The LiteraryExperience

Bruce BeiderwellUniversity of California, Los Angeles

Jeffrey M. WheelerLong Beach City College

THOMSON*

W A D S W O R T H Australia • Brazjj •• Canada1 •;. Mexico • Singapore

Spain ••!United Kingdom.-*, United States

Brief Contents

Introduction to the Elements of Literature xxxiiiHow Do We Know What Terms to Use When We Talk about

Our Experiences with Literature?

1 | Scene, Episode, and Plot 1What Happened, and Why Do We Care? -

2 | Character 115Who Is Involved, and Why Does. It Matter?

3 "("Theme 195What Does This Text Mean?Is There One Right Way to Read This Text?

4~T Point oi View 282

How Do We Know What We Know about What Happened?

5 | Setting 399Where and When Does This Action Take Place?Why Does It Make a Difference?

6 j Rhythm, Pace, and Rhyme 508How Do Sounds Move?

7. |"Images 630 , •How Do We Experience Sensations in a Written Text?

8 | Coherence 713Is There a Pattern Here? •• • , • • . . - •How Does This Fit Together? • ' '

in

iv Brief Contents

9 | Interruption 787Where Did That Come From?Why Is This Here?

10 | Tone 1006Did I Hear That Right?

11 | Word Choice 1077Why This Word and Not Another?

12 | Allegory 1194Is This Supposed to Mean Something Else, Too?

13 | Symbolism 1252How Do I Know When an Event or an Image Is Supposed to

Stand for Something Eke?

14 | Context 1392What Outside Information Do We Really Need'to Know to

Understand the Text?

15 | Allusions 1474In Order to Understand This Text, Is There Something Else

That I Am Supposed to Have Read?

161 Genre 1582Houi Do Our Expectations Impact Our Literary Experience?How Are Those Expectations Formed? . ;

17 | The Production and Reproduction of Texts 1674How Does Retelling and Revising Impact My Experience of a Text?How Can Literary Theory Clarify What Constitutes That

Experience?

18 | An Orientation to Research 1695Why Should I Use Sources? . • -How Do We Find Them?What Material Do I Document?

Contents

Preface • xxv •> ••"' /

Introduction to the Elements of Literature' xxxiiiHow Do We Know What Terms to Use When We Talk about

Our Experience with Literature? , . , - . ' '

Developing a Flexible Critical Vocabulary -: xxxiv (

Critical Writing as Conversation xxxv

Critical Writing as an Extension of Reading xxxvii ., ,,Langston Hughes, Harlem •[poem] xxxyii . ,

1 | Scene, Episode, and'Plot < * ••<•••••What Happened, and Why Do We Care? 1 •••• •

Edouard Boubat, Rendez-vous at the Cafe La Vache Noire [image]

Incident, Scene, and Sequence 2Experiencing Literature through Plot , 3

Robert Piiislcy, Poem with Lines in Any Drder fgoemj 4Wislawa Szymborska, A B C [poem] ' D" "" '.''['

Episode, Impression, and Fragment' &,,' ,,, fr .-;

Claude Monet, Portal, of Rouen Cathedral in Morning „.Light [image] 7 ,, „ , ,

Experiencing Literature through Impression and Episode 7

Stephen Crane, A n Episode of War [fiction] ' g ' ° ' r '

T e n s i o n , R e l e a s e , a n d R e s o l u t i o n , . . J i 1 ; ( / i .. • , ,,.',M u l t i p l e a n d R e f l e x i v e P l o t s . ; ; 1 3 , • ' - • H •-. •>,'••'

Memento [film] 14 - . . . - . , . •. • •

A NOTE TG STUDENT- WRITERS: Critical Reading and Understanding lfl

Marge Piercy, Unlearning to no t speak [poem] ; 15 : ;

Modeling \Cr.itical. Analysis:.Jamaica Kincaid,, Girl [fiction] . .16Jamaica Kincaid, Girl [fiction] 16

vi Contents

Anthology

Detective Work: Figuring Plot 18FICTION Arthur Conan Doyle, A Scandal in Bohemia 20

Don Lee, The Price of Eggs in China 39

POETRY Emily Dickinson, [A Route of Evanescence] 59Emily Dickinson, [I like to see it lap the Miles—] 60E. A. Robinson, Richard Cory 60Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening ,61William Stafford, Traveling through the Dark 62Kevin Young, The Set-up 62 ,Kevin Young, The Chase 64 • .Aron Keesbury, On the Robbery across the Street 65Muriel Rukeyser, Myth- 66 -- -

DRAMA Sophocles, Oedipus the King 67 :

2 | CharacterWho Is Involved, and Why Does If Matter? 115 " '•

Building Character 116Experiencing Literature through Character 117

Michael Chabon, from The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & •

Clay [fiction] 117 . . . - . • . • • . "

Presenting Character 120A NOTE TO STUDENT WRITERS: Leading Questions 121

Picturing Character 121 , . ,Experiencing Film and Literature through Character 122

Gone with the Wind [film] 123 ['Hattie McDaniel accepting her Academy Award at

the Coconut Grove [image] 124Rita Dove, Hattie McDaniel Arrives at the Coconut

Grove [poem] 124 '

Feeling for Character 126 ,Experiencing Literature through Character 126

Cathy Song, Picture Bride [poem]' illRobert Hayden, Those Winter Sundays [poem] 128 : ,

Character and Function 129 ., • . •Judith Ortiz Cofer, My Father in the Navy:

A Childhood Memory [poem] 130 • • "'

Modeling Critical Analysis: Jamaica Kincaid, Girl [fiction] 131

, . ' . , ' , ' ' Contents vi i

Anthology

Powers Plays: Characterizing Relationships 132FICTION , Alice Munro, How I Met My Husband 134

Luigi Pirandello, The Soft Touch of Grass 148Alice Walker, Everyday Use 152

POETRY Edgar Lee Masters, Elsa Wertman 160Edgar Lee Masters, Hamilton Greene 161Robert Frost, Home Burial 161Audre Lorde, Now That I Am Forever with Child 165 •Eavan Bbland, The Pomegranate 165Sylvia Plath, Daddy 167 ;

Quincy Troupe, Poem for My Father ' 170Kitty Tsui, A Chinese Banquet 171B i l l y C o l l i n s , L a n y a r d -'"173 ' -•• '• • . • --• '

E . A . R o b i n s o n , T h e M i l l 1 7 4

L i z R o s e n b e r g , 1 : 5 3 A . M . 1 7 5 l i ' < '.''•.>:• . •/.•Gwendolyn Brooks, Sadie and Maud 176 •••••'•• •Seamus Heaney, Mid-Term Break 176 yMichael Lassell, How to Watch Your Brother Die -177

. ; Adrienne Rich, Aunt Jennifer's Tigers 180 ~' - GarySoto, Black Hair 181 ,

DRAMA Anton Chekhov, The Proposal: A Jest in One Act 182

3 | Theme ,What Does This Text Mean?

- j 5 There One Right Way to Read This Text? 195

T h e m e a n d T h e s i s , 1 9 6 .;•:.-.. . ...: ./••... : -• •T h e m e a n d M o r a l 197 ' b: '• '

Charles Perrault, Little Red Riding Hood [fiction] 198. James Thurber, The Girl and the 'Wolf [fiction] ' 2 0 1

(Calviri''Coolidgel[!mage] 201" ! 'MGM Lion [image] 201

-SiGirl'.Devoured by Wolf [fiction] -202S^Experiencing.Literature tthrough'JTheme: 202 <*•: • '. •<-'

Marge Piercy, A Work of Artifice [poem] 203 ,

Multiple Themes in a Single Work ;204 •• , <* • •E x p e r i e n c i n g ; L i t e r a t u r e through Theme,• ,'205 . • . , . . . ' . .

M a x i n e H o n g K i n g s t o n , T h e W i l d M a n o f t h e G r e e n >;-

S w a m p [fiction]''- 2 0 5 - J \ •.. . •-, .•.••••••• , • ..

vi i i Contents

When the Message Is Unwanted 208Triumph of the Will [film] 209A NOTE TO STUDENT WRITERS: Discovering What You Want to Say 210

Modeling Critical Analysis: Jamaica Kincaid, Girl [fiction] 211

Anthology

Exploring Boundaries: Interpreting Theme 213

FICTION Luisa Valenzuela, The Censors 214Flannery O'Connor, A Good Man Is Hard To Find 217

POETRY John Keats, La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad 230Edna St. Vincent Millay, [Women have loved before as

I love now] 232Elizabeth Bishop, Casabianca 232Ted Hughes, Lovesong 233Carolyn Forche, The Colonel 234William Butler Yeats, Leda and the Swan 235D. H. Lawrence, Snake 236Richard Wilbur, A Fable 238Linda Pastan, Ethics 239

DRAMA Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus' 240

4 | Point of ViewHow Do We Know What We Know about What

Happened? 282 ..-• > "'; ••'•

Perspective 282 -Albrecht Diirer, Working on Perspective [image] . 283Masaccio, Trinity [image] 284Plan and elevation of Masaccio's Trinity [image] 285 • -Dorothy Parker, Penelope [poem] , 285 . .A NOTE TO STUDENT WRITERS: Distinguishing Author from Speaker • 286

T h e N a r r a t i v e Eye 2 8 6 >.-.' ; r,.:.-.. : ; •;]•.. .,Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer above the,Sea of Fog [image] >287Caspar David Friedrich, Woman in fthe Morning Light [image] ., 287

R e l i a b l e a n d U n r e l i a b l e N a r r a t o r s r 2 8 8 - ' " . - ' ; • • - a - .•••Third-Person Narrators 288 ! L • ' - •< " -

Charles Dickens, from A Christmas Carol [fiction] ; 288 •First-Person Narrators 290 . , ; >••: • i

Experiencing Literature through Point of View - 291 ... •• ;".. .••.W e n d e l l Berry , T h e V a c a t i o n [poem] 2 9 1

Contents ix

Film Focus and Angles 292The Magnicent Ambersons [film] 293Citizen Kane [film] 293Trapped -[film] 294Nosferatu [film] 294Henry Taylor, After a Movie [poem] 295Experiencing Film through Point of View 296

Rear Window [film] 297

Shifting Perspectives 298Stevie Smith, Not Waving but Drowning [poem] 299Experiencing Literature through Perspective 300

Charles Sheeler, River Rouge Plant Stamping Press [image] 300Philip Levine, Photography.2.[poem] 300Frank X. Gaspar, It Is the Nature of the Wing [poem] 302

Modeling Critical Analysis: Robert Browning, <••' • •,My Last Duchess [poem] 303 -

Robert Browning, My Last Duchess [poem] 303

AnthologyTrust and Doubt: A Matter of Point of View 306FICTION Ann Beattie, Janus 306

Kate Chopin, The Story of an Hour 311Charlotte Perkins Gilman,' The Yellow Wallpaper 314

POETRY Helane Levine Keating, My Last Duke 327William Carlos Williams, This Is Ju?t to Say,. 328 .Erica-Lynn Gambino,, This Is Just to Say 329Elizabeth Bishop, The Fish 330Edna St. Vincent Millay, Childhood Is the Kingdom Where

Nobody Dies 332 'Charles Simic, Prodigy 333John Donne, The Good-Morrow 334Adrienne Rich, Living in Sin 335W. S. Merwin, Separation 336H. D. Helen 336Sylvia Plath, The Applicant 337S y l v i a P l a t h , M i r r o r 3 3 8 . . , 'Robert Morgan, Working in the Rain 339

DRAMA William Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing t v-340

x Contents

5 | Setting • •'•.. ZUyf't ff-'R

Where and When Does This Action Take Place? : ?.K*̂ '•>.-• i.Why Does it Make a Difference? 399 ' • :>i < " K L i r - )

Place and Time 399 . .' . ^ i - . HGreetings from Fargo postcard, [image], 400 , . • ;nzHA NOTE TO STUDENT WRITERS: Descriptive .Summaries 401- -..h?4y.3.

Experiencing Literature through Setting 401 ;: . .,, ; H

Denise Levertov, February Evening in N e w York [poem] 4,02. ^ p

Theodore Dreiser, from Sister Carrie [fiction] 403 . . . •, _^.

Department store interior [image], r, 404 , . •xiy-i

The Role of Physical Objects-.r;4d5--4ij. • • ' , i ' jKazuo Ishiguro, from Remains_of; the ̂ Dayif/iction] .405 'i '-';.

I m a g i n a r y P l a c e s ' - 4 0 8 ; ; :- -"' :"'![ '•"" ' • ' ' 'Experiencing Film through- Setting'..; .. 109;;,; ,, ;• : . ; i0 !V '

A m e l i e [film] 4 1 0 %[• . . , - , . , • • ,}J,Babe: Pig in the. City [film]\ i;Alhtl •,. '- ... ••',- •-.%••'

A NOTE TO STUDENT WRITERS: Paying Attention to Details 4J2

Modeling Critical Analysis: Robert Browning, •.• -''.inMy Last Duchess [poem] 412

Anthology

From Gothic Space to Recognizable Place: Creating Setting 414Giovanni Piranesi, from Imaginary 'Prisons [image] 414 1T '"'

FICTION James Joyce, Araby 415Edgar Allan Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher 420

POETRY Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan: or, a Vision in a Dream 436Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven 437Christina Rossetti, Cobwebs 440Oscar Wilde, The Harlot's House ,441Dudley Randall, Ballad of Birmingham 442Joy Harjo, New Orleans 444Joy Harjo, The Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth

Floor Window 446GarySoto, Braly Street 448 ; 'Gary Soto, Kearney Park 450 ,Ginger Andrews, Rolls-Royce Dreams 451Barbara Ras, Childhood 452 'Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Indian Movie, New Jersey 453B. H. Fairchild, The Dumlca 454

DRAMA Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie 455

Contents x i

| Rhythm, Pace, and RhymeHow Do Sounds Move? 508

Filmic Rhythm 509Experiencing Film through Rhythm 510

Jaws [film] 510

Poetic Rhythm 511Experiencing Literature through Rhythm 513

Herman Melville, The Maldive Shark [poem] 514William Blake, Nurse's Song [poem] 514

The Rhythm of Pauses 517Experiencing Literature through Rhythm 517

Samuel Johnson, On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet [poem] 518Ben Jonson, On My First Son [poem] 520

A NOTE TO STUDENT WRITERS: Commanding Attention 520

The Rhythm of Sounds 521Experiencing Literature through Rhythm and Rhyme 522

Randall Jarrell, The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner [poem] 523Robert Frost, Fire and Ice [poem] 524

Modeling Critical Analysis: Robert Browning,My Last Duchess [poem] 524

Anthology

Innocence and Experience: Rhythm and Meaning 525FICTION James Baldwin, Sonny's Blues 527

Ursula K. Le Guin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas 553Susan Minot, Lust 559

POETRY William Blake, The Lamb 567William Blake, The Chimney Sweeper (Innocence) 568William Blake, Holy Thursday (Innocence) 569William Blake, The Tyger 569William Blake, The Chimney Sweeper (Experience) 570William Blake, Holy Thursday (Experience) 570Theodore Roethke, My Papa's Waltz 571Theodore Roethke, The Waking 572Langston Hughes, Dream Boogie 573Langston Hughes, The Negro Speaks of Rivers 573Gwendolyn Brooks, We Real Cool 574Countee Cullen, Incident 575Denise Levertov, In Mind 575Sharon Olds, I Go Back to May 1937 576Sharon Olds, The Death of Marilyn Monroe 577

DRAMA Suzan-Lori Parks, Topdog/Underdog 578

xii Contents

7 | Images .How Do We Experience Sensations in a Written Text? 630

Creating Pictures with Words 631William Carlos Williams, The Red Wheelbarrow [poem] 631Czeslaw Milosz, Watering Can [poem] 632 : • ' ; . - .Sailboat [image] 633Georges Seurat, Entrance to the Harbor [image] 633Experiencing Literature through Imagery 634

Wislawa Szymborska, The Courtesy of the Blind [poem] 634

Registering Taste and Smell 636Sideways [film] 636

. Experiencing Literature through Images 637Salman Rushdie, On Leavened Bread [prose] .637Nun with Bread [image] 638

Interaction of the Senses 639John Milton, from Paradise Lost [poem] 640 , >; ,, /Gangs of New York f/ilm] • 642 ,: . . , ' •';• ., : ,Lost in Translation [film] 642 . . , • . - ,Experiencing Literature through Images 643

Richard Wilbur, A Fire-Truck [poem] 643

Interaction of Words and Pictures 645Michael Ondaatje, King Kong Meets Wallace Stevens [poem] 645Wallace Stevens [image] 646King Kong [film] 647Experiencing Literature through Images 647

Yosa Buson, Hokku Poems in Four Seasons [poem] 648A NOTE TO STUDENT WRITERS: Using Specific Detail 652

Modeling Critical Analysis: T. S. Eliot, The Love Song ofJ. Alfred Prufrock [poem] 652 • '

T. S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock [poem] 653

AnthologyHome and Away: Personalizing.Images 657FICTION Alice Munro, Boys and Girls 659

Haruki Murakami, UFO in Kushiro 671

POETRY William Blake, London 684William Wordsworth, London, 1802 684William Wordsworth, Composed upon Westminster Bridge,

September 3, 1802 685 ' .. .," .

Contents xi i i

William Wordsworth, The World Is Too Much with Us,, ,; 686.,,William Wordsworth, [I wandered lonely as a cloud] 686Emily Dickinson, [There's a certain Slant of light] 687Robert Frost, Birches ( 688Robert Frost, Acquainted with the Night 689 ,Ezra Pound, In a Station of the Metro 690 . ..Wallace Stevens, The Snow Man 690 . .Wallace Stevens, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird 691e. e. cummings, in Just- 693Maya Angelou, Harlem Hopscotch 694Richard Wilbur, April 5, 1974 695Mary Oliver, Spring 695Mary Oliver, Ghosts 697Derek Walcott, Dry Season 699

DRAMA Susan Glaspell, Trifles 699

| Coherence

Is There a Pattern Here?

How Does This Fit Together? 713

Nick Hornby, from High Fidelity [fiction] 713High Fidelity [film] 714

Design and Shape 715George Herbert, Easter Wings [poem] 716Thomas Hardy, The Convergence of the Twain [poem] 717

Traditional Structures 718Sonnet chart [image] 720Experiencing Literature through Form 721-

William Wordsworth, Nuns Fret Not [poem] 722Edna St. Vincent Millay, I, Being Born a Woman

and Distressed [poem] 722Robert Frost, Design [poem] 723Dylan Thomas, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good

Night [poem] 724A NOTE TO STUDENT WRITERS: Complicating a Thesis 725

Coherence without Traditional or Fixed Structure 726Philip Levine, The Simple Truth [poem] 726

Modeling Critical Analysis: T. S. Eliot, The Love Song ofJ. Alfred Prufrock [poem] 729

xiv Contents

Anthology !

Rituals and Routines:.Structuring for Coherence 730FICTION Charles W.Chesnutt, Wife of His Youth 733

John Updike, A&P 742Jonathan Safran Foer, The Very Rigid Search 748

POETRY. , William Cullen Bryant, To Cole, the Painter,' Departing for Europe 769

Joe Kane, The Boy Who Nearly Won the Texaco ArtCompetition 769

Elizabeth Bishop, Manners for a Child of 1918 770Phillis Wheatley, On Being Brought from Africa to America 771Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken 772Thomas Lux, The Swimming Pool 773Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Constantly risking absurdity 774Allen Ginsberg, Supermarket in California 775Richard Wilbur, A Sketch 776Miller Williams, Thinking about Bill, Dead of AIDS 777

DRAMA David Ives, Sure Thing 778

| InterruptionWhere Did That Come From?Why Is This Here? 7,87 .

Interrupting the FictionarFrame 787The Princess Bride [film] 788Experiencing Literature through Interruption 789

Douglas Adams, from The Hitchhiker's Guide to theGalaxy [fiction] 790 ..

Structural Interruptions 792William Butler Yeats, The Folly of Being Comforted [poem] 792Mary Oliver, Bone Poem [poem] 793Experiencing Fi!m through Interruption 794

Pulp Fiction [film] 795

Juxtaposition 795Margaret Bourke-White, At the Time of the Louisville

Flood [image] 796Experiencing Literature through Juxtaposition 797

Ted Kooser, Tattoo [poem] 798

Contents xv

Montage 798Experiencing Film through Juxtaposition 799'

Roger and Me [film] ;-800 ' l

A NOTE TO STUDENT WRITERS: Making Comparisons Relevant, 801

Modeling Critical Analysis:!T. S. Eliot, The Love Song ofJ. Alfred Prufrock [poem] 802

Anthology

Framing, Mapping, and Exploration: Placing Interruption 805FICTION Jorges Luis Borges, The Garden of Forking Paths 806

Joseph Conrad, The Secret Sharer 814EudoraWelty, A Worn Path 847Raymond Carver, Cathedral 854 L

POETRY Elizabeth Bishop, Brazil, January, 1502 , , 8 6 7 - •». •Louise Bogan, Cartography 868 ; :•: , , : ,Sharon,Olds, Topography 869Langston Hughes, Theme for English B 870Laura Riding, The Map,of Places 871Richard Wilbur, Worlds 871Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 872Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ulysses 890Emily Dickinson, [The Brain—is wider than the Sky—] 892Emily Dickinson, [I never saw a Moor—] 893.Emily Dickinson; [Tell all the Truth but tell it slant—] , 893Emily Dickinson, [To make a prairie it takes a clover

and one bee] 893John Donne, The Sun Rising 894John Donne, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning 895

DRAMA William Shakespeare, Hamlet 896

10| ToneDid I Hear That Right? 1006

Hearing Right 1007Margaret Atwood, you fit into me [poem] 1007

i ' ' Experiencing Literature through Tone • 1 0 0 8IJ Dorothy Parker, O n e Perfect Rose [pbemj 1008

-•' Dorothy Parker, T h o u g h t for a Sunshiny Morn ing [poem] 1009y> John D o n n e , T h e Flea [poem] 1009

Mixing and Balancing Opposing Tones 1010Ted Kooser, A Letter from Aunt Belle [poem] 1011Experiencing Literature through Tone 1012

Zora Neale Hurston, from Mules and Men [fiction] 1013

xvi Contents

Irony and Introspection 1015 ,. sos;.! '•••M a r g a r e t A t w o o d , S i r e n S o n g [poem] 1 0 1 5 : ...•:• \ •>'•-*"*'•'•" "" - i* - 1

Chinua Achebe, Dead Men's Path [fiction] 1016 . ' \ ;%<>?.Czeslaw Milosz, If There Is No GddfpoemJ ' 1019 ' • ;, ow ,\A NOTE TO STUDENT WRITERS: Signaling Your Own Understanding ; -,< ,,;\/i

of Tonal Shifts 1020 . . ' \ • ' ' ' • " • > , T ' " '. ' • ' • . - . • :• ' " r . '< ! i : . ; M i , - \ . '

Modeling Critical Analysis: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, 0 Brother,Where Art Thou? [film] 1020 ^nlo^-r?Margaret Bourke-White, Guard with a shotgun [image] 1021O Brother, Where Art Thou? [film]' 1022 ' ; : ,.;^C;jf:.v! .iX.fnBT

Anthology . , . ^ J S ^ C ;

Caught Between Laughter and Tears: Considering Tone in Analysis ^ 0 2 3FICTION Katherine Mansfield, A Dill Pickle 1025 • . . ;-£.;rJ!5 var:..

Herman Melville, Bartleby, the Scrivener :*) 1031;c£ sJzicl

POETRY Billy Collins, I Chop Some Parsley While Listening'to Art'Blakey'sVersion of "three Blind Mice" 1060 <"̂ • ; .rsoiv^sJ

W. H. Auden, Musee des Beaux Arts1 1062 ' ' -; ' • "^"J -Elizabeth Bishop, One Art 1062 '"•'•' •"-: ' • • J* :i~:r:!®Quincy Troupe, -Untitled 1063 ' , "; ' . ; T f r 'Sherman Alexie, Defending Walt Whitman ' 1064 - A

Ted Kooser, A'Hairnet with Stars "1066 ; ' J- •' -:1- --Yusef Komunyakaa, A Break from the Bush 1067 > 7-jrr»-Lisel Mueller, Not Only the Eskimos -1 -1068 • i- ^ - ; Vu«I-

DRAMA Christopher Durang and Wendy'Was'sersteih','1 Medea ^1070

f.,

111 Word ChoiceWhy This Word and Not Another? 1077 '

Precision and Playfulness 1078 _,, , n fErasmus, from De Duplici Copia Verborum et Rerum [poem] ̂ 1079 "Experiencing Film and Literature through Diction J080

Moulin Rouge [film] 1081 ,,

Beyond Summary 1083 „, ; ., , . ...William Shakespeare, Sonnets (From fairest creatures we desire increase;

When forty winters shall beseige thy brow; Look in thy'glass, and tellthe face thou viewest; Lo! in the orient when the gracious light; Musicto hear, why hear'st thou music sadly?;; Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye;Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?) [poems] 1084-1088

A NOTE TO STUDENT WRITERS: On the Paraphrase 1088

Contents xvi i

Definition and Usage 1089 .,,Billy Collins, Thesaurus [poem] . 1089Oxford English Dictionary, Love [prose] 1090Experiencing Literature through Word Choice 1092

Robert Sward, For Gloria on Her 60th Birthday, or Looking forLove in Merriam-Webster [poem] 1092

Critically Reflecting on Words 1093Lewis Shiner, from The Turkey City Lexicon: A Primer for Science

Fiction Workshops 1093Bulwer-Lytton Contest Winners 1094

Modeling Critical..Analysis: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen,0 Brother Where Art Thou? [film] 1095

Anthology 7

Romantic Love: Expressing the Exact Emotion ' 1 0 9 7 T '":

FICTION Raymond Carver, What We Talk about When We Talkabout Love 1098

Edith Wharton, Roman Fever 1108POETRY Anonymous, My Love in Her Attire 1119

John Donne, Elegy 19: To His Mistress Going to Bed 1119John Fletcher, [Take, oh take those, lips away] 1121Anonymous, Western Wind 1121Henry Howard, Eai-1 of Surrey, [Love that doth reign and live

within my thought] 1122Thomas Wyatt, [The long love that in my heart doth harbor] 1122e. e. cummings, Spring is like a perhaps hand 1123e. e. cummings, since feeling is first 1124Emily Dickinson, [Wild Nights—Wild Nights!] 1124Galway Kinnell, Shelley 1125 ; .Robert Burns, A Red,. Red Rose 1126Edna St. Vincent.Millay, What Lips My Lips Have Kissed 1127Denise Levertov, The Ache of Marriage 1127Denise Levertov,: Divorcing 1128 . •Christopher Marlowe, The Passionate Shepherd) to His Love 1128Sir Walter Ralegh, The Nymph's Reply to, the Shepherd 1129Andrew Marvell,^ To His Coy Mistress 1130 •:<.. .;Elizabeth Barrett.Browning, [How do I: love thee? Let me

count the ways.] 1131 , - • • : .Elizabeth Barrett Browning, [When our two souls stand up] 1132Robert Brownings Meeting at Night 1132Robert Browning, Parting at, Morning 1133

DRAMA Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House" 1133' •

xvi i i Contents

1 2 1 A l l e g o r y ,:U ."• '._• 'V;S ;v i r : . : ; - • 'Is This Supposed to Mean'Something Else; Too? . '1-194 < c'-

L e a r n i n g t h r o u g h L i k e n e s s 1 1 9 5 \<J ,-', . ••• • ••<,;•*. v - jGertrude Crampton, from Toot le [fiction] , 1195 • <:':!/.

Front cover of Toot le [image] 1196 ••:••'. < . • .!<1 , ; s ' o J

A NOTE TO STUDENT WRITERS: Using Analogies in Arguments.,. J J97 . , ;

Experiencing Literature through Allegory 1198 ."..- ' .

Aesop, T h e Crow and the Pitcher [fiction] 1198 . ,

Walter Crane, Aesop's "The Crow and . ' , „the Pitcher" [image] 1199 • - : • . • .• ••,..: r

Emily Dickinson, [Eden is that old-fashioned House] [poem]!i '1199•• "J i , v ' i *'

Embodying Timeless Qualities 1200 ' : " • ' l ! J

Engraving of Statue of Justice holding the scales [image] 1200 r . ,xDosso Dossi, Allegory of Fortune [image] 1201 . 1 . . _ 1.Billy Collins, The Death of Allegory, [poem] 1202 ;• ^^r,-,;-

R e a d i n g A l l e g o r y ,, 1 2 0 3 , . . K . ^ S T . A - . < \ - ,-. ,,:• ,:..Plato, The Allegory of the Cave [prose] 1204Experiencing Film through Allegory yjJ20Z c _, . . .

The Matrix [film]: '1208 : / . ' ,... • . . . .;,1W

Modeling Critical Analysis: Joao Guimaraes Rosa, "•• 'The Third Bank of thei River [fiction] 1209 " ":Joao Guimaraes Rosa,,The Third Bank of the River [fiction] 1209

Anthology ..'.-.

The Quest for Truth: Reading Allegory 1214 . . ''...FICTION Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown , 1216 ,

POETRY Lewis Carroll, Jabberwocky 1227 " ' ' ' 'Sir John Tenniel, The Jabberwocky [image] 1228Edmund Spenser, from The Faerie Queene 1228Richard Corbett, The Fairies Farewell 1231Robert Browning, Porphyria's Lover 1233John Donne, Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God 1235John. Donne, The Canonization 1235John Donne, Death, Be Not Proud 1237Emily Dickinson, [Because I could not stop for Death—] 1237Gerard Manley Hopkins, Pied Beauty 1238,Gerard Manley Hopkins, The Windhover 1239 •Ogden Nash, Kind of an Ode to Duty 1239 •Amiri Baraka, In Memory of Radio 1240- .'•••..Anne Carson, TV Men: Lazarus 1242, •

DRAMA Jane Martin, Beauty 1245

Contents x ix

131 SymbolismHow Do I Know When an Event or'an Image Is Supposed to

Stand for Something Else? 1252 •

Figurative Language 1254Experiencing Literature through Symbols 1256. '•••

Mary Jo Salter, Home Movies: A Sort of.Ode [poem] 1256 •' '

Recognizing Symbols 1258 •" • •What does an apple symbolize? [images] 1259-1260Gary Soto, Oranges [poem] 1261 <• - '

Allegory and Symbol .1262Experiencing Literature through Symbolism' 1263

Nathaniel Hawthorne, from Young Goodman Brown [fiction] 1263A NOTE TO STUDENT WRITERS: Justifying a Symbolic Reading 1265

Modeling Critical Analysis: Joao Guimaraes Rosa,The Third Bank of the River [fiction] 1265 ' '

Anthology

Building and Undoing Community: Taking Part in Symbolism 1266FICTION Gabriel Garcia Marquez, A Very Old Man with

Enormous Wings _, 1269Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The Handsomest Drowned Man in

the World: A Tale for Children 1275Jhumpa Lahiri, This Blessed House 1279Shirley Jackson, The Lottery 1293

POETRY Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach 1301Jimmy Santiago Baca, Green Chile 1302 ,'. •"e. e. cummings, [anyone "lived in a pretty how towri] 1304Emily Dickinson, [The Soul selects her own Society—] " 1305Seamus Heaney, Valediction 1305 'Peter Meinke, Sunday at the Apple Market 1306 -SharonTpi'ds;,' The-Possessive':: 1307 '':

Alice Walker, Women ' 1307' 'Walt Whitman, ̂ ThereWas a Child Went Fbrth 1308William'Carlos'Williams, At the 'Ball Game' ' 1310William Butler Yeats, The Wild Swans'at C6ole ' 1311Elizabeth Bishop,1 Pink -'.Dog ' 1312' • ''-\ 'Emma Lazarus; The New Colossus 1314'

DRAMA Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman 1314

xx Contents

141 ContextWhat.Outside Information Do We Really Need to, Know to

Understand the Text? 1392

How Does New Knowledge Influence Our Experienceof Old Texts? 1393 •Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Charge of the Light Brigade [poem] 1393Apocalypse Now [film] 1396

How Is Knowledge "Outside" the Text Helpful? 1397Czeslaw Milosz, A Song on the End of the World [poem] 1397Experiencing Literature in Context 1398

Czeslaw Milosz, Christopher Robin [poem] 1399

•Do-We-Need to Know Everything in Order to Understand? 1400The Maltese Falcon [film] 1401Experiencing Art in Context 1402

Gustave Caillebotte, Young Man at His Window [image] 1403

What if Substantial Outside Knowledge Is Essential? 1404Herman Melville, The House-Top [poem] 1404A NOTE TO STUDENT WRITERS: Using Electronic and Printed

Sources for Research 1407

Modeling Critical Analysis: Joao Guimaraes Rosa,The Third Bank of the River [fiction] 1408

Anthology

Language and War: Considering Context in Analysis 1410FICTION Ernest Hemingway, Soldier's Home 1412

Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried 1419Tillie Olsen, I Stand Here Ironing 1434

POETRY Herman Melville, A Utilitarian View of the Monitor's. Fight 1441Herbert Read, The Execution of Cornelius Vane 1442Stephen Crane, There Was a Crimson Clash of War. 1446e. e. cummings, [i sing of Olaf glad and big] 1447Richard Eberhart, The Fury of Aerial Bombardment 1448Edgar A. Guest, The Things That Make a Soldier Great 1449Sir Henry Newbolt, Vitai Lampada 1450Wilfred Owen, Anthem for Doomed Youth 1451 .Wilfred Owen, Qulce et Decorum Est 1452Carl Sandburg, Grass 1453Siegfried Sassoon, The Rear-Guard 1453Siegfried Sassoon, Repression of War Experience 1454Anne Sexton, Courage 1455Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson, I Sit and Sew 1457

Contents xxi

Yusef Komunyakaa, Facing It 1458Judith Ortiz Cofer, The Changeling 1459Mary Jo Salter, Welcome to.Hiroshima 1460Wislawa Szymborska, The End and the Beginning 1461Wislawa Szymborska, Monologue of a Dog Ensnared ,-

in History 1463Adrienne Rich, For the,Record 1465

DRAMA Gina Victoria Shaffer, War Spelled Backwards 1466

15 | Allusions

In Order to Understand This Text, Is There Something Else

I Am Supposed to Have Read? 1474

Creating Community .1475 • ., . ,Experiencing Literature through Allusions t 147-7 ,.: . ,

Charles Simic, My Weariness of Epic Proportions [poem] 1477

Revisiting and Renewal 1478Dick Barnes, Up Home Where I Come From [poem] 1479Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper [image] 1480William Wordsworth; My Heart Leaps Up [poem] 1481Experiencing Film through Allusions 1481

Saturday Night Fever [film] 1482Pulp Fiction [film] 1482

Identifying and Responding to Allusions 1484A NOTE TO STUDENT WRITERS: Reference versus AUusion 1486

Modeling Critical Analysis: Tom Stoppard, The Fifteen.MinuteHamlet [drama] 1486 j . ,-. , i,

Tom Stoppard, The Fifteen Minute,Hamlet [drama] 1487

AnthologyThe Myth of Cheating. Death:. Keeping Literature Alive with Allusion 1497FICTION Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You Going, Where Have

' You Been? 1498William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily 1512

POETRY Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ozymandias 1520Sharon McCartney, After the Chuck Jones Tribute

on Tele toon 1521Robert Duncan, Persephone 1522

•'•3" • Sylvia Plath, Two Sisters of Persephone 1523John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn 1524John Keats, [When I have fears that I may cease to be] 1526

xxi i Contents

John Keats, On First Looking into Chapman's-Homer 1527Amy Clampitt,' The Dakota 1527Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott 1528William Butler Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium 1533Czeslaw Milosz, Orpheus and Eurydice 1534Rainer Maria Rilke, Orpheus, Eurydice, Hermes 1536Jorie Graham, Orpheus and Eurydice 1539'H. D., Eurydice 1541 • 'Adrienne Rich, I Dream I'm the Death of Orpheus 1545Robert Pinsky, Keyboard 1546

DRAMA Mary Zimmerman, Metamorphoses 1547

16| GenreHow Do Our Expectations Impact Our Literary Experience?How Are Those Expectations Formed? 1582-

What Is Genre? 1583C o n v e n t i o n s 1 5 8 4 • •• • • • „ • ; , • . •••

Experiencing Literature through Genre 1585 • • .Mrs. J. H. Riddell,./ram Nut Bush Farm [fiction] 1585

Disruptions 1586 ' . . . .Experiencing Literature through Genre 1587 •'-:' •.-.

William Shakespeare, from Macbeth '[drama] • ' ' 1 5 8 8 ' '

D i s p l a c e m e n t a n d Parody 1 5 8 9 - •' '•"">•Publicity poster for Buffy the Vampire"Slayer [image] ' 1589Mark Twain, Ode to Stephen Dowling Bots, Dec'd [poem] 1591 • i •

Genre and Popular Culture 1592Boys dressed as cowboys [images] 1593 ! ' • • ' •

Experiencing Film through Genre 1593

Shane [film] 1594 •>•;••'

Unforgiven [film] .1595 , " " t'

A NOTE TO STUDENT WRITERS: Moving beyond Formulaic Writing 3 1596

Modeling Critical Analysis: Tom Stoppard, The Fifteen-MinuteHamlet [drama] 1597

Anthology ; • , . . .

Honoring the Dead and Dignifying Death: Tracing Genre 1598 ,.FICTION Katherine Anne. Porter, The Jilting of Granny WeatheralL ,• 1601

Margaret Atwood, Happy Endings 1609 , .

Contents xxiii

POETRY John Milton, Lycidas 1612Walt Whitman, When Lilacs Last in the Dodryard Bloom'd 1617Gwendolyn Brooks, De Witt Williams on His Way to

Lincoln Cemetery 1624Allen Tate, Ode to the Confederate Dead 1625Robert Lowell, .For the Union Dead 1628John Keats, Ode to Autumn 1630Anne Bradstreet, In Memory of My Dear Grandchild, Elizabeth

Bradstreet, Who Deceased August 1665, Being a Year andHalf Old 1631

Anne Bradstreet, Here Followes Some Verses upon the Burning ofOur House, July 10, 1666 1632

Chidiock Tichborne, Elegy Written with His Own Hand in the Towerbefore His Execution 1633

Theodore Roethke, Elegy for Jane 1634Seamus Heaney, Punishment 1635Louise Erdrich, Dear John Wayne 1637 •»: •Langston Hughes, Night Funeral in Harlem 1638Emily Dickinson, [I like a look of Agony] , 1640Emily Dickinson, [After great pain, a formal feeling comes—] 1640Rudyard Kipling, The Power of the Dog 1641John Updike, Dog's Death 1642

DRAMA Sophocles, Antigone 1643

17 | The Production and Reproduction of Texts 'How Does Retelling and Revising Impact My Experience of

a Text?How Can Literary Theory Clarify What Constitutes That

Experience? 1674

Texts and Technology 1675Textual Form and Conditions of Production 1676

Experiencing Literature through Issues of Production 1677William Blake, A Poison Tree [image] 1678

An Orientation to Contemporary Critical Theory 1679New criticism and auteur theory 1679Deconstruction 1680New historicism and other historically grounded approaches 1681

Why We Study the Texts We Study 1682Experiencing Literature through Theory 1683

from Major Writers of America [prose] 1683from Heath Anthology of American Literature [prose] 1684

xxiv Contents

A N O T E T O S T U D E N T WRITERS: Us ing Theory to Develop Critical ,... . -,r. (, Analysis 1684 . . . ...

Abridging, Revising, and Repackaging Text 1685Oliver Twist [image] 1686Oliver Twist [film] 1687 ' • : 'Experiencing Literature through Issues of Production and

Reproduction of Texts 1688Mark Twain, from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn [fiction] 1688

Translations, Subtitles, and Dubbing 1689from Lost in Translation [screenplay] , 1690

Modeling Critical Analysis: Tom Stoppard, The fifteen Minute• Hamlet [drama] 1691 ~

18 | An Orientation to Research ,W h y S h o u l d I U s e S o u r c e s ? - . , . ' , - , < > • . ; ••

H o w D o I U s e T h e m ? ; : . • „ , • . •

What Material Do I Document?•'• ' 1695 •

W h y W e U s e S o u r c e s 1 6 9 6 •• ••• ' - .••<

Shaping a Topic 1698

How to Find Sources 1699

Giving Appropriate Credit: The Issue of Plagiarism 1703David Sumner (Jones), Someone Forgotten (plagiarized) [poem]• 1703Neal Bowers, Teh-Year Elegy [poem] ...11.704, .... .' ..-,.- . -•Experiencing Literature through Considerations of Plagiarism • • 1706

Plutarch, from Lives of the Npble Grecians and Romans [prose],., 1706William Shakespeare, from Julius Caesar. 1707 ,

Integrating Sources into Writing: What We Document 1709Quotation, paraphrase, and summary 1710Distinct insights and common observations 1:712Common knowledge 1.712. ..

How to Cite 1713 • • . . . • . : .Parenthetical references in the text 1713 -. . , , :

The Works Cited list 1714

Appendix A: Student Model Essay Collection 1721 >Appendix B: Collection of Poet Biographies 1741Appendix C: Alternate Contents by Genre'., 1779 . , . - , . ; •Glossary 1791 , , , . . , , . .Credits .1809 . ,, , . ' ,. ' . ''.',' .-.', . ../ , ,".',,Index of First Lines of Poetry 1827Index of Authors and Titles 1833