Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, Backpack Edition / Edition 1

by Edgar Roberts

Overview

The Backpack Edition of Roberts comprehensive anthology gives readers the same thorough coverage of writing about literature in a briefer and affordable format. It Includes complete coverage of writing about each element. Part I, is devoted to Reading, Responding to, and Writing about Literature. There is a thorough overview of the research process, including a full-length model research paper in Appendix I and MLA recommendations for documenting surces in Appendix II.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900205744892
Publication date:	06/21/2011
Edition description:	NE
Pages:	1184
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Edgar V. Roberts, Emeritus Professor of English at Lehman College of The City University of New York, is a native of Minnesota. He graduated from the Minneapolis public schools in 1946, and received his Doctorate from the University of Minnesota in 1960. He taught English at Minnesota, the University of Maryland Overseas Division, Wayne State University, Hunter College, and Lehman College. From 1979 to 1988, He was Chair of the English Department of Lehman College.

He served in the U.S. Army in 1946 and 1947, seeing duty in Arkansas, the Philippine Islands, and Colorado.

He has published articles about the plays of Henry Fielding, the subject of his Ph.D. dissertation. In 1968 he published a scholarly edition of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728), and in 1969 he published a similar edition of Fielding's The Grub-Street Opera (1731), both with the University of Nebraska Press. He first published Writing About Literature (then named Writing Themes About Literature) in 1964, with Prentice Hall. Since then, this book has undergone eleven separate revisions, for a total of twelve editions. In 1986, with Henry E. Jacobs of the University of Alabama, he published the first edition of Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. After Professor Jacobs's untimely death in the summer of 1986, Professor Roberts continued working on changes and revisions to keep this text up to date. The Ninth Edition was published early in 2009, with Pearson Longman. The Fourth Compact Edition of Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing was published in 2008.

Professor Roberts is an enthusiastic devoté of symphonic music and choral singing, having sung in local church choirs for forty years. Recently he has sung (bass) with the New Choral Society of Scarsdale, New York (where he lives), singing in classic works by Handel, Beethoven, Bruckner, Bach, Orff, Britten, Brahms, and others. He is a fan of both the New York Mets and the New York Yankees. When the two teams play in inter-league games, he is uneasy because he dislikes seeing either team lose. He also likes both the Giants and the Jets. He has been an avid jogger ever since the early 1960s, and he enjoys watching national and international track meets.

Professor Roberts encourages queries, comments, and suggestions from students who have been using any of the various books. Use the following email address: [e-mail].

Robert Zweig is a tenured, full professor at Manhattan Community College of the City University of New York. He teaches courses in Literature and Writing and for many years was the Intensive Writing Coordinator for the college. He has a doctorate in English Literature from the City University of New York, a Masters from Queens College in creative writing and a bachelor’s degree from Queens College in English literature. Dr. Zweig has numerous peer-reviewed publications in journals, encyclopedias and books. In addition, he is currently writing two textbooks for McGraw-Hill on the writing process, due out in 2011, another textbook, Grammar in the Modern World (Pearson) due out in 2011 and is co-author of Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, a bestselling introduction to literature textbook by Longman Publishers. His translations of the Italian poet and Nobel Laureate Eugentio Montale appear in this text. Also, Dr. Zweig has lectured extensively throughout the United States and Italy on Victorian Literature, Poetics and contemporary culture. Some of the American universities he has addressed include Notre Dame, New York University, University of California, Harvard, University of Illinois, University of Delaware, Rutgers University and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He has received several scholarships and awards, including a Mellon Fellowship and the Phi Beta Kappa award for “Outstanding Teaching Skills” as one of the Top Ten Professors at Manhattan Community College.

Table of Contents

Preface

PART I The Process of Reading, Responding to, and Writing About Literature

What Is Literature, and Why Do We Study It?

Types of Literature: The Genres

Reading Literature and Responding to It Actively

Alice Walker Everyday Use

Reading and Responding in a Computer File or Notebook

Sample Notebook Entries on Walker's “Everyday Use”

Major Stages in Thinking and Writing about Literary Topics: Discovering Ideas, Preparing to Write, Making an Initial Draft of Your Essay, and Completing the Essay

Writing Does Not Come Easily–for Anyone

The Goal of Writing: To Show a Process of Thought

Discovering Ideas (“Brainstorming”)

Study the Characters in the Work

Determine the Work's Historical Period and Background

Analyze the Work's Economic and Social Conditions

Explain the Work's Major Ideas

Describe the Work's Artistic Qualities

Explain Any Other Approaches That Seem Important

Preparing to Write

Build Ideas from Your Original Notes

Trace Patterns of Action and Thought

The Need for the Actual Physical Process of Writing

Raise and Answer Your Own Questions

Put Ideas Together Using a Plus-Minus, Pro-Con, or Either-Or Method

Originate and Develop Your Thoughts Through Writing

Making an Initial Draft of Your Essay

Base Your Essay on a Central Idea, Argument, or Statement

The Need for a Sound Argument in Essays About Literature

Create a Thesis Sentence as Your Guide to Organization

Begin Each Paragraph with a Topic Sentence

Select Only One Topic–No More–for Each Paragraph

Referring to the Names of Authors

Use Your Topic Sentences as the Arguments for Your Paragraph Development

The Use of Verb Tenses in the Discussion of Literary Works

Develop an Outline as the Means of Organizing Your Essay

Basic Writing Types: Paragraphs and Essays

Paragraph Assignment

Illustrative Student Essay (First Draft): Mrs. Johnson's Overly Self-Assured Daughter, Dee, in Walker's “Everyday Use”

Completing the Essay: Developing and Strengthening Your Essay Through Revision

Make Your Own Arrangement of Details and Ideas

Use Literary Material as Evidence to Support Your Argument

Always Keep to Your Point; Stick to It Tenaciously

Check Your Development and Organization

Try to Be Original

Write with Specific Readers as Your Intended Audience

Use Exact, Comprehensive, and Forceful Language

Illustrative Student Essay (Improved Draft): Mrs. Johnson's Overly Self-Assured Daughter, Dee, in Walker's “Everyday Use”

Commentary on the Essay

A Summary of Guidelines

A Short Guide to the Use of References and Quotations in Essays About Literature

Integrate Passages and Ideas into Your Essay

Distinguish Your Thoughts from Those of Your Author

Integrate Material by Using Quotation Marks

Blend Quotations into Your Own Sentences

Indent Long Quotations and Set Them in Block Format

PART II Reading and Writing About Fiction

1 Fiction: An Overview

Modern Fiction

The Short Story

Elements of Fiction I: Verisimilitude and Donnée

Elements of Fiction II: Character, Plot, Structure, and Idea or Theme

Elements of Fiction III: The Writer's Tools

Stories for Study

SANDRA CISNEROS 'Mericans

WILLIAM FAULKNER A Rose for Emily

LUIGI PIRANDELLO War

Plot: The Motivation and Causality of Fiction

Writing About the Plot of a Story

Illustrative Student Essay: Plot in William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily"

Writing Topics About Plot in Fiction

2 Point of View: The Position or Stance of the Work's Narrator or Speaker

An Exercise in Point of View: Reporting an Accident

Conditions That Affect Point of View

Point of View and Opinions

Determining a Work's Point of View

Mingling Points of View

Point of View and Verb Tense

Summary: Guidelines for Points of View

Stories for Study

SHERMAN ALEXIE This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona

SHIRLEY JACKSON The Lottery

LORRIE MOORE How to Become a Writer

Writing About Point of View

Illustrative Student Essay: Shirley Jackson's Dramatic Point of View in “The Lottery”

Writing Topics About Point of View

3 Characters: The People in Fiction

Character Traits

How Authors Disclose Character in Literature

Types of Characters: Round and Flat

Reality and Probability: Verisimilitude

Stories for Study

T. C. BOYLEGreasy Lake

SUSAN GLASPELL A Jury of Her Peers

KATHERINE MANSFIELD Miss Brill

AMY TAN Two Kinds

Writing About Character

Writing Topics About Character

4 Setting: The Background of Place, Objects, and Culture in Stories

What Is Setting?

The Literary Uses of Setting

Stories for Study

JAMES JOYCE Araby

CYNTHIA OZICK The Shawl

EDGAR A. POE The Cask of Amontillado

Writing Topics About Setting

5 Structure: The Organization of Stories

Formal Categories of Structure

Formal and Actual Structure

Stories for Study

RALPH ELLISON Battle Royal

HA JIN Saboteur

EUDORA WELTY A Worn Path

TOM WHITECLOUD Blue Winds Dancing

Writing Topics About Structure

6 Tone and Style: The Words That Convey Attitudes in Fiction

Diction: The Writer's Choice and Control of Words

Tone, Irony, and Style

Tone, Humor, and Style

Stories For Study

KATE CHOPIN The Story of an Hour

ERNEST HEMINGWAY Hills Like White Elephants

FRANK O'CONNOR First Confession

JOHN UPDIKE A & P

Writing Topics About Tone and Style

7 Symbolism and Allegory: Keys to Extended Meaning

Symbolism

Allegory

Fable, Parable, and Myth

Allusion in Symbolism and Allegory

Stories For Study

AESOP The Fox and the Grapes

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE Young Goodman Brown

LUKE The Parable of the Prodigal Son

GABRIEL GARCÍA MARQUEZ A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

KATHERINE ANNE PORTER The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

Writing About Symbolism

Illustrative Student Essay (Symbolism): Symbols of Light and Darkness in Porter's “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”

Writing Topics About Symbolism

8 Idea or Theme: The Meaning and the Message in Fiction

Ideas and Assertions

Ideas and Issues

Ideas and Values

The Place of Ideas in Literature

How to Find Ideas

Stories for Study

TONI CADE BAMBARA The Lesson

D. H. LAWRENCE The Horse Dealer's Daughter

AMéRICO PAREDES The Hammon and the Beans

Writing About a Major Idea in Fiction

Illustrative Student Essay: D. H. Lawrence's “The Horse Dealer's Daughter” as an Expression of the Idea that Loving Commitment is Essential in Life

Writing Topics About Ideas

9 Four Stories for Additional Enjoyment and Study

CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN The Yellow Wallpaper

JOYCE CAROL OATES Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

FLANNERY O'CONNOR A Good Man Is Hard to Find

TOBIAS WOOLF Powder

PART III Reading and Writing About Poetry

10 Meeting Poetry: An Overview

The Nature of Poetry

BILLY COLLINS Schoolsville

LISEL MUELLER Hope

ROBERT HERRICK Here a Pretty Baby Lies Poetry of the English Language

How to Read a Poem

Studying Poetry

Anonymous Sir Patrick Spens

GWENDOLYN BROOKS The Mother

WILLIAM COWPER The Poplar Field

THOMAS HARDY The Man He Killed

JOY HARJO Eagle Poem

RANDALL JARRELL The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner

DORRIANE LAUX The Life of Trees

EMMA LAZARUS The New Colossus

EUGENIO MONTALEEnglish Horn

JIM NORTHRUP Ogichidag

NAOMI SHIHAB NYE Where Children Live

OCTAVIO PAZ Two Bodies

PHIL RIZZUTO They Own the Wind

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Sonnet 55: Not Marble, Nor the Gilded Monuments

ELAINE TERRANOVA Rush Hour

Writing a Paraphrase of a Poem

Illustrative Student Paraphrase: A Paraphrase of Thomas Hardy's “The Man He Killed”

Writing an Explication of a Poem

Illustrative Student Essay: An Explication of Thomas Hardy's “ Man He Killed”

Writing Topics About the Nature of Poetry

11 Words: The Building Blocks of Poetry

Choice of Diction: Specific and Concrete, General and Abstract

Levels of Diction

Special Types of Diction

Syntax

Decorum: The Matching of Subject and Word

Denotation and Connotation

Robert Graves The Naked and the Nude

Poems for Study

WILLIAM BLAKE The Lamb

ROBERT BURNS Green Grow the Rashes

LEWIS CARROLL Jabberwocky

E. E. CUMMINGS next to of course god america i

JOHN DONNE Holy Sonnet 14: Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God

RICHARD EBERHART The Fury of Aerial Bombardment

BART EDELMAN Chemistry Experiment

THOMAS GRAY Sonnet on the Death of Richard West

A. E. HOUSMAN Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now

DENISE LEVERTOV Of Being

JUDITH ORTIZ [COFER] Latin Women Pray

EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON Richard Cory

KAY RYAN Crib

WALLACE STEVENS Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock

MARK STRAND Eating Poetry

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH Daffodils (I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud)

JAMES WRIGHT A Blessing

Writing Topics About the Words of Poetry

12 Imagery: The Poem's Link to the Senses

Responses and the Writer's Use of Detail

The Relationship of Imagery to Ideas and Attitudes

Types of Imagery

JOHN MASEFIELD Cargoes

WILFRED OWEN Anthem for Doomed Youth

ELIZABETH BISHOP The Fish

POEMS FOR STUDY

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING Sonnets from the Portuguese, Number 14: If Thou Must Love Me

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE Kubla Khan

T. S. ELIOT Preludes

LOUISE ERDRICH Indian Boarding School : The Runaways

SUSAN GRIFFIN Love Should Grow Up Like a Wild Iris in the Fields

THOMAS HARDY Channel Firing

GEORGE HERBERT The Pulley

GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS Spring

DENISE LEVERTOV A Time Past

EUGENIO MONTALE Buffalo (Buffalo)

PABLO NERUDA Every Day You Play

OCTAVIO PAZ The Street

EZRA POUND In a Station of the Metro

MIKLÓS RADNÓTI Forced March

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Sonnet 13: My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun

Writing About Imagery

Illustrative Student Essay: Imagery in T. S. Eliot's “Preludes”

Writing Topics About Imagery in Poetry

13 Figures of Speech, or Metaphorical Language: A Source of Depth and Range in Poetry

Metaphors and Similes: The Major Figures of Speech

Characteristics of Metaphorical Language

JOHN KEATS On First Looking into Chapman's Homer

Vehicle and Tenor

Other Figures of Speech JOHN KEATS Bright Star

JOHN GAY Let Us Take the Road

POEMS FOR STUDY

JACK AGÜEROS Sonnet for You, Familiar Famine

WILLIAM BLAKE The Tyger

ROBERT BURNS A Red, Red Rose

JOHN DONNE A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

ABBIE HUSTON EVANS The Iceberg Seven-Eighths Under

JOY HARJO Remember

JOHN KEATS To Autumn

HENRY KING Sic Vita

ROBERT LOWELL Skunk Hour

PABLO NERUDA If You Forget Me

MARGE PIERCY A Work of Artifice

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Sonnet 3: When to the Sessions of Sweet Silent Thought

WALT WHITMAN Facing West from California's Shores

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH London, 1820

SIR THOMAS WYATT I Find No Peace

Writing About Figures of Speech

Illustrative Student Paragraph: Wordsworth's Use of Overstatement in “London, 1820”

Writing Topics About Figures of Speech in Poetry

14 Tone: The Creation of Attitude in Poetry

Tone, Choice, and Response

CORNELIUS WHUR The First-Rate Wife

Tone and the Need for Control

WILFRED OWEN Dulce et Decorum Est

Tone and Common Grounds of Assent

Tone in Conversation and Poetry

Tone and Irony

THOMAS HARDY The Workbox

Tone and Satire ALEXANDER POPE Epigram from the French

ALEXANDER POPE Epigram, Engraved on the Collar of a Dog Which I Gave to His Royal Highness

POEMS FOR STUDY

WILLIAM BLAKE On Another's Sorrow

ROBERT BROWNING My Last Duchess

JIMMY CARTER I Wanted to Share My Father's World

BILLY COLLINS The Names

E. E. CUMMINGS she being Brand /-new

MARTIN ESPADA Bully

MARI EVANS I Am a Black Woman

SEAMUS HEANEY Mid-Term Break

DAVID IGNATOW The Bagel

YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA Facing It

ABRAHAM LINCOLN My Childhood's Home

PAT MORA La Migra

SHARON OLDS The Planned Child

ALEXANDER POPEfrom Epilogue to the Satires Dialogue I

ANNE RIDLER Nothing Is Lost

THEODORE ROETHKE My Papa's Waltz

CATHY SONG Lost Sister

JONATHAN SWIFT A Description of the Morning

DAVID WAGONER My Physics Teacher

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH The Solitary Reaper

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS When You Are Old

Writing Topics About Tone in Poetry

15 Form: The Shape of Poems

Closed-Form Poetry

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH Fragment from The Prelude

ALEXANDER POPE Fragment from The Rape of the Locke

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON The Eagle

JOHN MILTON Fragment from Lycidas

ANONYMOUS Spun in High, Dark Clouds

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Sonnet 116: Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds

Open-Form Poetry WALT WHITMAN Reconciliation

E. E. CUMMINGS Buffalo Bill's Defunct

GEORGE HERBERT Colossians 3:3 (Our Life is Hid With Christ in God)

GEORGE HERBERT Easter Wings

CHARLES HARPER WEBB The Shape of History

JOHN HOLLANDER Swan and Shadow

WILLIAM HEYEN Mantle

MAY SWENSON Women

ROBERT HASS Museum

POEMS FOR STUDY

ELIZABETH BISHOP One Art

BILLY COLLINS Sonnet

ROBERT FROST Desert Places

GEORGE HERBERT Virtue

JOHN HALL INGHAM George Washington

JOHN KEATS Ode to a Nightingale

YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA Grenade

CLAUDE McKAY In Bondage

HERMAN MELVILLE Shiloh

DUDLEY RANDALL Ballad of Birmingham

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Sonnet 73

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY Ozymandias

DYLAN THOMAS Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS The Dance

Writing Topics About Poetic Form

16. Symbolism and Allusion: Windows to Wide Expanses of Meaning

Symbolism and Meanings

VIRGINIA SCOTT Snow

The Function of Symbolism in Poetry

Allusions and Meaning

Studying for Symbols and Allusions

POEMS FOR STUDY

PETER DAVISON Delphi

STEPHEN DUNN Hawk

RALPH WALDO EMERSON Concord Hymn