Considers reasons for studying Canadian literature. Notes the relative infancy of Canadian literature and the need for maintaining objectivity in the study of Canadian literature. Proposes that teachers of Canadian literature focus on individual, contemporary works, examining language, form, and craftsmanship. (RL)

Outlines eleven specific methods by which poetry can be taught so that the intrinsic questions are raised and the essential experience of the poem achieved. (RB)

Proposes that students can be taught to respond critically to literature through appropriate textual analysis. (RL)

Identifies the qualities of a good children's book: a coherent structure; a broad vision of the world, including both its pleasant and unpleasant features; and a degree of openness that allows the reader's imagination to work. (RL)

Outlines the five stages of a poetry lesson, illustrating their use with the poem "Spring and Fall," by Gerard Manley Hopkins. (RL)

Literature is viewed in relation to reality: place and time are important. Through diagrams the author proves that certain authors transcend time and place and can be understood by the educated. (AF)

Compares the works of Joseph Conrad and other novelists as they describe the symbolic process of an initiation voyage. (AEA)

Challenges the idea in the critical and educational thinking about literature that poetry is an experience that does not need analysis. (RB)

Traces the history of English prose from Francis Bacon to the present, commenting on the quality of various authors' writing and of fiction today. (HTH)

Discusses possible reasons why Stephen Crane's short story "The Open Boat" does not go over well with students or the author's colleagues: (1) students cannot identify with the scenario of the story; (2) the story is a "guy" thing; (3) the teacher's enthusiasm kills the story; and (4) the story is intrinsically unteachable and dull. (RS)

My argument could not be more effectively summed up than in the words of Northrop Frye: It is obvious that Canadian literature, whatever its inherent merits, is an indispensable aid to the knowledge of Canada. It records what the Canadian imagination has reacted to, and it tells us things about this environment that nothing else will tell us."…

Draws on current television programs to show how English teachers can teach the elements of plot, character, and theme. (HTH)

Offers an approach to teaching and interpreting the novel "Watership Down" that emphasizes the secondary belief in an imaginary world of rabbits (rabbitness). (RL)

Notes that real (purposeful) writing about literature can be achieved by capitalizing on student responses to the literary experience, whether these responses are positive or negative. Offers suggestions for giving direction to students' unstructured responses. (RL)