A Contemporary Guide to Literary Terms is a brief, inexpensive, and accessible handbook of literary terms for a full range of courses, including introduction to literature, literature for composition, American literature, British literature, and Shakespeare. In clear, concise, and user-friendly language, the text highlights its entries with contemporary, multicultural examples. This edition features more terms and new entries for all periods of literary history.Additional features of the second edition include a new section on grammar and style and two new essays in the "Strategies for Writing Essays about Literature" section (one comparing two texts and one comparing a film and a text).Clear, brief, reader-friendly entries, which don't assume extensive knowledge of literature, offer specific quotations from texts and commentary on the examples.Demonstrations of practical criticism illustrate literary terms, approaches, and theories and make individual entries useful for classroom discussion. No other literary handbook or glossary performs this task or employs this strategy.Expanded examples with analyses are taken from a wide range of varied literary sources (both classic and contemporary) and films. Entries are more informative and appealing than lists typically found in the appendices of introduction to literature texts.Useful pedagogical materials include sample student essays with annotations, background narratives on processes of writing, advice for essay examinations, and guides to using MLA documentation and avoiding plagiarism.