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Poetry Guide
I like a look of Agony
by Emily Dickinson
The speaker of Emily Dickinson's "I like a look of Agony" finds a sense of comfort in seeing people in "agony." That's not necessarily because the speaker wants others to hurt, but because the spea...
Poetry Guide
Stars
by Sara Teasdale
"Stars" was written by the American poet Sara Teasdale and published in her 1926 collection Flame and Shadow. The poem's speaker, alone on a hill, gazes at the night sky and admires the beauty and ...
Poetry Guide
On Seeing the Elgin Marbles
by John Keats
"On Seeing the Elgin Marbles" is the English poet John Keats's reflection on art and mortality. In this sonnet, a speaker feels both awestruck and mournful at the sight of the Elgin Marbles, the gr...
Poetry Guide
I like a look of Agony
by Emily Dickinson
The speaker of Emily Dickinson's "I like a look of Agony" finds a sense of comfort in seeing people in "agony." That's not necessarily because the speaker wants others to hurt, but because the spea...
Poetry Guide
Stars
by Sara Teasdale
"Stars" was written by the American poet Sara Teasdale and published in her 1926 collection Flame and Shadow. The poem's speaker, alone on a hill, gazes at the night sky and admires the beauty and ...
Poetry Guide
On Seeing the Elgin Marbles
by John Keats
"On Seeing the Elgin Marbles" is the English poet John Keats's reflection on art and mortality. In this sonnet, a speaker feels both awestruck and mournful at the sight of the Elgin Marbles, the gr...
Lit Guide
The Lesson
by Toni Cade Bambara
“The Lesson” takes place in New York City in the mid-20th century and centers on a group of Black children from Harlem and their self-appointed teacher, Miss Moore, who is also Black. One of the ki...
Poetry Guide
I like a look of Agony
by Emily Dickinson
The speaker of Emily Dickinson's "I like a look of Agony" finds a sense of comfort in seeing people in "agony." That's not necessarily because the speaker wants others to hurt, but because the spea...
Poetry Guide
Stars
by Sara Teasdale
"Stars" was written by the American poet Sara Teasdale and published in her 1926 collection Flame and Shadow. The poem's speaker, alone on a hill, gazes at the night sky and admires the beauty and ...
Poetry Guide
On Seeing the Elgin Marbles
by John Keats
"On Seeing the Elgin Marbles" is the English poet John Keats's reflection on art and mortality. In this sonnet, a speaker feels both awestruck and mournful at the sight of the Elgin Marbles, the gr...
Lit Guide
The Lesson
by Toni Cade Bambara
“The Lesson” takes place in New York City in the mid-20th century and centers on a group of Black children from Harlem and their self-appointed teacher, Miss Moore, who is also Black. One of the ki...
Lit Guide
Of White Hairs and Cricket
by Rohinton Mistry
In the fictional Firozsha Baag apartment complex in Bombay, India, the narrator, a 14-year-old Parsi boy, has to pluck white hairs from his Daddy’s head every Sunday morning. As he does so, his fat...
Poetry Guide
The Soul has bandaged moments
by Emily Dickinson
"The Soul has bandaged moments" is one of American poet Emily Dickinson's many poems that explore, examine, and marvel at the human soul. Here, the soul is personified as a woman who lives a life o...
Lit Guide
The Caretaker
by Harold Pinter
Mick sits alone in a room filled with all kinds of clutter, including various kitchen appliances, two beds, and a Buddha statue, among other things. A bucket hangs from the ceiling to catch the wat...
Lit Guide
What Men Live By
by Leo Tolstoy
A poor Russian shoemaker named Semyon sets off to a nearby village to buy sheepskins for a new winter coat. He and his wife are so poor that they share one coat between them, and they have been sav...
Lit Guide
When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine
by Jhumpa Lahiri
Lilia reflects on the autumn of 1971, when she was 10 years old and living with her parents in a small suburb of Boston. During this time, a man named Mr. Pirzada would come to her family’s home ev...
Poetry Guide
Darkness
by Lord Byron
"Darkness" is Lord Byron's terrible tale of apocalypse and despair. In this narrative poem, a speaker dreams of a future in which the sun burns out and the whole world is left in darkness. Panickin...
Lit Guide
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed
by Jon Ronson
After a researcher at the University of Warwick created a spambot that splices and recycles content from journalist Jon Ronson’s Twitter to humiliating effect, Ronson sets out to investigate the in...
Lit Guide
Gimpel the Fool
by Isaac Bashevis Singer
As a child, Gimpel became known for being easy to fool, which is why his neighbors in Frampol call him “Gimpel the Fool.” He works at the local bakery, and his customers and all of the villagers ar...
Poetry Guide
A Martian Sends a Postcard Home
by Craig Raine
Craig Raine's "A Martian Sends a Postcard Home" is probably the best-known example of "Martian poetry," a British movement from the 1970s and 1980s. Its speaker, as the title suggests, is a Martian...
Poetry Guide
The Tropics in New York
by Claude McKay
"The Tropics in New York" is a poem by Jamaican-American writer Claude McKay, an important figure of the Harlem Renaissance, originally published in 1920 in the socialist magazine The Liberatore. I...
Poetry Guide
Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent’s Narrow Room
by William Wordsworth
“Nuns Fret Not At Their Convent’s Narrow Room” is a Petrarchan sonnet by the English poet William Wordsworth, first published in 1807 in a two-volume edition of Wordsworth's poetry. The poem's spea...
Lit Guide
Of White Hairs and Cricket
by Rohinton Mistry
In the fictional Firozsha Baag apartment complex in Bombay, India, the narrator, a 14-year-old Parsi boy, has to pluck white hairs from his Daddy’s head every Sunday morning. As he does so, his fat...
Poetry Guide
The Soul has bandaged moments
by Emily Dickinson
"The Soul has bandaged moments" is one of American poet Emily Dickinson's many poems that explore, examine, and marvel at the human soul. Here, the soul is personified as a woman who lives a life o...
Lit Guide
The Caretaker
by Harold Pinter
Mick sits alone in a room filled with all kinds of clutter, including various kitchen appliances, two beds, and a Buddha statue, among other things. A bucket hangs from the ceiling to catch the wat...
Lit Guide
What Men Live By
by Leo Tolstoy
A poor Russian shoemaker named Semyon sets off to a nearby village to buy sheepskins for a new winter coat. He and his wife are so poor that they share one coat between them, and they have been sav...
Lit Guide
When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine
by Jhumpa Lahiri
Lilia reflects on the autumn of 1971, when she was 10 years old and living with her parents in a small suburb of Boston. During this time, a man named Mr. Pirzada would come to her family’s home ev...
Poetry Guide
Darkness
by Lord Byron
"Darkness" is Lord Byron's terrible tale of apocalypse and despair. In this narrative poem, a speaker dreams of a future in which the sun burns out and the whole world is left in darkness. Panickin...
Lit Guide
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed
by Jon Ronson
After a researcher at the University of Warwick created a spambot that splices and recycles content from journalist Jon Ronson’s Twitter to humiliating effect, Ronson sets out to investigate the in...
Lit Guide
Gimpel the Fool
by Isaac Bashevis Singer
As a child, Gimpel became known for being easy to fool, which is why his neighbors in Frampol call him “Gimpel the Fool.” He works at the local bakery, and his customers and all of the villagers ar...
Poetry Guide
A Martian Sends a Postcard Home
by Craig Raine
Craig Raine's "A Martian Sends a Postcard Home" is probably the best-known example of "Martian poetry," a British movement from the 1970s and 1980s. Its speaker, as the title suggests, is a Martian...
Poetry Guide
The Tropics in New York
by Claude McKay
"The Tropics in New York" is a poem by Jamaican-American writer Claude McKay, an important figure of the Harlem Renaissance, originally published in 1920 in the socialist magazine The Liberatore. I...
Poetry Guide
Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent’s Narrow Room
by William Wordsworth
“Nuns Fret Not At Their Convent’s Narrow Room” is a Petrarchan sonnet by the English poet William Wordsworth, first published in 1807 in a two-volume edition of Wordsworth's poetry. The poem's spea...
Lit Guide
The Lesson
by Toni Cade Bambara
“The Lesson” takes place in New York City in the mid-20th century and centers on a group of Black children from Harlem and their self-appointed teacher, Miss Moore, who is also Black. One of the ki...
Lit Guide
Of White Hairs and Cricket
by Rohinton Mistry
In the fictional Firozsha Baag apartment complex in Bombay, India, the narrator, a 14-year-old Parsi boy, has to pluck white hairs from his Daddy’s head every Sunday morning. As he does so, his fat...
Poetry Guide
The Soul has bandaged moments
by Emily Dickinson
"The Soul has bandaged moments" is one of American poet Emily Dickinson's many poems that explore, examine, and marvel at the human soul. Here, the soul is personified as a woman who lives a life o...
Lit Guide
The Caretaker
by Harold Pinter
Mick sits alone in a room filled with all kinds of clutter, including various kitchen appliances, two beds, and a Buddha statue, among other things. A bucket hangs from the ceiling to catch the wat...
Lit Guide
What Men Live By
by Leo Tolstoy
A poor Russian shoemaker named Semyon sets off to a nearby village to buy sheepskins for a new winter coat. He and his wife are so poor that they share one coat between them, and they have been sav...
Lit Guide
When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine
by Jhumpa Lahiri
Lilia reflects on the autumn of 1971, when she was 10 years old and living with her parents in a small suburb of Boston. During this time, a man named Mr. Pirzada would come to her family’s home ev...
Poetry Guide
Darkness
by Lord Byron
"Darkness" is Lord Byron's terrible tale of apocalypse and despair. In this narrative poem, a speaker dreams of a future in which the sun burns out and the whole world is left in darkness. Panickin...
Lit Guide
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed
by Jon Ronson
After a researcher at the University of Warwick created a spambot that splices and recycles content from journalist Jon Ronson’s Twitter to humiliating effect, Ronson sets out to investigate the in...
Lit Guide
Gimpel the Fool
by Isaac Bashevis Singer
As a child, Gimpel became known for being easy to fool, which is why his neighbors in Frampol call him “Gimpel the Fool.” He works at the local bakery, and his customers and all of the villagers ar...
Poetry Guide
A Martian Sends a Postcard Home
by Craig Raine
Craig Raine's "A Martian Sends a Postcard Home" is probably the best-known example of "Martian poetry," a British movement from the 1970s and 1980s. Its speaker, as the title suggests, is a Martian...
Poetry Guide
The Tropics in New York
by Claude McKay
"The Tropics in New York" is a poem by Jamaican-American writer Claude McKay, an important figure of the Harlem Renaissance, originally published in 1920 in the socialist magazine The Liberatore. I...
Poetry Guide
Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent’s Narrow Room
by William Wordsworth
“Nuns Fret Not At Their Convent’s Narrow Room” is a Petrarchan sonnet by the English poet William Wordsworth, first published in 1807 in a two-volume edition of Wordsworth's poetry. The poem's spea...
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