University of Illinois
University of Illinois: Modern American Poetry: Emily Dickinson (1830 1886)
A collection of critical reviews of 16 of Emily Dickinson's poems. Most poems are analyzed by multiple critics. In addition, there are two biographical sketches, and essays examining her use of the dash and her lack of titles.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
"In this unit, students explore the artistry that helped make Irving our nation's first literary master and ponder the mystery that now haunts every Halloween -- What happened to Ichabod Crane?"
BBC
Bbc: Gcse Bitesize: "Much Ado About Nothing"
A detailed synopsis and assessment of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing", made specifically for students preparing for the GCSE test. Site includes links to context, plot, character, dramatic effect, themes and language. With sample...
BBC
Bbc: Gcse Bitesize: "The Merchant of Venice"
An independent review/assessment for students of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice". This site takes students through the details of context, plot, themes, characters, and dramatic effect in the play. Made for students preparing to...
Other
The Poe Decoder: "Fall of the House of Usher"
Site from The Poe Decoder offers a link to the complete text of "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe, along with criticisms and essays about themes, imagery, character analysis and more.
Bartleby
Bartleby.com: Early English Comedy
Substantive essay on John Heywood's three most famous medieval interludes. Gives summary information, historical background, and literary analysis.
Lumen Learning
Lumen: Introduction to Writing About Literature
This is an introduction to writing about literature; it includes a list of learning objectives for writing about literature including finding and using historical sources to discuss the historical context, finding and using literary...
Department of Defense
Do Dea: Thinking Skills
In this self-guided course, you will be looking at several pieces of literature in many different forms. This unit will teach you some principles of thinking and learning and how to use basic literary terms in the analysis of literature....
Virginia Tech
Some Observations About Hawthorne's Women
A somewhat Freudian look at Hawthorne's characters, this critical essay includes source references.
CommonLit
Common Lit: Units: 12th Grade: Thematic Unit: Morality
This is a complete teaching unit for 12th Grade Thematic Unit: "Morality." In this unit, 12th graders will read eight texts that speak to the theme of morality. Students will revisit the essential question "How do we evaluate what's...
University of Illinois
University of Illinois: Modern American poetry:(h.d.)hilda Doolittle (1886 1961)
The Modern American Poetry site features an essay about H. D.?s (1886-1961 CE) life and career, selected criticism, and links to related sites.
Other
Interacting Texts Directed Activities Related to Texts (Darts)
Want to improve your students' reading skills? This is a good place to find the types of directed activities, using a definition text, reconstruction/analysis activities, and advantages of using DARTs.
University of Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin: Writing Center: How to Write a Review of Literature
This site explores the writing of an analytical essay in terms of a review of literature. The site provides guidelines for students to follow when writing the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. It also offers links to useful...
Shakespeare Online
Shakespeare Online
A wealth of information and analysis of Shakespeare's plays, background, themes, and other topics of interest to those students of Shakespeare. The site also offers the complete texts of all of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets, quotations...
National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts: The Big Read: The Great Gatsby
Guide to F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, with historical information about the novel's Jazz Age setting, an author biography, and access to a radio program (audio plus transcript) of excerpts from the novel and analysis of its...
Lumen Learning
Lumen: Romanticism: "Self Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Self-Reliance" is an essay written by American transcendentalist philosopher and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains the most thorough statement of one of Emerson's recurrent themes, the need for each individual to avoid...
University of California
History Project: The Pullman Strike of 1894
Given background information and primary source documents, students will write an essay describing the events of the Pullman Strike of 1894 organized around a theme.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Modeling Academic Writing
Students prepare an already published scholarly article for presentation, with an emphasis on identification of the author's thesis and argument structure.
Yale University
Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: A Raisin in the Sun
This site features discussion questions to go along with each scene of the play "A Raisin in the Sun," by Lorraine Hansberry. Students will gain a broader perspective of Hansberry's work when they visit this site.