Category: Literature

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Sarah Orne Jewett’s Fairy Tale: “A White Heron”

In A Jury of Her Peers, Elaine Showalter comments that Sarah Orne Jewett’s “A White Heron” is “a fairy tale about a New England princess who refuses to be rescued from her isolation by the handsome prince” (192). Showalter’s description of Jewett’s story as “a fairy tale” caught my attention, and today I want to look at how we can read “A White Heron” … Read More Sarah Orne Jewett’s Fairy Tale: “A White Heron”

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William Dean Howells’ “Editha,” Richard Lovelace, and Shakespeare

Typically, critics read William Dean Howells’ “Editha” as a story that comments on our need to proclaim our national identities through patriotism and war and how that continual proclamation does more harm than good. Others read “Editha” through a feminist lens arguing that the focus of the story lies in the ways that Editha and Mrs. Gearson work to exert power over George. Today, … Read More William Dean Howells’ “Editha,” Richard Lovelace, and Shakespeare

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Collaborative Project for Literature Classroom

Last semester, I had students construct presentations of terms and historical events in my Early American Literature survey course. I have a posts on the assignment itself and on some of the projects that students created. This semester, I am tweaking that assignment in a couple of ways. Rather than having students present on specific terms and presenting during the last week of class, … Read More Collaborative Project for Literature Classroom

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Why We Teach: Literature and the Presidential Election

In the Republic, Plato famously claims that there is a longstanding quarrel between philosophy and poetry, even stating that poets are nothing more than imitators and cannot relate truth to their audience, thus perverting them: “the tragic poet is an imitator, and therefore, like all other imitators, he is thrice removed from the king and from the truth.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, in Nature (1836), … Read More Why We Teach: Literature and the Presidential Election

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Tumblr, Blogger, and Wikis in the Literature Classroom

Over the past few months, I have posted different pedagogical approaches that I have implemented in the classroom from the elevator pitch in the composition classroom to the use of archival materials in the literature classroom. Today, I want to take the moment and expand upon a couple of projects that I have used in the literature classroom.