National Theatre
Angels in America: Behind the Scenes of a Two-Play Day
This video provides an inside look at the busy and complex world of theater production, specifically for the play Angels in America. From lighting and sound technicians to wigs assistants and stage managers, each member of the team plays...
Curated Video
The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allen Poe
Famous American author Edgar Allan Poe’s haunting death may have been a result of cooping, a violent form of voter fraud practiced in the 19th century.
Oxford Comma
Idiom Explained: "Like Ships that Pass in the Night"
In this reading, summary, and analysis of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 'the Ocean of Life" we'll examine where these lines come from, what they mean, and what makes them so memorable. Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in...
Oxford Comma
Why Do You Remember This Poem? Reading, Summary, and Analysis of Poe's "Annabel Lee"
"Annabel Lee" raises more questions than it does answers - not surprising considering it's by the master of mystery, Edgar Allen Poe. As Poe's last complete poem, "Annabel Lee" is intrinsically tied to his mysterious life and the even...
Oxford Comma
Poetry and the Afterlife: The Unknown
From the Master of monologue poems, "The Unknown" is my favorite piece in Spoon River Anthology. This reading, summary, and analysis of Edgar Lee Master's poem explores the meaning behind the unnamed speaker's tragic journey through life...
Bloomberg
2020 Boston Pops Salute to Our Heroes: Boston Literature and Library
Jul.02 -- Boston has an incredible literary history, and it’s home to many of America’s greatest writers – now and in the past. Here’s a tour of the city’s literature and library.
The Great War
A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway
While many can identify Ernest Hemingway's famous works, they may be unaware of his service during World War I and how that affected his literary contributions. An video details Hemingway's service in World War I and explains events and...
C-SPAN
Bell Ringer: The Early Life of Edgar Allen Poe in Richmond, VA
The narrator of a bell ringer video focuses on the influences of Richmond, Virginia, on the Edgar Allen Poe, lauds the materials in the Poe Museum collection, and talks about the challenges Poe faced in dealing with his foster father.
PBS
A Farewell to Arms: Shaping Fact for Fiction
Clips from the documentary Hemingway by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick reveal how Ernest Hemingway incorporated his own war experiences in A Farewell to Arms. Young writers then take an experience from their own lives and craft it...
PBS
Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises: “Talking” with Authors and Scholars
Film clips from the documentary Hemingway Ken Burns and Lynn Novick provide readers of The Sun Also Rises with the opportunity to hear what other writers and critics have to say about Hemingway's portrayal of the post-World War I Lost...
PBS
The Hunger Games
The odds will be in your favor that young statisticians will volunteer to participate in this experiment. After watching a short video that is part of the PBS Math at the Core middle school collection, scholars engage in a lottery and...
PBS
Falling in Love with Reading and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
At first glance, it doesn't seem like Betty Smith's story of 11-year old Francie Nolan, a poor Irish girl living in the 1920's Brooklyn, should remain a best-seller for almost 100 years. But A Tree Grows in Brooklyn has remained a...
TED-Ed
Why should you read “The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan?
Amy Tan was surprised by the reception of her story of four Chinese families that immigrated to the San Francisco Bay area. The vignettes about the mothers who make up the Joy Luck Club, and their daughters, models the experiences of...
PBS
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams' hysterical send-up of bureaucratic thinking, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is the focus of a Great American Read video that urges viewers to vote for one of the greatest satires since Gulliver's Travels.
PBS
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Rather than windmills, Ignatius J. Reilly, the hero of John Kennedy Toole's Pulitzer Prize-winning A Confederacy of Dunces, battles against modernity. Find out why Professor Walter Isaacson thinks Toole's novel should get viewers' votes...
PBS
Bill T. Jones Discusses James Baldwin's Another Country
Bill T. Jones, Artistic Director of New York Line Arts describes why he picked James Baldwin's novel, Another Country as his favorite novel.
PBS
The Handmaid's Tale | The Great American Read
Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is the focus of a Great American Read video that urges viewers to read this dystopian novel about a villainous society that oppresses women and minority groups.
PBS
Margaret Mitchell
Far from being a proper Southern Belle, Margaret Mitchell was a rebel, willing to take on the benefactors of the debutante ball, to support unpopular causes, and finance promising students. A short video details the life of the author of...
PBS
A Black Writer in the South | American Masters: Alice Walker
Alice Walker discusses the influence the strong women in her family and her experiences growing up on a plantation in Eatonton, Georgia had on her writing. Part of the American Masters series, the short video includes images of her...
PBS
The Color Purple
A clip from the documentary Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth features Walker discussing her writing process and why she chose to write The Color Purple as an epistolary novel. The resource is part of PBS' American Masters...
PBS
A Separate Peace
Jenna and Barbara Bush, daughters of former President George W. Bush, and author Armistead Maupin share with viewers their reasons for selecting John Knowles' A Separate Peace as one of their favorite books.
PBS
The Symbolism of Sunflower Seeds in Ghost
Ghost by Jason Reynolds is a coming-of-age book that resonates with teenagers who have experienced childhood trauma. Explore the novel with an interactive resource that focuses on the author's use of symbolism, particularly with...
PBS
Character Study: Scout Finch
Scout Finch, the rough-and-tumble protagonist of Harper Lee's iconic To Kill a Mockingbird, learns quite a bit about how the world works as she observes her father's defense of Tom Robinson. Learn more about Scout and her distinctive...
PBS
Chosen Family and The Outsiders
Can you choose your family after all? The greasers in S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders are as close as family, even though only Pony Boy and his brothers are related. A short video features commentary by hip-hop artist Danny Boy O'Connor...