本书多年从事英语文学教学与学习的心得体会；目的在于，在对西方批评理论的分析与比较的基础上，通过具体作品的分析，使读者能增加对文学作品的敏感度，不再对文学作品像雾里看花般不知所云。但本书也并不仅仅是重复某**派的观点，或是用一种理论标准去衡量文学作品是否达到要求。希望读者朋友在看过本书后，能尽量学习各家观点，借他山之石，借鉴前人成果，在此基础上，更接近作者，形成自己对文学作品更全面、更客观的分析与评论。本书分三大部分：对自古希腊以来的西方文学批评传统，尤其是20世纪以来一些具有影响的批评流派进行了分析与回顾；分别从传统和现代两个角度围绕马韦尔的诗歌《至羞涩情人》和莎士比亚的戏剧《哈姆雷特》进行了分析，让学生学习如何分析文学；在第三部分，作者尝试将各种理论角度综合在一起，尤其是借鉴了一些语言学领域的研究成果，从不能角度对同一部作品进行深入分析。

Way to Wittiness
Part One Theoretical Review
Chapter 1 A Review of Western Tradition of Criticism
1.1 Greek&Roman Criticism
1.2 Criticism in the 17th and 18th Centuries
1.3 Criticism in the 19th Century
1.4 Criticism in the 20th Century
Chapter 2 Some Prevailing Approaches
2.1 Traditional Approaches
2.2 New Criticism
2.3 The Linguistic Approaches
2.4 Structuralist Criticism
2.5 Stylistic Approach
2.6 The Rhetorical Approach
2.7 Feminist Criticism
Part Two Approaches in Practice
Chapter 3 Analysis of "To His Coy Mistress"
3.1 Traditional Approaches
3.1.1 The Genre of the Poem
3.1.2 Historical Biographical Considerations
3.1.3 Moral-Philosophical Considerations
3.2 The Exponential Approach in "To His Coy Mistress"
3.2.1 From Verbal Pattern to Philosophic Concerns
3.2.2 The Conceptualization of Time in To His Coy Mistress
3.2.3 Use of Sound in "To His Coy Mistress"
3.2.4 Sexual Imagery in "To His Coy Mistress"
Chapter 4 Analysis of "Hamlet"
4.1 Traditional Approaches to Hamlet
4.1.1 The Text of the Play
4.1.2 A Summary of the Play
4.1.3 Historical Bibliographical Considerations
4.1.4 Moral Philosophical Considerations
4.2 Exponents in Hamlet
4.2.1 From Recurrent Symbol to "Felt Life"
4.2.2 Traps and the Motif of Love
4.2.3 Traps and the Motif of Reason, Madness, and Brutishness
4.2.4 Traps and the Motif of Thought and Action
4.2.5 Traps and the Dilemmas of Religion and Culture
Part Three Analysis under Co-influence of both Tradition and Exponents
Appendix1
Appendix2
Bibliography