Detailed Contents

Critical Strategies: An Overview Inside Front Cover Preface for Instructors xxv

The Possibilities of Literary Meaning 1 TOM WAYMAN, Did I Miss Anything? 1

1. Reading: How Meaning Is Made 3 Who Makes Meaning? 3 LEWIS CARROLL, Jabberwocky 4 Are Some Readings Wrong? 7 Your Right to Read and Write 10 The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution 10

2. Writing: How Invention Strategies Shape the Process 13 BRENDAN GILL, from Here at The New Yorker 14 New Criticism 15 Reader-Response Criticism 17 Deconstructive Criticism 19 Biographical, Historical, and New Historical Criticism 21 Psychological Criticism 23 Feminist Criticism 25 Other Approaches 27

3. Literature: Why It Matters 29 What Isn’t Literature? 29 What Is Literature? 32 ROBERT FROST, It Bids Pretty Fair 32

Critical Strategies at Work 37 4. Read Poetry Creatively: Reader-Response Criticism 39 Reflection: The Creative Reader 39 DAVID WAGONER, This Is a Wonderful Poem 40 Strategies: Using Reader-Response Criticism 41

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JOHN BURNSIDE, The Sand Merchant’s Wife 42 Inventing 42 Shaping 46 Drafting 48 Useful Terms for Reader-Response Criticism 54 Elements: Symbol and Image; Personification, Allegory, and Allusion 54 GJERTRUD SCHNACKENBERG, Supernatural Love 56 MARGARET CAVENDISH, Earth’s Complaint 59 Practice: Environments 60 MARK STRAND, The Garden 60 JOY HARJO, For Anna Mae Aquash Whose Spirit Is Present Here and in the Dappled Stars 61 CAROLINE FRASER, All Bears 63 EMILY DICKINSON, Through the Dark Sod 64 ROBINSON JEFFERS, Carmel Point 65 Suggestions for Writing 66 5. Read Poetry Closely: New Criticism 67 Reflection: The Organic Text 67 ARCHIBALD MACLEISH, Ars Poetica 68 Strategies: Using New Criticism 71 GWENDOLYN BROOKS, The Mother 71 Inventing 72 Shaping 74 Drafting 75 LUCILLE CLIFTON, forgiving my father 78 Elements: Voice, Speaker, Tone, Point of View, and Irony 78 STEPHEN SHU-NING LIU, My Father’s Martial Art 81 Useful Terms for New Criticism 83 SEAMUS HEANEY, Digging 85 Practice: Ties That Bind 85 RICHARD WILBUR, The Writer 85 FROM THE GOSPEL OF LUKE, The Prodigal Son 87 THEODORE ROETHKE, My Papa’s Waltz 88 GREGORY DJANIKIAN, Immigrant Picnic 88 Suggestions for Writing 90 6. Read Poetry Playfully: Deconstruction 91 Reflection: An Open Space 94 JOHN ASHBERRY, Paradoxes and Oxymorons 94 Strategies: Using Deconstructive Criticism 96 Detailed Contents xiii

LANGSTON HUGHES, Cross 96 Useful Terms for Deconstruction 102 Elements: Figures and Forms 103 DEREK WALCOTT, Frederiksted, Dusk 104 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Sonnet 17 109 Practice: Good and Evil 112 LINDA PASTAN, Ethics 112 ROBERT LOWELL, For the Union Dead 113 ELI MANDEL, Houdini 115 JOHN DONNE, Death Be Not Proud 116 JOHANNES VERMEER, Woman Holding a Balance (painting) 117 LINDA PASTAN, Woman Holding a Balance, Vermeer, 1664 118 MARGARET ATWOOD, Spelling 119 Suggestions for Writing 121

7. Read Fiction Powerfully: Political Criticism 122 Reflection: The Useful Text 122 ELIZABETH TALLENT, No One’s a Mystery 123 Strategies: Using Political Criticism 129 ERNEST HEMINGWAY, A Very Short Story 132 Inventing 137 Shaping 139 Drafting 139 Useful Terms for Political Criticism 143 Elements: Character, Setting, and Theme 144 WILLIAM FAULKNER, A Rose for Emily 144 AESOP, The Fox and the Grapes 155 Practice: Idealisms 157 LANGSTON HUGHES, Thank You, M’am 157 TOBIAS WOLFF, Say Yes 160 JOHN UPDIKE, A & P 164 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, The Birthmark 168 Suggestions for Writing 180

8. Read Fiction Contextually: Biographical, Historical, and New Historical Criticism 181 Reflection: Real Life 181 CHARLES JOHNSON, Moving Pictures 182 Strategies: Using Biographical, Historical, and New Historical Criticism 188 JOHN CHEEVER, Reunion 188 A Biographical Essay 192 xiv Detailed Contents

Inventing 192 Shaping 195 Drafting 197 A New Historical Essay 200 Inventing 200 Shaping 201 Drafting 202 Useful Terms and Sources for Biographical, Historical, and New Historical Criticism 205 Sources for Biographical Research 208 Sources for Historical Research 209 Sources for New Historical Research 209 Elements: Plot and Structure 209 ELLEN MALPHRUS, Thanksgiving on the Chicken Bone Express 210 Practice: Missing Persons 216 JOHN CHEEVER, The Swimmer 217 JOHN CHEEVER, The Country Husband 225 Suggestions for Writing 242

9. Read Drama Thoughtfully: Psychological Criticism 243 Reflection: Someone’s Mind 243 MICHAEL HAMBURGER, A Poet’s Progress 245 Strategies: Using Psychological Criticism 249 MATTHEW ARNOLD, Dover Beach 249 Inventing 251 Shaping 253 Drafting 257 Useful Terms for Psychological Cricitism 262 Elements: Scene, Set, Actor, and Director 263 From William Shakespeare, Hamlet 264 Practice: Brainstorms 266 TERENCE McNALLY, Andre’s Mother 266 Suggestions for Writing 269

Fiction 271 10. Elements of Fiction 273 Engaging the Story 273 Suggestions for Reading Stories 279 T. CORAGHESSAN BOYLE, The Hit Man 279 JANETTE TURNER HOSPITAL, Morgan Morgan 286 Detailed Contents xv

Recognizing Elements: Plot, Character, and Point of View 291 Stories to Experience 296 JOHN EDGAR WIDEMAN, Weight 296 ZORA NEALE HURSTON, Sweat 305 11. Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Flannery O’Connor: Two Case Studies 315 Reading Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper 316 CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN, The Yellow Wallpaper 316 Writing about The Yellow Wallpaper: Critical Viewpoints 327 Elaine Hedges: The Initial Appearance and Early Reception 327 Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Autobiographical Insight 328 Barbara Ehrenreich and Deidre English: Historical and Political Stance 329 Loralee MacPike: New Critical, Psychological, Feminist Blend 332 Jean Kennard: Reader Response and Meta-Criticism 333 Judith Fetterley: Reader Response and Feminist Criticism 336 John Harvey Kellogg: Historical Materials 337 Janet Beer: Psychological Film Criticism 338 Richard Feldstein: Deconstruction 341 Douglas Tallack: Deconstructing Feminist Criticism 344 Reading O’Connor’s Revelation 345 FLANNERY O’CONNOR, Revelation 346 Writing about Revelation: Critical Viewpoints 360 C. Ralph Stevens: Biographical Sketch of O’Connor 360 Margaret Earley Whitt: The Biographical Context of Revelation 362 Flannery O’Connor: On the Genre of the Short Story 363 Margaret Turner: More Biographical Background 364 Flannery O’Connor: On Her Motivation 365 Anthony Di Renzo: Close Reading 366 Marshall Bruce Gentry: Close Reading and Textual Evidence 370 Richard Giannone: Historical and Biographical Materials 370

12. More Stories 373 HANAN AL-SHAYKH, The Keeper of the Virgins 374 JAMES BALDWIN, Sonny’s Blues 379 CLAUDIA SMITH BRINSON, Einstein’s Daughter 400 RAYMOND CARVER, Cathedral 408 xvi Detailed Contents

KATE CHOPIN, The Storm 418 SANDRA CISNEROS, One Holy Night 422 AMANDA DAVIS, Louisiana Loses Its Cricket Hum 426 RITA DOVE, The Vibraphone 430 LOUISE ERDRICH, Wild Geese 441 F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, Babylon Revisited 444 ERNEST GAINES, Just Like a Tree 458 BRENDAN GILL, The Knife 475 JAMES JOYCE, Araby 478 GARRISON KEILLOR, Zeus the Lutheran 482 DORIS LESSING, A Woman on a Roof 493 ALICE MUNRO, How I Met My Husband 500 LESLIE NORRIS, Blackberries 511 JOYCE CAROL OATES, Nairobi 515 FRANK O’CONNOR, My Oedipus Complex 519 CYNTHIA OZICK, The Shawl 527 GRACE PALEY, A Conversation with My Father 531 KATHERINE ANNE PORTER, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall 534 JOHN STEINBECK, The Chrysanthemums 541 AMY TAN, Two Kinds 548 JAMES THURBER, The Catbird Seat 556 JOHN UPDIKE, Deaths of Distant Friends 562

Poetry 567 13. Elements of Poetry 569 Dealing with Difficulty 569 WILLIAM MERIDETH, A Major Work 570 The Nature of Poetry 571 MARK STRAND, Eating Poetry 572 Liechtenstein 573 This Is Just to Say 574 Poetry 574 How to Read a Poem 575 Words 576 EMILY DICKINSON, The Soul Selects Her Own Society 576 Sentences 578 ROBERT FRANCIS, Catch 578 A Sonnet Unfolded 579 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Sonnet 93 579 Recognizing Kinds 582 Detailed Contents xvii

Stances: Apostrophe, Aubade, Carpe Diem, Elegy, Ode, and Pastoral 583 Forms: Narrative, Lyric, and Dramatic; Rhyme and Rhythm 584 Closed Versus Open Form 585 DENISE LEVERTOV, Advent 1966 586 ROBERT SOUTHWELL, The Burning Babe 589 Poems for Making Sense 590 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Sonnet 138 590 WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, The Red Wheelbarrow 591 ROBERT GRAVES, Down, Wanton, Down! 591 GARY SNYDER, Some Good Things to Be Said for the Iron Age 592 RICHARD WILBUR, A Late Aubade 592

14. Poetic Conversations 594 Two Stars 597 JOHN KEATS, Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art 597 ROBERT FROST, Choose Something Like a Star 598 An Odd Couple? 599 BEN JONSON, Still To Be Neat 599 ROBERT HERRICK, Delight in Disorder 599 The First Couple 600 GENESIS 1:26–28, 2:7–10, 2:15–3:24 600 WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, Adam’s Curse 602 STEVIE SMITH, How Cruel Is the Story of Eve 603 TED HUGHES, Theology 604 EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY, Never May the Fruit Be Plucked 605 LOUISE GLÜCK, The Apple Trees 606 THOMAS CAMPION, There Is a Garden in Her Face 606 JOHN MILTON, from Paradise Lost 607 Swine Songs 608 GALWAY KINNELL, Saint Francis and the Sow 608 SYLVIA PLATH, Sow 608 THOM GUNN, Moly 610 WILLIAM COWPER, The Love of the World Reproved 610 CHARLES TOMLINSON, On a Pig’s Head 611 RICHARD EBERHART, The Groundhog 612 PAUL MULDOON, Hedgehog 613 A Bowl of Plums for Wordsworth 614 WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, The World Is Too Much with Us 614 KENNETH KOCH, Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams 615 HELEN CHASIN, The Word Plum 615 xviii Detailed Contents

DENISE LEVERTOV, O Taste and See 615 AMY CLAMPITT, Nothing Stays Put 616 God? 617 WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, Afterthought 617 STEPHEN CRANE, A Man Said to the Universe 618 THEODORE ROETHKE, Root Cellar 618 PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, Ozymandias 618 JAMES FENTON, God, A Poem 619 THOMAS HARDY, The Oxen 619 WALLACE STEVENS, Anecdote of the Jar 620 MARK STRAND, Keeping Things Whole 620 GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS, God’s Grandeur 621 AMY CLAMPITT, Lindenbloom 621 Shorelines 622 ANTHONY HECHT, The Dover Bitch: A Criticism of Life 622 JOHN BREHM, Sea of Faith 623 FRED DINGS, Chains of Change 624 CATHY SONG, Waterwings 625 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Sonnet 60 626 ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, Ulysses 626 Love among the Sheep 628 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love 628 SIR WALTER RALEIGH, The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd 628 JOHN DONNE, The Bait 629 ROBERT HERRICK, To Phillis to love, and live with him 630 C. DAY LEWIS, Song 631 WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, Raleigh Was Right 631 JAMES DICKEY, The Sheep Child 632 CARYN CRABB, The Passionate Businessman to a Foxy Chick 633 Revisions 634 DIANE WOOD MIDDLEBROOK, February Afternoon, In a Boat on the Seine (draft) 634 DIANE WOOD MIDDLEBROOK, February Afternoon, In a Boat on the Seine (published version) 635 PATRICK ARMSTRONG, How I Wrote Kitty Hawk 635 PATRICK ARMSTRONG, Kitty Hawk 638 ROBERT FROST, In White (draft) 639 ROBERT FROST, Design (published version) 639 W. H. AUDEN, Musée des Beaux Arts 640 DANNIE ABSE, Brueghel in Naples 640 Detailed Contents xix

PETER BRUEGHEL THE ELDER, The Fall of Icarus (painting) 641 ALAN DEVENISH, Icarus Again 642

15. Robert Frost and Gwendolyn Brooks: Two Case Studies 643 Reading Robert Frost 645 Mending Wall 645 The Road Not Taken 646 After Apple-Picking 646 Birches 647 Out, Out–– 648 Fire and Ice 649 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening 649 Desert Places 650 Neither Out Far Nor In Deep 650 Provide, Provide 650 Nothing Gold Can Stay 651 The Need of Being Versed in Country Things 651 Sitting by a Bush in Broad Sunlight 652 Once by the Pacific 652 The Most of It 653 Writing about Robert Frost: Critical Viewpoints 653 Donald Greiner on Frost’s Critical Reception 653 Malcolm Cowley: New Critical Analysis 655 H. A. Maxson: Survey of Various Approaches to Frost 656 Karen Kilcup: Feminist View of Frost 660 Mordecai Marcus: Biographical versus Formal Readings of Two Poems 664 Robert Frost: On Poetic Creativity 666 Reading Gwendolyn Brooks 668 Sadie and Maude 668 the ballad of chocolate Mabbie 668 the preacher: ruminates behind the sermon 669 A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon 669 The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock, Fall, 1957 672 Langston Hughes 674 The Sundays of Satin-Legs Smith 675 gay chaps at the bar 678 “God works in a mysterious way” 678 “do not be afraid of no” 679 xx Detailed Contents

The Bean Eaters 679 We Real Cool 680 [What shall I give my children?] 680 [And shall I prime my children?] 681 [First fight. Then fiddle.] 681 Writing about Gwendolyn Brooks: Critical Viewpoints 681 Paul Engle: New Critical and Biographical Stances 681 Harvey Webster: Political Criticism 683 Kenny Jackson Williams: Historical Influences 684 Gertrude Reif Hughes: Feminist Criticism 684 Brooke Kenton Horvath: New Criticism 686 R. Baxter Miller: Reader-Response 689 Joanne Gabbin: Political Criticism 691 16. More Poems 695 Suggestions for Reading Poetry 696 DIANE ACKERMAN, Driving through Farm Country at Sunset 698 MAYA ANGELOU, My Arkansas 699 MARGARET ATWOOD, Siren Song 699 MARGARET ATWOOD, Variation on the Word Sleep 700 W. H. AUDEN, In Memory of W. B. Yeats 701 IMAMU AMIRI BARAKA (LEROI JONES), Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note 702 APHRA BEHN, Song: Love Armed 703 LOUISE BOGAN, Women 703 ANNE BRADSTREET, The Author to Her Book 704 WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, To a Waterfowl 705 ROBERT BURNS, Oh, my love is like a red, red rose 705 COUNTEE CULLEN, Incident 706 E. E. CUMMINGS, anyone lived in a pretty how town 706 KWAME DAWES, Umpire at the Portrait Gallery 707 EMILY DICKINSON, Because I could not stop for Death 708 EMILY DICKINSON, ‘Faith’ Is a Fine Invention 709 EMILY DICKINSON, I heard a Fly Buzz—When I Died 709 EMILY DICKINSON, I like to see it lap the Miles 709 FRED DINGS, The Divers 710 JOHN DONNE, The Canonization 711 RITA DOVE, Motherhood 712 JOHN DRYDEN, To the Memory of Mr. Oldham 712 RICHARD EBERHART, The Fury of Aerial Bombardment 713 ROBERT FRANCIS, Pitcher 714 Detailed Contents xxi

MICHAEL HARPER, Dear John, Dear Coltrane 714 ROBERT HERRICK, To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time 715 A. E. HOUSMAN, Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now 716 LANGSTON HUGHES, The Negro Speaks of Rivers 716 LANGSTON HUGHES, The Weary Blues 717 LANGSTON HUGHES, Theme for English B 717 LUISA IGLORIA, Dinakdakan 718 GALWAY KINNELL, The Bear 719 PHILIP LARKIN, A Study of Reading Habits 722 LI-YOUNG LEE, Persimmons 722 DENISE LEVERTOV, Pleasures 724 RICHARD LOVELACE, To Amarantha, That She Would Dishevel Her Hair 725 AMY LOWELL, Patterns 725 CLAUDE MCKAY, If We Must Die 728 CLAUDE MCKAY, America 728 W. S. MERWIN, For the Anniversary of My Death 728 W. S. MERWIN, Leviathan 729 EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY, Love Is Not All 730 HOWARD NEMEROV, The Goose Fish 730 WILFRED OWEN, Dulce et Decorum Est 731 DOROTHY PARKER, Résumé 732 SYLVIA PLATH, Metaphors 733 DUDLEY RANDALL, Ballad of Birmingham 733 JOHN CROWE RANSOM, Bells for John Whiteside’s Daughter 734 HENRY REED, Naming of Parts 734 ADRIENNE RICH, Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers 735 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Sonnet 29 736 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Sonnet 31 736 STEVIE SMITH, Not Waving but Drowning 736 WILLIAM STAFFORD, Traveling Through the Dark 737 JONATHAN SWIFT, A Description of the Morning 737 DYLAN THOMAS, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night 738 DYLAN THOMAS, Fern Hill 738 JOHN UPDIKE, Ex-Basketball Player 740 WALT WHITMAN, O Captain! My Captain! 740 RICHARD WILBUR, The Death of a Toad 741 WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, Spring and All 741 WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, The Dance 742 PIETER BREUGHEL THE ELDER, Flemish Kermess (Peasant’s Dance) (painting) 742 JAMES WRIGHT, A Blessing 743 xxii Detailed Contents

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, The Second Coming 743

Drama 745 17. Elements of Drama 747 The World’s a Stage 747 Getting the Play off the Page 749 Suggestions for Reading Plays 750 DOUGLAS ADAMS, Fit the First (from The HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) 751 Recognizing Elements: Conflict, Resolution, Act, and Play 765 Writing about Drama 769 SUSAN GLASPELL, Trifles 770 Understanding the Play 780 Journal Entry: Student Example 781 A Writing Plan: Critical Strategies 782 Reader-Response Strategies 782 Journal Entry: Student Example 784 More Questions and Answers 784 “And Then She—Laughed”: Glaspell’s Trifles and the Reader’s Response 788 Political Strategies 791 New Critical Strategies 791 Deconstructive Strategies 792 Psychological Strategies 793 Biographical, Historical, and New Historical Strategies 793 18. Sophocles and Shakespeare: Three Case Studies 795 Oedipus the King 795 Oedipus and the Rest of Us 796 Aristotle and Tragedy 797 The Greek Theatre 798 The Play Itself 801 Sophocles, Oedipus the King 802 Writing about Oedipus the King: Critical Viewpoints 837 James C. Hogan: Historical and Cultural Criticism 837 Bernard Knox: New Critical Reading 838 Sigmund Freud: Psychological Reading 839 Adrian Poole: A Comment on Freud 840 Suggestions for Writing 840 Hamlet 841 The Weight of Hamlet 841 Detailed Contents xxiii

The Author, the Theatre, the Play 844 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 845 Writing about Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: Critical Viewpoints 950 H. D. F. Kitto: Historical Criticism 950 Eleanor Prosser: Historical Criticism 952 Maynard Mack: Close Reading 954 Norman Holland: Reader Response Criticism 955 Coppelia Kahn: Cultural and Political Criticism 957 Elaine Showalter: Psychological and Feminist Criticism 957 Janet Adelman: Psychological and Feminist Criticism 959 John Updike: Creative Interpretation 961 Suggestions for Writing 964 A Midsummer Night’s Dream 964 Your Shakespeare 965 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, A Midsummer Night’s Dream 967 Writing about A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Critical Viewpoints 1027 Sidney Homann: The Director’s View 1027 C. Walter Hodges: Reader-Response Criticism 1029 David Bevington: New Criticism 1030 Norman Holland: Reader Response and Psychological Criticism 1034 Richard Wilson: Political Criticism 1037 Shirley Nelson Garner: Feminist Criticism 1038 Douglas Green: Queer Theory 1041 Philip McGuire: Deconstructive and Historical Criticism 1045 Leonard Tennenhouse: New Historical Criticism 1050 Louis Montrose: New Historical Criticism 1052 Suggestions for Writing 1053

19. More Plays 1055 MARSHA NORMAN, The Laundromat 1056 DAVID IVES, Sure Thing 1075 AUGUST WILSON, The Janitor 1083 CATHERINE CELESIA ALLEN, Anything for You 1084 MILCHA SANCHEZ-SCOTT, The Cuban Swimmer 1088

Appendix A: Research and Documentation 1101 Investigating the Work 1101 The Purposes of Research 1102 The Topic and the Task 1102 How To Do Research 1106 xxiv Detailed Contents

Background Sources 1107 Bibliographies and Indexes 1108 Securing Resources, Taking Notes, Finding a Thesis 1109 The Writing Process 1112 Principles of Documentation 1113 WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, Sailing to Byzantium 1113 A Sample Research Paper 1116 Getting Ideas 1116 Organizing 1121 Drafting 1122

Appendix B: Editing and Revising 1127 Editing 1127 Tightening 1127 Brightening 1130 Connecting 1131 Revising 1133 The Hard-to-Please Reader 1133 Proofing 1138 Format and Appearance 1139 Revising Checklist 1142

Appendix C: Brief Biographies of Selected Poets 1143

Glossary of Literary and Critical Terms 1160 Acknowledgments 1181 Index of First Lines of Poems 1199 Index of Authors and Titles 1203 Index of Literary and Critical Terms Inside Back Cover