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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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| Strategies for Interpreting Literature | |
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| Why Do People Read Literature? | |
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| What Is Meaning? | |
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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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| Work 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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| Walt Whitman, Cavalry Crossing a Ford | |
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| Literature Is True | |
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| Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, My Friend, the Things that Do Attain | |
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| Literature Is Aesthetic | |
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| Literature Is Intertextual | |
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| Christopher Marlowe, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love | |
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| Sir Walter Raleigh, The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd | |
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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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| The Elements of Drama | |
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| Length | |
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| Audience | |
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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 and Consulted | |
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| Interpreting Poetry | |
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| What Is Poetry? | |
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| Emily Bront?, The Night Is Darkening Round Me | |
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| Sensein Poetry: Elements that Convey Meaning | |
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| Getting the Facts Straight (Reading a Poem the First Time) | |
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| Diction | |
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| "A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal." | |
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| Syntax | |
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| "Song for a Lyre." | |
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| Characterization, Point of View, Plot, and Setting | |
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| "In the Nursing Home." | |
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| "Dover Beach." | |
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| "My Last Duchess." | |
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| Imagery: Descriptive Language | |
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| Imagery: Figurative Language | |
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| "Love Is a Sickness." | |
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| "There Is a Garden in Her Face." | |
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| Symbolism | |
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| "The Sick Rose." | |
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| The Sound of Poetry: Musical Elements | |
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| Rhythm | |
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| "Sonnet 129." | |
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| Word Sounds | |
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| "To Helen." | |
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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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| "Sonnet 116." | |
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| "I, Being Born a Woman." | |
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| The Ballad | |
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| "The Daemon Lover." | |
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| Common Meter | |
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| "Because I Could Not Stop for Death." | |
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| The Haiku | |
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| Matsuo Basho, haiku | |
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| Taniguchi Buson, haiku | |
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| Kobayashi Issa, haiku | |
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| Free Verse | |
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| Psalm 23 | |
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| "Xenia." | |
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| "Road to the Yoshiwara." | |
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| "Vagabonds." | |
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| The Villanelle | |
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| "One Art." | |
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| Sight: The Visual Qualities of Poetry | |
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| Visual Poetry | |
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| George Herbert, Easter Wings | |
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| Modern Poetry. e. e. cummings, "l(a." | |
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| "We Real Cool." | |
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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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| Cites of Meaning | |
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| Literary 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 | |
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| Poststructuralism | |
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| Resources | |
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| Applications | |
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| The Author | |
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| Historical and Biographical Criticism | |
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| New Historicist | |
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| Criticism | |
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| Resources | |
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| Applications | |
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| The Reader | |
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| European Reader-Response Criticism | |
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| American Reader-Response Criticism | |
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| Resources | |
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| Applications | |
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| All of Reality | |
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| Psychological Criticism | |
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| Resources | |
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| Marxist Criticism | |
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| Resources | |
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| Feminist and Gender Criticism | |
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| Resources | |
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| Applications | |
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| Works | |
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| Cited | |
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| Writing About Literature | |
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| Writing about Literature | |
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| Why Write about Literature? | |
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| How Can You Write about Literature? | |
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| The Writing Process First Stage: Inventing | |
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| Second Stage: Drafting | |
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| Third Stage: Revising | |
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| Fourth Stage: Editing and Publishing | |
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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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| Narrow Your Topic | |
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| Search Strategies | |
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| Focus on the Work's Conventions (Its Formal Qualities) | |
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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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| Talk Out Loud | |
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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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| "Paradise Rejected in Homer's Odyssey." | |
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| Comments on the Essay | |
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| Checklist for Choosing Topics Works Cited | |
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| Drafting the Essay | |
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| The Argumentative Nature of Interpretive Essays | |
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| The Structure of Essays about Literature | |
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| The Argumentative Structure | |
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| The Rhetorical Structure | |
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| Guidelines for Writing First Drafts | |
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| Keep in Mind the Needs of Your Audience | |
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| Avoid Extreme Subjectivity (Overuse of "I") | |
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| Draw Up a Rough Outline | |
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| Begin Writing | |
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| Use Sound Deductive Reasoning | |
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| Support Key Claims with Facts | |
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| Use Sound Inductive Reasoning | |
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| Define Key Terms | |
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| Organize Evidence According to a Coherent Plan | |
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| Make Comparisons Complete and Easy to Follow | |
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| Checklist for Drafting the Essay | |
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| Works Cited | |
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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 Other People Read and Respond to Your Draft | |
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| Edit the Final Draft | |
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| Rules of Usage | |
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| Citations of Sources | |
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| Quotations | |
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| Other Rules of Usage Related to Essays about Literature | |
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| Physical Format | |
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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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| "A Comparison of Mary and Warren in Robert Frost's 'The Death of the Hired Man'" | |
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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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| Research Papers and the Use of Secondary Sources | |
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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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| Library Periodicals Area | |
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| Information and Opinion on the Web | |
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| Evaluating the Quality of Internet Sites | |
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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 Footnotes and Endnotes | |
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| Guidelines and Form for the Works Cited List: General Rules | |
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| Sample Entries for Non-periodical Print Materials | |
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| Sample Entry for Periodical Publications in Print | |
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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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| "The Monster's Education in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." | |
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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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| 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 (A Very Good 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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| "Point of View in Edwin Arlington Robinson's 'Richard Cory'." | |
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| Essay on a Short Story | |
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| "Montresor's Fate in Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Cask of Amontillado'." | |
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| Essay on a Play | |
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| "The Meaning of Physical Objects in Susan Glaspell's Trifles." | |
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| Essay on a Novel | |
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| "First Love, Lost Love in George Eliot's Adam Bede." | |
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| Appendix | |
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| Poems | |
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| "Richard Cory" (1897) | |
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| "The Death of the Hired Man" (1914) | |
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| Short Stories | |
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| "Hills Like White Elephants" (1927) | |
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| "Yours" (1983) | |
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| "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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| Credits | |
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| Index of Concepts and Terms | |
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| Index of Critics, Authors, and Works | |