Synopses & Reviews
Like its larger counterpart, the compact
Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama by Robert DiYanni features student-centered approaches to literature--from experience to interpretation to evaluation--and an emphasis on making connections between texts and thinking critically about literature.
Known for its clear presentation of the formal elements of literature and literary analysis, this compact anthology effectively balances classic, modern, and contemporary works across the three major genres, blending well-known writers with a diverse gathering of newer, international figures. This literary breadth is supplemented by extensive coverage of writing about literature, making this book an excellent text for introduction to literature courses as well as literature-based composition courses.
About the Author
Robert DiYanni is Professor of English at Pace University, Pleasantville, New York, where he teaches courses in literature, writing, and humanities. He has also taught at Queens College of the City University of New York, at New York University in the Graduate Rhetoric Program, and most recently in the Expository Writing Program at Harvard University. He received his B.A. from Rutgers University (1968) and his Ph.D. from the City University of New York (1976). Robert DiYanni has written articles and reviews on various aspects of literature, composition, and pedagogy. His books include Literature: Reading, Fiction, Poetry, Drama and the Essay; The McGraw-Hill Book of Poetry; Womens Voices; Like Seasond Timber: New Essays on George Herbert; and Modern American Poets: Their Voices and Visions (a text to accompany the Annenberg-funded telecourse, Voices and Visions). With Kraft Rompf, he edited The McGraw-Hill Book of Poetry, (1993) and The McGraw-Hill Book of Fiction (1995). With Pat Hoy, he edited Encounters: Readings for Inquiry and Argument (1997).
Table of Contents
* = new selection or section INTRODUCTION
Critical Thinking and the Pleasures of Literature
The Pleasures of Fiction
Thinking Critically about a Story
Learning to Be Silent
Critical Thinking and Contexts
The Pleasures of Poetry
Thinking Critically about a Poem
Robert Frost, Dust of Snow
Critical Thinking and Contexts
The Pleasures of Drama
Drama and Imaginative Thinking
Critical Thinking and Oprah's Book Club: An Exercise
Approaching Literature with Critical Thinking
Experience
Interpretation
Evaluation
Critical Thinking and Context
Critical Thinking and Writing about Literature
Reasons for Writing about Literature
Ways of Writing about Literature
Arguing about Literature
The Writing Process
Stephen Crane, War is Kind
PART ONE: FICTION
READING AND WRITING ABOUT FICTION
Chapter 1: Reading Stories Luke, The Prodigal Son
The Experience of Fiction
The Interpretation of Fiction
Reading in Context
The Evaluation of Fiction
John Updike, A&P
The Act of Reading Fiction
Kate Chopin, The Story of an Hour
Chapter 2: Types of Short Fiction
Early Forms: Parable, Fable, and Tale
Aesop, The Wolf and the Mastiff
Petronius, The Widow of Ephesus
The Short Story
The Nonrealistic Story
The Short Novel
Chapter 3: Elements of Fiction
Plot and Structure
Frank O'Connor, Guests of the Nation
Character
Kay Boyle, Astronomer's Wife
Setting
Bobbie Ann Mason, Shiloh
Point of View
William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily
Language and Style
James Joyce, Araby
Theme
Eudora Welty, A Worn Path
Irony and Symbol
D. H. Lawrence, The Rocking-Horse Winner
Chapter 4: Writing About Fiction
Reasons for Writing about Fiction
Informal Ways of Writing about Fiction
Katherine Anne Porter, Magic
Formal Ways of Writing about Fiction
Student Papers on Fiction
Questions for Writing about Fiction
Suggestions for Writing
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT FICTION
Chapter 5: Three Fiction Writers In Context
Reading Edgar Allan Poe and Flannery O'Connor in Depth
Edgar Allan Poe in Context
Poe and Journalism
Poe and The Horror Story
Poe and The Detective Story
The Dimension of Style
Edgar Allan Poe: Stories:
The Black Cat
The Cask of Amontillado
The Fall of the House of Usher
Edgar Allan Poe: Letters, Essays
Critics on Poe
Flannery O'Connor in Context
Southern Gothic
The Catholic Dimension
O'Connor's Irony
Flannery O'Connor:Stories:
Good Country People
A Good Man is Hard to Find
Everything That Rises Must Converge
Flannery O'Connor: Letters, Essays
Critics on O'Connor
*Chapter 6: Envisioning Narrative
*Visual Stories
*Charles Schulz, Peanuts
*Marjane Satrapi, The Veil
*Rachel Masilamani, Two Kinds of People
AN ANTHOLOGY OF SHORT FICTION
Chapter 7: A Selection of Contemporary Fiction
Sherman Alexie, Indian Education
*Gish Jen, Who's Irish?
*Jhumpa Lahiri, Hell-Heaven
Chapter 8: A Selection of World Fiction
*Chinua Achebe, Marriage is a Private Affair Jorge Luis Borges, The Garden of Forking Paths Jamaica Kincaid, Girl *Gabriel Garcia Marquez, A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings translated by Gregory Rabassa *Isaac Bashevis Singer, Gimpel the Fool translated by Saul Bellow Chapter 9: For Further Reading
Margaret Atwood, Happy Endings *James Baldwin, Sonny's Blues Raymond Carver, Cathedral *Anton Chekhov, The Lady with the Little Dog translated by Richard Peavear and Larissa Volokhonsky *Kate Chopin, The Storm *Sandra Cisneros, Barbie-Q Ralph Ellison, Battle Royal *William Faulkner, Barn Burning *F. Scott Fitzgerald, Babylon Revisited Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown Ernest Hemingway, Hills Like White Elephants *Zora Neale Hurston, Spunk *Shirley Jackson, The Lottery James Joyce, The Boarding House *Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried Tillie Olsen, I Stand Here Ironing Katherine Anne Porter, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall *John Steinbeck, The Chrysanthemums Amy Tan, Rules of the Game Alice Walker, Everyday Use Eudora Welty, Why I Live at the P.O. PART TWO: POETRY
READING AND WRITING ABOUT POETRY
Chapter 10: Reading Poems
The Experience of Poetry Robert Hayden, Those Winter Sundays Reading in Context The Interpretation of Poetry Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Reading in Context The Evaluation of Poetry Gwendolyn Brooks, A Song in the Front Yard The Act of Reading Poetry Theodore Roethke, My Papa's Waltz Chapter 11: Types of Poetry Narrative Poetry Lyric Poetry Chapter 12: Elements of Poetry
Voice: Speaker and Tone Stephen Crane, War is Kind Robert Browning, My Last Duchess Muriel Stuart, In the Orchard Gerard Manley Hopkins, "Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend" Anonymous, Western Wind Henry Reed, Naming of Parts *Randall Jarrell, Death of the Ball Turret Gunner Diction William Wordsworth, I wandered lonely as a cloud Edwin Arlington Robinson, Miniver Cheevy William Wordsworth, It is a beauteous evening Robert Herrick, Delight in Disorder Imagery Elizabeth Bishop, First Death in Nova Scotia William Butler Yeats, The Lake Isle of Innisfree Robert Browning, Meeting at Night H.D., Heat Thomas Hardy, Neutral Tones Figures of Speech: Simile and Metaphor William Shakespeare, That time of year thou may'st in me behold John Donne, Hymn to God the Father Robert Wallace, The Double-Play Louis Simpson, The Battle Judith Wright, Woman to Child Symbolism and Allegory Peter Meinke, Advice to My Son Christina Rossetti, Up-Hill William Blake, A Poison Tree Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken George Herbert, Virtue Emily Dickinson, Because I could not stop for Death Syntax John Donne, The Sun Rising Thomas Hardy, The Man He Killed William Butler Yeats, An Irish Airman Foresees His Death Robert Frost, The Silken Tent e.e. cummings, "Me up at does" Stevie Smith, Mother, Among the Dustbins Sound: Rhyme, Alliteration, Assonance Gerard Manley Hopkins, In the Valley of the Elwy Thomas Hardy, During Wind and Rain Alexander Pope, Sound and Sense Bob McKenty, Adam's Song May Swenson, The Universe Helen Chasin, The Word Plum Rhythm and Meter Robert Frost, The Span of Life George Gordon, Lord Byron, The Destruction of Sennacherib Anne Sexton, Her Kind William Carlos Williams, The Red Wheelbarrow Structure: Closed Form and Open Form John Keats, On First Looking into Chapman's Homer Walt Whitman, When I heard the learn'd astronomer e.e. cummings, l(a e.e. cummings, [Buffalo Bill's] William Carlos Williams, The Dance Denise Levertov, O Taste and See Theodore Roethke, The Waking Christine Kane Molito, Reflections in Black and Blue C.P. Cavafy, The City translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard Theme Emily Dickinson, Crumbling is not an instant's Act Chapter 13: Writing about Poetry
Reasons for Writing about Poetry Informal Ways of Writing about Poetry Robert Graves, Symptoms of Love Formal Ways of Writing about Poetry Sylvia Plath, Mirror Student Papers on Poetry Questions for Writing about Poetry Suggestions for Writing THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT POETRY
Chapter 14: Transformations
Revisions William Blake, London William Butler Yeats, A Dream of Death Emily Dickinson, The Wind begun to knead the Grass D.H. Lawrence, Piano Langston Hughes, Ballad of Booker T. Parodies William Carlos Williams, This is Just to Say Kenneth Koch Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams William Shakespeare, Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Howard Moss, Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day? Robert Frost, Dust of Snow Bob McKenty, Snow on Frost *Responses *Christopher Marlowe, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love *Sir Walter Raleigh, The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd *William Shakespeare, Not marble, nor the gilded monuments *Archibald MacLeish, Not marble Nor the Gilded Monuments *William Blake, Chimney Sweeper (Innocence), Chimney Sweeper (Experience) *Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach *Anthony Hecht, The Dover Bitch: A Criticism of Life *Poetry and Song *Ecclesiastes, To Everything There is a Season *Pete Seeger, Turn, Turn, Turn! *Edwin Arlington Robinson, Richard Cory *Paul Simon, Richard Cory *John Newton, Amazing Grace *Don Maclean, Vincent Chapter 15: Envisioning Poetry
Poems and Paintings Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night Anne Sexton, The Starry Night Francesco de Goya, The Third of May, 1808 David Gewanter, Goya's The Third of May, 1808 Pieter Breughel the Elder, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus W.H. Auden, Musee des Beaux Arts William Carlos Williams, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus William Blake, The Sick Rose (painting) William Blake, The Sick Rose (poem) Henri Matisse, The Dance Natalie Safir, Matisse's Dance Jan Vermeer, Young Woman with a Water Jug Stephen Mitchell, Vermeer Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase X.J. Kennedy, Nude Descending a Staircase Rembrandt van Rijn, The Return of the Prodigal Son Elizabeth Bishop, The Prodigal Kitagawa Utamaro, Girl Powdering Her Neck Cathy Song, Girl Powdering Her Neck Romare Bearden, At Five in the Afternoon Federico Garcia Lorca, Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías (pt. 2) *Giorgio de Chirico, The Melancholy and Mystery of a Street *Roy Jacobstein, The Melancholy and Mystery of the Street Lun-Yi Tsai, Disbelief Lucille Clifton, Tuesday 9/11/01 Chapter 16: Three Poets in Context
Reading Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and Langston Hughes in Depth Emily Dickinson in Context The 19th-Century New England Literary Scene Dickinson and Modern Poetry Dickinson and Christianity Dickinson's Style Emily Dickinson, I cannot dance upon my Toes (326) Emily Dickinson, The soul selects her own Society (303) Emily Dickinson: Poems *67 Success is counted sweetest *108 Surgeons must be very careful *130 These are the days when Birds come back *135 Water, is taught by thirst *185 "Faith" is a fine invention 199 I'm "wife"--I've finished that 214 I taste a liquor never brewed 241 I like a look of Agony 249 Wild Nights--Wild Nights! *252 I can wade Grief *258 There's a certain Slant of light 280 I felt a Funeral, in my Brain *288 Im Nobody! Who are you? 324 Some keep the Sabbath going to Church *328 A Bird came down the walk *341 After great pain, a formal feeling comes 348 I dreaded that first Robin, so 419 We grow accustomed to the Dark 435 Much Madness is divinest Sense *448 This was a Poet--It is that 449 I died for Beauty--but was scarce 465 I head a Fly buzz--when I died *501 This World is not Conclusion. *508 I'm ceded--I've stopped being Theirs-- *569 I reckon--when I count at all-- 585 I like to see it lap the Miles 599 There is a pain--so utter 632 The Brain--is wider than the Sky 650 Pain--has an element of Blank *657 I dwell in Possibility-- *668 "Nature" is what we see 754 My Life had stood--a Loaded Gun 986 A narrow Fellow in the Grass *1078 The Bustle in a House 1129 Tell all the Truth but tell it slant 1732 My life closed twice before its close Three Poems with Altered Punctuation Poets Inspired by Dickinson Jane Hirshfield, Three Times My Life has Opened Billy Collins, Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes *Francis Heaney, Skinny Domicile Linda Pastan, Emily Dickinson Dickinson on Herself and Her First Poems Critics on Dickinson Robert Frost in Context Frost and Popularity Frost and Nature Frost and the Sonnet Frost's Voices Robert Frost: Poems The Tuft of Flowers Mending Wall *Mowing Birches Home Burial *After Apple-Picking Fire and Ice *Nothing Gold Can Stay Acquainted with the Night