Newest Study Guides

The Wild Iris is a collection of poems published in 1992 by American poet Louise Glück. Considered to be among the most talented American contemporary poets, Glück is known for her technical mastery, the distinct voices in her poems, and her...

The Echo Maker is a novel by American author Richard Powers. The story revolves around a man named Mark Schluter, who develops a neurological condition after being in a bad car accident.

Set in Nebraska, the novel begins after Mark's accident....

"Afternoon with Irish Cows" first appeared in Billy Collins' fourth poetry collection Picnic, Lightning (1998). Notably, the original cover of the collection depicts an open, gold-colored field with animals grazing, which visually captures the...

The Magic Finger is a children's novel written by British author Roald Dahl. It follows the adventures of a young girl who possesses magical abilities.

An unnamed young girl, the story's narrator, is born on a small farm in the English...

The Prophets (2021) is a work of historical fiction set in the antebellum American Deep South on the Halifax plantation—called Empty by the enslaved men and women who work there day and night. In his debut novel, Robert Jones, Jr. imagines a love...

Langston Hughes’s “Aunt Sue’s Stories” is a free-verse poem about a young black boy who finds comfort in the stories that his Aunt Sue tells him. Aunt Sue’s enchanting voice and somber tone give the child a vivid sense of the life experiences that...

"In the Waiting Room" is a poem by the American poet Elizabeth Bishop, written in 1976. This makes it one of Bishop's later works, written not long before her death in 1979. The poem is written from the point of view of a girl of six, accompanying...

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) was an English writer who is best remembered today for his stark poetry documenting the horrors of World War I. He drew from his own experiences in the trenches, having fought with the Royal Welch Fusiliers on the...

In 1987, a large storm hit England’s southern coast, where the poet Grace Nichols was living. This inspired her to write the poem “Hurricane Hits England,” in which a powerful storm sparks an epiphany for an unnamed speaker. Nichols characterizes...

Published in 1986 in Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's native language, Gĩkũyũ, Matigari ma Njiruungi follows the story of a mythologized revolutionary who survives a revolution in an unnamed country. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o wrote Matigari largely in exile in a...

Kamala Markandaya's Nectar In A Sieve is a 1954 novel about a family of Hindu farmers living in a remote Indian village over several decades in the first half of the twentieth century. During a period of urbanization, the family navigates...

Siegfried Sassoon was a British writer and poet whose work challenged common patriotic conceptions about World War One. "The Rear-Guard," published in Sassoon's 1918 collection Counter-Attack and Other Poems, follows a soldier making his way along...

Demon Copperhead is a 2022 novel by American author Barbara Kingsolver. It tells the story of a young boy who grows up in rural Appalachia, navigating numerous difficulties. Kingsolver has said it is a modern, Southern retelling of Charles Dickens...

Siegfried Sassoon was a British poet and novelist, best known for his antiwar poetry published after serving as a soldier in the First World War. "Attack," first published in 1918 in the collection Counter-Attack and Other Poems, gives a harrowing...

Siegfried Sassoon was a British poet and novelist who is best known today for his angry, satirical, and compassionate poems concerning the horrors of World War I. "Suicide In The Trenches," published in 1918 in a collection of poems called ...

Margaret Atwood's The Heart Goes Last (2015) is a dystopian novel about a desperate couple who sign away their freedom in exchange for the safety and comfort offered by an experimental walled community.

When a financial crash devastates the Rust...

Siegfried Sassoon was a British writer and poet who is remembered today for his angry, satirical, and compassionate poems concerning the horrors of World War I. "The Death Bed," published in the 1917 collection The Old Huntsman and Other Poems, ...

"Love Calls Us to the Things of This World" was published in Richard Wilbur's 1956 collection Things of This World, and part of its title forms the title of that volume. It has been, as critics have noted, much anthologized—that is, included in...

Siegfried Sassoon was a British poet and novelist who is best known today for his angry, satirical, and compassionate poems concerning the horrors of World War One. "Base Details," written in the poet's diary in 1917 and published in the...

Jurek Becker first imagined Jacob the Liar as a screenplay, "Jakob der Lügner," in 1965, intended for production by the East German state-sponsored film studio, Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA). However, DEFA rejected "Jakob der Lügner"...

Published in 1405, Christine de Pizan’s The Book of the City of Ladies is considered a landmark text for feminist rights. Structured as an allegory in which three ladies depicting Reason, Justice, and Rectitude call upon the author while in her...

An Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamel Andrews, or better known simply as Shamela, is a satirical novel published in 1741. Published by Conny Keyber, it is believed that the writer is Henry Fielding and that he published the novel under a pen...

Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man is a novel by Indian author U.R. Ananthamurthy, first published in 1965. The book tells the story of a man from India's highest social class who dies unexpectedly, thereby creating an internal conflict in his town.

Imtiaz Dharker is a poet, artist, and filmmaker whose work traverses the borders of Pakistan, her country of origin, and her adopted countries of India and the UK. "The right word,” originally published in Dharker's 2006 collection The terrorist...