ShmoopTube

"Nothing cared I that time would take me": the famous words of Dylan Thomas in his poem "Fern Hill." In this poem, the speaker fights age and aims...

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is about a young blacksmith boy (Pip) and his two dreams: becoming a gentleman and marrying the beautiful Est...

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" is like one long drug trip. Don't try this at home.

This video summarizes the Shakespearean play Macbeth. Two major forces are at play in the story: witches’ prophecies and Macbeth’s demanding wi...

"The Telltale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe is the epitome of creepy. (We know we could say that about all of EAP's stories, but it's especially true f...

In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," Louise Mallard has a rather peculiar response to the news of her husband's death: instead of mourning for...

Prepare for total tragedy.

We wish the Tralfamadorians were as fun as they sound. But unfortunately, they're your garden variety kidnap-humans-and-torture-them type of alien.

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...

Trying to live up to expectations can be stressful. Watching someone else struggle with it, though? That's just fine.