The following list shows a summary of the topics covered in this course. To see all of the course pages, visit the Table of Contents.

Module 1: Genre Introduction

• Defining Literature
• Introduction to American Literature
• Introduction to Fiction
• The Difference Between Fiction and Nonfiction
• Introduction to Creative Nonfiction
• Introduction to Plays and Film
• Reading a Play
• Reading Poetry
• Poetry Lesson Presentation
• Poetry Literary Terms: A Guide
• Free Verse
• Billy Collins: A Poet Speaks Out
• Approaching Poetry (Includes Free Verse)

Module 2: Literary Conventions

• Literary Terms
• Elements of Literature
• The Rough Guide to Literary Style, a Historical Overview
• Theme
• Conflict
• Symbols in Literature
• Symbolism
• Characters and Characterization
• Metaphor
• Point of View
• Perspective and Point of View

Module 3: Writing About Literature

• How to Read Like a Writer
• Modes of Exposition
• Reading to Write Effectively
• How to Write With Style
• Creating an Effective Style
• Structure in Literary Essays
• Distinguish Between Primary and Secondary Sources
• Using Databases: Periodical Indexes and Abstracts
• Writing an Introduction to a Literary Analysis Essay
• Creating MLA Works Cited Entries
• MLA In-Text Citations
• Annotated Bibliographies: An Illustrated Guide

Module 4: Literary Analysis

• The Nature of Analysis
• How to Analyze a Novel
• How to Analyze a Short Story
• How to Analyze Poetry
• How to Analyze a Film
• Finding Literary Criticism
• Reader-Response Criticism
• Introduction to Critical Theory
• New Criticism
• Multicultural Societies Explained

Module 5: Poetry Readings and Responses

• Maya Angelou, “On the Pulse of Morning,” 1993
• Billy Collins, “The Lanyard,” 2007
• Emily Dickinson
• Robert Frost
• Langston Hughes, “Let America Be America Again,” 1935
• Edgar Allen Poe
• Ezra Pound, Hugh Selwyn Mauberley, 1920
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Selected Works, 1855
• Theodore Roethke, “My Papa’s Waltz,” 1961
• Christina Rossetti, “Goblin Market,” 1862
• William Shakespeare, Sonnets, 1609
• Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind,” 1891
• Phillis Wheatley, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, 1773
• Walt Whitman, “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” 1865
• William Carlos Williams, “The Red Wheelbarrow,” 1962

Module 6: Drama Readings and Responses

• Anton Chekhov
• Susan Glaspell
• Langston Hughes and Zora Hurston, “The Mule-Bone,” 1930
• Henrik Ibsen, “A Doll’s House,” 1879
• Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895

Module 7: Fiction Readings and Responses

• Louisa May Alcott, “Scarlet Stockings,” 1869
• Ambrose Bierce, “The Middle Toe of the Right Foot,” 1890
• Henry Cuyler Bunner, “The Nice People,” 1890
• Willa Cather, “On the Gull’s Road,” 1908
• Anton Chekhov, “Peasant Wives,” 1891
• Kate Chopin
• Joseph Conrad
• Philip K. Dick, “Beyond the Door,” 1954
• Charles Dickens, “The Signal-Man,” 1866
• Arthur Conan Doyle, “Scandal in Bohemia,” 1891
• F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Ice Palace,” 1920
• Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Kelly Link, “The Specialist’s Hat,” 1998
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” 1892
• Saki, “The Open Window,” 1914
• Mary Shelley, “The Mortal Immortal,” 1833
• Jim Shepard, “The Zero Meter Diving Team,” 2007
• Mark Twain, “Eve’s Diary,” 1905
• Madhuri Vijay, “Lorry Raja,” 2012

Module 8: Nonfiction Readings and Responses

• Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom, 1855
• Henry David Thoreau, “Walden,” 1854
• Mark Twain, “Two Ways of Seeing A River,” 1883
• Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, 1901
• Zitkala-Sa, “The School Days of an Indian Girl,” 1900
• Other Creative Nonfiction Readings