A dialectical heuristic that can be used to guide students through the stages of writing about a literary experience is discussed in this paper. The first section of the paper provides a working definition of literature as an area of discourse and divides the process of reading and writing about literature into three general phases: progressive, transitional, and symbolic. The second section presents Kenneth Burke's method of finding the elements and purposes of dramatic action in any discourse as a model for critical writing about literature. The third section is an application of this Burkean heuristic to John Donne's poem, "The Prohibition," and includes role-playing exercises to use with students. The last section summarizes the case for teaching rhetorical criticism of literature in the writing classroom. (AEA)