Look Inside Look Inside Cover: Reading and Writing about Literature, 5th Edition by Janet Gardner; Joanne Diaz

Reading and Writing about Literature

A Portable GuideFifth Edition ©2021 Janet Gardner; Joanne Diaz

This brief guide introduces strategies for reading literature, explains the writing process and common writing assignments for literature courses, provides instruction in writing about fiction, poetry, and drama, and includes coverage of writing a research paper as well as sections on literary criti...
Read more

Institutional Prices

ISBN:9781319215057

Look Inside Look Inside Cover: Reading and Writing about Literature, 5th Edition by Janet Gardner; Joanne Diaz

A brief and very affordable guide to reading and writing about literature

This brief guide introduces strategies for reading literature, explains the writing process and common writing assignments for literature courses, provides instruction in writing about fiction, poetry, and drama, and includes coverage of writing a research paper as well as sections on literary criticism and theory. The fifth edition features expanded coverage of essential topics such as thesis and developing an argument, as well as two new student essays on new literary selections. Paired with Achieve, an engaging and powerful digital platform (see Related Titles for more details).

Features

Brief and affordable. Comprehensive coverage at a fraction of the cost of comparable guides.


Introduces strategies for reading literature. Because good writing about literature depends on reading it well, Chapter 2 discusses and demonstrates active critical reading.


Explains the writing process and common writing assignments, including writing about the specific literary genres. Chapter 3 takes students through the stages of writing about literature, from invention to final editing, with examples of how to quote literature effectively. Chapter 4 discusses a range of typical writing assignments, including response, explication, analysis, comparison, and essay exams.  Students learn to write about the three major literary genres (stories, poems, plays) in Chapters 5, 6 and 7. Sample student papers illustrate the instruction and model for students how to proceed with their own assignments.


Covers the literary research paper and a variety of critical approaches to literature. These challenging assignments are covered in Chapter 8 (which presents detailed coverage of finding, evaluating, and documenting sources) and Chapter 9 (which includes concise descriptions of critical approaches students may use in their analytical writing, and suggests possible applications of each approach using familiar works of literature).

New to This Edition

Available with Achieve with Gardner/Diaz, Literature.  Achieve for Literature puts student reading, writing, and revision at the core of your course, with interactive close reading modules, a full ebook of reading and writing coverage plus an anthology of literary selections, reading comprehension quizzes, videos of professional writers and students discussing literary works, and a dedicated composition space that guides students through draft, review, source check, reflection, and revision. For details, visit macmillanlearning.com/college/us/englishdigital.

Covers reading and writing about literature with more visual references.   More targeted instruction throughout includes new visual references, including charts and examples in the sections on thesis, developing an argument, paraphrase and summary, explication and analysis, and understanding and avoiding plagiarism.

Includes two new student essays on two new literary selections.  The new essays include a response paper on Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat” as well as a fully documented, source-based research paper on William Butler Yeats’s poem “The Second Coming.” 

Provides updated coverage of literary criticism and theory. The section on literary theory now includes a substantial  new entry on ecocriticism. 

“Reading and Writing About Literature gives a good introduction to the process of analytical reading and writing as well as practical information about polishing and formatting an essay. It usefully shows students how to ask good analytical questions, how to develop an argument, and how to go about revising their work from the global level down to the proofreading level.”
— Paul Huebener, Athabasca University

“Reading and Writing about Literature is a highly accessible primer on how to write critically about literature.”
— Heath Diehl, Bowling Green State University

Digital Options

Table of Contents

[* Indicates sections or material new to this edition]

Preface for Instructors
Brief Contents
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
     Annotating

*WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, The Second Coming (Annotated Poem)
     Note Taking
     Journal Keeping
     Using Reference Materials
Questions for Active Reading: Fiction
Questions for Active Reading: Poetry
Questions for Active Reading: Drama
Asking Critical Questions of Literature
BEN JONSON, On My First Son (Annotated Poem)
Checklist for Good Reading

3. THE WRITING PROCESS
Prewriting
     Choosing a Topic
     *Developing an Argument
*The Thesis
       Gathering Support for Your 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
Formatting Your Paper
4. COMMON WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
Summary
Response
     *ZORA NEALE HURSTON, Sweat
     *STUDENT ESSAY: Taylor Plantan, “A Response to ‘Sweat’”
*Explication
     ROBERT HERRICK, Upon Julia's Clothes
     STUDENT ESSAY: Jessica Barnes, "Poetry in Motion: Herricks Upon Julias Clothes" 
*Analysis
     ROBERT BROWNING, My Last Duchess
     STUDENT ESSAY: Adam Walker, “Possessed by the Need for
Possession: Brownings 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
      WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Sonnet 73”
      ROBERT HERRICK, To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time
      STUDENT ESSAY EXAM: Midterm Essay

5. WRITING ABOUT STORIES
Elements of Fiction
      Plot
      Character
      Point of View
      Setting
      Theme
      Symbolism
      Style
Stories for Analysis
      CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN, The Yellow Wallpaper
      KATE CHOPIN, The Story of an Hour (Annotated Story)
      STUDENT ESSAY: An Essay that Compares and Contrasts: Melanie
Smith, "Good Husbands in Bad Marriages"

6. WRITING ABOUT POEMS
Elements of Poetry
      The Speaker
      The Listener
      Imagery
      Sound and Sense
Two Poems for Analysis
      WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Sonnet 116 (Annotated Poem)
      T.S. ELIOT, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (Annotated Poem)
      STUDENT ESSAY: An Explication: Patrick McCorkle, "Shakespeare Defines Love" 

7. WRITING ABOUT PLAYS
Elements of Drama
      Plot, Character, and Theme
      Diction
      Spectacle
      Setting
How to Read a Play
      Watching a Play
      The Director’s Vision
      SUSAN GLASPELL, Trifles
      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
     Quotations
     *Paraphrases and Summaries
     Commentaries
     Keeping Track of Your Sources
Writing the Paper
     Refine Your Thesis
     Organize Your Evidence
     Start Your Draft
     Revise
     Edit and Proofread
*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: Rachel McCarthy, “The Widening Gyres of Chaos in Yeats’s ‘The Second Coming’”

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
*Ecocriticism

Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms
Acknowledgments
Index of Terms

Headshot of Janet Gardner

Janet Gardner

Janet E. Gardner was Associate Professor of English at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, where she taught courses in drama, British and world literature, and writing for many years. She has published numerous articles, reviews, and chapters on contemporary drama, especially modern British drama and the work of Caryl Churchill.

Headshot of Joanne Diaz

Joanne Diaz

Joanne Diaz is the recipient of fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Sustainable Arts Foundation. She is the author of My Favorite Tyrants and The Lessons, the co-editor of The Little Magazine in Contemporary America, and the co-host of the Poetry for All podcast. She is the Isaac Funk Endowed Professor of English at Illinois Wesleyan University.

Program Resources

See a preview of this program’s resources

1. Sign in to unlock your preview.   |   2. Select your desired resources  |   3. Submit a request.  |   4. Download.

Unlock Your Preview.

Program Resources

request locked icon

Sample Syllabus

request locked icon

Transition Guide

Cover: Reading and Writing about Literature with 2021 MLA Update, 5th Edition by Janet Gardner; Joanne Diaz

Reading and Writing about Literature with 2021 MLA Update

Janet Gardner; Joanne Diaz | Fifth Edition | 2021 | ISBN:9781319462550

Learn More

Cover: Literature: A Portable Anthology, 5th Edition by Janet Gardner; Joanne Diaz; Beverly Lawn; Jack Ridl; Peter Schakel

Literature: A Portable Anthology

Janet Gardner; Joanne Diaz; Beverly Lawn; Jack Ridl; Peter Schakel | Fifth Edition | 2021 | ISBN:9781319215033

Learn More

Cover: Reading and Writing about Literature, 6th Edition by Janet Gardner; Joanne Diaz

Reading and Writing about Literature

Janet Gardner; Joanne Diaz | Sixth Edition | 2025 | ISBN:9781319474072

Learn More