| Interpreting Literature |
| Literary Criticism and Interpretation |
| | Elements of Fictional Stories
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| | In the same way that a painter uses shape, color, perspective, and other aspects of visual art to create a painting, a fiction writer uses character, setting, plot, point of view, theme, and various kinds of symbolism and language to create artistic effect in fiction. Learn all about these elements at this great site! |
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| | Understanding Cultural Contexts
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| | Understanding the cultural context of a story can often help our understanding of some aspect of the story itself. The social, political, and economic currents surrounding a writer can, and usually do, affect the writer`s literary creation. Learn more at this site! |
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| | Elements of Literature
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| | A nice overview of the following topics: Elements of Literature | Elements of Drama | Elements of Fiction |
| Elements of Historical Fiction| Literary Terms and Definitions | Points of View. |
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| | ELLSA - American Literary Classics
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| | An amazing site that provides self-study guides to the following stories: The Green Door, The Last Leaf, The Open Boat, To Build a Fire. |
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| | ELLSA - Tales of Mood and Mystery
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| | An amazing site that provides self-study guides to the following stories: The Cask of Amontillado, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, A Pillar of Salt, and Molokini. |
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| | What Makes a Good Short Story
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| | Like a great journey, literature can show you things you have never seen before and will never forget. Join our journey through a classic short story, A Jury of Her Peers, by Susan Glaspell. Along the way, you will solve the mystery of whether Minnie Wright killed her husband and explore the storys literary elements. |
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| | The Red Badge of Courage
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| | A hypertext analysis of the great novel by Stephen Crane. |
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| | Analyzing Mythology
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| | What is mythology? Learn about this literary genre, and find out what to look for when reading myths! |
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| | Shakespeare for Kids - Folger Museum
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| | A great collection of resources and activities for kids in grades 2-8! Learn about the Bard, his plays, his poetry, and much more! |
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| | Plot, Character and Setting
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| | A novel is made up of a number of characters, a setting and a number of themes. The element that makes a story into a plot is the interaction of the characters with the story and with each other. Learn more at this great site from the BBC!
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| | The Problem is the Plot
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| | A story, any story, is about a struggle. The struggle usually starts with your protagonists goal or want, or with some character trait or flaw which needs fixed. Learn about conflicts, problems, and resolutions at this site! |
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| | Reading Critically
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| | Reading critically involves both summarizing and evaluating a piece of writing - which starts with determining the author`s purpose and point of view. Learn how at this great site! |
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| | Definition of Point of View
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| | Point of view in fiction refers to the source and scope of the narrative voice. Learn to interpret point of view here! |
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| | Topic, Thesis, Purpose, & Point of View
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| | Effective critical analysis is dependent on one`s understanding of the terms topic, thesis, purpose, and point of view. These terms overlap in meaning and are sometimes used interchangeably. Despite their similarities, each can be defined differently. Learn more at this site!
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| Short Stories |
| | ELLSA - American Literary Classics
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| | An amazing site that provides self-study guides to the following stories: The Green Door, The Last Leaf, The Open Boat, To Build a Fire. |
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| | ELLSA - Tales of Mood and Mystery
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| | An amazing site that provides self-study guides to the following stories: The Cask of Amontillado, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, A Pillar of Salt, and Molokini. |
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| | What Makes a Good Short Story
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| | Like a great journey, literature can show you things you have never seen before and will never forget. Join our journey through a classic short story, A Jury of Her Peers, by Susan Glaspell. Along the way, you will solve the mystery of whether Minnie Wright killed her husband and explore the storys literary elements. |
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| | Understanding Short Fiction
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| | This site will help you develop several strategies for interpreting and developing ideas to talk and write about stories. |
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| | Short Story Classics
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| | Over 40 great short stories - online! |
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| Author's Purpose |
| | Author's Purpose & Tone
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| | An author always has a reason or purpose for writing a passage. Some passages explicitly state their purposes. Other passages leave it for the reader to guess or infer the purpose. The good reader should always seek the purpose of a passage because it is an excellent clue for critically understanding the writing. |
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| | Purpose of the Author
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| | Authors can write to entertain, to persuade, and to inform. Learn about each type of writing here! |
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| | Critical Reading and Critique
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| | When you read critically, you both summarize and evaluate what you are reading. Learn how to answer these questions: What is the author`s purpose in writing? Does he or she succeed in this purpose? To what extent do you agree with the author? |
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| | Reading Critically
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| | Reading critically involves both summarizing and evaluating a piece of writing - which starts with determining the author`s purpose and point of view. Learn how at this great site! |
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| | Topic, Thesis, Purpose, & Point of View
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| | Effective critical analysis is dependent on one`s understanding of the terms topic, thesis, purpose, and point of view. These terms overlap in meaning and are sometimes used interchangeably. Despite their similarities, each can be defined differently. Learn more at this site!
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| Diverse Cultural Works - American |
| | African American Literature
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| | From WorldBook Online, this special collection explores "literature written by black Americans of African descent. Its themes include the exploration of black identity, the condemnation of racism, and the celebration of the unique aspects of African American culture."
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| | Native American Authors
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| | This website provides information on Native North American authors with bibliographies of their published works, biographical information, and links to online resources including interviews, online texts and tribal websites. A well-organized, informative site that can be browsed by Author, Work, or Tribe.
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| | Voices from the Gaps - Women Writers of Color
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| | An index of information on women writers of color. Authors include Maya Angelou, Angela Davis, Toni Morrison, Amy Tan, and dozens of others!
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| | A Celebration of Women Writers
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| | A huge collection of resources on women writers worldwide!
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| | Women and Literature
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| | This site features brief biographies of the following women authors: Louisa May Alcott, Maya Angelou, Jane Austen, Elizabeth Bishop, Emily Bronte, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Willa Cather, Emily Dickinson, Edna St.Vincent Millay, Karoline von Günderrode, Carson McCullers, Marge Piercy, Sylvia Plath, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Virginia Woolf.
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| | Hispanic Heritage
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| | Black History Month
Womens History Month
From the Gale Publishing Group, three incredible sites that provide historical and cultural background information to help students understand literature in cultural context. The sites feature biographies, timelines, and multimedia activities! |
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| Diverse Cultural Works - World |
| | Women Writers from Mexico
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| | A series of links to biographical information on women writers from Mexico.
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