lewelma Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 My last thread received so many good suggesting for essay collections that I could use to teach writing. :hurray: In fact, I bought all the books suggested. :blush: What I need now is a book that has examples of short literary analysis essays written either by proficient students or by professionals about books that my boy might actually have read or plan to read. In fact, it would be even better to have a book that actually has reprinted short stories and then follows each one with a couple of examples of literary analysis essays. Does this exist? Thanks, Ruth in NZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicentra Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 :bigear: :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicentra Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 BTW, Ruth - do you have a link to your other thread about books to teach writing? Pretty please? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 BTW, Ruth - do you have a link to your other thread about books to teach writing? Pretty please? :) Sure, here it is.... http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/498757-looking-for-a-collection-of-essays/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicentra Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Thanks, Ruth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 OK, so no books. Sigh. Seems a big ask to have kids write in a style they have never seen. Or at least this is true for my boy. What about the lit analysis websites? A lot of them you have to pay for. Do any of them actually have fully written example essays rather than just an general discussion about different features of a book? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 I did a Google search and found some college websites with samples as well as a few others. I just entered examples of literary analysis essays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 Yes, I have been doing a bit of that. I was just hoping to get an all in one source so I am not constantly searching. What I would like to do is read a short story with my son, discuss it, and then read a few different essays about it. Handing me a book with short stories and example essays would be ideal, but since that does not seem to be available the next best thing is an all in one site. The main problem I am having with random example essays I find on the internet is that he has not always read the books. He really needs to have read the book to get where they are coming from. So now my thought is to read a book/short story and then search for some essays, but most of the stuff I am finding is behind a paid fire wall. I am happy to pay but would like to make sure that there are actually essays on the other side rather than just discussion of different aspects of the book. And I really only want to pay for 1 site. Since I can't get behind the fire walls until I pay, I would love to know if there are actually essays there, and which site is most useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 When I've checked out of the library some classic literature books which have essays included in them. Perhaps you could choose some common short stories, such as Gift of the Magi by O. Henry. I found this one doing a search that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I would go with one of these books by Michael Dirda. He is a wonderful essayist and book reviewer, and he reviews things that are definitely not on a lot of people's canonical lists, but are really wonderful. It might introduce your son to some new favorite authors, as well as model really engaging literary criticism: http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Dirda/e/B001IGHPZ8/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1389714564&sr=1-2-ent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 This is not essays, but if you join the IEW Co-Op Yahoo group, there is a 6 week syllabus about literary analysis. It uses short stories, which are included, to teach beginning literary analysis. There are worksheets, too. It is in the Files section under Teaching the Classics. You might find it helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connections Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Ruth- I am currently taking the same approach and looking for the same thing. Right now we have started with essays on TLOTR (there are many available) b/c he knows the books inside and out. These essays are not "typical" high school essays (which may be a plus!) I wonder if anyone has purchased the Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writing. http://www.everyday-education.com/literature/handbook.shtml. The table of contents indicates that sample essays are provided. I have not seen this and cannot comment on the quality of the essays. I may just buy it and see for myself! Looking forward to reading the suggestions of others. Please keep us posted on how this proceeds, Ruth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Weird. I remember this topic coming up before and I thought I had a good book to refer you to. However, it turns out that what I thought was it (after looking for it -- The Art of the Short Story), wasn't at all what you are looking for. So, I either remembered the discussion wrong or I remembered the wrong book. Either of which is likely at this point. :toetap05: ETA: There were two threads I found when I searched - neither of which is the one I remember reading. Here they are: Examples of Literary Analysis Essays and Can You Suggest A Good Reference Book for Literary Analysis? Neither have a good answer for you, but I'm including them just in case you find something helpful. :huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 I actually bought the Art of the Short Story based on your recommendation. It is a great source for lots of different short stories by lots of different authors, but alas, no literary analysis. It just seems so strange to ask kids to write something that they have never read. And also strange that we should ask them to write something that no non-students seem to write. sigh. My son is just a great mimic. If I can get him some examples, he will be able to write. I did find these university lit analysis examples: http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng104/midtermexamples.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Not on my recommendation! But you must have read the same thread I did because I put it in my Amazon cart and then saw it in person & realized I didn't need it afterall. :-) I'm wondering if C.S. Lewis's Selected Literary Essays or On Stories would have anything helpful? (I have read some of On Stories, but remember more literary criticism than literary analysis. "The vision of John Bunyan" in Selected Literary Essays was pretty darn broad and scattered. Not sure it would make a good example. I know an IRL friend of mine struggled with this very thing as she's teaching Windows to the World to her oldest this year.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Wasn't sure where to share this blog post, but thought it might fit in this thread as an alternative to the lit analysis papers: Alternative to Literary Analysis Papers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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