Linguistic criticism not only shows students the usefulness of grammar but also improves their comprehension of literature. For instance, a study of stress, pitch, and juncture in E. E. Cummings'"anyone lived in a pretty how town" adds meaning to the poem. Also helpful is an analysis of Cummings' tagmemic method of substitution slot-filling--use…

This book is designed to introduce students and teachers to the vocabulary of literary analysis so that they may discuss and write about children's literature and make their own evaluations and judgments about books for children. Children's literature should be considered different from adult literature in degree, not kind. Points of similarity…

In this paper, guilt in literature is considered within the following four categories: private guilt, shared guilt, implied guilt, and public guilt. Among characters in literature that suffer from guilt as a private matter are Arthur Dimmesdale in "The Scarlet Letter," Pip in "Great Expectations," Edna in "The…

A collection of five essays (plus preface and afterword) by noted feminist critics, this book provides an overview of the existing body of feminist literary criticism in order to promote an understanding of the issues feminist critics are currently discussing among themselves and with other critics. A theoretical framework for understanding this…

This report describes highlights of the first National Assessment of Literature, a project of the Education Commission of the States. This assessment surveyed four major questions: How well do people understand literature? What and how often do they read? In what ways and how well do people understand imaginative literature? How familiar are they…

Studying the Bible as a "source book for the humanities" can help students understand Biblical allusions found in literature, the fine arts, the news media, and cultured conversation. Students at Newton High School (Massachusetts) took part in a Biblical study course, using the King James Version because student most commonly meet…

The studies in this book argue that literature is best understood when examined in conjunction with the cultural age and social context in which it was produced. The book is divided into four sections: "Love and Society" discusses the different ways in which love was expressed, and repressed, in different times; "Industrial Culture" explores…

Modern literary criticism may be classified into four categories to provide a format for instruction which both reduces modern criticism to its essential interests and provides a critical vocabulary which is a mediating vocabulary between modern criticism and literature. These categories are summed up in structural metaphors: Symbolic Form,…

Divided into four sections, this book, which examines women's literature, depicts the roles women have been forced to assume in society and are now beginning to occupy. "Woman as Heroine" consists of analyses of traditional views of women with discussions of myths of women, stereotypes of women's roles, needs, attributes, and potentials.…

A critical symposium on science fiction, this book features essays (by Ben Bova, Frederik Pohl, George Zebrowski, Frank Herbert, Theodore Sturgeon, Alan E. Nourse, Thomas N. Scortia, Reginald Bretnor, James Gunn, Alexei and Cory Panshin, Poul Anderson, Hal Clement, Anne McCaffrey, Gordon R. Dickson, and Jack Williamson) dealing with such subjects…

This book offers suggestions for prospective and practicing English teachers on ways to help students appreciate both drama and fiction. Some of the questions treated are the differences between the reading of drama and fiction; the critical tools a teacher may use in approaches to specific works; how a novel may be taught on different levels…

This study presents the third of four reports of the 1970-71 National Assessment of Literature. The educational attainments of nine-year-olds, thirteen-year-olds, seventeen-year-olds, and adults (ages 26-35) were surveyed according to their ability to recognize literary works and characters. Five types of exercises were used: (1) an illustration…

This volume, eighth in the annual series, provides for scholars, students, and general readers a systematic, evaluative guide to current published studies on American literature. Half the chapters summarize the year's published work on individual authors, and half are devoted to genres and periods. The eighteen contributors, acknowledged scholars…

Describes the reactions of students, all veterans, to a Joseph Conrad story involving moral dilemma during war. (MKM)