TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How to make a sad story funny | Jodie Houlston-Lau
It may seem counterintuitive, but comedy is often key to a serious story. As a writer, you need your audience to experience a range of emotions, no matter what your genre. Comic relief is a tried-and-true way of creating the varied...
PBS
Is Twitter the Newest Form of Literature?
Everyone is familiar with Twitter, the uber-popular micro-blogging site, which limits the user to 140 characters. The tweet is perfect for sharing your favorite links and updating the world about your life, but it might also be the...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Did Ancient Troy really exist? - Einav Zamir Dembin
When Homer's Iliad was first written down in the eighth century BCE, the story of the Trojan war was already an old one. From existing oral tradition, audiences knew the tales of the long siege, the duels outside the city walls, and the...
Crash Course
The Yellow Wallpaper: Crash Course Literature 407
Today on Crash Course Literature, John Green teaches you about The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The Yellow Wallpaper tells the story of a woman who is a prisoner in her own home, in the name of caring for her mental...
Crash Course
The Handmaid's Tale, Part 1: Crash Course Literature 403
In which John Green teaches you about Margaret Atwood's speculative fiction novel, The Handmaid's Tale. John looks at some of the themes in this classic dystopian novel, many of which are kind of a downer. The world of Gilead that Atwood...
Crash Course
George Orwell's 1984, Part 2: Crash Course Literature 402
In which John Green continues discussing George Orwell's 1984. Today we're talking about what the novel 1984 has to say about what some have called today's surveillance society. We'll also look at the idea that language can be used as a...
Crash Course
If One Finger Brought Oil - Things Fall Apart part I: Crash Course Literature 208
In which John Green teaches you about Chinua Achebe's 1958 novel, Things Fall Apart. You'll learn about Igboland, a region in modern day Nigeria, prior to the arrival of the British Empire. Achebe tells the story of Okonkwo, an Igbo...
Crash Course
Darwin and Natural Selection: Crash Course History of Science
"Survival of the Fittest" sounds like a great WWE show but today we're talking about that phrase as it relates to Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace. Darwin and Wallace are at the heart of understanding evolution and natural selection....
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why should you read James Joyce's "Ulysses"? - Sam Slote
James Joyce's "Ulysses" is widely considered to be both a literary masterpiece and one of the hardest works of literature to read. It inspires such devotion that once a year, thousands of people all over the world dress up like the...
Crash Course
1984 by George Orwell, Part 1: Crash Course Literature 401
In which John Green returns for a dystopian new season of Crash Course Literature! We're starting with George Orwell's classic look at the totalitarian state that could be in post-war England. Winston Smith is under the eye of Big...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why should you read "The Handmaid's Tale"? - Naomi R. Mercer
Margaret Atwood's speculative fiction masterpiece The Handmaid's Tale explores the consequences of complacency and how power can be wielded unfairly. Atwood's chilling vision of a dystopian regime has captured readers' imaginations since...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The myth of Icarus and Daedalus - Amy Adkins
In mythological ancient Greece, Icarus flew above Crete on wings made from wax and feathers, defying the laws of man and nature. To witnesses on the ground, he looked like a god, and he felt like one too. But, in his society, the line...
Crash Course
Their Eyes Were Watching God: Crash Course Literature 301
In which John Green reads Zora Neale Hurston's novel, "Their Eyes Were Watching God," and talks to you about it. You'll learn about Zora Neale Hurston's life, and we'll also look at how the interpretations of the book have changed over...
TED Talks
TED: Two nerdy obsessions meet -- and it's magic | David Kwong
David Kwong is a magician who makes crossword puzzles -- in other words, a pretty nerdy guy. And for his next trick ...
Crash Course
Reader, it's Jane Eyre - Crash Course Literature 207
In which John Green teaches you about Charlotte Bronte's classic coming of age novel, Jane Eyre. Look, we don't like to make judgement values here, but Jane Eyre is awesome. By which we mean the book is great, and the character is...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Become a slam poet in five steps - Gayle Danley
With enough passion and practice, becoming a slam poet is within your reach. Explore a distant memory on paper, then read it out loud. Edit. Try reading it out loud again, and add your finishing touches. Gayle Danley offers five steps to...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The science behind the myth: Homer's "Odyssey" - Matt Kaplan
Homer's "Odyssey" recounts the adventures of the Greek hero Odysseus during his journey home from the Trojan War. Though some parts may be based on real events, the encounters with monsters, giants and magicians are considered to be...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why should you read “Fahrenheit 451”? - Iseult Gillespie
Ray Bradbury’s novel imagines a world where books are banned- and possessing, let alone reading them, is forbidden.The protagonist, Montag, is a fireman responsible for destroying what remains. The story raises the question: how can you...
Crash Course
Race, Class, and Gender in To Kill a Mockingbird: Crash Course Literature 211
In which John Green teaches you MORE about To Kill a Mockingbird. In this installment, John teaches you about race, class, and gender in the American south, as seen through the eyes of Scout and Harper Lee. John will talk about how Scout...
Crash Course
Langston Hughes & the Harlem Renaissance: Crash Course Literature 215
In which John Green teaches you about the poetry of Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes was a poet and playwright in the first half of the 20th century, and he was involved in the Harlem Renaissance, which was a cultural movement among...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why should you read "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding? | Jill Dash
After witnessing the atrocities of his fellow man in World War II, William Golding was losing his faith in humanity. Later, during the Cold War, as superpowers began threatening one another with nuclear annihilation, he was forced to...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Romance and revolution: the poetry of Pablo Neruda - Ilan Stavans
Get to know Pablo Neruda, one of the most celebrated poets of the 20th century and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. -- A romantic and a revolutionary, Pablo Neruda was one of the most celebrated poets of the 20th century, but...
TED Talks
TED: An honest history of an ancient and "nasty" word | Kate Lister
With candor and cunning, sex historian Kate Lister chronicles the curious journey of an ancient, honest word with innocent origins and a now-scandalous connotation in this uproarious love letter to etymology, queens, cows and all things...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The battle of the Greek tragedies - Melanie Sirof
The world of modern theater owes its roots to the tragedians of Ancient Greece. As far back as the 5th Century BCE, actors and playwrights were entertaining the masses with intriguing stories. Melanie Sirof unveils the ancient theatrical...