Literature And The Writing Process

PART ONE                 Composing: An Overview

Chapter 1        The Prewriting Process

            Reading for Writing

                        James Joyce, “Eveline”

            Who Are My Readers?

                        Analyze the Audience

                                    Prewriting Exercise

            Why Am I Writing?

                        Reasons for Writing

                                    Prewriting Exercise

            What Ideas Should I Use?

                        Reading and Thinking Critically

            Discovering and Developing Ideas

                        Self-Questioning

                        Directed Freewriting

                        Problem Solving

                        Clustering

                                    Figure 1-1    Directed Freewriting

                                    Figure 1-2    Clustering

            What Point Should I Make?

                        Relate a Part to the Whole

            How Do I Find the Theme?

                        Stating the Thesis

 

Chapter 2        The Writing Process

            How Should I Organize My Ideas?

            Arguing Your Interpretation

                        The Elements of Good Argument

                        Building an Effective Argument

                        Arranging the Ideas

                                    Chart 2-1  Checklist for Arguing an Interpretation

            Developing with Details

                        Questions for Consideration

            Maintaining a Critical Focus

                        Distinguishing Critical Comments from Plot Details

            How Should I Begin?

                        Postpone If Nothing Comes

                        Write an Appealing Opening

                        State the Thesis

            How Should I End?

                        Relate the Discussion to Theme

                        Postpone or Write Ahead

                        Write an Emphatic Final Sentence

            Composing the First Draft

                        Pausing to Rescan

            Quoting from Your Sources

            Sample Student Paper: First Draft

 

Chapter 3        Writing a Convincing Argument

            Interpreting and Arguing

                        Identifying Issues

                        Making Claims

                        Using Evidence

                        Using Reasoning

                        Answering Opposing Views

            Organizing Your Argument

                        Using the Inductive Approach

                        Making a Counterargument

                        Arguing Through Comparison

            Sample Student Essay           

            Dagoberto Gilb, “Love in L. A.”

 

Chapter 4        The Rewriting Process

            What Is Revision?

            Getting Feedback: Peer Review

                        Revising in Peer Groups

                                    Chart 4-1  Peer Evaluation Checklist for Revision

            What Should I Add or Take Out?

                        Outlining After the First Draft

                        Making the Outline

                        Checking the Outline

                        Sample After-Writing Outline

                        Examining the Sample Outline

                                    Outlining Exercise

            What Should I Rearrange?

            Does It Flow?

            What Is Editing?

            What Sentences Should I Combine?

                                    Chart 4-2 Transitional Terms for All Occasions

                                    Chart 4-3  Revising Checklist

                        Combining for Conciseness

                                    Sentence Combining Exercise

            Rearranging for Emphasis and Variety

                        Varying the Pattern

                                    Exercise on Style

            Which Words Should I Change?

                        Check Your Verbs

                        Use Active Voice Most of the Time

                        Use Passive If Appropriate

                                    Exercise on Passive Voice

                        Feel the Words

                                    Exercise on Word Choice

                        Attend to Tone

                        Use Formal Language

            What Is Proofreading?

                        Try Reading It Backward

                        Look for Your Typical Errors

                        Read the Paper Aloud

                        Find a Friend to Help

                                    Chart 4-4  Proofreading Checklist

            Sample Student Paper: Final Draft

 

Chapter 5        Researched Writing

            Using Library Source in Your Writing

            Conducting Your Research

                        Locating Sources

                        Using the Online Catalog

                        Using Indexes and Databases

                        Using the Internet

                                    Chart 5-1  Internet Sources for Literature

                        Evaluating Online Sources

                        Using Reference Works in Print

            Working with Sources

                        Taking Notes

                        Using a Research Notebook

                        Using the Printout/Photocopy Option

                                    Figure 5-1  Sample Entry from a Divided-Page Research Notebook

                        Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting

                        Devising a Working Outline

            Writing a First Draft

                        Organizing Your Notes

                        Using Quotations and Paraphrases

                        Integrating Sources

                        Block Quotations

                        Quoting from Primary Sources

                        Avoiding Plagiarism

            Rewriting and Editing

                        Documenting Your Sources

                        Revising the Draft

                        Formatting Your Paper

                                    Chart 5-2   Checklist for Revising and Editing Researched Writing

            Sample Documented Student Paper

            Sample Published Article

            Explanation of the MLA Documentation Style

                        In-Text Citations

                        Preparing the List of Works Cited

                        Sample Entries for a List of Works Cited

                        Citing Print Publications

                        Citing Online Publications

                        Citing Other Common Sources

                       

PART TWO                Writing About Short Fiction

Chapter 6        How Do I Read Short Fiction?

            Notice the Structure

            Consider Point of View and Setting

            Study the Characters

                        Foils

            Look for Specialized Literary Techniques

            Examine the Title

            Investigate the Author’s Life and Times

            Continue Questioning to Discover Theme

                                    Chart 6-1  Critical Questions for Reading the Short Story

 

Chapter 7        Writing About Structure

            What Is Structure?

            How Do I Discover Structure?

            Looking at Structure

                        Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried”

            Prewriting

                        Finding Patterns

            Writing

                        Grouping Details

                        Relating Details to Theme

            Ideas for Writing

                        Ideas for Responsive Writing

                        Ideas for Critical Writing

                        Ideas for Researched Writing

            Rewriting

                        Integrating Quotations Gracefully

                                    Exercise on Integrating Quotations

 

Chapter 8        Writing About Imagery and Symbolism

            What Are Images?

            What Are Symbols?

                        Archetypal Symbols

                        Phallic and Yonic Symbols

            How Will I Recognize Symbols?

                        Reference Works on Symbols

            Looking at Images and Symbols

                        Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery”

            Prewriting

                        Interpreting Symbols

            Writing

                        Producing a Workable Thesis

                                    Exercise on Thesis Statements

            Ideas for Writing

                        Ideas for Responsive Writing

                        Ideas for Critical Writing

                        Ideas for Researched Writing

            Rewriting

                        Sharpening the Introduction

            Sample Student Paper on Symbolism:  Second and Final Drafts

 

Chapter 9        Writing About Point of View

            What Is Point of View?

                        Describing Point of View

            Looking at Point of View

                        Alice Walker, “Everyday Use”

            Prewriting

                        Analyzing Point of View

            Writing

                        Relating Point of View to Theme

            Ideas for Writing

                        Ideas for Responsive Writing

                        Ideas for Critical Writing

                        Ideas for Researched Writing

            Rewriting

                        Sharpening the Conclusion

 

Chapter 10      Writing About Setting and Atmosphere

            What Are Setting and Atmosphere?

            Looking at Setting and Atmosphere

                        Tobias Wolff, “Hunters in the Snow”

            Prewriting

                        Examining the Elements of Setting

            Writing

                        Discovering an Organization

            Ideas for Writing

                        Ideas for Responsive Writing

                        Ideas for Critical Writing

                        Ideas for Researched Writing

            Rewriting

                        Checking Your Organization

                        Improving the Style: Balanced Sentences

                                    Sentence Modeling Exercise

 

Chapter 11      Writing About Theme

            What Is Theme?

            Looking at Theme

                        Flannery O'Connor, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”

            Prewriting

                        Figuring Out the Theme

                        Stating the Theme

            Writing

                        Choosing Supporting Details

            Ideas for Writing

                        Ideas for Responsive Writing

                        Ideas for Critical Writing

                        Ideas for Researched Writing

            Rewriting

                        Achieving Coherence

                        Checking for Coherence

            Editing

                        Repeat Words and Synonyms

                        Try Parallel Structure

 

Casebook: Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”

            Joyce Carol Oates (1938-    ) “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”

            The Story’s Origins

            Four Critical Interpretations

                        Topics for Discussion and Writing

                        Ideas for Researched Writing

 

Anthology of Short Fiction

            Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) “The Birthmark”

            Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)  “The Cask of Amontillado”

            Kate Chopin (1851-1904)  “Désirée’s Baby”

                        “The Story of an Hour”

            Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935)  “The Yellow Wallpaper”

            Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941)  “Hands”

            Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980)  “The Grave”

            Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)  “Spunk”

            William Faulkner (1897-1962)  “Barn Burning”

            Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)  “Hills Like White Elephants”

            Langston Hughes (1902-1967)  “Salvation”

            John Steinbeck (1902-1968)  “The Chrysanthemums”

            Richard Wright (1908-1960)  “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”

            Tillie Olsen (1913-2007)  “I Stand Here Ironing”

            Hisaye Yamamoto (1921-    )  “Seventeen Syllables”

            Rosario Morales (1930-    )  “The Day It Happened”

            Chinua Achebe (1930-    )  “Dead Men’s Path”

            Alice Munro (1931-    )  “An Ounce of Cure”

            Andre Dubus  (1956-1999)  “The Fat Girl”

            Raymond Carver (1938-1988)  “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”

            Toni Cade Bambara (1939-1995)  “The Lesson”

            Bharati Mukherjee (1940-    )  “A Father”

            T. Coraghessan Boyle (1948-    )  “The Love of My Life”

            Sandra Cisneros (1954-    )   “Geraldo No Last Name”

            Louise Erdrich (1954-    )   “The Red Convertible”

            Ha Jin (1956-    )  “The Bridegroom”

            Katherine Min (1959-    )  “Secondhand World”

            Julie Otsuka (1962-    )   “Evacuation Order No. 19”

            Sherman Alexie (1966-    )  “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”

 

A Portfolio of Science Fiction Stories

            Ray Bradbury (1920-    )  “There Will Come Soft Rains”

            Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-    )   “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”

            Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006)  “Speech Sounds”

            Kevin Brockmeier (1972-    )  “The Year of Silence”

            Sample Student Paper: Comparing Dystopias

 

A Portfolio of Humorous and Satirical Stories

            Eudora Welty (1909-2001)  “Why I Live at the P. O.”

            John Updike (1932-2009)  “A & P”

            Margaret Atwood (1939-    )  “Happy Endings”

            Ron Hansen (1947-    )  “My Kid’s Dog”     

            David Sedaris (1956-    )  “Nuit of the Living Dead”

 

A Portfolio of Graphic Stories

            Art Spiegelman (1948-    )  “Time Flies” from Maus II

            Alison Bechdel (1960-    )   “Fun Home”

            Marjane Satrapi (1969-    )   “The Vegetable” from Persepolis 2

           

PART THREE Writing About Poetry

Chapter 12      How Do I Read Poetry?

            Get the Literal Meaning First: Paraphrase

            Make Associations for Meaning

                                    Chart 12-1  Critical Questions for Reading Poetry

 

Chapter 13      Writing About Persona and Tone

            Who Is Speaking?

            What Is Tone?

            Recognizing Verbal Irony

            Describing Tone

            Looking at Persona and Tone

                        Theodore Roethke, “My Papa’s Waltz”

                        W. D. Ehrhart, “The Sins of the Father”

                        Thomas Hardy, “The Ruined Maid”

                        W. H. Auden, “The Unknown Citizen”

                        Edmund Waller, “Go, Lovely Rose”

                        Dorothy Parker, “One Perfect Rose”

            Prewriting

                        Asking Questions About the Speaker in “My Papa's Waltz”

                                    Devising a Thesis

                        Considering the Speaker in “The Sins of the Father”

                        Describing the Tone in “The Ruined Maid”

                                    Developing a Thesis

                        Describing the Tone in “The Unknown Citizen”

                                    Formulating a Thesis

                        Determining Tone in “Go, Lovely Rose”

                        Discovering Tone in “One Perfect Rose”

            Writing

                        Explicating and Analyzing

            Ideas for Writing

                        Ideas for Responsive Writing

                        Ideas for Critical Writing

                        Ideas for Researched Writing

            Editing

                        Quoting Poetry in Essays

            Sample Student Response on Persona and Tone

                        Analyzing the Student Response

 

Chapter 14      Writing About Poetic Language

            What Do the Words Suggest?

                        Connotation and Denotation

                        Figures of Speech

                        Metaphor and Simile

                        Personification

                        Imagery

                        Symbol

                        Paradox

                        Oxymoron

            Looking at Poetic Language

                        Mary Oliver, “August”

                        Walt Whitman, “A Noiseless Patient Spider”

                        William Shakespeare, “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?”

                        Kay Ryan, “Turtle”

                        Hayden Carruth, “In the Long Hall”

                        Donald Hall, “My Son My Executioner”

            Prewriting

                        Examining Poetic Language

            Writing

                        Comparing and Contrasting

            Ideas for Writing

                        Ideas for Responsive Writing

                        Ideas for Critical Writing

                        Ideas for Researched Writing

            Rewriting

                        Choosing Vivid, Descriptive Terms

                        Finding Lively Words

                                    Exercise on Diction

            Sample Student Paper on Poetic Language: Second and Final Drafts

                                    Comparison Exercise

 

Chapter 15      Writing About Poetic Form

            What Are the Forms of Poetry?

                        Rhythm and Rhyme

                                    Chart 15-1 Rhythm and Meter in Poetry

                        Alliteration, Assonance, and Consonance

                                    Exercise on Poetic Form

                        Stanzas: Closed and Open Form

                        Poetic Syntax

                        Visual Poetry

            Looking at the Forms of Poetry

                        Gwendolyn Brooks, “We Real Cool”

                        A. E. Housman, “Eight O’Clock”

                        E. E. Cummings, “anyone lived in a pretty how town”

                        Wole Soyinka, “Telephone Conversation”

                        Robert Frost, “The Silken Tent”

                        Billy Collins, “Sonnet”

                        Roger McGough, “40-----Love”

            Prewriting

                        Experimenting with Poetic Forms

            Writing

                        Relating Form to Meaning

            Ideas for Writing

                        Ideas for Expressive Writing

                        Ideas for Critical Writing

                        Ideas for Researched Writing

            Rewriting

                        Finding the Exact Wor

            Sample Student Paper on Poetic Form

            Sample Published Essay on Poetic Form:

                        David Huddle, “The ‘Banked Fire’ of Robert Hayden’s ‘Those Winter Sundays’”

 

Casebook:  The Poetry of Langston Hughes

            Langston Hughes: A Brief Biography

            “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”

            “Mother to Son”

            “The Weary Blues”

            “Saturday Night”

            “Trumpet Player”

            “Harlem (A Dream Deferred)”

            “Theme for English B”

                        Considering the Poems

            Critical Commentaries

                        Onwuchekwa Jemie, “Hughes and the Black Controversy”

                        Margaret Larkin, “A Poet for the People”

                        Richard Wright, “Forerunner and Ambassador”

                                                Karen Jackson Ford, “Do Right to Write Right: Langston Hughes’s Aesthetics of Simplicity”

                                                Peter Townsend, “Jazz and Langston Hughes’s Poetry”

                                                Langston Hughes, “Harlem Rent Parties”

            Ideas for Writing About Langston Hughes

            Ideas for Researched Writing

 

The Art of Poetry

            The Art of Poetry

                        Lisel Mueller (1924-    )  “American Literature”

Edward Hopper (1882-1967),  Nighthawks, 1942

           

Samuel Yellen (1906-1983)  “Nighthawks”

           

Susan Ludvigson (1942-    )   “Inventing My Parents”

 

 

Peter Brueghel the Elder (c. 1525-1569), Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, c. 1554-55

           

W. H. Auden (1907-1973)   “Musée des Beaux Arts”

 

 

            Paolo Uccello (139-1475), St. George and the Dragon, 1470

 

                        U. A. Fanthorpe (1929-2009)   “Not My Best Side”

           

 

 

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), The Starry Night, 1889

 

                        Anne Sexton (1928-1974)   “The Starry Night”

 

           

            Henri Matisse (1869-1954), The Red Studio, 1911

 

            W. D. Snodgrass (1926-2009)  “Matisse: ‘The Red Studio’ ”

 

 

Kitagawa Utamaro (1754-1806), Two Women Dressing Their Hair, 1794-1795

           

Cathy Song (1952-    )  “Beauty and Sadness”

 

            The Art of Poetry: Questions for Discussion

            Poetry and Art: Ideas for Writing

            Sample Student Response: Poetry and Art

 

Anthology of Poetry

     Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)  “They Flee from Me”

            William Shakespeare (1564-1616)  “When in Disgrace with Fortune and Men’s Eyes”

                        “Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds”

                        “That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold”

                        “My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun”

            John Donne (1572-1631)  “Death, Be Not Proud”

                        “The Flea”

                        “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”

            Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)              “To His Coy Mistress”

            William Blake (1757-1827)  “The Lamb”

                        “The Tyger”

                        “The Sick Rose”

                        “London”

            William Wordsworth (1770-1850)  “The World Is Too Much with Us”

            George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824)  “She Walks in Beauty”

            Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)  “Ozymandias”

            John Keats (1795-1821)  “Ode on a Grecian Urn”

            Walt Whitman (1819-1892)  “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”

            Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)  “Dover Beach”

            Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)  “Faith Is a Fine Invention”

                        “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?”

                        “He Put the Belt Around My Life”

                        “Much Madness Is Divinest Sense”

                        “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”

                        “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church”

                        “Wild Nights—Wild Nights!”

            Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)  “Pied Beauty”

                        “Spring and Fall”

            A. E. Housman (1859-1936)  “To an Athlete Dying Young”

                        “Loveliest of Trees”

            William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)  “The Second Coming”

                        “Sailing to Byzantium”

            Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)  “We Wear the Mask”

            Robert Frost (1874-1963)  “Mending Wall”

                        “Birches”

                        “ ‘Out, Out—’”

                        “Fire and Ice”

                        “Design”

            Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)  “Fog”

                        “Chicago”

            William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)  “Danse Russe”

                        “The Red Wheelbarrow”

            D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930)  “Piano”

            T. S. Eliot (1888-1965)  “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

            Claude McKay (1890-1948)  “America”

            Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)  “Oh, Oh, You Will Be Sorry for That Word”

                        “First Fig”

            E. E. Cummings (1894-1962)  “in Just- ”

                        “pity this busy monster,manunkind”

            Stevie Smith (1902-1971)  “Not Waving but Drowning”

            Countee Cullen (1903-1946)  “Incident”

            Pablo Neruda (1904-1973)  “Sweetness, Always”

            W. H. Auden (1907-1973)  “Funeral Blues”

                        “Lullaby”

            Theodore Roethke (1908-1963)  “I Knew a Woman”

            Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979)  “One Art”

            May Sarton (1912-1995)  “AIDS”

            Karl Shapiro (1913-2000)  “Auto Wreck”

            Octavio Paz  (1914-1998)  “The Street”

            Dudley Randall (1914-2000)  “Ballad of Birmingham”

                        “To the Mercy Killers”

Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)  “The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower”

                        “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”

            Gwendolyn Brooks (1917- 2000)

                        “Sadie and Maud”

            Richard Wilbur (1921-    )   “Love Calls Us to the Things of This World”

            Philip Larkin   (1922-1985)  “Home Is So Sad”

            James Dickey (1923-1997)   “The Leap”

            Maxine Kumin (1925-    )  “Woodchucks”

            Anne Sexton (1928-1974)   “You All Know the Story of the Other Woman”

            Adrienne Rich (1929-     )   “Aunt Jennifer's Tigers”

                        “Living in Sin”

            Ruth Fainlight (1931-     )  “Flower Feet”

            Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)  “Mirror”

            Imamu Amiri Baraka  (1934-    )  “Biography”

            Audre Lorde (1934-1992)  “Hanging Fire”

            Marge Piercy (1936-    )  “Barbie Doll”

            Seamus Heaney (1939-    )  “Digging”

            John Lennon (1940-1980) and Paul McCartney (1942-    )  “Eleanor Rigby”

            Sharon Olds (1942-    )   “Sex Without Love”

                        “The Death of Marilyn Monroe”

            Nikki Giovanni (1943-    )  “Dreams”

            Gina Valdes (1943-    )   “My Mother Sews Blouses”

            Edward Hirsch (1950-    )  “Execution”                   

            Jimmy Santiago Baca (1952-    )  “There Are Black”

            Judith Ortiz Cofer (1952-    )   “Latin Women Pray”

            Cornelius Eady (1954-    )  “The Supremes”

            Louise Erdrich (1954-    )  “Indian Boarding School: The Runaways”

            Martín Espada (1957-    )  “Bully”

            Essex Hemphill (1957-1995)  “Commitments”

 

Paired Poems for Comparison

            Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)  “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”

            Sir Walter Raleigh (1552?-1618)  “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”

 

            Robert Browning (1812-1889)  “My Last Duchess”

            Gabriel Spera (1966-    )   “My Ex-Husband”

 

            Walt Whitman (1819-1892)  “Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances”

            Tony Hoagland (1953-    )  “Romantic Moment”

 

            Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935)  “Richard Cory”

            Paul Simon (1942-    )   “Richard Cory”

 

            William Stafford (1914-1993)  “Traveling Through the Dark”

            Mary Oliver (1935-    )  “The Black Snake”

 

            Robert Hayden (1913-1980)   “Those Winter Sundays”

            George Bilgere (1951-    )  “Like Riding a Bicycle”

 

            Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000)   “The Bean Eaters”

            Katha Pollitt  (1949-    )   “The Old Neighbors”      

 

A Portfolio of Poems about Work

            Jean Toomer (1894-1967)  “Reapers”

            John Updike (1932-2009)  “Ex-Basketball Player”

            Marge Piercy (1936-    )  “To Be of Use”

            Rita Dove (1952-    )  “Daystar”

            Dorianne Laux (1952-    )  “What I Wouldn’t Do”

                       Alberto Ríos (1952-    )  “In Second Grade Miss Lee I Promised Never to Forget You and I Never Did”

            Lynn Powell (1955-    )  “Acceptance Speech”

            Stephen Cushman (1956-    )  “Beside the Point”

 

A Portfolio of War Poetry

            Richard Lovelace (1618-1657)  “To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars”

            Stephen Crane (1871-1900)  “War Is Kind”

            Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)  “Dulce et Decorum Est”

            E. E. Cummings (1894-1962)  “next to of course god america i”

            Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012)   “End and Beginning”

            Peg Lauber (1938-    )  “Six National Guardsmen Blown Up Together”

            Yusef Komunyakaa (1947-    )   “Facing It”

            Dwight Okita (1958-    )  “In Response to Executive Order 9066”

 

A Portfolio of Humorous and Satirical Poetry

            Don Marquis (1878-1937)   “the lesson of the moth”

            Linda Pastan (1932-    )  “Marks”

            Lucille Clifton (1936-2010)  “homage to my hips”

            Ron Koertge (1940-    )  “Cinderella’s Diary”

            Billy Collins (1941-    )   “Introduction to Poetry”

            Andrea Carlisle (1944-    )   “Emily Dickinson’s To-Do List”

            Craig Raine (1944-    )  “A Martian Sends a Postcard Home”

            Jan Beatty (1952-    )  “A Waitress’s Instructions on Tipping”

            Jeanne Marie Beaumont (1954-    )  “Afraid So”

 

            Peter Pereira (1959-    )  “Reconsidering the Seven”

 

 

 

 PART FOUR              Writing About Drama

Chapter 16      How Do I Read a Play?

            Listen to the Lines

            Visualize the Scene

            Envision the Action

            Drama on Film

                                    Chart 16-1   Critical Questions for Reading Plays

 

Chapter 17      Writing About Dramatic Structure

            What Is Dramatic Structure?

            Looking at Dramatic Structure

                        Sophocles, Antigone

            Prewriting

                        Analyzing Dramatic Structure

            Writing

                        Discovering a Workable Argumentative Thesis

                        Quoting from a Play

            Ideas for Writing

                        Ideas for Responsive Writing

                        Ideas for Critical Writing

                        Ideas for Researched Writing

            Rewriting

                        Avoiding Unclear Language

            Sample Student Paper

                                    Questions for Discussion

 

Chapter 18      Writing About Character

            What Is the Modern Hero?

                        The Classical Tragic Hero

                        The Modern Tragic Hero

            Looking at the Modern Hero

                        Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie

            Prewriting

                        Analyzing the Characters      

            Writing

                        Choosing a Structure

            Ideas for Writing

                        Ideas for Responsive Writing

                        Ideas for Critical Writing

                        Ideas for Researched Writing

            Rewriting

                        Developing Paragraphs Specifically

                                    Exercise on Providing Quotations

 

Casebook    The Glass Menagerie: Interpreting Amanda

            Six Critical Interpretations

            Burton Rasco, Review of The Glass Menagerie

Howard Taubman, “Diverse, Unique Amanda”

Durant Da Ponte, “Tennessee Williams’ Gallery of Feminine Characters”

Joseph K. Davis, “Landscapes of the Dislocated Mind”

                        Marc Robinson, “Amanda”

Charles Isherwood, “Gritty Polish for a Tennessee Williams Jewel”

            Responding to the Critics

            Ideas for Researched Writing

 

Chapter 19      Writing About Culture

            What Is Cultural Analysis?

            Looking at Cultural Issues

                        David Henry Hwang, M. Butterfly

            Prewriting

                                    Figure 19-1   Reading Notes

                        Exploring Cultural Themes

                        Posing Yourself a Problem

            Writing

                        Refining Your Thesis

            Ideas for Writing

                        Ideas for Responsive Writing

                        Ideas for Critical Writing

                        Ideas for Researched Writing

            Rewriting

                        Coordinating Your Introduction and Conclusions

            Sample Student Paper on Cultural Issues

 

Anthology of Drama

            William Shakespeare (1564-1616)  Othello, the Moor of Venice

            Susan Glaspell (1882-1948)  Trifles

            Lorraine Hansberry  (1930-1965)  A Raisin in the Sun

 

A Portfolio of Humorous and Satirical Plays

            Fernando Arrabal (1933-    )  Picnic on the Battlefield

            Jane Martin (1938?-    )  Beauty

            Luis Valdez (1940-    )  Los Vendidos

            David Ives  (1950-    )  Sure Thing

 

Handbook for Correcting Errors

            Proofreading

            Correcting Sentence Boundary Errors

                        Phrases and Clauses

                                    Chart A  Examples of Phrases and Clauses

                        Fragments

                                    Chart B  Kinds of Phrases

                                    Chart C  Kinds of Clauses

                        Comma Splices

                        Run-On Sentences

            Clearing Up Confused Sentences

            Solving Faulty Predication Problems

            Fixing Subject-Verb Agreement Errors

            Fixing Pronoun Errors

            Correcting Shifts in Person

            Correcting Shifts in Tense

            Finding Modifier Mistakes

            Coping with Irregular Verbs

            Getting Verbs Right

            Writing in Active Voice

            Solving Punctuation Problems

            Using Necessary Commas Only

            Using Apostrophes

            Distinguishing Hyphens from Dashes

            Integrating Quotations Gracefully

            Punctuating Quoted Material

            Writing Smooth Transitions

 

Critical Approaches for Interpreting Literature

             Formalism

            Historical Approaches

                        Biographical

                        Cultural

                        Marxist

            Psychological Approaches

            Mythological and Archetypal Approaches

            Gender Focus

            Reader Response

            Deconstruction

            Intertextual Approaches

            Where Do You Stand?

 

Glossary of Literary and Rhetorical Terms

Credits

Index of Authors, Titles, and First Lines of Poetry

Subject Index