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Poetry Guide
I—Years—had been—from Home—
by Emily Dickinson
"I years had been from home" is American poet Emily Dickinson's reflection on change. Returning to a former "home" after long "years" away, the poem's speaker finds they can't even muster the coura...
Poetry Guide
Fog
by Carl Sandburg
"Fog" is a very short poem by the American poet Carl Sandburg, published in 1916 in Sandburg's first major poetry collection, Chicago Poems. In the poem, fog appears, settles over an unnamed city a...
Lit Guide
Riding the Bus with My Sister
by Rachel Simon
Riding the Bus with My Sister is writer Rachel Simon’s memoir about the year she dedicates to visiting and reconnecting with her sister Beth, who has a developmental disability and spends her days ...
Poetry Guide
I—Years—had been—from Home—
by Emily Dickinson
"I years had been from home" is American poet Emily Dickinson's reflection on change. Returning to a former "home" after long "years" away, the poem's speaker finds they can't even muster the coura...
Poetry Guide
Fog
by Carl Sandburg
"Fog" is a very short poem by the American poet Carl Sandburg, published in 1916 in Sandburg's first major poetry collection, Chicago Poems. In the poem, fog appears, settles over an unnamed city a...
Lit Guide
Riding the Bus with My Sister
by Rachel Simon
Riding the Bus with My Sister is writer Rachel Simon’s memoir about the year she dedicates to visiting and reconnecting with her sister Beth, who has a developmental disability and spends her days ...
Poetry Guide
Shirt
by Robert Pinsky
Robert Pinsky's "Shirt" traces the history of a shirt through its manufacturing processes, noting the hands that touched it at each stage of its production. In narrating the shirt's story, the spea...
Poetry Guide
I—Years—had been—from Home—
by Emily Dickinson
"I years had been from home" is American poet Emily Dickinson's reflection on change. Returning to a former "home" after long "years" away, the poem's speaker finds they can't even muster the coura...
Poetry Guide
Fog
by Carl Sandburg
"Fog" is a very short poem by the American poet Carl Sandburg, published in 1916 in Sandburg's first major poetry collection, Chicago Poems. In the poem, fog appears, settles over an unnamed city a...
Lit Guide
Riding the Bus with My Sister
by Rachel Simon
Riding the Bus with My Sister is writer Rachel Simon’s memoir about the year she dedicates to visiting and reconnecting with her sister Beth, who has a developmental disability and spends her days ...
Poetry Guide
Shirt
by Robert Pinsky
Robert Pinsky's "Shirt" traces the history of a shirt through its manufacturing processes, noting the hands that touched it at each stage of its production. In narrating the shirt's story, the spea...
Poetry Guide
The Pains of Sleep
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The English Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote "The Pains of Sleep" in 1803. The poem's speaker, a version of Coleridge himself, describes a series of agonizing nightmares and wonders why ...
Lit Guide
The Big Short
by Michael Lewis
Michael Lewis remembers what it was like to be a 24-year-old trader at the Wall Street investment bank Salomon Brothers. He thought that the culture there was ridiculous and unsustainable, so he se...
Lit Guide
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
by Thomas S. Kuhn
In the introduction, historian and philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn lays out a radically new conception of scientific discovery. Most people, raised on simplistic science textbooks, believe that ...
Lit Guide
When They Call You a Terrorist
by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele
Growing up poor and Black in Los Angeles County in the 1990s, Patrisse Khan-Cullors witnessed the violence of the war on drugs and war on gangs firsthand. Throughout her life, she heard Black leade...
Poetry Guide
The Rear-Guard
by Siegfried Sassoon
The British poet and World War I soldier Siegfried Sassoon wrote "The Rear-Guard" in 1917 and published it in the collection Counter-Attack, and Other Poems. The poem illustrates the horrors and ch...
Poetry Guide
Church Going
by Philip Larkin
First published in The Less Deceived in 1955, "Church Going" remains one of Philip Larkin's best-known poems. Its speaker casually visits an empty church, a place he views with skeptical irreverenc...
Poetry Guide
The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church
by Robert Browning
"The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church" is one of Robert Browning's dramatic monologues (poems written in the voice of a character, like speeches from a play). The speaker here is a c...
Poetry Guide
No Man Is an Island
by John Donne
John Donne's "No Man is an Island" is about the connection between all of humankind. Donne essentially argues that people need each other and are better together than they are in isolation, because...
Poetry Guide
This Is Not a Small Voice
by Sonia Sanchez
"This Is Not a Small Voice" is a poem by writer and activist Sonia Sanchez, published in her 1995 collection Wounded in the House of a Friend. The poem celebrates the power of Black individuals and...
Lit Guide
Chains
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Thirteen-year-old Isabel and her five-year-old sister, Ruth, are enslaved—but Isabel believes they’ll be free, since the girls’ owner, Miss Mary Finch, has just died. Miss Finch stipulated in her w...
Poetry Guide
My Country
by Dorothea Mackellar
"My Country" is a patriotic poem by Australian writer Dorothea Mackellar. Inspired by a conversation Mackellar with a friend after the two had visited England, the poem praises the vast, rugged spl...
Poetry Guide
The Pains of Sleep
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The English Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote "The Pains of Sleep" in 1803. The poem's speaker, a version of Coleridge himself, describes a series of agonizing nightmares and wonders why ...
Lit Guide
The Big Short
by Michael Lewis
Michael Lewis remembers what it was like to be a 24-year-old trader at the Wall Street investment bank Salomon Brothers. He thought that the culture there was ridiculous and unsustainable, so he se...
Lit Guide
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
by Thomas S. Kuhn
In the introduction, historian and philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn lays out a radically new conception of scientific discovery. Most people, raised on simplistic science textbooks, believe that ...
Lit Guide
When They Call You a Terrorist
by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele
Growing up poor and Black in Los Angeles County in the 1990s, Patrisse Khan-Cullors witnessed the violence of the war on drugs and war on gangs firsthand. Throughout her life, she heard Black leade...
Poetry Guide
The Rear-Guard
by Siegfried Sassoon
The British poet and World War I soldier Siegfried Sassoon wrote "The Rear-Guard" in 1917 and published it in the collection Counter-Attack, and Other Poems. The poem illustrates the horrors and ch...
Poetry Guide
Church Going
by Philip Larkin
First published in The Less Deceived in 1955, "Church Going" remains one of Philip Larkin's best-known poems. Its speaker casually visits an empty church, a place he views with skeptical irreverenc...
Poetry Guide
The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church
by Robert Browning
"The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church" is one of Robert Browning's dramatic monologues (poems written in the voice of a character, like speeches from a play). The speaker here is a c...
Poetry Guide
No Man Is an Island
by John Donne
John Donne's "No Man is an Island" is about the connection between all of humankind. Donne essentially argues that people need each other and are better together than they are in isolation, because...
Poetry Guide
This Is Not a Small Voice
by Sonia Sanchez
"This Is Not a Small Voice" is a poem by writer and activist Sonia Sanchez, published in her 1995 collection Wounded in the House of a Friend. The poem celebrates the power of Black individuals and...
Lit Guide
Chains
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Thirteen-year-old Isabel and her five-year-old sister, Ruth, are enslaved—but Isabel believes they’ll be free, since the girls’ owner, Miss Mary Finch, has just died. Miss Finch stipulated in her w...
Poetry Guide
My Country
by Dorothea Mackellar
"My Country" is a patriotic poem by Australian writer Dorothea Mackellar. Inspired by a conversation Mackellar with a friend after the two had visited England, the poem praises the vast, rugged spl...
Poetry Guide
Shirt
by Robert Pinsky
Robert Pinsky's "Shirt" traces the history of a shirt through its manufacturing processes, noting the hands that touched it at each stage of its production. In narrating the shirt's story, the spea...
Poetry Guide
The Pains of Sleep
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The English Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote "The Pains of Sleep" in 1803. The poem's speaker, a version of Coleridge himself, describes a series of agonizing nightmares and wonders why ...
Lit Guide
The Big Short
by Michael Lewis
Michael Lewis remembers what it was like to be a 24-year-old trader at the Wall Street investment bank Salomon Brothers. He thought that the culture there was ridiculous and unsustainable, so he se...
Lit Guide
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
by Thomas S. Kuhn
In the introduction, historian and philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn lays out a radically new conception of scientific discovery. Most people, raised on simplistic science textbooks, believe that ...
Lit Guide
When They Call You a Terrorist
by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele
Growing up poor and Black in Los Angeles County in the 1990s, Patrisse Khan-Cullors witnessed the violence of the war on drugs and war on gangs firsthand. Throughout her life, she heard Black leade...
Poetry Guide
The Rear-Guard
by Siegfried Sassoon
The British poet and World War I soldier Siegfried Sassoon wrote "The Rear-Guard" in 1917 and published it in the collection Counter-Attack, and Other Poems. The poem illustrates the horrors and ch...
Poetry Guide
Church Going
by Philip Larkin
First published in The Less Deceived in 1955, "Church Going" remains one of Philip Larkin's best-known poems. Its speaker casually visits an empty church, a place he views with skeptical irreverenc...
Poetry Guide
The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church
by Robert Browning
"The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church" is one of Robert Browning's dramatic monologues (poems written in the voice of a character, like speeches from a play). The speaker here is a c...
Poetry Guide
No Man Is an Island
by John Donne
John Donne's "No Man is an Island" is about the connection between all of humankind. Donne essentially argues that people need each other and are better together than they are in isolation, because...
Poetry Guide
This Is Not a Small Voice
by Sonia Sanchez
"This Is Not a Small Voice" is a poem by writer and activist Sonia Sanchez, published in her 1995 collection Wounded in the House of a Friend. The poem celebrates the power of Black individuals and...
Lit Guide
Chains
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Thirteen-year-old Isabel and her five-year-old sister, Ruth, are enslaved—but Isabel believes they’ll be free, since the girls’ owner, Miss Mary Finch, has just died. Miss Finch stipulated in her w...
Poetry Guide
My Country
by Dorothea Mackellar
"My Country" is a patriotic poem by Australian writer Dorothea Mackellar. Inspired by a conversation Mackellar with a friend after the two had visited England, the poem praises the vast, rugged spl...
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