Approaching Literature: Writing, Reading, Thinking Book

PART I. APPROACHING LITERATURE

1. Reading Literature: Taking Part in a Process

Sherman Alexie, Superman and Me

The Nature of Reading

Active Reading

CHECKLIST on Active Reading

Julia Alvarez, Daughter of Invention

2. Writing in Response to Literature: Entering the Conversation

Alice Walker, The Flowers

Writing in the Margins

Journal Writing

Discussing Literature

TIPS for Effective Journal Writing

TIPS for Participating in Class Discussions

Writing Essay Examination Answers

Writing Short Papers

TIPS for Writing a Short Paper

Writing Research Papers

Writing Papers in Other Formats

Composing in Other Art Forms

PART II. APPROACHING FICTION

3. Reading Fiction: Responding to the Real World of Stories

What Is Fiction?

Why Read Fiction?

Active Reading: Fiction

Rereading Fiction

4. Plot and Characters: Watching What Happens, to Whom

Reading for Plot

Dagoberto Gilb, Love in L.A.

Reading for Characters

CHECKLIST for Reading About Plot and Character

Further Reading

Louise Erdrich, The Red Convertible

Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

Responding Through Writing

Writing About Plot and Character

Journal Entries

Literary Analysis Papers

Comparison-Contrast Papers

TIPS on Writing About Plot and Character

Writing About Connnections

"Love and the City": Realizing Relationships in Dagoberto Gilb’s Love in L.A. and Raymond Carver’s What We Talk about When We Talk about Love

"My Brother’s Keeper": Supportive Siblings in Louise Erdrich’s The Red Convertible and James Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues

"Good Men Are Hard to Find": Encounters with Evil in Joyce Carol Oates’s Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? and Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Writing Research Papers

Composing in Other Art Forms

5. Point of View and Theme: Being Alert to Angles, Open to Insights

Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street

Reading for Narrator

Reading for Point of View

Theme

CHECKLIST for Reading about Point of View and Theme

Further Reading

Alice Walker, Everyday Use

*George Saunders, The End of FIRPO in the World

Approaching Graphic Fiction

*Lynda Barry, Today’s Demon: Magic

Responding Through Writing

Writing About Point of View and Theme

Journal Entries

Literary Analysis Papers

Comparison-Contrast Papers

TIPS on Writing about Point of View and Theme

Writing About Connections

"Staring Out Front Windows": Seeking Escape in Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street and James Joyce’s Araby

"Can You Come Home Again?": The Difficulty of Returning in Alice Walker’s Everyday Use and Monica Ali’s Dinner with Dr. Azad

"States of Mind That Matter": Approaching Death in George Saunders’s The End of FIRPO in the World and Katherine Anne Porter’s The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

Writing Research Papers

Composing in Other Art Forms

6. Setting and Symbol: Meeting Meaning in Places and Objects

Setting

Ernest Hemingway, Hills Like White Elephants

Reading for Symbols

Reading for Allegory

CHECKLIST for Reading about Setting and Symbol

Further Reading

Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried

*Edward P. Jones, Bad Neighbors

*Joe Sacco, Complacency Kills

Writing About Symbol and Setting

Journal Entries

Literary Analysis Papers

Comparison-Contrast Papers

TIPS on Writing about Setting and Symbol

Writing About Connections

"Secrets of the Heart": Keeping Hope Alive in Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants and David Means’s The Secret Goldfish

"Dying a Good Death": Struggles Over What Matters in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried and Yiyun Li’s Persimmons

"‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’": Nature vs. Nurture in Edward P. Jones’s Bad Neighbors and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown

Writing Research Papers

Composing in Other Art Forms

7. Style, Tone, and Irony: Attending to Expression and Attitude

Kate Chopin, The Story of an Hour

Reading for Style

Reading for Tone

Reading for Irony

CHECKLIST on Reading about Style, Tone, and Irony

Further Reading

Toni Cade Bambara, The Lesson

*Katherine Min, Courting a Monk

Responding Through Writing

Writing About Style, Tone and Irony

Journal Entries

Literary Analysis Papers

Comparison-Contrast Papers

TIPS on Writing about Style, Tone, and Irony

Writing About Connections

"Time for a Change": Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour and Jhumpa Lahiri’s A Temporary Matter

"Learning Out of School": Personal Maturity in Toni Cade Bambara’s The Lesson and John Updike’s A & P

"‘Gather Ye Rosebuds’": Looking for Love in Katherine Min’s Courting a Monk and William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily

Writing Research Papers

Composing in Other Art Forms

8. Writing about Fiction: Applying What You’ve Learned

Topics

TIPS for Writing Compare and Contrast Papers

Development

TIPS for Writing Social and Cultural Criticism

A Student Writer at Work: Alicia Abood on the Writing Process

Student Paper: Alicia Abood, "Clips of Language: The Effect of Diction in Dagoberto Gilb’s ‘Love in L.A.’"

9. An Author in Depth: Sherman Alexie: Exploring One Writer’s World

Sherman Alexie, This is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona

Sherman Alexie, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

*Sherman Alexie, Somebody Kept Saying Powwow

Tomson Highway, Interview with Sherman Alexie

*Ase Nygren, A World of Story-Smoke: A Conversation with Sherman Alexie

Joseph L. Coulombe, The Approximate Size of His Favorite Humor: Sherman Alexie’s Comic Connections and Disconnections in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

*Jerome Denuccio, Slow Dancing with Skeletons: Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

*James Cox, Muting White Noise: The Subversion of Popular Culture Narratives of Conquest in Sherman Alexie’s Fiction

10. A Collection of Stories: Visiting a Variety of Vistas

*Monica Ali, Dinner with Dr. Azad

Isabel Allende (Chile), And of Clay Are We Created

James Baldwin, Sonny’s Blues

*Melissa Bank, The Wonder Spot

*Raymond Carver, What We Talk about When We Talk about Love

*Judith Ortiz Cofer, American History

Ralph Ellison, Battle Royal

William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily

Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown

Zora Neale Hurston, Sweat

*James Joyce, Araby

Jamaica Kincaid, Girl

*Jhumpa Lahiri, A Temporary Matter

*Yiyun Li, Persimmons

Gabriel Garc’a Marquez (Columbia), A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

*David Means, The Secret Goldfish

*Ana Menendez, Her Mother’s House

Toni Morrison, Recitatif

*Haruki Murakami, Birthday Girl

Flannery O’Connor, A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Tillie Olsen, I Stand Here Ironing

Edgar Allen Poe, The Cask of Amontillado

Katherine Anne Porter, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

Nahid Rachlin, Departures

Salman Rushdie (India), The Prophet’s Hair

Leslie Marmon Silko, The Man to Send Rain Clouds

*Zadie Smith, The Girl with Bangs

*John Steinbeck, The Chrysanthemums

Amy Tan, Two Kinds

John Updike, A & P

Helena Mar’a Viramontes, The Moths

PART III. APPROACHING POETRY

11. Reading Poetry: Realizing the Richness in Poems

What Is Poetry?

Why Read Poetry?

Active Reading: Poetry

Rereading Poetry

12. Words and Images: Seizing on Sense and Sight

Denotation

Robert Hayden, Those Winter Sundays

Connotation

Gwendolyn Brooks, The Bean Eaters

Images

Maxine Kumin, The Sound of Night

William Carlos Williams, The Red Wheelbarrow

CHECKLIST on Reading for Words and Images

Further Reading

Allison Joseph, On Being Told I Don’t Speak like a Black Person

*Robert Bly, Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter

Jonathan Swift, A Description of the Morning

Garrett Kaoru Hongo, Yellow Light

Robert Frost, After Apple-Picking

Anita Endrezze, The Girl Who Loved the Sky

Responding Through Writing

Journal Entries

Literary Analysis Papers

Comparison-Contrast Papers

TIPS on Writing about Words and Images

Writing About Connections

"Autumn Leaves": The Changing Seasons of Life in Robert Frost’s After Apple-Picking and Joseph Awad’s Autumnal

"Seeing the City": The Contrasting Perspectives of Jonathan Swift’s A Description of the Morning and Cheryl Savageau’s Bones — A City Poem

"Impermanence’s Permanence": Anita Endrezze’s The Girl Who Loved the Sky and Edmund Spenser’s One day I wrote her name upon the strand

Writing Research Papers

Composing in Other Art Forms

13. Voice, Tone, and Sound: Hearing for How Sense Is Said

Voice

Li-young Lee, Eating Alone

Charles Bukowski, my old man

Dramatic Monologue

Tone

Theodore Roethke, My Papa’s Waltz

Irony

Marge Piercy, Barbie Doll

Sound

Sekou Sundiata, Blink Your Eyes

CHECKLIST on Reading for Voice, Tone, and Sound

Further Reading

Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum Est

Yosef Komunyakaa, Facing It

Richard Garcia, Why I Left the Church

*Billy Collins, Consolation

Robert Browning, My Last Duchess

Responding Through Writing

Journal Entries

Literary Analysis Papers

Comparison-Contrast Papers

TIPS on Writing about Voice, Tone, and Sound

Writing About Connections

"All the Comforts of Home": Contrasting Spirits of Adventure in Billy Collins’s Consolation and Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Ulysses

"Arms and the Man": War without Glory in Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est and Vievee Francis’s Private Smith’s Primer

"Dancing with the Dark": Movement and Memory in Theodore Roethke’s My Papa’s Waltz and Cornelius Eady’s My Mother, If She Had Won Free Dance Lessons

Writing Research Papers

Composing in Other Art Forms

14. Form and Type: Delighting in Design

Lines

Gwendolyn Brooks, We Real Cool

Stanzas

Countee Cullen, Incident

Sonnets

William Shakespeare, That time of year thou mayst in me behold

Claude McKay, If we must die

Gerard Manley Hopkins, God’s Grandeur

Helene Johnson, Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem

Blank Verse and Couplets

Free Verse

Leslie Marmon Silko, Prayer to the Pacific

Internal Form

CHECKLIST on Reading for Form and Type

Further Reading

James Wright, A Blessing

Joy Harjo, She Had Some Horses

William Butler Yeats, The Lake Isle of Innisfree

*Robert Herrick, To Daffodils

David Mura, Grandfather-in-law

*Elizabeth Bishop, Sestina

Responding Through Writing

Journal Entries

Literary Analysis Papers

Comparison-Contrast Papers

TIPS on Writing about Form and Type

Writing About Connections

"Amazing Grace": Being Blessed from within and from without in James Wright’s A Blessing and Galway Kinnell’s Saint Francis and the Sow

"‘Which thou must leave ere long’": Approaching Separation in Elizabeth Bishop’s Sestina and William Shakespeare’s That time of year thou mayst in me behold

"The Solace of Solitude": Place and Peace in W. B.Yeats’s The Lake Isle of Innisfree and Lorine Niedecker’s My Life by Water

Writing Research Papers

Composing in Other Art Forms

15. Figurative Language: Wondering What This Has to Do with That

Simile

Julie Moulds, From Wedding Iva

Langston Hughes, Harlem

Metaphor

Dennis Brutus, Nightsong: City

Personification

Angelina Weld Grimke, A Winter Twilight

Metonymy And Synecdoche

Edwin Arlington Robinson, Richard Cory

Two Other Observations about Figures

William Stafford, Traveling through the Dark

CHECKLIST on Reading for Figurative Language

Further Reading

John Keats, To Autumn

*Mary Oliver, First Snow

Judith Ortiz Cofer, Cold as Heaven

Geoffrey Hill, In Memory Of Jane Fraser

Julia Alvarez, How I Learned to Sweep

Responding Through Writing

Journal Entries

Literary Analysis Papers

Comparison-Contrast Papers

TIPS on Writing about Figurative Language

Writing About Connections

"Innocence and Experience": Confrontations with Evil in Julia Alvarez’s How I Learned to Sweep and William Blake’s The Chimney Sweeper

"A Joyful Melancholy": Nature and Beauty in Mary Oliver’s First Snow and William Wordsworth’s I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

"Knowing Deep the Seasons": Antitheses of Life in John Keats’s To Autumn and William Carlos Williams’s Spring and All

Writing Research Papers

Composing in Other Art Forms

16. Rhythm and Meter: Feeling the Beat, the Flux, and the Flow

Rhythm

e. e. cummings, Buffalo Bill’s

Meter

Paul Laurence Dunbar, We Wear the Mask

CHECKLIST on Reading for Rhythm and Meter

Further Reading

Lucille Clifton, at the cemetery, walnut grove plantation, south carolina, 1989

Lorna Dee Cervantes, Freeway 280

Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

Naomi Shihab Nye, The Small Vases From Hebron

A. K. Ramanujan, Self-portrait

Emily Dickinson, I’m Nobody! Who are you?

Sylvia Plath, Metaphors

Georgia Douglas Johnson, Wishes

Responding Through Writing

Journal Entries

Literary Analysis Papers

Comparison-Contrast Papers

TIPS on Writing about Rhythm and Meter

Writing About Connections

"Grief beyond Grief": Dealing with Death in Ben Jonson’s On My First Son and Michael S. Harper’s Nightmare Begins Responsibility

"Remembering the Unremembered": The Language of Preservation in Lucille Clifton’s at the cemetery, walnut grove plantation, south carolina, 1989 and Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

"On the Road Again": The Search for Self in Lorna Dee Cervante’s Freeway 280 and Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Ulysses

Writing Research Papers

Composing in Other Art Forms

17. Writing about Poetry: Applying What You’ve Learned

Topics

Development

A Student Writer at Work: Dan Carter on the Writing Process

Student Paper: Dan Carter, ÒA Slant on the Standard Love SonnetÓ

18. A Theme in Depth: Explicating the Everyday

*Julia Alvarez, Ironing Their Clothes

*Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Bench in Aix-en-Provence

*Lucille Clifton, Cutting Greens

*Billy Collins, Days

*Emily Dickinson, I heard a Fly buzz

Rita Dove, The Satisfaction Coal Company

Robert Frost, Mending Wall

*Christopher Gilbert, Touching

*Ben Jonson, Inviting a Friend to Supper

*Ted Kooser, Applesauce

*Li-Young Lee, Braiding

*Denise Levertov, The Acolyte

*Pablo Neruda (Chile), Ode to French Fires

Naomi Shihab Nye, The Small Vases from Hebron

Simon Ortiz, Speaking

*Jack Ridl, Love Poem

*Len Roberts, At the Train Tracks

*William Stafford, Notice What This Poem Is Not Doing

*Mary Tallmountain, Peeling Pippins

*Nancy Willard, The Potato Picker

*William Carlos Williams, The Is Just to Say

*William Wordsworth, I wandered lonely as a cloud

*Jeff Gundy, A Review of Delights and Shadows by Ted Kooser

*Sarah Jensen, A Review of Broken Symmetry by Jack Ridl

*William Stafford, The Importance of the Trivial

*Louis Simpson, from Important and Unimportant Poems

*Bill Moyers, An Interview with Naomi Shihab Nye

*Ted Kooser, Out of the Ordinary

*Paul Lake, The Malady of the Quotidian

*Donna A. Rohrer, William Carlos Williams’s Poetics: Turning the Ordinary into the Beautiful

19. A Collection of Poems: Valuing a Variety of Voices

Ai, Why Can’t I Leave You?

Agha Shahid Ali, I Dream It Is Afternoon When I Return To Delhi

Anonymous, Sir Patrick Spens

*Margaret Atwood, True Stories

W. H. Auden, MusŽe Des Beaux Arts

Joseph Awad, Autumnal

Jimmy Santiago Baca,