C O N T E N T S Details of contents follow this brief table of contents. Preface to the Third Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Preface for students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Reviews Pre-­‐publication professional reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Reviews by professors who have used this book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 PART ONE: ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE Chapter One: Topics and Themes : Basic Components of Interpretation and Tools to Sharpen Critical Thinking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Chapter Two: Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Chapter Three: Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Chapter Four: Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79 PART TWO: READING AND WRITING ADVICE applicable to all genres Chapter Five: Reading Skills for Interpretation: Guidelines and Samples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Chapter Six: Informal Interpretation: Using the Journal Format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133 Chapter Seven: Formal Interpretation: Writing Assignments on Themes and Style with Step-­‐by-­‐Step Instructions and Advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Chapter Eight: Revising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 iv Contents PART THREE: STUDY BY GENRE Chapter Nine: Essays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .235 Chapter Ten: The Short Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .255 Chapter Eleven: Novel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 Chapter Twelve: Drama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447 Chapter Thirteen: Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .523 Chapter Fourteen: Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669 Chapter Fifteen: Playful Responses to Serious Works: Literature for Laughter . . . . . . . . . .675 Appendix: Information on research and citation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .693 Works Cited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .699 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .707 Copyright Acknowledgments v Contents Detailed Table of Contents Preface to the Third Edition, 1 Preface for Students, 2 Acknowledgments, 3 Reviews, 5 Introduction, 11 Chapter One: Topics and Themes 17 Topics and themes: Basic components of interpretation and tools to sharpen critical thinking, 17 Theme and its central place in interpreting literature and film, 18 “What’s in it for me?” Personal enrichment from interpretive reading, 19 Distinguishing topic from theme, 20 “Mirror,” a poem by Sylvia Plath, 21 The first major challenge in interpretation: Distinguishing between plot summary and statement of theme, 23 “The Man from Kabul,” by RabindranathTagore, 23-­‐28 Plot summary (with fewest possible analytic/interpretive comments), 29 Theme formulation (with fewest possible plot summary details), 30 Criteria for good statements of themes, 30 Combining skill with creativity in generating statements of theme, 31 A rule of thumb, 31 Alternative ways of stating themes, 32 “Vergissmeinnicht,” a poem by Keith Douglas, 32 Advice on experimentation, 33 Organization of an interpretive essay, 34 Placement of statements of themes, 35 Length ratio: Analysis versus summarizing, 35 How supporting details are organized, 36 Works ideally suited to interpretation: Explicit versus implied themes, 36 Exercises to test your mastery of Chapter One, 37 Chapter Two: Characters, 39 What makes a good character analysis, 39 Characterization and characters, 40 Character sketch versus character analysis, 40 Character-­‐related topics, 41 Interpretation through comparing and contrasting characters, 41 Interpretation through a character’s self analysis, 42 Protagonist , antagonist, foil, and the anti-­‐hero, 43 Flat, round and fragmented characters, 44 Interpretation through character analysis: connecting character with theme, 46 “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” by Ernest Hemingway, 46 Women in Love: Creative vs. destructive love, 46 Themes extracted from the preceding character analysis, 47 vi Contents “The Other Side of the Hedge,” a short story by E. M. Forster, 49-­‐53 Interpretation of E.M. Forster’s “The Other Side of the Hedge” through character analysis, 53 “The Awakening of Forster’s Imperfect Narrator.” Sample essay by the author of this book, 53 Exercises to test your mastery of Chapter Two, 55 Timed, self-­‐test exercises, 56 Chapter Three: Plot, 57 Definitions and essential features of the classical plot, 57 Plot variations: simple, complex, episodic, melodramatic, inert, and intuitive, 60 Simple and complex plots, 60; Episodic plots, 60; Melodramatic plots, 60 Inert plots, 61; Intuitively organized plots, 61 Plot components, 61 Illustration of plot components in Hamlet, 62 Plot-­‐structuring devices, 63 The primary plot-­‐structuring device, 63 Secondary plot-­‐structuring devices, 65 The three unities of classical drama, 66 Use of chance/coincidence, 67 Changing concepts of dramatic action, 68 Movement of plot action, 68 Horizontal vs. vertical movement, 68 Classical movement of plot action, 69 Plot movement in individual scenes, 70 Tips for plot analysis, 70 Faulkner’s plotting skill in “A Rose for Emily.” Sample essay by the author of this book, 71 Plot analysis of longer works, 73 Experimenting with plot design, 74 Creating a missing scene, 74 Changing the original ending, 75 Transition to the next chapter, “Style,” 75 Exercises to test your mastery of Chapter Three, 76 Timed self-­‐test exercises, 76 Timed self-­‐test topics, 78 Chapter Four: Style, 79 Definitions of style, 80 Do authors choose their stylistic elements? 81 Appreciating literary style, 82 Analyzing style in literature, 83 Maintaining correct focus, 84 Style-­‐theme connection, 84 Elements of style often used in drama and fiction, 85 Elements shared by both plot and style: The esthetics of omission, 85; dramatic and situational irony, 86; repetition of key plot details, 87; setting and atmosphere, 89; foreshadowing, 90; parallelism, 90 Style in poetry, 91 vii Contents Example via “The Story of Adam,” a poem by Muhammad Iqbal, 91 Elements of style common to all literary works, 93 Imagery, 93 “Meeting at Night,” a poem by Robert Browning, 93 simile, 94; metaphor, 94; analogy, 95; synesthesia, 96; diction, 96; symbolism 98; allegory, 99; allusion, 99; personification and animation, 100; narrative point of view, 100; first-­‐person point of view, 101; third-­‐person point of view 101; other narrative styles, 102; third-­‐person narrator who is not omniscient, 102; the objective or dramatic point of view, 102; use of multiple narrators, 102; rarely used narration in the second person, 102; tone and verbal irony, 103; summing up irony, 103; contrast, 104; understatement, 104; paradox, 106; characterization, 107. Stylistic elements work in combination, 109 Example via “God’s Grandeur,” a sonnet by Gerard M. Hopkins, 109 Interconnectedness of theme, character, plot, and style, 110 Example via “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” a short story by Hemingway, 110 Essay by the author of this book “Characters, Plot, and Style in Hemingway’s The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” 110 Exercises to test your mastery of Chapter Four, 113 Chapter Five: Reading Skills for Interpretation, 117 Active reading style and taking mental notes, 117 Annotating the pages that you read; Active reading, 118 Learning the skill of explication, 119 Example via “London,” a poem by William Blake, 119 Student sample essay on “London,” 119 Sample explication of a section from a complex, longer poem, 121 Example via “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” a short story by T.S. Eliot, 121 Sample explication of a section from a short story, 121 Example via “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, 121 Hard to explicate works, 122 Example via “Naming of Parts,” a poem by Henry Reed, 122 Explication of the poem, “Naming of Parts,” 123 Learning the skill of analysis, 124 Example via “Discovery of the New World,” a poem by Carter Revard, 125 Two student sample essays on “Discovery of the New World,” 126-­‐128 Using analysis to interpret fiction, 129 Interpretation of William Faulkner’s short story ”A Rose for Emily” by the author of this book, 129 Interpretation through style analysis, 129 Interpretation through character analysis, 129 The process of discovering themes: Summing up the chapter, 130 Summary of clues to recognizing themes in literature and film, 131 Exercises to test your mastery of Chapter Five, 132 viii Contents Chapter Six: Informal Interpretation, 133 Using the journal format, 133 Journaling as a passport to good writing, 133 Definitions of literary forms, 133 Steps in journaling, 134 Two journal formats, 134 Informal and free flowing format, 134 Structured format, 135 Rationale for including more than usual sample essays and literary works in this chapter, 135 Informal journal format, 136 Students’ journal responses, 136 Responses to poems, 136 Samples on “Constantly Risking Absurdity” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 136; “Not Waving But Drowning” by Stevie Smith, 137; “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden, 138. Responses to short stories, 139 Sample on “Lullaby” by Leslie Marmon Silko, 139 Responses to novels, 139 Sample essays on: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 140; Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, 140 Responses to plays, 141 Structured journal format, 142 Advice on appreciating an author’s style, 143 Importance of focus, 143 Optional journal items: personal enrichment; research input; cultural insight; concluding comment, 144 Journaling poems, 145 Samples on “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden, 145; “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold, 147; “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath, 149; “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop, 150; “Mr. Z” by M. Carl Holman, 152; “To Autumn” by John Keats, 154 Journaling short stories: 156 Timed journal entries, 157 Samples on “Odor” by Saadat H. Manto, 157-­‐163; “The Sojourner” by Carson McCullers, 163-­‐171; “The Guest” by Albert Camus, 171-­‐173; “Tlon, Uqbar, Orbus Tertius” by Jorge Luis Borges, 173-­‐176 Journaling novels: 176; samples on Deep River by Shusaku Endo, 176; and A Passage to India by E. M. Forster, 178 Journaling plays, 178 Sample on Hamlet, 178 Sample of limited coverage of Hamlet, 180 Journal entries on works of nonfiction: Responses to essays, 181 Sample on “Courtship Through the Ages by James Thurber, 181 Journaling a movie, 182 Samples on A Prince Among Slaves and Samapti , 183 Exercises to test your mastery of Chapter Six, 186 ix Contents Chapter Seven: Formal Interpretation, 187 Writing assignments with step-­‐by-­‐step instructions and advice, 187 Structure and organization, 187 The short story, 188 Assignments, 188 Writing on themes, 188 Step-­‐by-­‐step instructions, 190 Thesis: part-­‐by-­‐part variety, 191 ; cluster variety, 191-­‐196 Strategies for coherence, 197 Topic sentences, 198 General reminder on the form of organized writing, 200 Creative ways to introduce variety in form, 200 Sample essay on themes in “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, 201-­‐205 Format for an essay with a cluster thesis, 206 Writing on an author’s style, 207 Step-­‐by-­‐step instructions, 208 Sample essay on style in “The Chase” by Alberto Moravia, on author’s website, 210 Complete preparation to interpret any work, 210 Exercises to test your mastery of Chapter Seven, 211 Chapter Eight: Revising, 213 Revision, 213 Achieving clarity and brevity, 214 Finding your own voice, 214 The role of stylistic elements in the writing process, 215 Steps for style improvement, 216 Compulsory revision, 217 Requirements of good writing 217 Definitions and examples of sentence structure variations, 218 Loose sentence; cumulative sentence, 218 Periodic/suspended sentence, 219 Balanced sentence; antithetical sentence, 220 Isocolon; anaphora, parallelism; chiasmus, 221 Combination of methods, 222 Variety in paragraph organization, 222 Deductive, inductive, and climactic arrangement of details, 222 Other rhetorical/stylistic devices, 223 Optional revision, 223 Step-­‐by-­‐step method of style improvement, 224 When you are unable to use a needed element of style, 224 First example of revising for brevity and impact (on the short story “Araby” by James Joyce), 225 First draft, 226; Revised version, 227 Second example of revising, correcting topic and theme (on the short story “Lullaby” by Leslie Silko), 227 First draft, 228; Revised version, 228 Third example of revising for improved focus (on the short story “Lullaby” by Leslie Silko), 229 First draft, 230; Revised version, 230 x Contents Fourth example of revising, from informal to formal writing (on the novel America is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan), 231; First draft, 231; Revised version, 231 Checklist of common errors: The final step in revising, 231 Exercises to test your mastery of Chapter Eight, 232 Chapter Nine: Essays, 235 Philosophical essays, 235; Expository, argumentative essays, 236; Essays that mix exposition with narration, 236; Humorous essays with strong messages, 237; Critical essays, 237; Descriptive essays, 237 Ways to read essays, 237 Suggested format for journaling essays, 238 Responding to essays, 238 Essay: “Excerpt from Between Hell and Reason: Essays from the Resistance Newspaper Combat” by Albert Camus, 238-­‐239 Journal response by the author of this book, 240 “The Myth of Sisyphus,” an essay by Albert Camus, 241-­‐244 “A Free Man’s Worship,” an essay by Bertrand Russell (read online), 244 Sample journal by the author of this book on Camus and Russell, 245 Samples on “Reflections on Exile,” an essay by Edward Said (read online), 246-­‐250 Essay: “Edward Said on Orientalism,” by Edward Said (read online), 250 Journaling essays that combine narration with exposition, 251 “On Being Crazy,” an essay by W.E.B. DuBois, 251 Journal response by the author of this book on “On Being Crazy,” 253 Exercises to test your mastery of Chapter Nine, 254 Chapter Ten: The Short Story, 255 Options for writing on short stories, 255 Sample essays, 259 “On the Market Day” by Kyalo Mativo, 259 Informal interpretive essay on this story, 265 Formal journal to an essay: Sample essay on Saadat Manto’s story “Odor,” 267 Explicating a story, 273 “The Guest” by Albert Camus, 273 Sample explication of Albert Camus’ story, 281 Hope in despair: “Silver Lining in the Gray Sky, sample essay on Ernest Gaines’ story “The Sky Is Gray,” 283. [Read this story on your own; viewing the excellent, short film adaptation of this story is strongly recommended.] Theme and style, 287 “Lullaby” by Leslie Marmon Silko, 287 “Means of Survival,” sample essay on Silko’s story, 292 Writing on just one topic from a story, 295 Sample essay: Existentialism in Ernest Hemingway’s story “A Clean Well-­‐Lighted Place,” (read story online), 295 Interpretation through character analysis, 297 “Araby” by James Joyce, 297 The Road to Araby – An Impossible Journey: Sample essay on James Joyce’s story, 301 Interpretation through an author’s style of writing, 305 Sample essay on Hemingway’s style in his story “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, (read story xi Contents online), 305 Annotating an essay, 307 Becoming a collaborator or a critic, 308 “The Word Love” by Chitra Divakaruni, 308 The Unbearable Weight of Love: Sample essay on “The Word Love,” 315 Stories of violations of basic human rights and urgent social concern, 318 “The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore” by Sherman Alexie, 318; “The Rape” by Khushwant Singh, 325 Sample essays on “The Only Traffic Signal”: Balancing Hope Against Despair, 323; The Magic of Heroes (on my website) Sample essay on “The Rape” by the author of this book on my website “Samapti” by Rabindranath Tagore (read on your own), 329 Sample essay on the Tagore story, 329 Confronting international conflicts through the clarifying lens of fiction, 331 “Tamam” by Betty Shamieh, 331 “The Orchard” by Alan Kaufman, 334 Sample essays on the above two stories: Bridging the Divide between Palestinians and Israelis, 335; There Must Be a Better Way, 336; Prospects for Peace between Israel and Palestine, 337 “The Dog of Tithwal” by Saadat Manto, 338 (read story online); the sample essay is on my website Similar themes in works by different authors, 338 The price of right conduct in the wrong environment, 339 Stories that deal with pain to offer healing and consolation, 339 “This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona” by Sherman Alexie (read online), 339 Sample journal entry on the Alexie story, 339 Stories for further reading, 340 “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway (online reading), 340; “A Little Incident” by Lu Hsun, 340; “Early Autumn” by Langston Hughes, 342; “Bahiyya’s Eyes” by Alifa Rifaat, 343; “The Weed” by Amrita Pritam, 347; “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry, 352; “Las Papas” by Julio Ortega, 355; “One of These Days” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 358; “Homecoming” by Ibrahim An-­‐Nasir, 360; “A Fairy Tale” by Ihsan Abd al-­‐Quddus, 363; “Child’s Paradise” by Naguib Mahfouz, 364; “Violets” by Ghalib Hamzah Abu al-­‐Faraj, 368 ; “Black Night at Miawaddy” by Paradon Sakda, 372. Short stories online, 378 Exercises to test your mastery of Chapter Ten, 379 Chapter Eleven: The Novel, 381 Background information, 381 Evolution of the novel, 381 Definitions, 381 Differing views, 382 Something for every taste, 383 Reading the novel, 384 Using skills learned in earlier chapters, 384 Note taking, 384 What to look for when reading novels, 385 Direct statements of themes, 385 Link between cause and effect, 385 Style-­‐theme connection, 385 xii Contents Looking at analogues, 385 The esthetics of omission, 385 The novel’s architecture, 386 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, 386 Essential plot structure, 387 Interpretation skills reviewed, 387 Major themes in Pride and Prejudice: love and marriage, 388 Performance versus reflection, appearance versus reality, 389 Fallible judgments: process of self-­‐knowledge, 390 Three modern novels: The Stranger by Albert Camus, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and A Passage to India by E. M. Forster 391 The Stranger, 3931 Steps in reading modern novels, 392 Pay close attention to the text, 392 Look for other, more visible structural devices, 394 Major divisions by themes, 394 Sustained and systematic use of imagery, 394 Safe and valid interpretation, 395 Questionable but interesting interpretation, 396 Interpreting the “dark,” 396 Look for omission of expected details, 397 Look for parallel sets of characters, 399 Look for contrasting characters/contrasting themes, 399 Coincidence and chance, 400 Analyze analogues, example via “That Time of Year” by Shakespeare, 401 Plot structuring devices in The Great Gatsby and A Passage to India, 402 The esthetics of deliberate omission in the two novels, 402 Other plot-­‐structuring devices in the two novels, 405 The Great Gatsby: Parallelism, 405;, flashback and flash forward, 405; symbols: machines, 406; dust and ashes, 407; the wind song, 407; echoes of hope and longing, 408 Other structural devices in A Passage to India, 408 The three-­‐part structure of the novel, 408; recurring images, 409; symbolism of the mechanization of civilization, 410 Enhanced understanding with critics’ help, 411; Example: Zadie Smith on Jane Austen and E. M. Forster, 411 Writing a review of a literary work or movie, 413 Sample essays: Writing on a single topic from a novel, combining plot, character, and theme, 407 “The Awakening of Meursault in Camus’ The Stranger, 417 “In Defense of Meursault,” 419 “Perils of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby, 422 Sample essay by the author of this book, 424 Sample book review: “Frankenstein by Mary Shelley,” 428 Five more novels introduced with students’ essays: “The Library Card” from Black Boy by Richard Wright, Excerpts from America is in the Heart: A Personal History by Carlos Bulosan, Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas, “Á Pair of Tickets” from The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, House of Sand and Fog by Andre xiii Contents Dubus III, 430-­‐437 Exercises to test your mastery of Chapter Eleven, 438 Chapter Twelve: Drama, 447 Required background knowledge, 447 A navigation chart for this chapter, 448 Brief history of drama, 449 Greek drama, 449 Origins, 449 Period between classical Greek and Shakespearean drama, 449 Shakespearean drama, 450 Tragic and serious drama, 450 Elements central to tragic drama, 451 Other important discussions of tragic drama, 453 Comedy, 454 Tragicomedy, 456 Other forms of modern drama: dialectical theater, absurdist drama , existential plays 457; angry theater, the theater of cruelty, more on the theater of the absurd, 458 Discussion of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, 459 Theories and practices of serious drama: According to Hamlet, 460 According to A. C. Bradley, “The Substance of Shakespearean Tragedy,” 461 According to Arthur Miller, “Tragedy and the Common Man,” 464 Classical vs. modern tragedy, 468 One-­‐act plays, 470: Before Breakfast by Eugene O’Neill, 470 Contemporary plays, 472 Plays on pressing current issues: Trifles by Susan Glaspell, 473 Seven Jewish Children – a play for Gaza by Caryl Churchill, 475 Comments on Churchill’s play by the author of this book, 479 Domestic Crusaders by Wajahat Ali, 482 Essay on Ali’s play by the author of this book, 482 Study questions to prepare for a timed test on theories of serious drama, 483 Writing on topics from plays: assignments and instructions, 484 Topics for discussion and writing on Hamlet, 486 Topics relevant to drama in general, 490 Sample essays: 493 “Hamlet’s Enduring Appeal,” an essay by the author of this book, 493 Horatio: A Source of Hope in Hamlet, 499 On Shaw’s Pygmalion: Education and Class in Shaw’s Pygmalion: a review, 501 On Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night, 504 Ah, Wilderness: O’Neill’s Rare Romantic Comedy, 505 On Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun: A Perfect Plot Design for American Dreams and Nightmares, 506; True to Your Dreams, 508 On Octavio Solis’ Gibraltar: Solis’ “Gibraltar” Drills the Depths of Love and Loss: A review, 512 Exercises to test your mastery of Chapter Twelve, 514 Chapter Thirteen: Poetry, 523 xiv Contents Use of poetry in a reading and writing development program, 523 Introduction to some forms of poetry: the epic, 523; sonnet 524; ode 524; ballad 524; sestina 524; limerick 524; villanelle 524; lyric 525; (the ghazal, see page 621 toward the end of the chapter) Reasons for the difficulty of some modern poetry, 525 Some definitions of poetry, 526 Befriending poetry, 528 Writing on a poem’s themes, 529 Sample essay on Robert Hayden’s sonnet “Those Winter Sundays,” 529 Interpretation of a complex poem, 531 Poem: “Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats, 532 Sample essay: What Does the Nightingale Really Say? 535 Sample essays: Complex Poems and Conflicting Interpretations: T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, 538 Poem: “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot, 538 Interpretation of Eliot’s poem, 542 Evaluation of style in poetry, 543 Poem: “the greedy the people” by e.e. cummings, 545 Sample essay: Evaluation of e.e. cummings’ style in “the greedy the people,” 546 Options for writing about poetry, 549 19 assignment topics, 549-­‐550 Optional stylistic elements that you use in your own writing, 551 Sample essays on poems: 552 Analyzing poems on poetry: Poems: “Ars Poetica” by Archibald MacLeish, 552 and “Ars Poetica” by Linda Pastan, 553; Sample essay: The Art of Poetry According to Archibald MacLeish and Linda Pastan, 554 Poems that dramatize the all-­‐consuming nature of love: Poem: “Bright Star” by John Keats, 556; Sample essay: Rejection of immortality in Keats’s “Bright Star,” 556 Poems that blend theme and style in a unique manner: Poem: “Insect Collection” by Janice Mirikitani, 558; Sample essay: Silenced Pain – Evaluation of Mirikitani’s Theme and Style in “Insect Collection,” 559 Poems with contrasting views on the same topic: Poems: “Design” by Robert Frost and “Apparently with no surprise” by Emily Dickinson, 560; Sample essay: The Darker Side of Nature, 560 Poems to convert haters into lovers of poetry, 562: “Modern Love” by Douglas Dunn, (online reading); “Intimates” by D. H. Lawrence, 564; “To a Mistress Dying” by William Davenant, 564; and “What I Heard at the Discount Department Store” by David Budbil, 565 Sample essay: Pheasant Hunting: Converting Haters to Lovers of Poetry, 563 Connecting poems with novels: Comparison of Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “The Fish” with Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Old Man and the Sea Poem: “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop, 566 Sample essay: Big Fish Stories’ Similar Themes in Bishop’s “The Fish,” and Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, 568 Connecting poems with movies, 569 Sample essay: “Is Your Enemy Human: Similar Answers of Hiroshima Mon Amour and “Vergissmeinnicht,” 570 Interpretation through character analysis: Poem: “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot, 572; Sample essay: “Prudence, Prurience, and Other Things that Begin with Pru,” 572 xv Contents Poems that connect life’s mysteries with the magic of art: Poem: “The Wild Swans at Coole” by William Butler Yeats, 576 Sample essay: ”Artistic Spans: Linking Ephemeral Human Existence with Nature’s Permanence through Art (Comparison of William Butler Yeats’s “The Wild Swans at Coole” with John Keats’s “Ode to a Nightingale”), 576 Connecting a great poem from the past with a significant event of today: “Dover Beach West” (Herb Caen on Matthew Arnold’s poem “Dover Beach”), 579 Poems with significant historical and political themes: Poems: “First Writing Since” by Suheir Hammad, 581; “The History of the Airplane” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 585; Sample essay: Emotional versus Intellectual Responses to 9-­‐11, 586 Poems that handle emotional pain with aesthetic beauty: Poems: “Getting Through” by Deborah Pope, 587; “Getting Out” by Cleopatra Mathis, 588; “To Autumn” by John Keats (in Chapter Six) Sample essays: Closure in Deborah Pope’s “Getting Through” and Cleopatra Mathis’s “Getting Out,” 588; Poetic Conclusions: The Art of Goodbye, 590; Tranquility of Golden Autumn, 592. Writing a research paper based on one or two poems: Poem: “These are the days when Birds come back” by Emily Dickinson, 594 Sample essay: “Time, Sense, and Transcendence: Dickinson and Keats on an Autumn Day,” 595 Poems on specific themes Home, Immigration, Exile, and Barriers, 597: “Ellis Island” by Joseph Bruchac, 597; “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, 597; “Harlem” by Langston Hughes, 599; “La Migra” by Pat Mora, 599; “Drum” by Linda Hogan, 601; “Exile”by Judith Ortiz Cofer, 602; “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost, 603 Love Poems: “The River-­‐Merchant’s Wife: A Letter” by Li-­‐Po, 605; “My mistress’ eyes” by William Shakespeare, 606; “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell, 607; “One Word is Too Often Profaned” by Percy Shelley, 609; “La Belle Dame sans Merci” by John Keats, 609; “Touched by an Angel” by Maya Angelou, 612; “Here I Love You” by Pablo Neruda, 612; “If I die” by Pablo Neruda, 613; “Say I Love You” by Nizar Qabbani, 614 Poems about power, decline, mortality, and eternity: “Ozymandias” by Percy Shelley, 615; “Buffalo Bill” by e. e. cummings, 616; “Sailing to Byzantium” by William Butler Yeats, 616 Poetry in Translation, 619 Three poems by Omar Khayyam: “Ah, Fill the Cup,” 619; “Perplext No More,” 619 and “Khayyam, If You Are Drunk,” 620; “The Chickpea” by Jalaluddin Rumi, 620 Some background information on the poet-­‐king Bahadur Shah Zafar and the Ghazal form, 621 Poem: “My Heart Feels Dislocated in These Ruins” by Bahadur Shah Zafar, 622; Poems:“Suppressed Longings” (aah ko chahiye) by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, 623; “Walk Alone” by Rabindranath Tagore, 625; “Life” by Muhammad Iqbal, 626; “Nationalism” by Muhammad Iqbal, 626; “The Artist” by Waseem Barelvi, 627; “Blackout: India-­‐Pakistan War, 1965” by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, 628 Moving from an informal journal to an essay: Sample essay: “Faiz Ahmed Faiz and the Cure for Blindness,” 629 Poem: “Sinkiang” by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, 632 More poems in translation, 633 “Stream of Life” by Rabindranath Tagore, 633; Four poems by Muhammad Iqbal – “Morning Star,” 634 ; xvi Contents “The Story of Adam,” 635; “New Shrine,” 636; “A Child’s Prayer,” 636; “Prayer” by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, 637; An excerpt from “The Subject of Poetry” by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, 637 Poems for further reading: “To Toussaint L’Ouverture” by William Wordsworth, 638 ; Three poems by George Gordon, Lord Byron – “She Walks in Beauty,” 638; “Sonnet on Chillon,” 639; “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage from Canto IV,” 639; “Ulysses” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 640; “Tithonus” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 641; “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning, 643 ; “The Buried Life” by Matthew Arnold, 644; “Memorial Verses” by Matthew Arnold, 647; “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats, 648; “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes, 649; “Specialist Noah Charles Pierce” by Marguerite Guzman Bouvard, 651 ; “In the Dungeon of my Skin” by Madeline Coopsammy, 652 ; “Uluhaimalama” by Mahealani Kamauu, 653; “How to Watch Your Brother Die” by Michael Lassell, 653; “Black Cat Blues” by Kevin Young, 656; “The Prison Cell” by Mahmoud Darwish, 656; “Tailgate in the Twilight Zone” by Gary Becker, 658 Pro-­‐peace poems and songs: “One Today” by Richard Blanco, 659; “Masters of War” song by Bob Dylan, 660; “Lives in the Balance” song by Jackson Browne, 661; “Imagine” song by John Lennon, 663; “Idle No More: Poem to the World” by Daniel Leo Richard, 664 Poems online, 664 Exercises to test your mastery of Chapter Thirteen, 665 Chapter Fourteen: Film, 669 Introduction, 669 Film interpretation, 670 Technical and stylistic elements in film: Setting, dialogue and soliloquy, stream of consciousness, flashback, flash forward, montage, camera, long shot, close-­‐up, composition, camera angles in film serving as tone and point of view, music, imagery, symbolism, irony, 671 Topics for writing and discussion and topic suggestions, 672 Sample essays and exercises, 674: Sample essay on Alain Resnais’ Hiroshima Mon Amour Sample essay on Stephen Frears’ Dangerous Liaisons Sample essay on Satyajit Ray’s Charulata Sample review and essay on Sam Mendes’ American Beauty Sample essay on Paul Haggis’ Crash Sample review of Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List Sample essay on similarities of themes in Alain Resnais’ movie Hiroshima Mon Amour and Keith Douglas’s poem “Vergissmeinnicht” List of movies discussed or mentioned in this chapter: In alphabetical order, 674 American History X, Bartleby, Bonnie and Clyde, Charulata, Citizen Kane, The Color of Fear, Crash, Dangerous Liaisons, Doctor Zhivago, Easy Rider, Elegy, Emma, Gandhi, The Great Gatsby, Hamlet, Hiroshima Mon Amour, The Hours, La Soufriere, La Strada, Lackawanna Blues, The Last Picture Show, The Last Temptation of Christ, Lawrence of Arabia, The Misfits, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Pieces of April, Pride and Prejudice, Rashomon, The Return of the Native, Schindler’s List, Sense and Sensibility, Shall We Dance, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tom and Viv Exercises to test your mastery of Chapter Fourteen, 674 Chapter Fifteen: Playful Responses to Serious Works: Literature for Laughter, 675 Use of humor in the study of serious classics, 675 Hamlet’s famous soliloquy “To be or not to be,” 675, and a sample parody by the author of this book 676, to show how great ideas need appropriate language to be expressed xvii Contents Humor in tragic plays, 676 Ridiculing trendy speech patterns: Sample: “Like, Cool,” 677-­‐678 Parody of serious poetry: Parody of William Wordsworth by John Hamilton Reynolds and parody of Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” in “Dover Bitch” by Anthony Hecht, 678 Writing a comic letter about a serious work, 678 Sample: Erin Kehoe’s comic letter to Albert Camus, “Befriending The Stranger,” 679-­‐680. These letters ask the authors to make changes in their works to pander to the popular taste (exemplifying the comic device of parody) Creating a missing scene for comic effects, 682 Writing a comic character sketch, potential for an irreverent research paper, 683 Humorous comparative character analysis, 683 Comic treatment of a serious topic in an essay: “On Being Crazy” by W. E. B. DuBois, 684 Two more humorous essays: “Love Is a Fallacy” by Max Schulman and “Courtship Through the Ages” by James Thurber, 684-­‐687 Humorous short stories, 687 “The Morning of the Night Before” by Khushwant Singh, 687 and “The Open Window” by H. H. Munro (Saki), 688. Both stories are to be read online or from a book. Analysis of the two above short stories, 687-­‐688 Comic poetry: two limericks by Laurence Perrine – “Two brothers,” and “A monkey,” 689 Humor & wit in today’s serious literature: example – Kevin Young’s poem “Black Cat Blues,” 689 An Invitation, 690 Summary of Humor-­‐making devices discussed in this chapter: comic exaggeration; comic stereotyping; deliberate misunderstanding; double-­‐meaning words; irony; paradox; puns; reduction to absurdity; humorous suspense, 690 Exercises to test your mastery of Chapter Fifteen, 691 Appendix, 693 Works Cited, 699 Index, 707 Copyright acknowledgements xviii