Americká literatura
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. "Fata Morgana".
Summary
The speaker keeps on hearing a song which tempts him from one place to another. He always follows the illusion only to be disappointed when he attempts to grasp it and it disappears. Only the melody of...
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Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. "Mezzo Cammin".
Note
- the title comes from the opening line of Dante's Inferno: "Midway in the journey of our life"
- i.e. the author was 35 years old when writing the poem
Summary
The speaker sadly contemplates the...
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Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. "My Lost Youth".
Summary
The speaker often thinks of a town by the sea, the town of his youth, and recalls the memories connected with it. These memories seem to murmur to him the song of his youth. This builds a refrain...
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Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. "The Children's Hour".
Summary
The speaker describes the "children's hour", an hour between the end of night and the outbreak of day. From his study room he hears the footsteps and soft voices of his three little girls. From their...
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Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. "The Day is Done".
Summary
The day is over and darkness comes. The speaker is overwhelmed by feelings of sadness and undefined longing. He asks to be read a poem to soothe him. The poem is not to be any of the grand old masters...
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Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. "The Slave's Dream".
Summary
The speaker describes a black slave lying in sand. The slave dreams of his native Africa. He becomes king once again and sees his queen and his children. A tear bursts from his eye in the sleep. He...
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Malamud, Bernard. "My Son the Murderer".
Summary
The story is set in New York City in 1960s, during the Vietnam conflict. The fifty-nine-year-old Leo takes his vacation from his job in the post office because he is worried for his son Harry. Harry,...
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Mamet, David. Glengarry Glen Ross.
Summary
Characters
John Williamson: a manager of the real estate office, responsible for distributing houses for sale among agents
Shelly Levene: formerly a successful real estate agent, now failing in the...
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Mamet, David. Oleanna.
Summary
Introduction
The play is introduced by a quotation from Samuel Butler’s anti-Victorian novel The Way of All Flesh (1903), which wonders at the incredible adaptability of young people to circumstances...
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Masters, Edgar Lee. "Lucinda Matlock".
Summary
The poem is an epitaph of a dead woman narrating the story of her life from the other world.
She tells a sad story of a tough life, but she does not complain.
She remembers the dances of her youth and...
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Masters, Edgar Lee. "Petit, the Poet".
Summary
The poem is an epitaph of a dead poet composing poetry even from the other world. "Petit" (i.e. small) in the title of the poem fittingly introduces the humble personal confession which follows. The...
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Masters, Edgar Lee. "Seth Compton".
Summary
The poem is an epitaph of a dead philanthropist and lover of books who tells the story of his life and watches what is happening with his life's work from the other world.
The speaker devoted all his...
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Mather, Cotton. Magnalia Christi Americana.
Note
This is an edited and abridged version of the original work. See "Works Cited".
Summary
A General Introduction
- Protestants are forced to flee to New England
- they attempt the Reformation of the...
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McInerney, Jay. "Con Doctor".
Summary & Analysis
The protagonist of the story is the forty-year-old Doctor Kevin McClarty. He grew up in Evanston, Illinois, son of a nurse and an anonymous doctor. He graduated from the University of...
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McKay, Claude. "America".
Summary
The speaker describes America as a cruel and wicked country which is destroying him but he loves this "cultured hell" anyway. He claims that she hates him and compares her to a beast which sinks her...
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