PART ONE：Interpreting Literature

1 Strategies for Interpreting Literature

Why Do People Read Literature?

What Is Interpretation?

How Do We Interpret?

Checklist for Interpreting Literature

Work Cited

2 What Is Literature?

Literature Is Language

Literature Is Fictional

Walt Whitman,Cavalry Crossing a Ford

Literature Is True

Henry Howard,Earl of Surrey,My Friend,the Things that Do Attain

Literature Is Aestheric

Literature Is Intertextual

Checklist for the Elements of Literature

Works Cited

3 Interpreting Fiction

The Elements of Fiction

Theme

Point of View

Mary Robison,Yours

Plot

Characterization

Setting

Irony

Symbolism

Other Elements

Checklist for Interpreting Fiction

WorksCited

4 Interpreting Drama

The Nature of Drama

The Elements of Drama

Plot

Characterization

Setting

Theme

Irony

Subgenres

Checklist for Interpreting Drama

Works Cited and Consulted

5 Interpreting Poetry

What Is Poetry?

Emily Brontё,The Night Is Darkening Round Me

Sense in Poetry：Elements that Convey Meaning

Getting Started：Reading a Poem the FirstTime

Diction

William Wordsworth,A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

Syntax

Louise Bogan,Song for a Lyre

Characterization,Point of View,Plot,and Setting

Jane Kenyon,In the Nursing Home

Matthew Arnold,Dover Beach

Robert Browning,My Last Duchess

Imagery：Descriptive Language

Imagery：Figurative Language

Samuel Daniel,Love Is a Sickness

Thomas Campion,There Is a Garden in Her Face

Symbolism

Williarm Blake,Tne Sick Rose

The Sound of Poetry：Musical Elements

Rhythm

William Shakespeare,Sonnet 129

Word Sounds

Edgar Allan Poe,To Helen

Structure

William Shakespeare,Sonnet 116

Edna St.Vincent Millay,I,Being Born a Woman

Anonymous,The Daemon Lover

Emily Dickinson,Because I Could Not Stop for Death

Matsuo Basho,haiku

Taniguchi Buson,haiku

Kobayashi Issa,haiku

Psalm 23

Ezra Pound,Xenia

Amy Lowell,Road to the Yoshiwara

Langston Hughes,Vagabonds

Elizabeth Bishop,One Art

Sight：The Visual Qualities of Poetry

George Herbert,Easter Wings

e.e.cummings,l(a

Gwendolyn Brooks,We Real Cool

Checklist for Interpreting Poetry

Works Cited

6 Specialized Approaches to Interpreting Literature

Literary Criticism and Theory

Places for Interpretation

The Work

New Criticism

Structuralism

Deconstruction

Archetypal Criticism

The Author

Historical and Biographical Criticism

New Historicist Criticism

The Reader

Reader-Response Criticism

All of Reality

Marxist Criticism

Psychological Criticism

Feminist and Gender Criticism

Works Cited

PART Two：Writing about Literature

7 Writing about Literature

Why Write about Literature?

How Can You Write about Literature?

The Writing Process

8 Choosing Topics

Preliminary Steps

Be an Active Reader

Identify Your Audience

Raise Questions about the Work

Narrow Your Topic

Search Strategies

Focus on the Work's Conventions(Its Formal Qualities)

Use Topoi(Traditional Patterns of Thinking)

Respond to Comments by Critics

Draw from Your Own Knowledge

Talking and Writing Strategies

Talk Out Loud

Make Outlines

Freewrite

Brainstorm

Make Notes

Keep a Journal

Sample Essay about Literature

Michelle Henderson,"Paradise Rejected in Homer's Odyssey"

Comments on the Essay

Checklist for Choosing Topics

Works Cited

9 Drafting the Essay

The Argumentative Nature of Interpretive Essays

The Structure of Essays about Literature

The Argumentative Structure

The Rhetorical Structure

Guidelines for Writing First Drafts

Keep in Mind the Needs of Your Audience

Avoid Extreme Subjectivity(Overuse of"I")

Draw Up a Rough Outline

Begin Writing

Use Sound Deductive Reasoning

Support Key Claims with Facts

Use Sound Inductive Reasoning

Define Key Terms

Organize Evidence According to a Coherent Plan

Make Compansons Complete and Easy to Follow

Checklist for Drafting the Essay

Works Cited

10 Revising and Editing

Revise Throughout the Writing Process

Revise for the Final Draft

Write a Clear and Readable Prose Style

Have Other People Read and Respond to Your Draft

Editthe Final Draft

Rules of Usage

Citations of Sources

Quotations

Other Rules of Usage Related to Essays about Literature

Physical Format

Sample Essay in Two Drafts

Robert Frost,The Death of the Hired Man

Early Draft

Comments on the Early Draft

Final Draft

Jennifer Hargrove,"A Comparison of Mary and Warren in Robert Frost's'The Death of the Hured Man'"Comments on the Final Draft

Checklist for Revising and Editing

Works Cited

11 Documentation and Research

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

Research Papers and the Use of Secondary Sources

How to Find Information and Opinions about Literature

Ⅰ．Library Catalogs and Stacks

Ⅱ．Library Reference Room

Ⅲ．Library Periodicals Room and Stacks

Ⅳ．Information and Opinion on the Internet

Evaluating the Quality of Internet Sites

Giving Credit to Sources

Why Should You Give Credit?

When Should You Give Credit?

Where Should You Give Credit?

Correct Documentary Form

Guidelines for Parenthetical Citations

Guidelines for Using Footnotes and Endnotes

Guidelines and Form for the Works Cited List：General Rules

Sample Entries for Books

Sample Entry for Articles in Scholarly Journals

Sample Entries for Articles in Popular Publications

Sample Entries for Computer Databases

Sample Entries for Other Nonprint Sources

Frequently Used Abbreviations

Sample Research Paper

Harold Wright,"The Monster's Education in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein"

Comments on the Research Paper

Checklist for Documentation and Research

12 Taking EssayTests

Guidelines for Taking Essay Tests

Sample Test Essays

Essay 1

Comments on Essay 1

Essay 2

Comments on Essay 2

Essay 3

Comments on Essay 3

Checklist for Taking EssayTests

13 Sample Essays

Essay on a Poem

Edwin Arlington Robinson,Richard Cory

George Cannon,"Point ofView in Edwin Arlington Robinson's'Richard Cory'"

Essay on a Short Story

Edgar Allan Poe,The Cask ofAmontillado

Blake Long,"Montresor's Fate in Edgar Allan Poe's'The Cask of Amontillado'"

Essay on a Play

Susan Glaspell,Trifles

Carolyn Briner,"The Meaning of Physical Objects in Susan Glaspell's Trifles"

Essay on a Novel

Shalita Forrest,"First Love,Lost Love in George Eliot's Adam Bede"

Glossary

Credits

Index of Concepts and Terms

Index of Critics,Authors,and Works