Upgrade to LitCharts A+
Instant downloads of all 1629 LitChart PDFs.
LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does.
Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts.
The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of every Shakespeare play.
From the creators of SparkNotes, something better.
Literature
Guides Poetry
Guides Literary
Terms Shakespeare
Translations Citation
Generator
Literature Poetry Lit Terms Shakescleare
Everything you need for everything you read.
Use our guides to learn or teach any of the 2516 titles and topics we cover.
Browse Our Guides
Literature
Poetry
Literary Terms
Shakescleare
Recently added
Poetry Guide
Homecoming
by Langston Hughes
"Homecoming" is a short poem by the American poet Langston Hughes, a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance. The poem describes a homecoming that's anything but joyful: instead of returning to a ...
Poetry Guide
Music, When Soft Voices Die
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote "Music, When Soft Voices Die" in 1821. Comparing love to other beautiful experiences such as listening to music and smelling "sweet violets," th...
Poetry Guide
A Consumer's Report
by Peter Porter
"A Consumer's Report" appears in Peter Porter's collection The Last of England (1970). A parody of a consumer's response to a marketing survey, it offers the speaker's opinions on the "product" of ...
Poetry Guide
Homecoming
by Langston Hughes
"Homecoming" is a short poem by the American poet Langston Hughes, a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance. The poem describes a homecoming that's anything but joyful: instead of returning to a ...
Poetry Guide
Music, When Soft Voices Die
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote "Music, When Soft Voices Die" in 1821. Comparing love to other beautiful experiences such as listening to music and smelling "sweet violets," th...
Poetry Guide
A Consumer's Report
by Peter Porter
"A Consumer's Report" appears in Peter Porter's collection The Last of England (1970). A parody of a consumer's response to a marketing survey, it offers the speaker's opinions on the "product" of ...
Poetry Guide
Having a Coke with You
by Frank O'Hara
Frank O'Hara wrote "Having a Coke with You" in 1960 and later collected it in his 1965 volume Love Poems (Tentative Title). One of O'Hara's most famous love poems, it's addressed to an unnamed "you...
Poetry Guide
Homecoming
by Langston Hughes
"Homecoming" is a short poem by the American poet Langston Hughes, a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance. The poem describes a homecoming that's anything but joyful: instead of returning to a ...
Poetry Guide
Music, When Soft Voices Die
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote "Music, When Soft Voices Die" in 1821. Comparing love to other beautiful experiences such as listening to music and smelling "sweet violets," th...
Poetry Guide
A Consumer's Report
by Peter Porter
"A Consumer's Report" appears in Peter Porter's collection The Last of England (1970). A parody of a consumer's response to a marketing survey, it offers the speaker's opinions on the "product" of ...
Poetry Guide
Having a Coke with You
by Frank O'Hara
Frank O'Hara wrote "Having a Coke with You" in 1960 and later collected it in his 1965 volume Love Poems (Tentative Title). One of O'Hara's most famous love poems, it's addressed to an unnamed "you...
Lit Guide
Horses of the Night
by Margaret Laurence
When Vanessa is six years old, her cousin Chris, 15, comes to live in Manawaka in their Grandmother and Grandfather Connor’s “Brick House,” which is near where Vanessa lives with her mother, Beth, ...
Lit Guide
Hop-Frog
by Edgar Allan Poe
The narrator describes a king who lives only to joke. The king’s seven ministers are, like himself, committed jokers. They even resemble him physically—fat and oily. The narrator supposes that ther...
Lit Guide
The Ladies’ Paradise
by Émile Zola
Denise and her brothers, Pépé and Jean, arrive in Paris. Their father and mother have recently died, and they are going to stay with their uncle Baudu, who owns a drapery shop called the Vieil Elbe...
Lit Guide
The City We Became
by N. K. Jemisin
In a New York City café, Paolo is explaining to a homeless young Black graffiti artist (New York City’s avatar) that cities sometimes come alive and select one of their human residents to be their ...
Poetry Guide
Nature is what we see
by Emily Dickinson
The American poet Emily Dickinson wrote "Nature is what we see" around 1863. The poem praises the beauty and wonder of the natural world while also arguing that human beings lack the ability to ful...
Poetry Guide
Binsey Poplars
by Gerard Manley Hopkins
"Binsey Poplars" is Gerard Manley Hopkins's memorial for a row of riverside trees cut down in 1879. The poem's speaker—a voice for Hopkins himself—is appalled to discover that the "aspens" he loved...
Lit Guide
12 Rules for Life
by Jordan B. Peterson
Jordan Peterson begins by sharing the origin of 12 Rules for Life. The book started as a list of 12 sayings in response to a question on the website Quora: “What are the most valuable things everyo...
Lit Guide
Hamilton
by Lin-Manuel Miranda
The first song in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton follows Alexander Hamilton from his birth in the Caribbean through the loss of his mother, and then to his eventual arrival in New York. The ...
Poetry Guide
Once the World Was Perfect
by Joy Harjo
"Once the World Was Perfect" was written by former U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, and published in the 2015 collection Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings. The...
Poetry Guide
Requiem for the Croppies
by Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney's "Requiem for the Croppies" is based on the Battle of Vinegar Hill, a 1798 Irish uprising against British rule. The poem depicts the Irish rebels, nicknamed "Croppies" for their shor...
Poetry Guide
Five Bells
by Kenneth Slessor
"Five Bells" is Australian poet Kenneth Slessor's autobiographical reflection on grief, time, and memory. The poem's speaker can hardly believe that his friend Joe (who drowned in Sydney Harbor) is...
Lit Guide
Horses of the Night
by Margaret Laurence
When Vanessa is six years old, her cousin Chris, 15, comes to live in Manawaka in their Grandmother and Grandfather Connor’s “Brick House,” which is near where Vanessa lives with her mother, Beth, ...
Lit Guide
Hop-Frog
by Edgar Allan Poe
The narrator describes a king who lives only to joke. The king’s seven ministers are, like himself, committed jokers. They even resemble him physically—fat and oily. The narrator supposes that ther...
Lit Guide
The Ladies’ Paradise
by Émile Zola
Denise and her brothers, Pépé and Jean, arrive in Paris. Their father and mother have recently died, and they are going to stay with their uncle Baudu, who owns a drapery shop called the Vieil Elbe...
Lit Guide
The City We Became
by N. K. Jemisin
In a New York City café, Paolo is explaining to a homeless young Black graffiti artist (New York City’s avatar) that cities sometimes come alive and select one of their human residents to be their ...
Poetry Guide
Nature is what we see
by Emily Dickinson
The American poet Emily Dickinson wrote "Nature is what we see" around 1863. The poem praises the beauty and wonder of the natural world while also arguing that human beings lack the ability to ful...
Poetry Guide
Binsey Poplars
by Gerard Manley Hopkins
"Binsey Poplars" is Gerard Manley Hopkins's memorial for a row of riverside trees cut down in 1879. The poem's speaker—a voice for Hopkins himself—is appalled to discover that the "aspens" he loved...
Lit Guide
12 Rules for Life
by Jordan B. Peterson
Jordan Peterson begins by sharing the origin of 12 Rules for Life. The book started as a list of 12 sayings in response to a question on the website Quora: “What are the most valuable things everyo...
Lit Guide
Hamilton
by Lin-Manuel Miranda
The first song in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton follows Alexander Hamilton from his birth in the Caribbean through the loss of his mother, and then to his eventual arrival in New York. The ...
Poetry Guide
Once the World Was Perfect
by Joy Harjo
"Once the World Was Perfect" was written by former U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, and published in the 2015 collection Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings. The...
Poetry Guide
Requiem for the Croppies
by Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney's "Requiem for the Croppies" is based on the Battle of Vinegar Hill, a 1798 Irish uprising against British rule. The poem depicts the Irish rebels, nicknamed "Croppies" for their shor...
Poetry Guide
Five Bells
by Kenneth Slessor
"Five Bells" is Australian poet Kenneth Slessor's autobiographical reflection on grief, time, and memory. The poem's speaker can hardly believe that his friend Joe (who drowned in Sydney Harbor) is...
Poetry Guide
Having a Coke with You
by Frank O'Hara
Frank O'Hara wrote "Having a Coke with You" in 1960 and later collected it in his 1965 volume Love Poems (Tentative Title). One of O'Hara's most famous love poems, it's addressed to an unnamed "you...
Lit Guide
Horses of the Night
by Margaret Laurence
When Vanessa is six years old, her cousin Chris, 15, comes to live in Manawaka in their Grandmother and Grandfather Connor’s “Brick House,” which is near where Vanessa lives with her mother, Beth, ...
Lit Guide
Hop-Frog
by Edgar Allan Poe
The narrator describes a king who lives only to joke. The king’s seven ministers are, like himself, committed jokers. They even resemble him physically—fat and oily. The narrator supposes that ther...
Lit Guide
The Ladies’ Paradise
by Émile Zola
Denise and her brothers, Pépé and Jean, arrive in Paris. Their father and mother have recently died, and they are going to stay with their uncle Baudu, who owns a drapery shop called the Vieil Elbe...
Lit Guide
The City We Became
by N. K. Jemisin
In a New York City café, Paolo is explaining to a homeless young Black graffiti artist (New York City’s avatar) that cities sometimes come alive and select one of their human residents to be their ...
Poetry Guide
Nature is what we see
by Emily Dickinson
The American poet Emily Dickinson wrote "Nature is what we see" around 1863. The poem praises the beauty and wonder of the natural world while also arguing that human beings lack the ability to ful...
Poetry Guide
Binsey Poplars
by Gerard Manley Hopkins
"Binsey Poplars" is Gerard Manley Hopkins's memorial for a row of riverside trees cut down in 1879. The poem's speaker—a voice for Hopkins himself—is appalled to discover that the "aspens" he loved...
Lit Guide
12 Rules for Life
by Jordan B. Peterson
Jordan Peterson begins by sharing the origin of 12 Rules for Life. The book started as a list of 12 sayings in response to a question on the website Quora: “What are the most valuable things everyo...
Lit Guide
Hamilton
by Lin-Manuel Miranda
The first song in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton follows Alexander Hamilton from his birth in the Caribbean through the loss of his mother, and then to his eventual arrival in New York. The ...
Poetry Guide
Once the World Was Perfect
by Joy Harjo
"Once the World Was Perfect" was written by former U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, and published in the 2015 collection Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings. The...
Poetry Guide
Requiem for the Croppies
by Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney's "Requiem for the Croppies" is based on the Battle of Vinegar Hill, a 1798 Irish uprising against British rule. The poem depicts the Irish rebels, nicknamed "Croppies" for their shor...
Poetry Guide
Five Bells
by Kenneth Slessor
"Five Bells" is Australian poet Kenneth Slessor's autobiographical reflection on grief, time, and memory. The poem's speaker can hardly believe that his friend Joe (who drowned in Sydney Harbor) is...
Literature, Explained Better
A more helpful approach
Our guides use color and the interactivity of the web to make it easier to learn and teach literature.
Every title you need
Far beyond just the classics, LitCharts covers over 2000 texts read and studied worldwide, from Judy Blume to Nietzsche.
For every reader
Our approach makes literature accessible to everyone, from students at every level to teachers and book club readers.
More than 50 million students, teachers, parents, and readers use LitCharts.
1629
Literature guides
710
Poetry guides
136
Terms & devices guides
All 41
Shakespeare translations
Upgrade to LitCharts
Get LitCharts
Join over 150,000 LitCharts readers who have upgraded and get unlimited access to all content including:
Learn about A+
Home About Blog Contact Help
Copyright © 2022 All Rights Reserved
Terms Privacy GDPR