Here are links to the chats I used to assist with writing this textbook.  I have included the prompts (some of which almost read like found poetry).

New Criticism

New Criticism (Main Thread)

Prompts

1. I am writing an introduction to literary analysis for college students. Please give me an outline for a chapter on New Criticism. The chapter should include the following: an overview of New Criticism as a critical theory; names of influential New Critics; a primary text that is in the public domain that can be used to practice New Criticism; a list of terms for students to use when analyzing a text using New Criticism as their method; a checklist for practicing New Criticism, and a list of web-based resources where students can learn more about New Criticism.
2. Discuss how New Criticism emerged as a response to previous critical theories that relied on external factors.
3. Please write a one paragraph biography of John Crowe Ransom
4. Write a one paragraph biography of Cleanth Brooks
5. Write a one paragraph biography of Robert Penn Warren
6. Provide a list of web-based resources that students can use to learn more about New Criticism. This could include articles, videos, podcasts, and other resources that explain the theory and provide examples of its application.
7. What are some drawbacks of New Criticism when analyzing literature?
8. What is the importance of New Criticism in Literary Analysis?
9. Write a five-paragraph essay using New Criticism as a critical method to analyze John Donne’s “The Canonization”
10. Provide a list of ten peer-reviewed articles that use New Criticism as a critical method
11. These are not real articles. Can you provide any articles with links to websites?
12. These are also not real articles.
13. Write a one paragraph biography of I.A. Richards
14. What does unity mean in New Criticism?
15. what is complexity in New Criticism?
16. what does paradox mean in New Criticism?
17. How is irony interpreted by New Critics?
18. what is the role of tension and ambiguity in a text?
19. How do scholars do Close Reading?

Poem Questions

Prompts

1. You are an English instructor. You want to provide a set of questions for students to ask about “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” using the critical method of New Criticism to analyze the text. Please provide 5-6 questions students can use.
2. Provide a set of questions using New Criticism as a critical approach to analyze “The Parable of the Prodigal Son” King James Version
3. Provide a set of questions using New Criticism as a critical approach to analyze “Recuerdo”by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Ars Poetica

Prompts

1. Write a brief literary analysis of Archibald MacLeish’s poem “Ars Poetica”
2. Imagine that you are an English professor at a community college. Write an assignment prompt for students to analyze Archibald MacLeish’s poem “Ars Poetica.” Include detailed instructions for elements of literary analysis that they should include, such as form, meter, genre, rhyme, etc.

Reader Response

Reader Response (Main Thread)

Prompts:

1. I am writing an introduction to literary analysis for college students. Please give me an outline for a chapter on Reader Response Theory. The chapter should include the following: an overview of Reader Response as a critical theory; names of influential Reader Response scholars; a primary text that is in the public domain that can be used to practice Reader Reponse; a list of terms for students to use when analyzing a text using Reader Response as their method; a checklist for practicing Reader Response, and a list of web-based resources where students can learn more about Reader Response.
2. Write a one-paragraph biography of Wolfgang Iser.
3. Write a one paragraph biography of Louise Rosenblatt
4. Write a one paragraph biography of Stanley Fish
5. Write a one paragraph biography of Norman Holland
6. What is subjective reader response
7. How do you do subjective reader response?
8. What is the implied reader
9. What is receptive reader response
10. What is anticipation in reader response theory
11. what role does empathy play in reader response
12. Provide a list of web-based resources where students can learn more about Reader Response theory, including academic articles, online forums, and video lectures.
13. Write a 5-paragraph essay on John Donne’s “The Canonization” using Reader Response Theory
14. Please come up with five questions using reader response theory to analyze the following poem: What an Indian Thought When He Saw a Comet By Tso-le-oh-woh
15. Using the same poem, come up with five questions using a receptive reader response approach
16. come up with five questions that consider how different audiences from that time period might have experienced this poem.
17. Write an example of a thesis statement for an essay exploring how indigenous communities would understand this poem
18. Please provide an example thesis statement for a subjective reader response to the poem from a 21st century college student
19. What are some limitations of reader response theory when analyzing literature?
20. Come up with a title for a reader response essay about John Donne’s “The Canonization”
21. You are a nineteen year old male college student. Your parents do not like your girlfriend and they want you to break up with her because they think that you’re too good for her. But you adore your girlfriend and want to be with her forever. You think the love that you two share is truly special and extraordinary. Your girlfriend is brilliant, witty, and talented. She has long black hair and is one of the most beautiful people you have ever met. You have been asked to write a short subjective reader response essay to John Donne’s poem “The Canonization” using your own experiences with love and romance to help you understand and analyze the poem. Please write this essay and include some comparisons to your personal experiences with your girlfriend. Make an argument based on the poem that parents should not interfere with their children’s romantic relationships.
22. Write a short receptive reader response to John Donne’s poem “The Canonization.” Include a description of the implied reader for this poem and how the poem meets or fails to meet that reader’s expectations. What effect would the poem have on the implied reader? Also include a thesis statement that makes an argument about the poem.
23. Please create a title for this essay
24. Here is a 1619 poem by Michael Drayton called “Since there’s no help.” Please read the poem and come up with five questions using reader response theory that students could use to approach the text. (TEXT OF POEM)

Deconstruction

Deconstruction (Main Thread)

Prompts:

1. Can you help me to understand how to do a close reading of a text using deconstruction as my critical method?
2. This is a short story by Donald Barthelme called “The Glass Mountain.” Can you please look at the story for elements that could be analyzed using deconstruction as a method? (TEXT OF STORY)
3. What are the limits of deconstruction as a critical approach to literature?
4. Write a short essay on John Donne’s poem “The Canonization” using deconstruction as your critical method. Include terms like differance and binary in your essay.
5. Please come up with a playful title for this essay

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers”

Prompt: Please read the following poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes. Imagine that you are a student who is trying to analyze this poem using deconstruction as your critical method. What are five questions you could ask about the poem that would help the student to formulate a deconstructive analysis of the poem? (TEXT OF “THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS”)

Death be Not Proud

Prompt: You are a student in an introduction to literary analysis college class. Write a short deconstructive analysis of John Donne’s Holy Sonnet “Death, Be Not Proud.” Identify the binary oppositions in the text (copied below). State the text’s preferred meaning, then show how the oppositions actually undercut that meaning. Explain how the poem subverts the genre of the sonnet, which is traditionally identified with love poetry. Show how while the poem’s theme seems defiant, the underlying current is actually the opposite: fear of mortality. Here is the poem’s text:

New Historicism

New Historicism

Prompts:

1. What is New Historical Criticism?
2. What is New Historicism, also known as Cultural Materialism, and how is it applied to literary texts?
3. What are steps that literature students can take when they use a new historicism approach for a literary text? What elements do they need to consider?
4. What are some limitations of a new historicism approach to literary texts?
5. You are a student in an introduction to literary analysis class. Write a short essay on John Donne’s “The Canonization” using a new historicism approach to the text. Emphasize both the biographical details of Donne’s life that are reflected in the poem and the cultural context (17th century England) for this poem. Make sure you include a thesis statement at the end of the first paragraph that makes an argument about the poem using new historicism as your critical method. Also include a title for your essay that reflects the contents of your paper. Here is the text of the poem: (TEXT OF THE CANONIZATION)

Marxist, Postcolonial, Critical Race Theory, and Cultural Studies

Cultural Studies 

Prompt: what is cultural studies literary criticism?

Marxist (Main Chat Thread)

Prompts:

1. You are an instructor in a college literature class. Please read the story “A Cup of Tea’ by Katherine Mansfield, which I will copy and paste below. Then use a Marxist critical lens to create five questions that students can answer about the text. Here is the short story:  (TEXT OF “A CUP OF TEA”)
2. Thank you! Please use the same story but change your analytical lens to postcolonial criticism. To create five questions for students, consider Katherine Mansfield’s biography. She was from a prominent New Zealand family and had a relationship with a Maori woman when she was in her twenties.
3. Please provide a third set of five questions using cultural studies as your critical framework. Consider both the text and the culture in which Mansfield set the story: 1920s London, with a wealthy woman who does not need to work as the main character.
4. This was great, but I’d love to see something about popular culture among these questions. Can you revise to include that term as well?
5. Could you write a thesis statement making an argument about the short story using cultural studies as your critical framework?
6. What are some of the limitations of Marxist, Postcolonial, and Cultural Studies criticism for literary texts?
7. Imagine you are a student in an introductory college literary analysis course. Please write a brief 4-5 paragraph essay using John Donne’s poem “The Canonization” and taking a Marxist critical approach to the text. Include a title that reflects the Marxist approach as well as a thesis statement that makes an argument about power and socioeconomic status in this text. Here is the poem: (TEXT OF THE CANONIZATION)
8. What are some limitations of Critical Race Theory as an approach to literary texts? (twice)
9. Can you simplify this for me into three main points?

Psychological

Psychological Criticism (Main Thread)

Prompts:

1. What are the steps students can take to apply psychological criticism to a text?
2. Please read the poem “A narrow fellow in the grass” by Emily Dickinson. Use Freudian psychoanalytical concepts such as repression, desire, id, and penis envy to formulate five questions that could help students to understand the poem using psychoanalytic theory. Here is the text of the poem: (POEM TEXT)
3. Can you write a thesis statement that makes an argument about this poem using Freud’s psychoanalytic approach?
4. What are some limitations of psychological criticism for literary texts?
5. Please read “Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost. Then apply Carl Jung’s theory of archetypes to develop five questions that college students in an English literature course can use to analyze the poem. Here is the poem: (POEM TEXT)
6. Can you create a short checklist of steps students should take when practicing psychological criticism in analyzing literary texts? The first step needs to be choosing a theoretical approach (such as Jung, Freud, etc.)

Model AI Essay

Prompts:

Gender Criticism

Gender Criticism (MAIN THREAD)

Prompts:

1. You are a helpful and interesting college English instructor teaching a literary analysis class. Write a short one paragraph summary of feminist literary criticism for an introductory textbook on literary criticism.
2. Thanks! Please do the same thing (one paragraph summary) for post-feminist criticism.
3. Please do the same thing (one paragraph summary) for Queer Theory.
4. Great! Can you provide a list of five approaches students can take when they use feminist criticism to analyze a literary text?
5. That’s great! Please do the same thing for post-feminist criticism.
6. Please do the same thing for Queer Theory.
7. What are some limitations of feminist theory as an approach to a literary text? Please provide a short answer (3-4 limitations).
8. Please do the same thing for post-feminist criticism. What are some limitations?
9. Please do the same thing for Queer Theory.
10. Thank you! I would like you to provide a short (4-5 paragraph) model essay for students that demonstrates how to use feminist criticism when analyzing a poem. I will share the poem’s text with you. It is “The Canonization” by English poet John Donne. Please include terminology that feminist critics would use such as feminism, patriarchy, misogyny, hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, internalized sexism, stereotypes, sex, gender, etc. Consider the role of women in 17th century England as part of your analysis. (TEXT OF THE POEM)
11. Please come up with a clever title for this essay.
12. Please do the same thing for post-feminist criticism. Include terms such as deconstruction, gender, binary, stereotype, discourse, politics, and representation. Also provide a title for the essay.
13. Please write a 4-5 paragraph essay about John Donne’s “The Canonization” using post-feminist criticism. Include terms such as deconstruction, gender, binary, stereotype, discourse, politics, and representation. Also provide a title for the essay.
14. Thank you. Please write a 4-5 paragraph essay about John Donne’s poem “The Canonization” using Queer Theory. Include terms such as heteronormativity, binary, cisgender, transgression, privileged, discourse, marginalization, social construct, and intersectionality. Also provide a title for the essay.
15. Who are some prominent feminist literary scholars?
16. Who are some prominent postfeminist literary scholars?
17. Who are some important Queer Theory literary scholars?

Ecocriticism

Ecocriticism Thread (ChatGPT 4)