What is reality, knowledge, and the meaning of life? Discover Plato's response to these bold questions in his "Allegory of the Cave" and explore this famous historical thinker's vision of an ideal society as he saw it within the context...

“It’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can become.” You’re never too old for Dr. Seuss and using The Sneetches and The Lorax is a great way to introduce readers to allegories, parables, and literary symbolism. The lessons...

Scholars demonstrate the ability to evaluate authors' use of literary elements such as metaphor, simile, personification, imagery, and onomatopoeia. They are provided with a checklist and must shop for poems that contain the poetry terms...

Yann Martel's Life of Pi is a complex novel, combining as it does elements of fantasy, philosophical questions, and religious references. Rather than using a whole-class discussion approach, the class is divided into book club circles....

Journey along with the narrator of a short, animated video who explains the political connections to be found in Dante's The Divine Comedy.

Wil Wheaton shares his rationale for why readers should vote for Frank Herbert's Dune as their choice for the Great American Read program. His talk touches on the major themes of the novel and its central conflicts.

Dune remains one of the most popular science fiction tales ever written. Find out why with a short video that argues for including Frank Herbert's tale of sandworms and Fremen, Mentats and witches, villains and heroes in the Great...

A great way to conclude a close study of a a complex text is with an assignment that asks readers to analyze the how an author combines various elements to construct a world view for readers to consider. The questions on a Gulliver's...

Lies, deceit, betrayal, criminality: these topics are just a few of the reasons that John Steinbeck's classic novel The Grapes of Wrath has captivated people since its 1939 publication. Scholars begin the lesson by reading background...

Allegiance is about more than being on the winning side. Aesop's "The Bats, the Birds, and the Beasts" presents the conundrum that occurs when a bat seeks to join the side of the victors, and learns the consequences of his inaction....

Have everything you need to know about the elements of poetry with a nine-page handout. Split into four categories—word sounds, meanings, arrangement, and imagery—budding poets may reference terms, read definitions, descriptions, and...

Terror, mystery, excitement. American writers of the 19th century, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Emily Dickinson, used these elements to create morally ambiguous tales that challenged the prevailing belief in...

Emily Dickinson's "Because I could not stop for Death" provides high schoolers with an opportunity to practice their critical thinking skills. They examine the images, diction, rhythm, and rhyme scheme the poet uses and consider how...

What would you say if someone told you that your dreams and goals are merely phantoms in your own mind? A video analysis of Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" from The Republic takes high schoolers through the famous metaphor, which likens...

Like Mark Twain's introduction to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz warns readers not to search for a hidden message or moral in his tale. Yet many, such as Henry Littlefield, have done just...

Most people have heard of Aesop's Fables, but who was Aesop and when did the fables actually get recorded? Teach your class all about Aesop and fables in general with the presentation before inviting them to examine several fables and...

Students research the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya and his use of fantasy and allegory in his artwork. After reading either classic or contemporary fantasy stories, they discuss how Goya might have illustrated the stories. Students...

Did you know that "Beelzebub" translated into English is "Lord of the Flies?" This is just one of the many interesting facts included in a 16-slide presentation about William Golding's Lord of the Flies. 

In the story Kids in a Booth, nicknames are important tools in the characterization of the people described. Encourage your readers to pay attention to details such as names and why an author might have chosen those names. Some...

Begin reading The Crucible and form a foundation for your study with this presentation. Arthur Miller and the historical background of McCarthyism are covered at the beginning, followed by short descriptions of all the characters in the...

Give your class some background information on both Nathaniel Hawthorne and his short story "Young Goodman Brown." Basic themes and characters are introduced, especially as this is an allegory with many symbolic elements. Help your...

Harriet Tubman developed a rich extended metaphor for slavery and the imperative for Lincoln to abolish it in this dictated letter from 1862. Young historians read the original document and interpret Tubman's allegory with a pair of...

Political cartoons are interesting and motivating, and they provide a great opportunity for critical informational analysis. This resource includes background information on the current credit crisis, a political cartoon, and three...

Young scholars examine how allegory is defined and used in the visual arts. They create a list of the arts, and list the objects, symbols, and figures that suggest each art category, analyze various paintings, and identify the...