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Literature Videos
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we want? Not so much.
17th-Century Literature Videos 1 videos
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...
18th-Century Literature Videos 9 videos
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...
What was the Age of Enlightenment? It was a time of some major eye-opening. And not of the Clockwork Orange variety. An intellectual movement swept...
19th-Century Literature Videos 51 videos
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...
Harriet Jacobs' narrative gave Americans an unprecedented account of what it meant to be a fugitive of slavery. Check out this video for more about...
It may be the best of times for Chuck Darnay, but it's pretty much constantly the worst of times for Sydney. Poor guy.
20th-Century Literature Videos 7 videos
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.
21st-Century Literature Videos 16 videos
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...
American Literature Videos 215 videos
“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...
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?
¿Por que es el 'Gran' Gatsby tan gran? ¿Porque de su nombre peculiar? ¿Porque de el misterio que le rodea? Se ha discutido esta pregunta por muc...
Beowulf Videos 9 videos
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...
British Literature Videos 176 videos
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...
Charles Dickens Videos 20 videos
What famous Abbey was Dickens buried in? And no, it's not Downton...good try.
Here at Shmoop, we like to ask light-hearted, fun questions. Like, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? Do you know t...
What two topics did Dickens discuss the most? Our money is on the McRib and season three of Parks and Recreation.
Common Core Videos 2 videos
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...
Contemporary Literature Videos 18 videos
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...
Dracula Videos 16 videos
Dracula, Dorian Gray, and Bertha Mason are the cool kids on the block when it comes to Gothic literature. We’re in full favor of them starting a...
Mina must be a wonderful scrapbooker if she was able to put Dracula together using nothing more than letters, journals entries, and newspaper artic...
If phonographs could stump Dracula, one can only wonder what an iPhone would do to him. Or one could watch this video. It’s a lot faster than all...
Dystopian Literature Videos 33 videos
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...
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...
Early 20th-Century Literature Videos 47 videos
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...
Frankenstein Videos 17 videos
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...
Hero's Journey Videos 14 videos
Join us for part five of the Hero's Journey: The Collective Unconscious. Otherwise known as every slumber party, ever.
Join us for part seven of the Hero's Journey: The Initiation. We promise, there are no weird hazing rituals in this video.
Join us for part ten of the Hero's Journey: The Main Archetypes. Spoiler alert: there's always going to be one you hate.
Literary Topics Videos 221 videos
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...
Literature en Español Videos 3 videos
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...
Moby-Dick Videos 9 videos
Whoa, fifty different ways to say the word “whale” just in the Preface? Something tell us we’re in for a whale of a time. Yeah, we know, th...
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...
Queequeg. Cool name, but is he a cool guy? Guess you’ll have to check out the video to find out. Because surprisingly enough, Googling, “is Q...
Oedipus Videos 6 videos
Post-1945 Literature Videos 13 videos
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...
Quotes Videos 192 videos
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...
Shakespeare Videos 53 videos
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...
We're not sure if good ol' Shakespeare would endorse The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, but that's not going to stop us from hosting themed viewing...
Short Stories Videos 7 videos
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...
Southern Gothic, Kafka, and Moby-Dick Videos 10 videos
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...
Speak Videos 16 videos
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...
Test Prep Videos 223 videos
AP English Literature and Composition 1.4 Passage Drill 3. How is Burne's view of pacifism best characterized in lines 57 through 67?
Take a look at this shmoopy question and see if you can figure out which device the speaker employs the most.
He or she that answereth this question shall...answereth it. And hopefully feel kind of accomplished. Hit play and figure out the primary rhetorica...
The Bible Videos 27 videos
In the beginning, God created Shmoop. How else could we have been there to give you this first-hand account of everything that went down back then?
Paul's letters to the Ephesians and Colossians included all kinds of great stuff about loving Jesus and being kind and compassionate... The stuff a...
The Great Gatsby Videos 16 videos
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...
The Narrative of Frederick Douglass Videos 15 videos
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 Videos 11 videos
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...
Forget fireworks, setting off a flare pistol is the only way to go when it comes celebrating. On a completely unrelated note, does anyone know why...
Well, the world has ended, which is a total bummer. We didn’t even get a chance to sell our super valuable Beanie Baby collection. We hope you’...
Their Eyes Were Watching God Videos 10 videos
Free will vs. Predestination. One of the many interpretations for the title Their Eyes Were Watching God. We personally like, “Stop Staring at Me...
Their Eyes Were Watching God is about Janie’s coming of age story towards the path of self-discovery, just like Luke from Star Wars. Seriously, J...
Instead of being shoved into a cookie cutter mold, Janie breaks free and builds a gingerbread house of self-discovery and individuality. Great. N...
To Kill A Mockingbird Videos 15 videos
Were black people portrayed as stereotypes in To Kill A Mockingbird? Was Harper Lee trying to draw attention to the problems with stereotypes, or d...
Women's Literature Videos 37 videos
World Literature Videos 44 videos
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...