Living Literature: A Journey Through Stories, Drama, and Poetry

by Kelsey Ford

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This textbook introduces students to literature through creative nonfiction, fiction, drama, and poetry while developing skills in close reading, literary analysis, and academic writing. It explores literary elements, major critical theories, research methods, and MLA citation style through readings, discussion questions, and writing activities that strengthen interpretation and communication skills.

Description from LibreTexts.

Publisher
Cosumnes River College
Subjects
Humanities
Licence
CC BY-NC, as LibreTexts states it. Non-commercial use only.
Who can read
Teens profiles and older, judged from its title and subjects

Contents

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  1. Front Matter
  2. TitlePage
  3. InfoPage
  4. Table of Contents
  5. Licensing
  6. 1: What Is Literature, and How Do We Interact with It?
  7. 1.1: What is Literature?
  8. 1.2: Why Read and Write About Literature?
  9. 1.3: Tips for Reading Online
  10. 1.4: The Literary Landscape- Four Major Genres
  11. 2: Creative Nonfiction
  12. 2.1: What is Creative Nonfiction?
  13. 2.2: Elements of Creative Nonfiction
  14. 2.3: "The Danger of a Single Story" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2009)
  15. 2.4: Discussion Questions on "The Danger of a Single Story"
  16. 2.5: "The Blue" by Anne-Marie Oomen (2018)
  17. 2.6: Discussion Questions on "The Blue"
  18. 3: Fiction
  19. 3.1: What is Fiction?
  20. 3.2: Short Stories versus the Novel
  21. 3.3: How to Read Fiction
  22. 3.4: Elements of Fiction
  23. 3.5: "The Rocking Horse Winner" by D.H. Lawrence
  24. 3.6: Discussion Questions on "The Rocking Horse Winner"
  25. 3.7: Characterization
  26. 3.8: Plot
  27. 3.9: Setting
  28. 3.10: Narration (Point of View)
  29. 3.11: Discussion Questions on "The Shawl" by Louise Erdrich
  30. 3.12: Theme
  31. 3.13: Rhetorical and Literary Devices
  32. 3.14: Word Choice, Tone, Voice, and Style
  33. 3.15: Taking Notes on a Novel
  34. 4: Literary Theory and Criticism
  35. 4.1: What is Literary Criticism?
  36. 4.2: Formalism
  37. 4.3: Psychoanalytic Criticism
  38. 4.4: Gender Criticism
  39. 4.5: New Historicism
  40. 4.6: Postcolonial and Ethnic Studies
  41. 4.7: Ecocriticism
  42. 4.8: "On the Gull's Road" by Willa Cather (1908)
  43. 4.9: Literary Concept Map Group Assignment
  44. 5: Drama
  45. 5.1: What is Drama?
  46. 5.2: Elements of Drama
  47. 5.3: Reading and Responding to Drama
  48. 5.4: Trifles by Susan Glaspell (1916)
  49. 6: Poetry
  50. 6.1: What is Poetry?
  51. 6.2: Music and Poetry
  52. 6.3: Reading Poetry
  53. 6.4: Close Reading of a Poem
  54. 6.5: Why Analyze Poetry?
  55. 6.6: Imagery
  56. 6.7: The Line in Poetry
  57. 6.8: Word Choice, Word Order, and Tone
  58. 6.9: Voice
  59. 6.10: Figurative Language
  60. 6.11: Form in Poetry
  61. 6.12: Meter
  62. 6.13: Alliteration, Consonance, Assonance
  63. 6.14: Rhyme
  64. 6.15: Video- Why Shakespeare Loved Iambic Pentameter
  65. 6.16: Poetry Canvas Page and Video Group Assignment
  66. 7: Writing about Literature
  67. 7.1: What Does My Professor Want?
  68. 7.2: Literary Response Paper
  69. 7.3: The Writing Process for Literary Essays
  70. 7.4: Prewriting for Literature Essays
  71. 7.5: Brainstorming
  72. 7.6: Writing About Fiction and Creative Nonfiction
  73. 7.7: Literary Thesis Statements
  74. 7.8: Essay as Argument
  75. 7.9: Summarizing vs. Analyzing Literary Works
  76. 7.10: Writing a Literary Analysis Essay
  77. 7.11: Sample Student Literary Analysis Essays
  78. 7.12: Essays on Comparing and Contrasting Literature
  79. 7.13: Writing About Drama
  80. 7.14: Literary Research Essays
  81. 7.15: How to Perform Literary Research
  82. 8: MLA Format and Citations
  83. 8.1: Avoiding Plagiarism Through Ethical Attribution
  84. 8.2: What is MLA?
  85. 8.3: Formatting a Literature Essay
  86. 8.4: MLA Works Cited Page
  87. 8.5: MLA In-Text Citations
  88. 8.6: Quotation, Paraphrase, and Summary
  89. Back Matter
  90. Index
  91. Glossary
  92. Detailed Licensing