TextBooks Shop

An authoritative bestseller for nearly 50 years, PERRINE’S LITERATURE: STRUCTURE, SOUND, AND SENSE continues to be an essential and highly effective introduction to literature for today’s students. Written for students beginning a serious study of literature, the text introduces the fundamental elements of fiction, poetry, and drama in a concise and engaging way, addressing vital questions that other texts tend to ignore, such as “Is some literature better?” and “How can it be evaluated?” A remarkable selection of classic, modern, and contemporary readings serves to illustrate the elements of literature and ensure broad appeal to students of diverse backgrounds and interests. Now thoroughly updated with more than 100 new stories, poems, and plays by some of the finest authors of any era, the tenth edition remains true to Perrine’s original vision while addressing the needs of a new generation of students.

This anthology is intended for the student who is beginning a serious study of imaginative literature. It provides a comprehensive introduction to the principal forms of fiction, poetry, and drama. Each section begins with a simple discussion of the elements of the form and is illustrated by carefully selected stories, poems, and plays. Each section also includes an anthology of additional selections for further reading. In this book we seek to give the student a sufficient grasp of the nature and variety of literary works, some reasonable means for reading them with appreciative understanding, and some basic principles for making literary judgments. Our objective is to help the student to understand, enjoy, and prefer good works of literature.