Log In
Or create an account ->
Imperial Library
Home
About
News
Upload
Forum
Help
Login/SignUp
Index
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Preface for Instructors
Brief Contents
Contents
Selections by Form and Theme
PART ONE: 40 STORIES
Questions for Active Reading: Fiction
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
Young Goodman Brown
EDGAR ALLAN POE
The Cask of Amontillado
SUI SIN FAR (EDITH MAUD EATON)
In the Land of the Free
STEPHEN CRANE
The Open Boat
KATE CHOPIN
The Story of an Hour
ANTON CHEKHOV
The Lady with the Dog
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN
The Yellow Wallpaper
WILLA CATHER
A Wagner Matinée
JAMES JOYCE
Araby
FRANZ KAFKA
The Metamorphosis
SHERWOOD ANDERSON
Death in the Woods
ZORA NEALE HURSTON
Sweat
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
Winter Dreams
WILLIAM FAULKNER
A Rose for Emily
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
Hills Like White Elephants
RICHARD WRIGHT
The Man Who Was Almost a Man
EUDORA WELTY
Why I Live at the P.O.
JOHN CHEEVER
Reunion
RALPH ELLISON
Battle Royal
SHIRLEY JACKSON
The Lottery
JAMES BALDWIN
Sonny’s Blues
FLANNERY O’CONNOR
A Good Man Is Hard to Find
GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
JOHN UPDIKE
A & P
RAYMOND CARVER
Cathedral
JOYCE CAROL OATES
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
MARGARET ATWOOD
Happy Endings
TONI CADE BAMBARA
The Lesson
ALICE WALKER
Everyday Use
TOBIAS WOLFF
Bullet in the Brain
TIM O’BRIEN
The Things They Carried
T. CORAGHESSAN BOYLE
After the Plague
JAMAICA KINCAID
Girl
DAGOBERTO GILB
Shout
LOUISE ERDRICH
The Red Convertible
LEILA ABOULELA
The Museum
SHERMAN ALEXIE
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
JHUMPA LAHIRI
A Temporary Matter
JUNOT DÍAZ
How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie
YIYUN LI
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
PART TWO: 200 POEMS
Questions for Active Reading: Poetry
ANONYMOUS
Barbara Allen
SIR THOMAS WYATT
Whoso list to hunt
HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY
The Soote Season
QUEEN ELIZABETH I
On Monsieur’s Departure
EDMUND SPENSER
Sonnet 64 (“Comming to kisse her lyps (such grace I found)”)
PHILIP SIDNEY
Sonnet 1 (“Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show”)
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
WALTER RALEGH
The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Sonnet 18 (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”)
Sonnet 73 (“That time of year thou mayst in me behold”)
Sonnet 116 (“Let me not to the marriage of true minds”)
AEMILIA LANYER
Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women
JOHN DONNE
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
Death, be not proud
BEN JONSON
On My First Son
LADY MARY WROTH
Am I Thus Conquer’d?
ROBERT HERRICK
To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
GEORGE HERBERT
Easter-wings
JOHN MILTON
When I consider how my light is spent
ANNE BRADSTREET
Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House
ANDREW MARVELL
To His Coy Mistress
KATHERINE PHILIPS
Friendship’s Mystery, To My Dearest Lucasia
THOMAS GRAY
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
PHILLIS WHEATLEY
On Being Brought from Africa to America
WILLIAM BLAKE
The Lamb
The Tyger
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison
GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON
Prometheus
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
Ode to the West Wind
JOHN KEATS
When I have fears that I may cease to be
Ode to a Nightingale
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
EDGAR ALLAN POE
Annabel Lee
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
Ulysses
ROBERT BROWNING
My Last Duchess
WALT WHITMAN
From Song of Myself
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d
MATTHEW ARNOLD
Dover Beach
EMILY DICKINSON
Wild Nights — Wild Nights!
Much Madness is divinest Sense
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
Because I could not stop for Death
There’s a certain Slant of light
LEWIS CARROLL
Jabberwocky
THOMAS HARDY
The Darkling Thrush
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS
God’s Grandeur
A. E. HOUSMAN
To an Athlete Dying Young
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
The Second Coming
Leda and the Swan
EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON
Richard Cory
PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR
We Wear the Mask
ROBERT FROST
After Apple-Picking
The Road Not Taken
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Acquainted with the Night
WALLACE STEVENS
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
The Emperor of Ice-Cream
GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON
Common Dust
MINA LOY
Moreover, the Moon —
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS
The Red Wheelbarrow
This Is Just to Say
EZRA POUND
The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter
In a Station of the Metro
H. D. (HILDA DOOLITTLE)
Helen
MARIANNE MOORE
Poetry
T. S. ELIOT
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
CLAUDE MCKAY
America
EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY
What lips my lips have kissed
WILFRED OWEN
Dulce et Decorum Est
DOROTHY PARKER
Résumé
E. E. CUMMINGS
in Just-
“next to of course god america i
LANGSTON HUGHES
Theme for English B
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
The Weary Blues
Harlem
STEVIE SMITH
Not Waving but Drowning
COUNTEE CULLEN
Incident
W. H. AUDEN
[Funeral Blues]
Musée des Beaux Arts
THEODORE ROETHKE
My Papa’s Waltz
GEORGE OPPEN
Psalm
ELIZABETH BISHOP
The Fish
Elizabeth Bishop
One Art
ROBERT HAYDEN
Those Winter Sundays
MURIEL RUKEYSER
Waiting for Icarus
DUDLEY RANDALL
Ballad of Birmingham
WILLIAM STAFFORD
Traveling through the Dark
DYLAN THOMAS
Do not go gentle into that good night
RANDALL JARRELL
The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
GWENDOLYN BROOKS
We Real Cool
the mother
ROBERT LOWELL
Skunk Hour
PHILIP LARKIN
High Windows
DENISE LEVERTOV
The Ache of Marriage
MAXINE KUMIN
Morning Swim
KENNETH KOCH
To Stammering
GERALD STERN
I Remember Galileo
EMMETT WILLIAMS
like attracts like
FRANK O’HARA
The Day Lady Died
ALLEN GINSBERG
A Supermarket in California
W. S. MERWIN
One of the Butterflies
GALWAY KINNELL
Prayer
When one has lived a long time alone
JAMES WRIGHT
Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota
JOHN ASHBERY
They Knew What They Wanted
PHILIP LEVINE
What Work Is
ANNE SEXTON
Cinderella
ADRIENNE RICH
Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers
Diving into the Wreck
LINDA PASTAN
love poem
ETHERIDGE KNIGHT
Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane
SYLVIA PLATH
Morning Song
Sylvia Plath
Daddy
AUDRE LORDE
Coal
MARY OLIVER
First Snow
LUCILLE CLIFTON
at the cemetery, walnut grove plantation, south carolina, 1989
homage to my hips
C. K. WILLIAMS
On the Métro
CHARLES SIMIC
Eyes Fastened with Pins
MICHAEL S. HARPER
Nightmare Begins Responsibility
SEAMUS HEANEY
Mid-Term Break
Digging
TED KOOSER
Abandoned Farmhouse
QUINCY TROUPE
A Poem for “Magic”
AL YOUNG
A Dance for Ma Rainey
JAMES WELCH
Christmas Comes to Moccasin Flat
MARTHA COLLINS
14 from White Papers
ROBERT PINSKY
Shirt
BILLY COLLINS
Forgetfulness
TOI DERRICOTTE
A Note on My Son’s Face
RICHARD GARCIA
Why I Left the Church
SHARON OLDS
I Go Back to May 1937
MARILYN HACKER
Villanelle
JAMES TATE
The Lost Pilot
LOUISE GLÜCK
Mock Orange
EAVAN BOLAND
The Pomegranate
BERNADETTE MAYER
Sonnet (You jerk you didn’t call me up)
KAY RYAN
Drops in the Bucket
WENDY COPE
Reading Scheme
LARRY LEVIS
My Story in a Late Style of Fire
MARILYN NELSON
Emmett Till’s name still catches in my throat,
LINDA HOGAN
Crow Law
YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA
Facing It
AI
Hoover, Edgar J.
JANE KENYON
Happiness
HEATHER MCHUGH
What He Thought
LESLIE MARMON SILKO
Prayer to the Pacific
SEKOU SUNDIATA
Blink Your Eyes
AGHA SHAHID ALI
Even the Rain
VICTOR HERNÁNDEZ CRUZ
Problems with Hurricanes
CAROLYN FORCHÉ
The Colonel
RAY A. YOUNG BEAR
From the Spotted Night
JORIE GRAHAM
Prayer
MARIE HOWE
Death, the last visit
JOY HARJO
She Had Some Horses
CHERRIE MORAGA
Loving in the War Years
RAY GONZÁLEZ
Praise the Tortilla, Praise Menudo, Praise Chorizo
MARY RUEFLE
Rain Effect
ALBERTO RÍOS
Nani
GARY SOTO
Moving Away
JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA
Family Ties
NAOMI SHIHAB NYE
Gate A-4
RITA DOVE
Fifth Grade Autobiography
TONY HOAGLAND
History of Desire
HARRYETTE MULLEN
Elliptical
JANE HIRSHFIELD
My Species
MARK DOTY
A Display of Mackerel
KIM ADDONIZIO
First Kiss
LORNA DEE CERVANTES
Freeway 280
THYLIAS MOSS
The Lynching
CORNELIUS EADY
I’m a Fool to Love You
PATRICIA SMITH
Skinhead
MARILYN CHIN
How I Got That Name
KIMIKO HAHN
Mother’s Mother
CATHY SONG
Heaven
LI-YOUNG LEE
Eating Alone
MARTÍN ESPADA
Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100
DENISE DUHAMEL
Kinky
ELIZABETH ALEXANDER
The Venus Hottentot
CLAUDIA RANKINE
You are in the dark, in the car …
TAYLOR MALI
What Teachers Make
SHERMAN ALEXIE
Postcards to Columbus
NATASHA TRETHEWEY
History Lesson
HONORÉE FANONNE JEFFERS
Unidentified Female Student, Former Slave(Talladega College, circa 1885)
ALLISON JOSEPH
On Being Told I Don’t Speak Like a Black Person
BRIAN TURNER
What Every Soldier Should Know
TERRANCE HAYES
Talk
JEN BERVIN
64 [erasure of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 64]
EDUARDO CORRAL
In Colorado My Father Scoured and Stacked Dishes
ROSS GAY
A Small Needful Fact
AIMEE NEZHUKUMATATHIL
Dear Amy Nehzooukammyatootill,
JERICHO BROWN
Host
NATALIE DIAZ
When My Brother Was an Aztec
AMIT MAJMUDAR
Arms and the Man
TARFIA FAIZULLAH
En Route to Bangladesh, Another Crisis of Faith
PATRICIA LOCKWOOD
Rape Joke
SOLMAZ SHARIF
from Reaching Guantánamo
PART THREE: 9 PLAYS
Questions for Active Reading: Drama
SOPHOCLES
Oedipus the King (Translated by David Grene)
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Othello the Moor of Venice
HENRIK IBSEN
A Doll House (Translated by B. Farquharson Sharp)
OSCAR WILDE
The Importance of Being Earnest
SUSAN GLASPELL
Trifles
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
AUGUST WILSON
Fences
LYNN NOTTAGE
Ruined
AYAD AKHTAR
Disgraced
PART FOUR: READING AND WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE
1. Introduction to Reading and Writing about Literature
Why Read Literature?
Why Write about Literature?
What to Expect in a Literature Class
Literature and Enjoyment
2. The Role of Good Reading
The Value of Rereading
Critical Reading
The Myth of “Hidden Meaning”
Active Reading
EMILY DICKINSON, “Because I could not stop for Death” (Annotated Poem)
Asking Critical Questions of Literature
BEN JONSON, “On My First Son” (Annotated Poem)
Checklist for Good Reading
3. The Writing Process
Prewriting
The Thesis
Organizing Your Paper
Drafting the Paper
Revising and Editing
Global Revision Checklist
Local Revision Checklist
Final Editing Checklist
Peer Editing and Workshops
Tips for Writing about Literature
Using Quotations Effectively
Quoting from Stories
Quoting from Poems
Quoting from Plays
Manuscript Form
4. Common Writing Assignments
Summary
Response
STUDENT ESSAY: Tom Lyons, “A Boy’s View of ‘Girl’”
Explication
ROBERT HERRICK, “Upon Julia’s Clothes”
STUDENT ESSAY: Jessica Barnes, “Poetry in Motion: Herrick’s ‘Upon Julia’s Clothes’”
Analysis
STUDENT ESSAY: Adam Walker, “Possessed by the Need for Possession: Browning’s ‘My Last Duchess’”
Comparison and Contrast
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, “After Death”
STUDENT ESSAY: Todd Bowen, “Speakers for the Dead: Narrators in ‘My Last Duchess’ and ‘After Death’”
Essay Exams
STUDENT ESSAY EXAM: Midterm Essay
5. Writing about Stories
Elements of Fiction
Stories for Analysis
KATE CHOPIN, “The Story of an Hour” (Annotated Story)
Questions on the Stories
STUDENT ESSAY: An Essay that Compares and Contrasts: Melanie Smith, “Good Husbands in Bad Marriages”
6. Writing about Poems
Elements of Poetry
Two Poems for Analysis
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, “Sonnet 116” (Annotated Poem)
Questions on the Poem
T. S. ELIOT, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (Annotated Poem)
Questions on the Poem
STUDENT ESSAY: An Explication: Patrick McCorkle, “Shakespeare Defines Love”
7. Writing about Plays
Elements of Drama
How to Read a Play
Director’s Questions for Play Analysis
STUDENT ESSAY: An Analysis: Sarah Johnson, “Moral Ambiguity and Character Development in Trifles”
8. Writing a Literary Research Paper
Finding Sources
Evaluating Sources
Working with Sources
Writing the Paper
Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism
What to Document and What Not to Document
Documenting Sources: MLA Format
In-Text Citations
Preparing Your Works Cited List
STUDENT ESSAY: Research Paper: Jarrad S. Nunes, “Emily Dickinson’s ‘Because I could not stop for Death’: Challenging Readers’ Expectations”
9. Literary Criticism and Literary Theory
Formalism and New Criticism
Feminist and Gender Criticism
Queer Theory
Marxist Criticism
Cultural Studies
Postcolonial Criticism
Historical Criticism and New Historicism
Psychological Theories
Reader-Response Theories
Structuralism
Poststructuralism and Deconstruction
Biographical Notes on the Authors
Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms
Index of Authors, Titles, and First Lines
← Prev
Back
Next →
← Prev
Back
Next →