A prototypical poem of British Romanticism drawing upon the city-country-dichotomy. An ode to the industrialised city of London in the morning hours, the quiet time before the streets start to fill with busy people. Seemingly atypical for romanticist escapism, the speaker describes the city of London as “a sight so touching in its majesty”.
A prototypical poem of British Romanticism drawing upon the city-country-dichotomy. In Wordsworth’s famous poem, the speaker describes encountering a field of daffodils beside a lake. The overwhelming image of the dancing flowers will remain and spend “bliss and solitude” whenever the speaker feels “vacant” or in “pensive mood”.
Three verses verbalise the answer to the child’s question, while exploring the motif of cars as a symbol for the standard of living and environmental pollution.
A coming-of-age story about friendship, abilities and weaknesses, childhood and imagination. Winnie-the-Pooh is a honey-loving teddy bear who lives in the forest. There he experiences all kinds of adventures together with his friends: A piglet, an owl, a rabbit, a donkey, a kangaroo and a human boy named Christopher Robin.
Exploring imprisonment, confinement and the urge for freedom, this poem vividly illustrates inequality. Comparing the life of a caged and a free bird, the speaker investigates the caged bird’s captivity, oppression and hope for liberation. It can be read as a metaphor portraying unequal treatment and discrimination against African-Americans during the civil rights era. When […]
A tragedy on the American Dream – exploring themes of human interaction, dependence and isolation. The narrator follows George and Lennie, two very opposite friends, who dream of owning their own piece of land during the Great Depression. Before their dream comes true, Lennie accidentally commits a murder and their vision becomes even more impossible… […]
A biographical novel on racism, colonialism, dispossession, loss, identity and the ‘Stolen Generations’. This personal account tells the story of three young Aboriginal girls: After they have been taken away from their parents, Molly, Daisy and Gracie manage to escape from the Moor River Native settlement – an internment camp for Aboriginal people. They set […]
A young-adult novel about racism, injustice and prejudice in the American South. The story is told from the perspective of the six-year-old girl ‘Scout’, who lives with her father, a lawyer, and her younger brother in a small town in Alabama during the time of the Great Depression. It is a peaceful summer until Tim […]
The speaker of the poem states that while a summer’s day fades away, the beauty of the addressee will not, as it is preserved in the lines of the sonnet.
This empowering poem by award-winning author Maya Angelou explores sexism, oppression, resilience and racism. Using a call and response technique, Angelou tells the story of a black woman fighting for equality and the right to self-expression by speaking up. The confident, female voice condemns harassment and inequalities against people of colour and loudly recalls that […]
The speaker tells the story of how he got a one-dollar bill from his father. He then happily traded this bill for two 25-cent coins because, clearly, two coins are worth more than one bill. After a few more trades he returns to his father, proudly showing him the five one-penny coins he acquired.
This educational poem explains how the outcome of anything depends on what one puts into it.
An autobiographical novel on racial segregation, identity, and hypocrisy. The white journalist J. H. Griffin retells the story of a remarkable experiment: In 1959 at the height of racial tensions, he uses a dermatological drug that darkens his skin – so he could pass as an African American. Griffin embarks on a six weeks’ journey […]
A dystopian novel on social inequality, manipulative tendencies in the media and autocratic governments. In the trilogy’s first part, 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12, which is part of a post-apocalyptic society controlled by a brutal regime. On the Day of Reaping each district offers two teenagers as ‘tributes’ to participate in the Hunger […]
A story about religion, struggle for survival and the relativity of truth. Yann Martel’s Life of Pi follows a young man who survives a shipwreck in a lifeboat with a large Bengal tiger – resisting hunger, thirst, fear and loneliness for 227 days. Growing up in India as a son of a zookeeper, “Pi” Patel studies […]
A young adult novel on corruption of power, violence and history repeating itself. After a documentary fails to make his students understand how fascism works, Ben Ross, a high school teacher, decides to conduct a social teaching experiment. Applying concepts of fascism to his group of students works more effectively than expected – Ben notices […]
A teenage-detective novel on high school culture, identity conflicts, bullying and peer pressure. Hannah has committed suicide. Shortly after, her classmate Clay receives a package with a set of audio tapes. While Clay works his way through the tapes, the reasons for what happened to Hannah are revealed and he begins to see life at […]
A detective story through the eyes of a teenage narrator – about abilities and disabilities, changes and challenges. Christopher is a 15-year old boy, on the autistic spectrum, who lives with his father in Swindon, England. After he discovers the body of his neighbour’s dog that was killed with a garden fork, he starts to […]