landowner and a widow meet and immediately become angry with each other, but their lives are about to undergo great change.
Am I Blue	1182	(17)
Beth Henley
Two souls in the process of getting lost find each other and regain much of what they were losing.
Writing about Comedy	1199	(2)
Demonstrative Student Essay: Setting as Symbol and Comic Structure in A Midsummer Night's Dream	1201	(4)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Comedy	1205	(2)
Four Plays for Additional Enjoyment and Study	1207	(224)
A Dollhouse	1207	(1)
Henrik Ibsen
Ibsen's Life and Early Work	1207	(1)
Ibsen's Major Prose Plays	1208	(1)
A Dollhouse: Ibsen's Best-Known Realistic Problem Play	1209	(1)
Ibsen's Symbolism in A Dollhouse	1210	(1)
A Dollhouse as a Well-Made Play	1210	(1)
The Timeliness and Dramatic Power of A Dollhouse	1211	(1)
A Dollhouse (Et Dukkehjem)	1211	(52)
Henrik Ibsen
In a seemingly perfect household, both Nora and Torvald Helmer discover that all is not and was not well in their lives
Langston Hughes, Mulatto	1263	(1)
Hughes and the African-American Theater after 1920	1264	(1)
Hughes's Career as a Dramatist	1264	(1)
Mulatto and the Reality of the Southern Black Experience	1265	(1)
Mulatto	1266	(24)
Langston Hughes
On a Southern plantation in the 1930s, a young black man asserts his rights, but he is opposed by men who deny him any rights at all.
Death of a Salesman	1290	(1)
Arthur Miller
Death of a Salesman and the Well-Made Play	1290	(1)
Death of a Salesman: Tragedy, Symbolism, and Broken Dreams	1291	(2)
Death of a Salesman	1293	(67)
Arthur Miller
Willie Loman, the salesman, despite many years of responsibilities, hard work, and unfulfilled hopes, still clings to his dreams of success.
Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun	1360	(1)
The American Civil Rights Movement	1361	(1)
The Play's Constituent Elements	1361	(1)
Hansberry's Personal Family Experience and A Raisin in the Sun	1362	(1)
The Successful Production of A Raisin in the Sun	1363	(1)
Hansberry's Short Career after A Raisin in the Sun	1363	(1)
A Raisin in the Sun	1364	(63)
Lorraine Hansberry
While struggling to improve their economic condition, a closely knit African American family in the post World War II years learns the importance of personal respect, racial pride, and family love.
Additional Research Questions---Emphasizing Online Research---On the Drama in Part III	1427	(4)
Special Writing Topics About Literature
Writing and Documenting the Research Essay	1431	(34)
Selecting a Topic	1432	(1)
Setting up a Bibliography	1433	(1)
Online Library Services	1434	(2)
Important Considerations about Computer-Aided Research	1436	(1)
Taking Notes and Paraphrasing Material	1436	(7)
Be Creative and Original Even Though You Are Doing Research	1443	(2)
Documenting Your Work	1445	(4)
Strategies for Organizing Ideas in Your Research Essay	1449	(2)
Demonstrative Student Research Essay: The Ghost in Hamlet	1451	(14)
Critical Approaches Important in the Study of Literature	1465	(15)
Moral / Intellectual	1466	(1)
Topical/Historical	1467	(1)
New Critical/Formalist	1468	(2)
Structuralist	1470	(1)
Feminist	1471	(1)
Economic Determinist/Marxist	1472	(1)
Psychological/Psychoanalytic	1473	(2)
Archetypal/Symbolic/Mythic	1475	(1)
Deconstructionist	1476	(1)
Reader-Response	1477	(3)
Taking Examinations on Literature	1480	(11)
Answer the Questions That Are Asked	1480	(2)
Systematic Preparation	1482	(3)
Two Basic Types of Questions about Literature	1485	(6)
Comparison-Contrast and Extended Comparison-Contrast: Learning by Seeing Literary Works Together	1491	(20)
Guidelines for the Comparison-Contrast Method	1492	(3)
The Extended Comparison-Contrast Essay	1495	(1)
Citing References in a Longer Comparison-Contrast Essay	1496	(1)
Writing a Comparison-Contrast Essay	1496	(2)
Demonstrative Student Essay (Two Works): The Treatment of Responses to War in Amy Lowell's ``Patterns'' and Wilfred Owen's ``Anthem for Doomed Youth''	1498	(5)
Demonstrative Student Essay (Extended Comparison-Contrast): Literary Treatments of the Conflicts Between Private and Public Life	1503	(7)
Special Topics for Writing and Argument about Comparison and Contrast	1510	(1)
Appendix I. MLA Recommendations for Documenting Electronic Sources	1511	(4)
Appendix II. Brief Biographies of the Poets in Part II	1515	(30)
Glossary of Literary Terms	1545	(21)
Credits	1566	(7)
Index of Authors, Titles, and First Lines	1573	(13)
Alphabetical List of Authors	1586