Preface
1. An Introduction, Theoretically
Textual Tours
Checking Some Baggage
Anything to Declare
Recommended Further Reading
2. Critical Worlds: A Selective Tour
New Criticism
Brendan Gill, from Here at “The New Yorker”
Reader-Response Criticism
Structuralist and Deconstructive Criticism
Historical, Postcolonial, and Cultural Studies
Psychological Criticism
Political Criticism
Other Approaches
Works Cited
Recommended Further Reading
3. Unifying the Work: New Criticism
The Purpose of New Criticism
Basic Principles Reflected
Archibald MacLeish, Ars Poetica
Radicals in Tweed Jackets
How to Do New Criticism
Film and Other Genres
The Writing Process: A Sample Essay
Gwendolyn Brooks, The Mother
Preparing to Write
Shaping
Drafting
Practicing New Criticism
Lucille Clifton, forgiving my father
Questions
Stephen Shu-ning Liu, My Father’s Martial Art
Questions
Ben Jonson, On My First Son
Questions
Works Cited
Recommended Further Reading
4. Creating the Text: Reader-Response Criticism
The Purpose of Reader-Response Criticism
New Criticism as the Old Criticism
The Reader Emerges
Hypertextual Readers
How to Do Reader-Response Criticism
Preparing to Respond
Sandra Cisneros, Love Poem #1
Making Sense
Subjective Response
Receptive Response
The Writing Process: A Sample Essay
Preparing to Respond
Ernest Hemingway, A Very Short Story
Preparing to Write
Shaping
Drafting
Practicing Reader-Response Criticism
Michael Drayton, Since There’s No Help
Questions
Judith Minty, Killing the Bear
Questions
Caroline Fraser, All Bears
Questions
Works Cited
Recommended Further Reading
5. Opening up
Text: Structuralism and Deconstruction
The Purposes of Structuralism and Deconstruction
Structuralism and Semiotics
Post-Structuralism and Deconstruction
How To Do Structuralism and Deconstruction
William Butler Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium
The Writing Process: A Sample Essay
Amy Clampitt, Discovery
Preparing to Write
Shaping
Drafting
Practicing Structuralist and Deconstructive Criticism
USC Continuing Education, Cut Through the Anxiety
Questions
William Blake, London
Questions
Linda Pastan, Ethics
Questions
Useful Terms for Deconstruction
Works Cited
Recommended Further Reading
6. Connecting the Text: Historical, Postcolonial, and Cultural Studies
The Purposes of Historical, Postcolonial, and Cultural Studies
Biographical and Historical Criticism
John Milton, When I Consider How My Light Is Spent
Cultural Studies
New Historicism
History as Text
Marxist Criticism
Postcolonial Studies
How To Do Historical, Postcolonial, and Cultural Studies
The Writing Process: Sample Essays
John Cheever, Reunion
A Biographical Essay
Preparing to Write
Shaping
Drafting
A New Historical Essay
Preparing to Write
Shaping
Drafting
Practicing Historical, Postcolonial, and Cultural Studies
Useful Terms for Historical, Cultural, and Postcolonial Criticism
Works Cited
Recommended Further Reading
7. Minding the Work
Psychological Criticism
The Purpose of Psychological Criticism
How to Do Psychological Criticism
William Wordsworth, A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal
The Writing Process: A Sample Essay
William Shakespeare, from Hamlet
Preparing to Write
Shaping
Drafting
Practicing Psychological Criticism
Emily Dickinson, A Narrow Fellow in the Grass
Questions
Marianne Moore, O to Be a Dragon
Questions
Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach
Questions
Useful Terms for Psychological Criticism
Works Cited
Recommended Further Reading
8. Feminist Criticism, Post-Feminism, and Queer Theory
How to Do Feminist Criticism, Post-Feminism, and Queer Theory
Mary Astell, from A Serious Proposal
The Writing Process: A Sample Essay
Samuel Johnson, To Miss ______ On Her Playing upon the Harpsichord…
Preparing to Respond
Shaping
Drafting
Revision: Gay and Lesbian Criticism
Practicing Feminist, Post-Feminist, and Queer Theory Criticism
William Shakespeare, Shall I Compare Thee…
Questions
Emily Dickinson, My Life Had Stood…
Questions
Tobias Wolff, Say Yes
Questions
Useful Terms for Political Criticism
Works Cited
Recommended Further Reading
9. Investigating the Work: Research and Documentation
The Purpose of Research
How to Do Research
The Topic and the Task
Finding and Using Resources
The Writing Process: A Sample Research Paper
Getting Ideas
Organizing
Drafting
Works Cited
Recommended Further Reading
Appendix: John Donne, The Canonization
Credits
Index