tbr
28 stories
Shakespeare's 154 Sonnets (Completed ) by WilliamShakespeare
WilliamShakespeare
  • WpView
    Reads 153,855
  • WpVote
    Votes 5,019
  • WpPart
    Parts 155
Shakespeare's Sonnets is the title of a collection of 154 sonnets by William Shakespeare, which covers themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality. The first 126 sonnets are addressed to a young man; the last 28 to a woman. The sonnets are almost all constructed from three quatrains, which are four-line stanzas, and a final couplet composed in iambic pentameter. This is also the meter used extensively in Shakespeare's plays. The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg. Sonnets using this scheme are known as Shakespearean sonnets. Often, the beginning of the third quatrain marks the volta ("turn"), or the line in which the mood of the poem shifts, and the poet expresses a revelation or epiphany.
Romeo and Juliet by WilliamShakespeare
WilliamShakespeare
  • WpView
    Reads 4,195,991
  • WpVote
    Votes 52,617
  • WpPart
    Parts 27
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers. Cover done by @zuko_42
Macbeth by WilliamShakespeare
WilliamShakespeare
  • WpView
    Reads 210,412
  • WpVote
    Votes 4,225
  • WpPart
    Parts 29
"Macbeth" tells the story of a brave Scottish general named Macbeth who receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia, and he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler as he is forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of arrogance, madness, and death. Cover by @newsies-
A Midsummer Night's Dream by WilliamShakespeare
WilliamShakespeare
  • WpView
    Reads 157,153
  • WpVote
    Votes 3,437
  • WpPart
    Parts 10
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and Hippolyta. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors, who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set.
THE SCARLET LETTER (Completed) by NathanielHawthorne
NathanielHawthorne
  • WpView
    Reads 22,546
  • WpVote
    Votes 605
  • WpPart
    Parts 26
The Scarlet Letter: A Romance is an 1850 novel in a historical setting, written by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. The book is considered to be his "masterwork". Set in 17th-century Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony, during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an affair and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Throughout the book, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.
Little Women (1880) by LouisaMayAlcott
LouisaMayAlcott
  • WpView
    Reads 682,222
  • WpVote
    Votes 16,014
  • WpPart
    Parts 47
"Little Women" follows the lives of four sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March – and is loosely based on the author's childhood experiences with her three sisters.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT (Completed) by FydorDostoevsky
FydorDostoevsky
  • WpView
    Reads 96,853
  • WpVote
    Votes 2,368
  • WpPart
    Parts 42
Crime and Punishment is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published in the literary journal 'The Russian Messenger' in twelve monthly installments during 1866. Later, it was published in a single volume. It is the second of Dostoevsky's full-length novels following his return from 5 years of exile in Siberia. Crime and Punishment is considered the first great novel of his "mature" period of writing. Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in Saint Petersburg who formulates a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her money. Before the killing, Raskolnikov believes that with the money he could liberate himself from poverty and go on to perform great deeds; but confusion, hesitation, and chance muddy his plan for a morally justifiable killing. Cover made by the amazing Amber @The3dreamers.
DEMIAN (Completed) by HermannHesse
HermannHesse
  • WpView
    Reads 6,616
  • WpVote
    Votes 217
  • WpPart
    Parts 9
Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth is a Bildungsroman by Hermann Hesse, first published in 1919; a prologue was added in 1960. Demian was first published under the pseudonym "Emil Sinclair", the name of the narrator of the story, but Hesse was later revealed to be the author. Cover by: @theygotgone
THE ODYSSEY (Completed) by Homer
Homer
  • WpView
    Reads 25,541
  • WpVote
    Votes 287
  • WpPart
    Parts 25
The Odyssey (Greek: Ὀδύσσεια Odýsseia] in Classical Attic) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The Odyssey is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second-oldest extant work of Western literature; the Iliad is the oldest. Scholars believe the Odyssey was composed near the end of the 8th century BC, somewhere in Ionia, the Greek coastal region of Anatolia. The poem mainly focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus (known as Ulysses in Roman myths), king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed Odysseus has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of unruly suitors, the Mnesteres (Greek: Μνηστῆρες) or Proci, who compete for Penelope's hand in marriage.
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) by OscarWilde
OscarWilde
  • WpView
    Reads 1,231,153
  • WpVote
    Votes 16,429
  • WpPart
    Parts 21
"The Picture of Dorian Gray" tells of a young man named Dorian Gray, the subject of a painting by artist Basil Hallward. Basil is impressed by Dorian's beauty and becomes infatuated with him, believing his beauty is responsible for a new mode in his art. Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, a friend of Basil's, and becomes enthralled by Lord Henry's world view. Espousing a new hedonism, Lord Henry suggests the only things worth pursuing in life are beauty and fulfilment of the senses.