Three writers debate whether English teachers should depend on external or internal criteria when analyzing and teaching literature. Each writer discusses the meaning of Elinor Wylie's poem, "The Eagle and the Mole," according to his particular view of literary analysis. Edward Ducharme, in "The Evasion of the Text," submits…

Intended as an examination of both the novel and the film, this study analyzes the themes and images of "Slaughterhouse-Five." The study is divided into three sections: a thematic analysis of the novel; an examination of the images and camera techniques in the film; and a discussion of similar themes in an effort to show how they are…

Able 11th- and 12th-grade students can enjoy the imagery, direct language, and indirect thought of T. S. Eliot. Eliot's treatment of the apathetic society and the isolated individual, his concern for spirituality over sensuality, and his plea for collective responsibility for evil are themes that can be traced in his major works through…

The problem, emphasized by I. A. Richards, of cultivating in students an awareness of literature which enables them to discern good and bad writing remains unsolved. As demonstrated in critical essays about a poem written under examination conditions by two 16-year-old boys, an ability to identify poetic techniques is not enough to ensure proper…

Discusses one of the perennial challenges of teaching English literature--finding ways to relate it to modern problems and issues and thus make the study accessible to students. Includes an example that relates the themes of "Morte D'Arthur" and "Chariots of Fire" and focuses on the sea imagery in both pieces. (JD)

Compares the imagery of two poems that deal with the price exacted by athletic success: John Updike's "Ex-Basketball Player" and A. E. Housman's "To an Athlete Dying Young." (RBW)

Claims that most teachers who read "The Great Gatsby" in high school English courses do not notice the work's extensive use of nautical imagery. Cites examples and claims that close reading reveals Gatsby to be not only the dreamer and unsuccessful suitor but also the American fisherman who "hooks a big one." (JD)

Suggests students can learn a great deal from experiences with literature that has powerful imagery. Discusses imagery in a wide variety of adolescent literature. Suggests choosing works of adolescent literature to use with students by asking: (1) if they offer wisdom; (2) if they are artfully written; (3) if they are successful aesthetically; and…

Students cannot be trained to perceive the complicated richness of literary art, but they may be educated to align their sensibilities with writer's clues when a literary work requires an intuitive reading. For instance, William Faulkner admired Keats's "Ode to a Grecian Urn" and various commentators have noted the urn-like imagery in…

Outlines the working assumptions of the Cadre filmmaking group, including their demand for active viewing, and close attention to imagery, editing, and the relationship between sound and image. Shows how these ideas were utilized in their latest film, "Storm of Fire." (CK)

One of a series of works aimed at presenting contemporary critical opinion on major authors, this collection includes essays by Rene Girard, Robert Vigneron, Henri Peyre, Jacques Riviere, Albert Thibaudet, Walter A. Strauss, Germaine Bree, Georges Cattaui, Elliott Coleman, Leo Spitzer, Richard Macksey, Robert Champigny, Charles Du Bos, Ramon…

One of a series of works aimed at presenting contemporary critical opinion on major authors, this collection includes essays by Walter Jackson Bate, T. S. Eliot, Douglas Bush, Richard H. Fogle, Jack Stillinger, Harold Bloom, David Perkins, Earl Wasserman, and D. G. James--all dealing with the biography and literary work of John Keats. Designed for…

One of a series of works aimed at presenting contemporary critical opinion on major authors, this collection includes essays by Ronald Gray, Edwin Muir, Friedrich Beissner, R. O. C. Winkler, Johannes Pfeiffer, Caroline Gordon, Idris Parry, Edmund Wilson, Erich Heller, Austin Warren, Eliseo Vivas, Albert Camus, Martin Buber, and H. S. Reiss--all…

Suggests the importance of George Orwell's "1984" for today's students and recommends specific analytic and descriptive writing activities to develop critical reading skills. (MM)

Focuses on a way of teaching that explores the connection between historical and cultural content in works of art, linking the present and past through reCognizing (understanding a previously known thing differently or viewing an unknown thing in multiple ways). Provides an example of reCognition using the Kwanzaa Playground in Columbus (Ohio).…