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Love potions are tricky business (not that we've ever tried using one, of course). They can make you fall in love with the wrong person…or, in th...

And you thought a nymph was a naturally lovely woodland creature. To be fair, so did we. But boy did Jonathan Swift prove us wrong.

We were so moved by Angelina Jolie's overseas adoptions that we created a proposal to bring foreign-born children over by the thousands! Think abou...

The Constitution of the United States is the highest law in the land: it's a written statement of the core principles of the American government. I...

How did Scrooge go from being naughty to nice so quickly, and why? (Hint: contrary to popular belief, it has nothing to do with the ghost of Santa...

What would YOU do if the heart of the person you buried under the floorboards started making noise? Only one way to find out... (Note: Shmoop does...

Meet the Lady of Shalott. Not to be confused with the Lady of Shallot, who is frequently in a pickle.

When you think about it, chess could be a metaphor for just about anything, really.

Brace yourselves, this one's going to get sad fast. Not all war stories are tales of heroism and saving privates named Ryan. 

If you think A Farewell to Arms is about some dude saying goodbye to his arms, you might want to check out this video. Plus, it's got a talking ice...

Who wants to read another story about a kid going off to boarding school? Apparently, pretty much everybody.

Sorry, guys: this novel doesn't follow the dramatic life events of pumpkin pie, nor does it explore what it truly means to be the mathematical cons...

We volunteer you as tribute to watch this video analysis of Katniss in the second book of the Hunger Games series. After the berry suicide attempt...

“Happy Hunger Games!” Or not. Katniss’s Hunger Games experiences left a not-so-happy effect on her. This video will prompt you to ponder if...

Who's really the crazy one in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest? Shmoop amongst yourselves.

Sure, Edgar Allan Poe was dark and moody and filled with teenage angst, but what else does he have in common with the Twilight series?

Old English is just English, right? Can’t be more difficult than reading Shakespeare, right? Hah. Yeah...no. Click on the video to find why tra...

Who is it about? Who told it? Who wrote it? Who are we? What’s the meaning of life? Do you know the Muffin Man? All these answers and more can be...

The characters in Beowulf knew the importance of bling. Watch the video to learn more about the place of material goods in the wonderful world of B...

"Come out, come out, wherever you are..." and watch this video about Stephen King's The Shining. After it's over, we may or may not axe you some qu...

Meet Charles Darnay, the nobleman who spends more time on trial and in prison than attending balls and drinking expensive wine. Don't feel too bad...

Written in Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, sometime between the 8th and 11th centuries, Beowulf is an epic poem that reflects the early medieval warri...

Brave New World is supposed be an exciting book about a negative utopia and the corrupt powers of authority. So where’s the big car chase? What's...

Was the marriage plot a bunch of folks who schemed and conned their way into marriage? Hit play to find out.

How did Americans and Brits feel about Dickens' comedy? Eh...let's just say it was the best of comedy, it was the worst of comedy. 

How has Dickens impacted culture today? We don't know about you, but we watch A Muppet's Christmas Carol every year, so...that's probably the answe...

Common Core 8th Grade 1.3 Reading Literary Texts. Which evidence from the text best supports the inference that Gorgons are dangerous?

Whale, whale, whale...what have we got here? Looks like a question about what Kipling was trying to achieve in "How the Whale Got His Throat." Fun...

Welcome...to The Road. Hope everyone remembered to bring their cannibal repellent.

Time to explore Sylvia Plath's "Daddy" and "Ariel." Those are both poems, by the way. We're not that interested in her actual dad, Otto. No offense...

What are the characteristics of post-war literature? What themes are explored in Maus? Is Maus about mice? Does anyone else feel like cheese right...

Vlad the Impaler was an appropriately named guy, until he went on tropical vacations. Then, he went by Vlad the Imtanner. For some facts that are a...

Readers may be already be familiar with Dracula, but what about the mathematician and author, Bram Stoker? And yes, he graduated with a degree in m...

Looks, wealth, and a super cool castle to live in… Well...maybe not live in, if you happened to be Dracula. But for the most part, this guy had...

Well, if this book doesn't make you want to tape over your laptop camera, we don't know what will.

Imagine a world in which all literature was dystopian. Okay, so we may be getting to that point, 1984 and V for Vendetta helped start it all.

By the end of this video, you will be brainwashed. There's nothing you can do about it; we just wanted to let you know. We like to think we're bigg...

You might be hearing a chorus of farewells if you recommend A Farewell to Arms as the next read for your Fabulously Feisty Feminist Book Club.

She was just a girl who found herself in some unimaginably awful circumstances. If you feel like gaining some valuable perspective on the drama in...

We’ll preface this video about Frankenstein’s preface by saying that Mary Shelley is an awesome woman, and she wants everybody to be aware. Che...

Is Victor Frankenstein a: Romantic Hero? b: Byronic Hero? c: Satanic Hero? d: Guitar Hero? All of the above (but maybe not D…) We don�...

What is Gothic Romanticism? It's when two goths fall in love. Duh. Wait, that’s not what it is? Oh. We should probably watch the video and figure...

Join us for part one of the Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell. We'll find out who he is, what he's responsible for, and if he has anything to do with...

Join us for part two of the Hero's Journey: The Three Stages. It'll be way less fun than watching the Three Stooges. 

Join us for part three of the Hero's Journey: Archetypes. Then, feel free to send us a letter about your favorite archetype, which we may or may no...

Dr. Seuss was a failure to start, but he soon learned to follow his heart. He wrote books about things that he knew, and soon enough, his book sale...

Sure, Edgar Allan Poe was dark and moody and filled with teenage angst, but what else does he have in common with the Twilight series?

Emily Dickinson was a New England poet/hermit with a fascination with death and immortality. She wrote over 1000 poems in her lifetime, most of the...

Si alguna vez te encuentras en una balsa flotando en el río Mississippi, usted va a querer hacer algo. Lectura clásico de Mark Twain, Las aventur...

Moby-Dick - una ballena extraña. Nuestro amigo capitán Ahab la había perseguido para años, pero no es el mejor lider en el mundo. Piensas que p...

The combination of religious and seafaring imagery in Moby-Dick is just like the peanut butter and the chocolate in a Reese's Cup––you can’t...

Nature: it’s the only path you can take to God without that whole pesky “death” thing.

Ishmael, Ahab, heck, even you, dear Shmooper, are all just part of some play created by fate. Check out the video to find out what part you’re pl...

A distraught and helpless Oedipus questions fate and free will when he discovers that he's killed his father and married his mother. 

Well, if this book doesn't make you want to tape over your laptop camera, we don't know what will.

By the end of this video, you will be brainwashed. There's nothing you can do about it; we just wanted to let you know. We like to think we're bigg...

This video summarizes the play A Raisin in the Sun. It discusses the Youngers, members of an African-American family trying to better themselves wh...

What does "All the world's a stage" mean? Well, it's talking about how all of life is... pretty much like a stage production. We wear costumes, pla...

Find out the meaning behind "And bring hither the fatted calf"

Find out the meaning behind "a fool's paradise."

Aren't midsummer night dreams the worst? You wake up all sweaty and gross, and for a minute there, you can't even remember where you are. And also,...

Love potions are tricky business (not that we've ever tried using one, of course). They can make you fall in love with the wrong person…or, in th...

What are the features that make a Shakespearean tragedy? Where do they show up in plays like Othello, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet? This video help...

This video defines symbolism and analyzes the use of symbolism in stories like The Great Gatsby and To Kill a Mockingbird. What effect do symbols h...

The micro setting: Enterprise. The macro setting: “Space, the Final Frontier!”

This video defines theme and investigates how it’s used in literature—is it intentional? In this video, we discuss the difference between theme...

Call me Shmoop...er, we mean, Ishmael. It’s time to catch a whale. ...Just kidding, we’ll read about it instead. The WWF told us we can’t d...

Ready for a horror story that isn’t about a bad hair day? Pick up a Southern Gothic novel like Moby-Dick or As I Lay Dying instead. Though now th...

Add half a cup of post-Civil War, a pinch of Reconstruction, a cup full of race issues, toss it in a Crock Pot called “The South,” and you’ve...

In High School we were usually told to "Make like a tree…" Melinda here has to make, like, a tree. Art stuff. We're painting with a broad-brush t...

AP English Literature and Composition 1.2 Passage Drill 4. As which of the following is the object being personified?

AP English Literature and Composition 1.4 Passage Drill 3. How is Burne's view of pacifism best characterized in lines 57 through 67?

AP English Literature and Composition 1.6 Passage Drill 5. Death is primarily characterized as what?

We're a little more interested in who Luke's father is ourselves...but we guess Luke is pretty important too. Check out this video to see what he c...

It's the roaring 20s. A time of wealth, partying, and a huge inequality gap. Fun, fun, and, uh...not-so-fun. Hit play to discover more about the se...

East Egg: East coast, old money, and ponies. Maybe unicorns. Those snotty East Eggers won’t tell us anything. West Egg: West coast, new money, an...

Gatsby’s a man who throws huge parties and still has zero friends. Maybe they’re all like...Tupperware parties or something. Check out the vide...

Frederick Douglass was an impassioned public speaker. So are we: we're impassioned about never speaking in public.

Why did Douglass write the book? Easy. Because TV wasn't a viable medium yet. 

When we see it at the movies, our eyes roll. But are we guilty of the same? Shmoop!: The Movie, a Shmoop production, written by Shmoop, starring Sh...

The Road is full of emptiness and nobody knows where they’re going. So make a note to self, Shmoopers: when the apocalypse hits, grab a GPS.

Always read The Road with a dictionary at hand, because you’re going to need it. Seriously. We’re not known to be perfidious (though we do have...

Hoo, boy. An apocalypse. What brought it on? Our money’s on that one guy with the hair leaving One Direction. No society can survive when it find...

Instead of being shoved into a cookie cutter mold, Janie breaks free and builds a gingerbread house of self-discovery and individuality. Great. N...

Janie doesn’t let gossip rule her life. Instead, she counteracts it by telling her own story. Hang on...that’s juicy. We need to tell somebod...

Free will vs. Predestination. One of the many interpretations for the title Their Eyes Were Watching God. We personally like, “Stop Staring at Me...

Time to learn about metaphors in To Kill A Mockingbird. Yup. We know how to get a party started. 

Folk tales are all about conveying a deeper meaning—no banjos required. Arabian Nights is one of the most famous collections, so get ready to lea...

In Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, Death narrates the story of one girl who lived during the Holocaust. Not surprisingly, it's kind of a downer—bu...

Crime and Punishment is all about a boy killing for money, literally, and then spending the rest of the book trying to hide it. Although the book c...