PREFACE
LETTER TO STUDENTS
PART 1
Jumping In
2— THE WRITER AS READER: READING AND RESPONDING
Kate Chopin, “Ripe Figs”
The Act of Reading
Reading with a Pen in Hand
Recording Your First Responses
Audience and Purpose
A Writing Assignment on “Ripe Figs”
The Assignment
A Sample Essay: “Images of Ripening in Kate Chopin’s ‘Ripe Figs’ ”
The Student’s Analysis Analyzed
Critical Thinking and the Study of Literature
3— THE READER AS WRITER: DRAFTING AND WRITING
Pre-writing: Getting Ideas
Annotating a Text
More about Getting Ideas: A Second Story by Kate Chopin, “The Story of an Hour”
Kate Chopin: “The Story of an Hour”
Brainstorming for Ideas for Writing
Focused Free Writing
Listing
Asking Questions
Keeping a Journal
Critical Thinking: Arguing with Yourself
Arriving at a Thesis and Arguing It
Writing a Draft
A Sample Draft: “Ironies in an Hour”
Revising a Draft
A Checklist for Revising for Clarity
Two Ways of Outlining a Draft
A Checklist for Reviewing a Revised Draft
Peer Review
The Final Version
Sample Essay: “Ironies of Life in Kate Chopin’s ‘The Story of an Hour’ ”
The Analysis Analyzed
Quick Review: From First Response to Final Version: Writing an Essay about a Literary Work
4— TWO FORMS OF CRITICISM: EXPLICATION AND ANALYSIS
Explication
A Sample Explication: Langston Hughes’s “Harlem”
Working toward an Explication of “Harlem”
Some Journal Entries
The Final Draft: “Langston Hughes’s ‘Harlem’ ”
The Analysis Analyzed
A Checklist: Drafting an Explication
Analysis: The Judgment of Solomon
Thinking about Form
Thinking about Character
Thoughts about Other Possibilities
For Further reading and Analysis: The Parable of the Prodigal Son NEW
Comparison: An Analytic Tool
A Checklist: Revising a Comparison
For Further Reading and Comparison: Gwendolyn Brooks’s “We Real Cool” NEW
Finding a Topic
Considering the Evidence
Organizing the Material
Communicating Judgments
Review: How to Write an Effective Essay
1. Pre-writing
2. Drafting
3. Revising
4. Editing
An Editing Checklist: Questions to Ask Yourself When Editing
For Further Reading, Explication, and Comparison: William Blake’s “The Tyger” NEW
5– OTHER KINDS OF WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE
A Summary
A Paraphrase
A Review
A Review of a Dramatic Production
A Sample Review: “An Effective Macbeth”
PART 2
Standing Back: Thinking Critically about Literature
