The purpose of this article is to present the findings of a qualitative content analysis of historical documents related to the teaching of literature. Through a social semiotics framework, we analyzed 10 national standards documents in the field of secondary English. Our analysis details the evolution of the standards paradigm for teaching literature in a secondary English classroom, revealing a steady increase in language that attempts to show more measurable outcomes while slowly losing the language that emphasizes the aesthetic value and pleasure to be found in reading great works. These findings have important implications for how language about teaching literature has evolved and where policy makers and professional leaders have placed emphasis with regard to the purpose of teaching literature in secondary classrooms. More specifically, these findings are intended to reframe the perspective of the standards writers within the reform movement and their treatment of literature in secondary classrooms.