ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
U.S. and World Literature Passage Videos
Play All
Contemplating one's life is key to fulfilled happiness. Thoreau's theme revolves around the simple life well lived. He clearly never tried virtual...
Thoreau was all about simplicity; anything that took away from his vision was the enemy. Mechanical aids were one of them. Guess he had to train a...
Thoreau uses "front" to mean "face". He wants to face The Facts of Life without shying away from our natural tendencies, roots, and the simply way...
What does "frittered away" mean in this context? Wasted. Wasted by the way. Thoreau claims we fritter away our lives praying to modern complex dist...
Thoreau moved to Walden - now what? He... ate only a few, simple meals. No 3 meals a day schedule for him. He wanted to diet complexity and calorie...
The "strongest answer" is a common question in readings like those on the SAT - the strongest is usually that which maps most directly to the theme...
Thoreau wants our lives to be simplified. He claims that we gain less from life when we over-complicate things.
How does Thoreau feel about commerce? He writes, "We don't ride upon the railroad; it rides upon us." He wants and end to the war fighting for the...
Railroad ranchor. Modern life damages human life. Metaphorically. We all sacrifice our lives to be part of The System which doesn't really mirror n...
Mark Twain doesn't like an apprentice. Find out why when you watch this SAT Reading video.
Why was Mark Twain drawn to the idea of a "steamboatman"? What this SAT Reading video to find out!
According to Mark Twain, working on a steam boat was the gig or all gigs and this SAT Reading video will tell you why.
Want to hunt for evidence? Solve this SAT Reading mystery to get the answer!
What does "Shock the bottom out of" mean? Mark Twain uses it in the SAT Reading passage.
What's not to like about greased up, oily hair? Mark Twain goes over it in his memoires in this SAT Reading video.
Swell - a term last found in 40s yearbooks when you didn't know what else to say...or was it? Find out in this SAT Reading video.
Did Mark Twain create the Fonzie before Happy Day? Watch this SAT Reading video to get the scoop!
This SAT Reading video goes over another aspect of why St. Looy was an intolerable apprentice in Mark Twain's memoires.
In this SAT Reading video some boys are pretty happy about a steamer explosion. Sound intriguing? Watch the video to find out more.
And we continue in this SAT Reading video to indulge Mark Twain's fetish for the Mississippi River.