Thematic Comparisons
What follows here is some of the work we’ve read
organized under a general thematic topics. This is by no means exhaustive. It is meant
merely to give you some ideas on themes to consider and how the works we’ve seen can be compared and to help
you with your writing.
Conformity and Rebellion
| Stories |
Poems |
Plays |
Chopin, "Story of an Hour"
Jackson, “The Lottery”
Boyle, "Greasy Lake"
O'Connor, "First Confession" |
Plath, "The Applicant"
Brooks, "We Real Cool"
Pound, "In a Station of the Metro" |
Ibsen, Dollhouse
Williams, Glass Menagerie |
Husbands & Wives
| Stories |
Poems |
Plays |
Chopin, "Story of an Hour"
Chekhov, “The Lady with the Pet Dog" |
Browning, "My Last Duchess" |
Ibsen, Dollhouse
Glaspell, Trifles |
The Individual and Society
| Stories |
Poems |
Plays |
Bambara, "The Lesson"
Olsen, "I Stand Here Ironing"
Le Guin, “The Ones Who Walk Away
from Omelas”
Welty, "A Worn Path" |
Plath, "The Applicant"
Hughes, "A Dream Deferred"
Hughes, "Theme for English B" |
Ibsen, Dollhouse |
Innocence and Experience
| Stories |
Poems |
Plays |
Carver, "Cathedral"
Bambara, "The Lesson"
Boyle, "Greasy Lake"
Oates, “Where Are You Going, Where
Have You Been?”
Joyce, "Araby" |
Blake, "Tyger" |
|
Life’s Values, Conduct, and Meaning
| Stories |
Poems |
Plays |
Maugham, “The
Appointment in Samarra”
Chopin, "Story of an Hour"
Maupassant, "Necklace"
Jackson, "The Lottery"
Hemingway, “Clean, Well-Lighted
Place” |
Frost, "Birches"
Frost, "The Road Not Taken"
Hardy, "The Man He Killed"
Shelley, "Ozymandias"
Eliot, "Love song of J. Alfred Prufock" |
Ibsen, Dollhouse
Miller, Death of a Salesman
Shakespeare, Hamlet |
Love and Courtship
| Stories |
Poems |
Plays |
Faulkner, “A Rose for
Emily”
Chekhov, “The Lady with the Pet Dog”
Hemingway, "Hills Like White Elephants"
Joyce, "Araby" |
Commings, "since feeling is first"
Housman, "Oh, When I Was in Love with You"
Marvel, "To His Coy Mistress" |
|
Parents and Children
| Stories |
Poems |
Plays |
Walker, "Everyday Use"
Olsen, "I Stand Here Ironing"
Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily” |
Plath, "The Applicant"
Brooks, "We Real Cool"
Pound, "In a Station of the Metro" |
Miller, Death of a Salesman
Shakespeare, Hamlet
Williams, Glass Menagerie |
Visions of Death
| Stories |
Poems |
Plays |
O'Connor, "A Good Man I Hard to Find"
Maugham, “The Appointment in
Samarra”
Poe, "The Cask of Amontillado"
Jackson, "The Lottery"
Boyle, "Greasy Lake" |
Cummings, "Buffalo Bill's Defunct"
Dickinson, "Because I Could Not Stop for Death"
Thomas, "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" |
Miller, Death of a Salesman
Shakespeare, Hamlet |
War and Violence, and Their Effects
| Stories |
Poems |
Plays |
O'Brien, "The Things They Carried"
O'Connor, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"
Poe, "The Cask of Amontillado" |
Yeats, "The Second Coming"
Hardy, "The Man He Killed" |
Miller, Death of a Salesman
Shakespeare, Hamlet
Williams, Glass Menagerie |
Women and Men
| Stories |
Poems |
Plays |
Chopin, "Story of an Hour"
Carver, "Cathedral"
Hemingway, "Hills Like White Elephants" |
Cummings, "since feeling is first"
Browning, "My Last Duchess" |
Ibsen, Dollhouse
Glaspell, Trifles |
|