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| Preface | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Interpreting Literature | |
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| Strategics for Interpreting Literature | |
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| Why Do People Read Literature? | |
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| What Is Meaning? | |
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| The Language and Details of a Work | |
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| The Larger Parts of a Work | |
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| The Work and the World Outside the Work | |
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| What Is Interpretation? | |
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| How Do We Interpret? | |
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| Checklist for Interpreting Literature | |
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| Works Cited | |
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| What Is Literature? | |
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| Literature Is Language | |
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| Literature Is Fictional | |
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| Literature Is True | |
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| Literature Is Aesthetic | |
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| Literature Is Intertextual | |
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| Checklist for the Elements of Literature | |
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| Works Cited | |
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| Interpreting Fiction | |
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| The Elements of Fiction | |
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| Theme | |
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| Point of View | |
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| Plot | |
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| Characterization | |
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| Setting | |
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| Irony | |
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| Symbolism | |
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| Other Elements | |
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| Checklist for Interpreting Fiction | |
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| Works Cited | |
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| Interpreting Drama | |
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| The Nature of Drama | |
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| Performance | |
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| Reading | |
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| The Elements of Drama | |
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| Performance-Related Elements | |
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| Plot | |
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| Characterization | |
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| Setting | |
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| Theme | |
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| Irony | |
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| Subgenres | |
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| Checklist for Interpreting Drama | |
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| Works Cited | |
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| Interpreting Poetry | |
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| What Is Poetry? | |
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| A Mystical Definition | |
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| Definition by Elements | |
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| Sense in Poetry: Elements that Convey Meaning | |
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| Getting the Facts Straight (Reading a Poem for me First Time) | |
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| Diction | |
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| Syntax | |
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| Characterization, Point of View, Plot, and Setting | |
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| Imagery: Descriptive Language | |
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| Imagery: Figurative Language | |
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| Symbolism | |
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| The Sound of Poetry: Musical Elements | |
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| Rhythm | |
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| Word Sounds | |
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| Structure: Devices that Organize | |
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| Lines | |
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| Enjambment | |
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| Blank Verse | |
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| Stanza | |
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| Rhyme Scheme | |
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| Fixed and Nonce Forms | |
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| The Sonnet | |
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| The Ballad | |
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| Common Meter | |
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| The Haiku | |
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| Free Verse | |
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| The Villanelle | |
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| Sight: The Visual Qualities of Poetry | |
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| Visual Poetry | |
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| Modern Poetry | |
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| Checklist for Interpreting Poetry | |
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| Works Cited | |
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| Specialized Approaches to Interpreting Literature | |
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| Literary Criticism | |
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| Sites of Meaning | |
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| Literary Theory | |
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| Literary Theory before 1900 | |
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| Literary Theory since 1900 | |
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| Resources for Theory | |
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| The Work | |
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| Anglo-American Criticism | |
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| Structuralism | |
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| Archetypal Criticism: Another Kind of Structuralism | |
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| Poststructuralism | |
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| Suggestions for Applying Literary Theory and Criticism about the Work | |
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| The Author | |
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| Historical and Biographical Criticism | |
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| New Historicist Criticism | |
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| Suggestions for Applying Literary Theory and Criticism about the Author | |
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| The Reader | |
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| European Reader-Response Criticism | |
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| American Reader-Response Theory | |
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| Suggestions for Applying Literary Theory and Criticism about the Reader | |
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| All of Reality | |
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| Psychological Criticism | |
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| Marxist Criticism | |
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| Feminist and Gender Criticism | |
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| Ecocriticism | |
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| Suggestions for Applying Literary Theory and Criticism about All of Reality | |
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| Works Cited | |
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| Writing about Literature | |
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| Writing about Literature | |
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| How Can You Write about Literature? | |
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| The Essay | |
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| The Essay as Communication | |
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| Why Write about Literature? | |
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| What Are the Stages of the Writing Process? | |
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| Works Cited | |
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| Choosing Topics | |
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| Preliminary Steps | |
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| Be an Active Reader | |
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| Identify Your Audience | |
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| Raise Questions about the Work | |
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| Choose a Good Topic | |
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| Search Strategies | |
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| Use Topoi (Traditional Patterns of Thinking) | |
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| Respond to Comments by Critics | |
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| Draw from Your Own Knowledge | |
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| Talking and Writing Strategies | |
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| Study and Review with Others | |
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| Make Outlines | |
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| Freewrite | |
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| Brainstorm | |
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| Create Graphic Organizers | |
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| Make Notes | |
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| Keep a Journal | |
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| Sample Essay about Literature | |
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| Comments on the Essay | |
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| Checklist for Choosing Topics | |
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| Works Cited | |
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| Drafting the Essay | |
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| A Rough Outline | |
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| A Rough Draft | |
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| Parts of an Essay | |
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| Reasoning in Essays about Literature | |
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| Inductive Reasoning | |
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| Deductive Reasoning | |
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| Reasoning Well | |
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| Sound Inductive Reasoning | |
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| Sound Deductive Reasoning | |
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| Overusing "I" | |
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| Some Suggestions about Organization | |
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| Locating Your Thesis | |
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| Organizing Evidence | |
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| Organizing Comparisons | |
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| Checklist for Drafting Essays | |
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| Revising and Editing | |
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| Revise throughout the Writing Process | |
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| Revise for the Final Draft | |
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| Write a Clear and Readable Prose Style | |
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| Have Others Read and Respond to Your Draft | |
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| Edit and Publish tine Final Draft | |
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| Physical Format | |
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| Rules of Usage | |
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| Citation of Sources | |
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| Quotations | |
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| Other Rules of Usage Related to Essays about Literature | |
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| Sample Essay in Two Drafts | |
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| Early Draft | |
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| Comments on the Early Draft | |
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| Final Draft | |
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| Comments on the Final Draft | |
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| Checklist for Revising and Editing | |
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| Works Cited | |
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| Documentation and Research | |
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| Primary Sources | |
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| Secondary Sources | |
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| Facts | |
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| Testimony | |
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| Research Papers and the Use of Secondary Sources | |
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| Research Paper as Interpretation | |
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| Research Paper as an Essay | |
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| How to find Information and Opinions about Literature | |
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| Library Catalogs and Stacks | |
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| Library Reference Area | |
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| Background Information | |
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| Information about Primary Sources | |
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| Bibliographies | |
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| General Reference | |
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| Genres | |
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| Regions and Nations | |
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| Authors | |
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| Computer Databases Available through Purchase or Subscription | |
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| Library Periodicals Area | |
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| Information and Opinion on the Web | |
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| Evaluating the Quality of Websites | |
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| Giving Credit to Sources | |
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| Why Should You Give Credit? | |
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| When Should You Give Credit? | |
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| Where Should You Give Credit? | |
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| Correct Documentary Form | |
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| Guidelines for Parenthetical Citations | |
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| Guidelines for Using Endnotes and Footnotes | |
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| Guidelines and Form for the Works Cited List: | |
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| General Rules | |
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| Sample Entries for Nonperiodical Print Materials | |
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| Sample Entries for Web Publications | |
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| Sample Entries for Other Nonprint Sources | |
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| Frequently Used Abbreviations | |
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| Sample Research Paper | |
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| Comments on the Research Paper | |
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| Checklist for Documentation and Research | |
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| Taking Essay Tests | |
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| Objective versus Essay Tests | |
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| Performance on Tests | |
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| Guidelines for Taking Essay Tests | |
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| Sample Test Essays | |
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| Essay 1 (A Mediocre Essay) | |
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| Comments on Essay 1 | |
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| Essay 2 (A Good Essay) | |
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| Comments on Essay 2 | |
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| Essay 3 (An Excellent Essay) | |
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| Comments on Essay 3 | |
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| Checklist for Taking Essay Tests | |
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| Sample Essays | |
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| Essay on a Poem | |
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| Essay on a Short Story | |
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| Essay on a Play | |
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| Essay on a Novel | |
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| Appendix | |
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| Poems | |
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| Edwin Arlington Robinson, Richard Cory (1897) | |
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| Robert Frost, The Death of the Hired Man (1914) | |
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| Short Stories | |
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| Ernest Hemingway, Hills Like White Elephants (1927) | |
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| Mary Robison, Yours (1983) | |
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| Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado (1847) | |
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| Play | |
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| Susan Glaspell, Trifles (1916) | |
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| Glossary | |
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| Index of Critics, Authors, and Works | |
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| Index of Concepts and Terms | |