Literature

When I began researching my family tree, I found people who fought in the Civil War. Most documents shed very little light on life from 1861-1865 in America. So, I got interested in learning about life during the war. Below are 13 resources to help you get started on this journey.

The Mary Poppins books were written by Pamela Lyndon Travers. The magical nanny is very popular, but her character is very different in the books than in the famous "Mary Poppins" movie. The Disney movie "Saving Mr. Banks" offers a semifictionalized look at the life of P. L. Travers.

Saint Animal is a poem inspired by Chase Twichell's study of Zen Buddhism. Through her poetry she seeks to understand the inner workings of the natural world and her own place within the greater scheme of things. The poem is a shared experience, a stripped down honest meditation in the moment.

A poem about Monet the French impressionist painter who refused to have surgery on his cataracts when he was older. He argued for imaginative perception as opposed to scientific correction. Lisel Mueller captures the essence of the artist's vision in a free verse single stanza. Powerful imagery.

Get to know The Wife of Bath, one of the pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales. She is a strong willed woman, married five times and on the look out for number six! Never dull, she wants equality with men.

The speaker continues to lament his lot—that he now must suffer the pain of having transgressed against his higher nature earlier in his lifetime.

Whether or not one loves or hates the writing of Ernest Hemingway is never much of a consideration regarding his stature, as his stature as one of the finest of America's writers is cemented in history. The life of Earnest Hemingway was complex, and full of danger, intrigue, and adventure, just like his writing, the man was totally unique.

In "I measure every Grief I meet," the speaker examines the nature of human suffering. The poem is long by Dickinson standards, filling out a whopping ten quatrains.

The Borrowers is a children's book about tiny people living in secret in a house. They survive by collecting items owned by the big people in the house. Eventually their hiding place is discovered.

When I have fears that I may cease to be is a sonnet by romantic John Keats. The speaker is fearful of the nothingness that awaits him before he's had time to fulfil his potential as a poet and lover and gain fame. Iambic pentameter dominates. Full end rhyme, metaphor and other literary devices.

Didn't have time to read the novel? Read this comprehensive chapter-by-chapter plot summary instead. Contains the explanation of Carter's most important themes and features.

Freedom can mean different things to different people. The characters in Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye" each have very different ideas of what it means to be free.

Emily Dickinson's short poem, "A sepal, petal, and a thorn," consists of only one cinquain, but its five lines pack a prayerful punch into its deceptive shortness.

A look at two of fiction's greatest wizards. Gandalf and Saruman were central characters to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings saga.

The Beast in the Jungle, by Henry James is a poignant story about a man who is expecting a great event that never happens. He wastes his entire life awaiting this, and misses out on life as a result.

The Secret Garden is a story about a seemingly magical garden that has healing powers. The garden has been hidden for ten years when a young girl discovers it.