Literature for Composition: Reading and Writing Arguments About Essays, Stories, Poems, and Plays, 11th edition

Published by Pearson (January 2, 2019) © 2017

  • Sylvan Barnet Tufts University
  • William Burto University of Massachusetts - Lowell
  • William Cain Wellesley College
  • Cheryl Nixon University of Massachusetts, boston

eTextbook

per month

  • Anytime, anywhere learning with the Pearson+ app
  • Easy-to-use search, navigation and notebook
  • Simpler studying with flashcards
$54.99

  • Hardcover, paperback or looseleaf edition
  • Affordable rental option for select titles
  • Free shipping on looseleafs and traditional textbooks

Revel

from$59.99

  • Inspire engagement through active learning
  • Provide an immersive reading experience
  • Assess student progress with performance insights

This print textbook is available for students to rent for their classes. The Pearson print rental program provides students with affordable access to learning materials, so they come to class ready to succeed.

With an emphasis on critical thinking and argument, Literature for Composition offers superior coverage of reading, writing, and arguing about literature enhanced by an array of multimedia interactives that prompt student engagement. Throughout REVEL’s flexible online environment, the authors demonstrate that the skills emphasized in their discussions of communication are relevant not only to literature courses, but to all courses in which students analyze texts or write arguments.


BRIEF CONTENTS

NOTE: Brief and Comprehensive Tables of Contents follow.

I. THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT LITERATURE

  1. How to Write an Effective Essay about Literature: A Crash Course
  2. What is Critical Thinking about Literature? A Crash Course
  3. The Writer as Reader
  4. The Reader as Writer
  5. The Pleasures of Reading, Writing and Thinking about Literature

II. WRITING ARGUMENTS ABOUT LITERATURE

  1. Close Reading: Paraphrase, Summary, and Explication
  2. Analysis: Inquiry, Interpretation and Argument
  3. Pushing Analysis Further: Re-Interpreting and Revision
  4. Comparison and Synthesis
  5. Research: Writing with Sources

III. ANALYZING LITERARY FORMS AND ELEMENTS

  1. Reading and Writing about Essays
  2. Reading and Writing about Stories
  3. Reading and Writing about Graphic Fiction
  4. Reading and Writing about Plays
  5. Reading and Writing about Poems

IV. ENJOYING LITERARY THEMES: A THEMATIC ANTHOLOGY

  1. The World Around Us
  2. Technology and Human Identity
  3. Love and Hate, Men and Women
  4. Innocence and Experience
  5. All in a Day’s Work
  6. American Dreams and Nightmares
  7. Law and Disorder
  8. Journeys

Appendix A: Writing About Literature: An Overview of Critical Strategies

Appendix B: Remarks about Manuscript Form

Literary Credits

Photo Credits

Index of Authors, Titles, and First Lines

Index of Terms

COMPREHENSIVE CONTENTS

  • Contents by Genre
  • Preface to Instructors

I: THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT LITERATURE

  1. How to Write an Effective Essay about Literature: A Crash Course
    • The Basic Strategy
    • Reading Closely: Approaching a First Draft
    • Checklist: Generating Ideas for a Draft
    • Writing and Revising: Achieving a Readable Draft
    • Checklist: Writing and Revising a Draft
    • Revising: Working with Peer Review
    • Preparing the Final Draft
  2. What is Critical Thinking about Literature?: A Crash Course
    • The Basic Strategy
    • What Is Critical Thinking?
    • How Do We Engage in Critical Thinking?
    • Close Reading
    • Checklist: Close Reading
    • Analysis: Inquiry, Interpretation, Argument
    • Checklist: Inquiry and Question-Asking
    • Checklist: Interpretation
    • Checklist: Argument
    • Comparison and Synthesis
    • Checklist: Comparison and Synthesis
    • Revision and Self-Awareness
    • Standing Back: Kinds of Writing
    • Non-Analytic vs. Analytic Writing
  3. The Writer as Reader
    • Reading and Responding
    • KATE CHOPIN • Ripe Figs
    • Reading as Re-creation
    • Reading for Understanding: Collecting Evidence and Making Reasonable Inferences
    • Reading with Pen in Hand: Close Reading and Annotation
    • Sample Student Work: Annotation
    • Reading for Response: Recording First Reactions
    • Sample Student Work: Response Writing
    • Reading for Inquiry: Ask Questions and Brainstorm Ideas
    • Sample Student Work: Inquiry Notes
    • Reading in Context: Identifying Your Audience and Purpose
    • From Reading to Writing: Developing an Analytical Essay with an Argumentative Thesis
    • Sample Student Analytical Essay: “Images of Ripening in Kate Chopin’s ‘Ripe Figs’”
    • The Analytical Essay: Argument and Structure Analyzed
    • The Writing Process: From First Responses to Final Essay
    • Other Possibilities for Writing
    • From Reading to Writing: Moving from Brainstorming to an Analytical Essay
    • BRUCE HOLLAND ROGERS • Three Soldiers
    • The Writing Process: From Response Writing to Final Essay
    • Sample Student Work: Response Writing
    • Sample Student Analytical Essay: “Thinking about Three Soldiers Thinking”
    • The Analytical Essay: The Development of Ideas Analyzed
    • From Reading to Writing: Moving from a Preliminary Outline to an Analytical Essay
    • RAY BRADBURY • August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains
    • The Writing Process: From Outlining to Final Essay
    • Sample Student Work: Outlining
    • Sample Student Analytical Essay: “The Lesson of ‘August 2026’”
    • Your Turn: Additional Stories for Analysis
    • MICHELE SERROS • Senior Picture Day
    • HARUKI MURAKAMI • On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning
    • JOHN UPDIKE • A & P
  4. The Reader as Writer
    • Developing Ideas through Close Reading and Inquiry
    • Getting Ideas
    • Annotating a Text
    • KATE CHOPIN • The Story of an Hour
    • Brainstorming Ideas
    • Focused Freewriting
    • Sample Student Work: Freewriting
    • Listing
    • Sample Student Work: Listing
    • Asking Questions
    • Sample Student Work: Inquiry Notes
    • Keeping a Journal
    • Sample Student Work: Journal-writing
    • Developing a Thesis through Critical Thinking
    • Arguing with Yourself
    • Arguing a Thesis
    • Checklist: Thesis Sentence
    • From Reading to Writing to Revising: Drafting an Argument in an Analytical Essay
    • Sample Preliminary Draft of Student’s Analytical Essay: “Ironies in an Hour”
    • Revising an Argument
    • Outlining an Argument
    • Soliciting Peer Review, Thinking about Counterarguments
    • From Reading to Writing to Revising: Finalizing an Analytical Essay
    • Sample Final Draft of a Student’s Analytical Essay: “Ironies of Life in Kate Chopin’s ‘The Story of an Hour’”
    • The Analytical Essay: The Final Draft Analyzed
    • From Reading to Writing to Revising: Finalizing an Analytical Essay
    • KATE CHOPIN • Désirée’s Baby
    • Sample Student Analytical Essay: “Race and Identity in ‘Désirée’s Baby’”
    • From Reading to Writing to Revising: Drafting a Comparison Essay
    • KATE CHOPIN • The Storm
    • Sample Student Work: Comparison Notes
    • Sample Student Comparison Essay: “Two New Women”
    • The Comparison Essay: Organization Analyzed
    • Your Turn: Additional Stories for Analysis
    • DAGOBERTO GILB • Love in L.A.
    • ELIZABETH TALLENT • No One’s a Mystery
    • JUNOT DIAZ • How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie
    • T. CORAGHESSAN BOYLE • Greasy Lake
    • MARY ANNE HOOD • How Far She Went
  5. The Pleasures of Reading, Writing and Thinking about Literature
    • The Pleasures of Literature
    • ALLEN WOODMAN • Wallet
    • The Pleasures of Analyzing the Texts that Surround Us
    • The Pleasures of Authoring Texts
    • The Pleasures of Interacting with Texts
    • Interacting with Fiction: Literature as Connection
    • JAMAICA KINCAID • Girl
    • Sample Student Personal Response Essay: “The Narrator in Jamaica Kincaid’s ‘Girl’: Questioning the Power of Voice”
    • Interacting with Graphic Fiction: Literature as (Making and Breaking) Rules
    • LYNDA BARRY • Before You Write
    • Interacting with Poetry: Literature as Language
    • JULIA BIRD • 14: a txt msg pom.
    • Interacting with Drama: Literature as Performance
    • OSCAR WILDE• excerpt from The Importance of Being Ernest
    • Interacting with Essays: Literature as Discovery
    • ANNA LISA RAYA • It’s Hard Enough Being Me
    • Your Turn: Additional Stories, Poems, Plays and Essays for Pleasurable Analysis
    • Poems
    • ALBERTO RIOS • Nani
    • JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA • Green Chili
    • HELEN CHASIN • The Word Plum
    • WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS • This Is Just to Say
    • GARY SOTO • Oranges
    • SARAH N. CLEGHORN • The Golf Links
    • STEVIE SMITH • Not Waving but Drowning
    • Stories
    • MARGARET ATWOOD • Happy Endings
    • AMBROSE BIERCE • An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
    • Play
    • MICHAEL GOLAMCO • The Heartbreaker
    • Essay
    • GEORGE SAUNDERS Commencement Speech on Kindness

II: WRITING ARGUMENTS ABOUT LITERATURE

  1. Close Reading: Paraphrase, Summary, and Explication
    • What Is Literature?
    • Literature and Form
    • Form and Meaning
    • ROBERT FROST • The Span of Life
    • Close Reading: Reading in Slow Motion
    • Exploring a Poem and Its Meaning
    • LANGSTON HUGHES • Harlem
    • Paraphrase
    • Sample Student Work: Paraphrase
    • Summary
    • Sample Student Work: Summary
    • Explication
    • Working Toward an Explication
    • Sample Student Work: Annotation
    • Sample Student Work: Journal Entries
    • Sample Student Work: Listing
    • Sample Student Explication Essay: “Langston Hughes’s ‘Harlem’”
    • Explication as Argument
    • CATHY SONG • Stamp Collecting
    • Sample Student Argumentative Explication Essay: “Giving Stamps Personality in ‘Stamp Collecting’”
    • Checklist: Drafting an Explication
    • Your Turn: Additional Poems for Explication
    • WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE • Sonnet 73
    • JOHN DONNE • Holy Sonnet XIV
    • EMILY BRONTË • Spellbound
    • LI-YOUNG LEE • I Ask My Mother to Sing
    • RANDALL JARRELL • The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
  2. Analysis: Inquiry, Interpretation and Argument
    • Analysis
    • Understanding Analysis as a Process of Inquiry, Interpretation, Argument
    • Analyzing a Story from the Hebrew Bible: The Judgment of Solomon
    • The Judgment of Solomon
    • Developing an Analysis of the Story
    • Opening Up Additional Ways to Analyze the Story
    • Analyzing a Story from the New Testament: The Parable of the Prodigal Son
    • The Parable of the Prodigal Son
    • Asking Questions that Trigger an Analysis of the Story
    • From Inquiry to Interpretation to Argument: Developing an Analytical Paper
    • ERNEST HEMINGWAY • Cat in the Rain
    • Close Reading
    • Sample Student Work: Annotations
    • Inquiry Questions
    • Sample Student Work: Inquiry Notes
    • Interpretation Brainstorming
    • Sample Student Work: Journal Writing
    • The Argument-Centered Paper
    • Sample Student Argument Paper: “Hemingway’s American Wife”
    • From Inquiry to an Analytical Paper: A Second Example
    • Sample Student Work: Inquiry Notes
    • Sample Student Work: Journal Writing
    • JAMES JOYCE • Araby
    • Sample Student Analytical Essay: “‘Araby’s’ Everyday and Imagined Setting”
    • From Inquiry to Interpretation to Argument: Maintaining an Interpretation in an Analytical Paper
    • APHRA BEHN • Song: Love Armed
    • Maintaining Interpretive Interest
    • Sample Student Work: Inquiry Notes
    • Sample Student Work: Journal Writing
    • Sample Student Essay: “The Double Nature of Love”
    • Checklist: Editing a Draft
    • Your Turn: Additional Short Stories and Poems for Analysis
    • EDGAR ALLAN POE • The Cask of Amontillado
    • LESLIE MARMON SILKO • The Man to Send Rain Clouds
    • BILLY COLLINS • Introduction to Poetry
    • ROBERT FROST • The Road Not Taken
    • JOHN KEATS • Ode on a Grecian Urn
    • MARTIN ESPADA • Bully
    • Pushing Analysis Further: Re-Interpreting and Revision
    • Interpretation and Meaning
    • Is the Author’s Intention a Guide to Meaning?
    • What Characterizes a Sound Interpretation?
    • Interpreting Pat Mora’s “Immigrants”
    • PAT MORA • Immigrants
    • Checklist: Writing an Interpretation
    • Strategy #1: Pushing Analysis by Rethinking First Responses
    • JEFFREY WHITMORE • Bedtime Story
    • Sample Student Work: Response Writing Revisited
    • DOUGLAS L. HASKINS • Hide and Seek
    • Sample Student Work: Response Writing Revisited
    • MARK PLANTS • Equal Rites
    • Sample Student Work: Response Writing Revisited
    • Strategy #2: Pushing Analysis by Exploring Literary Form
    • LANGSTON HUGHES • Mother to Son
    • Sample Student Work: Annotation Exploring Form
    • Sample Student Work: Inquiry Notes Exploring Form
    • Sample Student Analytical Essay: “Accepting the Challenge of a Difficult Climb in Langston Hughes’ ‘Mother to Son’”
    • Strategy #3: Pushing Analysis by Emphasizing Concepts and Insights
    • ROBERT FROST • Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
    • Sample Student Analytical Essay: “Stopping by Woods–and Going On”
    • Analyzing the Analytical Essay’s Development of a Conceptual Interpretation
    • Sample Student Analytical Essay: “‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ as a Short Story”
    • Strategy #4: Pushing Analysis Through Revision
    • Revising for Ideas vs. Mechanics
    • Revising Using Instructor Feedback, Peer Feedback, and Self-Critique
    • Examining a Preliminary Draft with Revision in Mind
    • HA JIN • Saboteur
    • Sample Student Preliminary Draft of an Analytical Essay: “Individual and Social Morals in Ha
    • Jin’s ‘Saboteur’”
    • Developing a Revision Strategy: Thesis, Ideas, Evidence, Organization, Correctness
    • Sample Student Final Draft of an Analytical Essay: “Individual and Social Morals in Ha
    • Jin’s ‘Saboteur’”
    • Your Turn: Additional Poems and Stories for Interpretation
    • T. S. ELIOT • The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
    • JOHN KEATS • Ode on a Grecian Urn
    • THOMAS HARDY • The Man He Killed
    • ANNE BRADSTREET • Before the Birth of One of Her Children
    • CHRISTINA ROSSETTI • After Death
    • FRED CHAPELLE • Narcissus and Echo
    • JOYCE CAROL OATES • Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
    • RAYMOND CARVER • Cathedral
    • Comparison and Synthesis
    • Comparison and Critical Thinking
    • Organizing a Comparison Paper
    • Comparison and Close Reading
    • Comparison and Asking Questions
    • Comparison and Analyzing Evidence
    • Sample Student Work: Comparison Arguments
    • Comparison and Arguing with Yourself
    • E. E. CUMMINGS • Buffalo Bill ’s
    • Checklist: Developing a Comparison
    • Synthesis Through Close Reading: Analyzing a Revised Short Story
    • RAYMOND CARVER • Mine
    • RAYMOND CARVER • Little Things
    • Sample Student Writing: Innovative Listing
    • Synthesis Through Building a Concept Bridge: Connecting Two Poems
    • THYLIAS MOSS • Tornadoes
    • KWAME DAWES • Tornado Child
    • Sample Student Writing: Innovative Response Writing
    • Synthesis Using Theme
    • SANDRA CISNEROS • Barbie-Q
    • MARYANNE O’HARA •Diverging Paths and All That
    • JAYNE ANNE PHILLIPS • Sweethearts
    • Sample Student Writing: Innovative Mapping
    • Synthesis Using Form
    • WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE • Sonnet 18:Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?
    • HOWARD MOSS • Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day
    • Sample Student Comparison Essay: “A Comic Re-Writing of a Shakespeare Sonnet”
    • Checklist: Revising a Comparison
    • Your Turn: Additional Poems and Stories for Comparison and Synthesis
    • Poetry
    • “Carpe diem” poems
    • ROBERT HERRICK • To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
    • CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE • The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
    • SIR WALTER RALEIGH • The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd
    • ANDREW MARVELL • To His Coy Mistress
    • JOHN DONNE • The Bait
    • “blackberry” poems
    • GALWAY KINELL •Blackberry Eating
    • SYLVIA PLATH • Blackberrying
    • SEAMUS HEANEY •Blackeberry-Picking
    • YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA •Blackberries
    • “America” poems
    • WALT WHITMAN • I Hear America Singing
    • LANGSTON HUGHES • I, Too [Sing America]
    • Stories
    • Stories about reading and writing
    • JULIO CORTAZAR • Continuity of Parks
    • A.M. HOMES • Things You Should Know
    • Stories about grandmothers
    • LAN SAMANTHA CHANG • Water Names
    • KATHERINE ANNE PORTER • The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
    • Research: Writing with Sources
    • Creating a Research Plan
    • Enter Research with a Plan of Action
    • What Does Your Own Institution Offer?
    • Plan the Type of Research You Want to Do
    • Selecting a Research Topic and Generating Research Questions
    • Use Close Reading as Your Starting Point
    • Select Your Topic
    • Skim Resources Through Preliminary Research
    • Narrow Your Topic and Form a Working Thesis
    • Sample Student Work: Digital Research Folder Assignment and Research Plan Notes
    • Sample Student Work: Digital Research Folder “Working Thesis” Notes
    • Generate Key Concepts as Keywords
    • Create Inquiry Questions
    • Sample Student Work: Digital Research Folder “Research Keywords” and “Inquiry Questions” Notes
    • Locating Materials Through Productive Searches
    • Generate Meaningful Keywords
    • Checklist: Creating Meaningful Keywords for a Successful Search
    • Using Academic Databases to Locate Materials
    • Search Full-Text Academic Databases
    • Search the MLA Database
    • Perform Advanced Keyword Searches
    • Sample Student Work: Searching the Academic Database
    • Using the Library Catalog to Locate Materials
    • Locate Books and Additional Resources
    • Sample Student Work: Searching the Library Catalog
    • Using the Internet to Perform Meaningful Research
    • Sample Student Work: Searching the Internet
    • Evaluating Sources for Academic Quality
    • Checklist: Evaluating Web Sites for Quality
    • Sample Student Work: Evaluating Sources for Academic Quality
    • Evaluate Sources for Topic “Fit”

Sylvan Barnet, is a former Fletcher Professor of English Emeritus and director of writing at Tufts University. Barnet is the author of numerous books and articles on Shakespeare. He was the general editor of the Signet Classics Shakespeare, the author of A Short Guide for Writing about Art, and has written many textbooks about literature and drama. He is the co-author with William Burto of occasional essays on aspects of Japanese art. He has also written books about the art of writing.

William Burto is a former Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, where he served as chair of the Department of English. Burto is the co-author of several highly successful college textbooks on literature, drama, and composition. He was also the editor of the Signet Classic Edition of Shakespeare's sonnets and of Shakespeare's narrative poems. 

William E. Cain is Mary Jewett Gaiser Professor of English at Wellesley College. Among his many publications is a monograph on American literary and cultural criticism, 1900-1945, in The Cambridge History of American Literature, vol. 5 (2003). He is a co-editor of the Norton Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism (2nd ed., 2010), and, with Sylvan Barnet, he co-authored a wide variety of books on literature and composition. His recent publications include essays on Ralph Ellison, Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, Shakespeare, Edith Wharton, and Willa Cather.

Cheryl Nixon is an Associate Professor of English and Chair of the English Department at UMass Boston. In addition to her undergraduate courses, she teaches graduate Teaching of Literature courses and works with a staff of teaching interns to design and deliver general-education literature courses. Her courses feature project-based assignments and she often uses out-of-classroom learning to spark curiosity about literature. For example, she has worked with students to create rare books exhibitions for the Boston Public Library, including “Crooks, Rogues, and Maids Less than Virtuous: Books in the Streets of 18th-Century London.” Her research focuses on literary and legal representations of the family, and her recent works include The Orphan in Eighteenth-Century Law and Literature: Estate, Blood, and Body and Novel Definitions: An Anthology of Commentary on the Novel, 1688-1815.

Need help? Get in touch

Revel

Inspire engagement through active learning. Revel® integrates interactives and assessments into a compelling digital narrative. By applying concepts as they read, students immerse themselves in learning, deepening their understanding. This mobile, user-friendly platform empowers students to learn and study on the go, anytime, anywhere, on any device.

Pearson+

All in one place. Pearson+ offers instant access to eTextbooks, videos and study tools in one intuitive interface. Students choose how they learn best with enhanced search, audio and flashcards. The Pearson+ app lets them read where life takes them, no wi-fi needed. Students can access Pearson+ through a subscription or their MyLab or Mastering course.

Video
Play
Privacy and cookies
By watching, you agree Pearson can share your viewership data for marketing and analytics for one year, revocable by deleting your cookies.

Help students learn, wherever life takes them

Your students deserve more than just a digital textbook. Revel® combines content, media, and assessment to create an engaging, immersive experience that lets them learn on the go — anytime, anywhere, on any device.