Intelligent Education
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2, the gripping third installment of kingship and rebellion.
As a detail rich history of the sixteenth century, Shakespeare skillfully combines history and comedy, moving from intense battle scenes of kings to simple scenes of country life. Moreover, his compelling themes of power struggle and burdensome royal life are demonstrated...
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Walter Van Tilburg Clark's The Ox-Bow Incident, said to be one of the greatest Western novels ever written.
As a classic novel set in 1885 but written in 1938, The Ox-Bow Incident draws parallels between Nazi brutality and the vigilantes showcased in the novel in order to communicate unjust violence can occur anywhere at any time. Moreover, the novel serves as a great...
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy, thought to be a trailblazer for other books of its time and inspired by the great novelists: Francois Rabelais, Miguel de Cervantes, Michel de Montaigne, and Robert Burton.
As a nine-volume novel of the 18th-century, Tristram Shandy was ahead of its time, for its use of humor and satire and stories about scandalous and taboo topics....
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Frank Norris's The Octopus, a novel based on the Mussel Slough Tragedy of 1880.
As a powerful work of fiction, The Octopus tells of the conflict between a railway company and ranchers in a fight for land rights. Moreover, Norris's novel serves as a great example of romanticism, as he navigates the metaphor between an octopus and monopolization. This Bright Notes Study...
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by George Bernard Shaw, who is second only to Shakespeare in the eyes of British tradition. Titles in this study guide include Arms and the Man, Caesar and Cleopatra, Man and Superman, Major Barbara, Pygmalion, Saint Joan, Candida, The Devil's Disciple, The Man of Destiny, Misalliance, Androcles and the Lion, and Heartbreak House.
As a playwright of...
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by George Eliot, who developed the method of psychological analysis in modern fiction. Titles in this study guide include Silas Marner and Middlemarch.
As a revolutionary voice of literary realism and psychological insight of the nineteenth century, Eliot's books were, considered intellectual art with a focus on the importance of mundane life. Moreover,...
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for William Shakespeare's The Sonnets, which remains to be, one of the most influential verse collections in English poetry.
As a rebellious collection of rhyme schemes of the Renaissance, The Sonnets often employ a distinct sequence of metaphors or ideas to illustrate society and life. Moreover, Shakespeare explores themes such as lust, misogyny, and infidelity in ways...
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Gustave Flaubert, the prime influencer of French realist literature.
As a leading exponent of literary realism, Flaubert's work, illustrates elaborate devotion to style and aesthetics. Moreover, he emphasizes the psychology of his characters and their role in the logical development of his works, which marked the beginning of a new age in French...
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, widely considered to be the highest achievement of Fitzgerald's career and a contender for the title of the "Great American Novel."
As the quintessential novel of the Jazz Age, Fitzgerald's work serves as both an exquisite portrait of the Roaring Twenties in America and a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream. Acclaimed...
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Henry Adams' The Education of Henry Adams, an autobiography from a great-grandson of the second president of the United States John Adams.
As an autobiography of the late 19th-century, Adams' book gives readers interesting perspective on educational theory and practice and Aristocracy leading into the turn of the century. Moreover, his life gives a glimpse at the...
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders, an autobiographical novel of a scandalous, thieving woman.
As a novel set in the early 1600s, Moll suffers a life of misfortune after her mother is sentenced to death, and her first husband dies. Moreover, she makes a way for herself and her children through lies and deceit as Defoe portrays an unconventional life in the 1600s for...
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, without a doubt, the most popular drama written, during the hundred years between 1700 and 1800.
As a comedy of the Restoration period of British drama, the humor in The Beggar's Opera serves as a medium for carrying the author's meaning, social satire, which is applicable in all countries at all times. Moreover, the basis of the play's...
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Thomas Hardy's The Return of the Native, arguably the most popular of Hardy's 14 Wessex novels.
As a novel first published in the magazine Belgravia, popular for its sensationalism, Hardy classified The Return of the Native as a "Novel of Character and Environment." Moreover, themes from Hardy's novels draw interesting conversations around the power of imagination....
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Charlotte Brönte's Jane Eyre, a story of a young woman who challenged social norms.
As a classic novel written in the Victorian era, Jane Eyre is, thought to be one of the reasons women equality has progressed to the extent that it has. Moreover, the novel discusses still-relevant social issues such as women's employment, genteel poverty, marriage, and education....
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, considered one of the most acclaimed achievements to date in the world of literature.
As a philosophical novel set against a modernizing, nineteenth-century Russia, Dostoyevsky's last work is a passionate exploration of the ethical debates surrounding God, free will, and morality. The narrative's primary conflict between...
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Henry James' Washington Square, a simple tragicomedy that is, based on a true story.
As a novel of the nineteenth-century, illustrates family conflict between a daughter and her unemotional father. Moreover, Washington Square's omniscient point of view and uncomplicated prose continues to entice readers. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history...
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee's Inherit the Wind, a political play that fictionalized the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial.
As a play of the 1950's, Inherit the Wind defended intellectual freedom. Moreover, the play intended to denounce the state of McCarthyism at the time. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Lawrence and Lee's classic...
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Anton Chekhov, who wrote as many as 600 to 800 tales in his lifetime. Titles in this study guide include Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters, The Seagull, The Cherry Orchard, and Ivanov.
As a collection of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century fiction, Chekhov's work communicates a strict sense of realism he adamantly believed fiction should...
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A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano, ranked number 11 on the Modern Library's list of the 100 best English-language novels of the twentieth century.
As a novel of the mid-twentieth century, Under the Volcano is an almost autobiographical tale of self-destruction inspired by Lowry's real experiences. Moreover, the text is considered one of literature's most powerful...
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A comprehensive study guide offering an in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for analyzing works of fiction, including the analysis of plot, theme, style, and tone.
As students of literature, understanding the tools, and methods for understanding fiction is critical to becoming better readers, writers, and thinkers. Knowledge of the components of fiction, the various structures of fiction writing, and the literary devices used, all enhance...