Developed as part of a high school quinmester unit on approaches to literary criticism, this guide provides the teacher with teaching strategies for an investigation of five major intellectual points of view from which literary works are analyzed and judged. A specific literary work (in novel, poem, short story, or other form) is discussed and…

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…

This study investigated whether adolescents' response to film is similar to or different from their response to literature and what these similarities or differences mean. Tenth grade students read two literary selections and viewed two films paired on the basis of similarities in treatment of subject and theme. Students' written responses to…

This dissertation is concerned with the role that close reading (textual analysis of a literary work) plays in the methods, teaching materials, and training of prospective secondary school English teachers. Despite the impact of the movement of close reading in higher education and educators' recent call for its practice in the high school, there…

The primary purpose of this article is to clarify the place of myth in literature and the English curriculum. Conceived of as symbolic form, myth underpins all human expression, as a way of organizing human response to reality. It holds a central place in literature and can make clear the intimate connections between history and literature because…

Much of the clamor about instructional relevance today results from student dissatisfaction with (1) the narrow and anachronistic definition of literature commonly given by teachers, (2) the artificial compartmentalizing of literary works, and (3) the assumption that literature can only be apprehended through analysis. Rather than concentrating…

Discusses psychoanalytic theory as a valid technique for teaching and interpreting literature. (RB)

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…

Ninety-six study projects, for individuals or groups, dealing with works by American authors or America's history in the past 100 years are listed. (JM)

Argues that provision must be made for new works to enter the literary canon, suggesting that meaningful reformation of the canon must evolve from discussion among those involved in the profession of humane letters. Claims lethargy inhibits the process of canon reformation, and discusses revisionist approaches to curriculum. (ARH)

After a second reading, the author interpreted Janathan Livingston Seagull'' as being filled with advice to teachers and urges teachers to become familiar with current literature. (MM)

Discusses the use of excerpts from "Boswell's Life of Johnson" with high school students and suggests that Boswell's scholarship reflects a form of literary research. (MKM)

Describes a unit of study on the theme of death used with high school junior and senior literature classes. (TO)

Analyzes three parts of Tunis' novel in view of the author's opening statement, This is a book about the conscience of a man.''

Argues that language arts education and discussions of language arts have skirted issues of existential philosophy and religion, even though these issues are inherently a part of literature. Raises concerns about the personal and political consequences of avoiding questions about why people exist and what purpose they have in life. (TB)