criticism

Presents a discussion on how to understand symbolism in literature, discussing the appearance of journeys, eating, drowning, rain, violence, sex, illness, geography, Christ figures, and other signifiers, and how to see patterns the way literature professors do.

Examines the critical ideas, personalities, careers, social backgrounds, and politics of critics, editors, statesmen, radicals, gossipmongers, and others who have played a role in shaping literary opinion in England since 1800.

Collects overviews of eleven twentieth-century schools of literary theory and criticism, including new criticism, structuralism, feminism, and queer theory, examining the philosophical and historical context of each, with methodologies for writing essays and sample student essays.

A textbook anthology of poems by international authors both classic and contemporary, presented with commentary to develop the ability to read and analyze poetry perceptively.

Defines one thousand terms in the study of literature in the areas of traditional drama, rhetoric, and literary schools, theory, and history, with pronunciation guides for some words, entries in languages other than English, and cross-references.

Explores the relation of the black vernacular tradition to the African-American literary tradition, focusing on the two trickster figures of Esu-Elegbara and the Signifying Monkey, in whose myths are registered certain principles of both formal language use and its interpretation.