Classical Reference Library
Practical guides designed to help students approach classic works with greater confidence and understanding. These resources explain unfamiliar names, ideas, literary conventions, characters, themes, and historical context while offering clear strategies for reading, interpreting, and discussing challenging texts.
GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible introduction to ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its origins, major playwrights, theatrical conventions, Chorus, dramatic structure, religious context, and central conflicts. Includes essential literary terms, reading strategies, and questions students can apply to tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Prometheus Bound, exploring the punishment of Prometheus for helping humanity, his resistance to Zeus, and questions about power, suffering, courage, and knowledge. Includes a story overview, character descriptions, reading guidance, and discussion questions.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
A clear introduction to the structure of ancient Greek tragedy, explaining the prologue, parodos, episodes, stasima, and exodos. Includes additional dramatic terms, a simplified performance sequence, an example from Sophocles’ Antigone, close-reading questions, and a classroom exercise.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible guide to the Chorus in ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its role as a collective voice, dramatic participant, and performer of choral odes. Includes examples from Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Medea, along with reading strategies, discussion questions, and a classroom activity.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible introduction to ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its origins, major playwrights, theatrical conventions, Chorus, dramatic structure, religious context, and central conflicts. Includes essential literary terms, reading strategies, and questions students can apply to tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes, exploring the siege of Thebes, the conflict between Eteocles and Polyneices, and the themes of leadership, family duty, fate, and war. Includes a story overview, characters, reading guidance, and discussion questions.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
A clear introduction to the structure of ancient Greek tragedy, explaining the prologue, parodos, episodes, stasima, and exodos. Includes additional dramatic terms, a simplified performance sequence, an example from Sophocles’ Antigone, close-reading questions, and a classroom exercise.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible guide to the Chorus in ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its role as a collective voice, dramatic participant, and performer of choral odes. Includes examples from Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Medea, along with reading strategies, discussion questions, and a classroom activity.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Aeschylus’ Suppliant Women, exploring the flight of the daughters of Danaus, their appeal for protection in Argos, and questions of freedom, consent, leadership, and responsibility. Includes a story overview, characters, reading guidance, and discussion questions.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
A clear introduction to the structure of ancient Greek tragedy, explaining the prologue, parodos, episodes, stasima, and exodos. Includes additional dramatic terms, a simplified performance sequence, an example from Sophocles’ Antigone, close-reading questions, and a classroom exercise.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible guide to the Chorus in ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its role as a collective voice, dramatic participant, and performer of choral odes. Includes examples from Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Medea, along with reading strategies, discussion questions, and a classroom activity.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible introduction to ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its origins, major playwrights, theatrical conventions, Chorus, dramatic structure, religious context, and central conflicts. Includes essential literary terms, reading strategies, and questions students can apply to tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Aeschylus’ three-play trilogy, The Oresteia. Introduces the story of Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, and Orestes, exploring revenge, conflicting duties, family responsibility, and the movement toward public justice. Includes character descriptions, reading guidance, and discussion questions.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
A clear introduction to the structure of ancient Greek tragedy, explaining the prologue, parodos, episodes, stasima, and exodos. Includes additional dramatic terms, a simplified performance sequence, an example from Sophocles’ Antigone, close-reading questions, and a classroom exercise.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible guide to the Chorus in ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its role as a collective voice, dramatic participant, and performer of choral odes. Includes examples from Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Medea, along with reading strategies, discussion questions, and a classroom activity.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible introduction to ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its origins, major playwrights, theatrical conventions, Chorus, dramatic structure, religious context, and central conflicts. Includes essential literary terms, reading strategies, and questions students can apply to tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Aeschylus’ The Persians, introducing the Persian royal court, the defeat at Salamis, and the play’s exploration of leadership, pride, grief, and the consequences of war. Includes characters, reading guidance, and discussion questions.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
A clear introduction to the structure of ancient Greek tragedy, explaining the prologue, parodos, episodes, stasima, and exodos. Includes additional dramatic terms, a simplified performance sequence, an example from Sophocles’ Antigone, close-reading questions, and a classroom exercise.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible guide to the Chorus in ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its role as a collective voice, dramatic participant, and performer of choral odes. Includes examples from Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Medea, along with reading strategies, discussion questions, and a classroom activity.
Read resource →Greek Comedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly introduction to Aristophanes’ Birds, with an accessible plot summary, character descriptions, explanations of satire and utopia, major themes, reading questions, and a short writing activity exploring the promises and realities of Cloudcuckooland.
Read resource →Greek Comedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Aristophanes’ Clouds, exploring Strepsiades’ debts, the comic portrayal of Socrates, competing approaches to education, and the difference between persuasive speech and sound judgment. Includes a plot summary, character guide, themes, reading suggestions, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Comedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Aristophanes’ Frogs, featuring a plot summary, character descriptions, an introduction to literary parody, major themes, reading questions, and a writing activity about the competing claims of Aeschylus and Euripides.
Read resource →Greek Comedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly introduction to Aristophanes’ Knights, exploring the rivalry between Paphlagon and the sausage seller, the representation of the Athenian people as Demos, political flattery, satire, and civic judgment. Includes character explanations, reading guidance, discussion questions, and a short classroom activity.
Read resource →Greek Comedy · Student’s Guide
An accessible student guide to Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, examining the women’s campaign for peace, the occupation of the Acropolis, gender and political authority, comic reversal, and the costs of war. Includes a plot summary, characters, themes, reading questions, and a writing activity.
Read resource →Greek Comedy · Student’s Guide
An accessible student guide to Aristophanes’ Peace, examining Trygaeus’s journey to Olympus, the rescue of the goddess Peace, cooperation among Greek communities, the competing interests created by war, and the importance of farming and celebration. Includes historical context, character explanations, themes, reading questions, and a short activity.
Read resource →STUDENT’S GUIDE · REASON, DOUBT & THE SEARCH FOR CERTAINTY
A student-friendly introduction to René Descartes’ Discourse on the Method, with an overview of its six parts, explanations of key philosophical ideas, reading suggestions, discussion questions, and an activity applying Descartes’ method to everyday claims.
Read resource →STUDENT’S GUIDE · DOUBT, KNOWLEDGE & THE THINKING SELF
An accessible guide to Descartes’ six meditations, introducing methodical doubt, the cogito, the wax example, mind–body dualism, and the search for certainty. Includes reading prompts, discussion questions, and a practical activity.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible introduction to ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its origins, major playwrights, theatrical conventions, Chorus, dramatic structure, religious context, and central conflicts. Includes essential literary terms, reading strategies, and questions students can apply to tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Euripides’ Bacchae, exploring Dionysus’ return to Thebes, King Pentheus’ resistance, and questions about authority, belief, identity, and justice. Includes a story overview, character descriptions, important themes, reading guidance, and discussion questions.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
A clear introduction to the structure of ancient Greek tragedy, explaining the prologue, parodos, episodes, stasima, and exodos. Includes additional dramatic terms, a simplified performance sequence, an example from Sophocles’ Antigone, close-reading questions, and a classroom exercise.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible guide to the Chorus in ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its role as a collective voice, dramatic participant, and performer of choral odes. Includes examples from Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Medea, along with reading strategies, discussion questions, and a classroom activity.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Euripides’ Electra, exploring Electra and Orestes’ revenge for their father’s murder, the conflict between family loyalty and moral responsibility, and the consequences of guilt. Includes a story overview, characters, important themes, reading guidance, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Teacher’s Guide
A teaching guide to Euripides’ Electra, examining the revenge of Electra and Orestes, the moral consequences of matricide, and the play’s challenges to traditional ideas of justice, nobility, and family duty. Includes historical context, characters, themes, teaching objectives, close-reading passages, classroom activities, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Euripides’ Hippolytus, exploring Phaedra’s unwanted desire, Hippolytus’ devotion to Artemis, Theseus’ fatal judgment, and the consequences of secrecy and false accusations. Includes a plot overview, characters, themes, reading guidance, and discussion questions.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
A clear introduction to the structure of ancient Greek tragedy, explaining the prologue, parodos, episodes, stasima, and exodos. Includes additional dramatic terms, a simplified performance sequence, an example from Sophocles’ Antigone, close-reading questions, and a classroom exercise.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible introduction to ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its origins, major playwrights, theatrical conventions, Chorus, dramatic structure, religious context, and central conflicts. Includes essential literary terms, reading strategies, and questions students can apply to tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Euripides’ Medea, exploring Jason’s betrayal, Medea’s threatened exile, the conflict between justice and revenge, and the consequences of her decisions. Includes a plot overview, character descriptions, important themes, reading guidance, and discussion questions.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
A clear introduction to the structure of ancient Greek tragedy, explaining the prologue, parodos, episodes, stasima, and exodos. Includes additional dramatic terms, a simplified performance sequence, an example from Sophocles’ Antigone, close-reading questions, and a classroom exercise.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible guide to the Chorus in ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its role as a collective voice, dramatic participant, and performer of choral odes. Includes examples from Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Medea, along with reading strategies, discussion questions, and a classroom activity.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible introduction to ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its origins, major playwrights, theatrical conventions, Chorus, dramatic structure, religious context, and central conflicts. Includes essential literary terms, reading strategies, and questions students can apply to tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly introduction to Euripides’ Orestes, exploring the aftermath of Clytaemnestra’s murder, Orestes’ suffering, family loyalty, public judgment, and the consequences of revenge. Includes a plot summary, character guide, themes, reading suggestions, and discussion questions.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
A clear introduction to the structure of ancient Greek tragedy, explaining the prologue, parodos, episodes, stasima, and exodos. Includes additional dramatic terms, a simplified performance sequence, an example from Sophocles’ Antigone, close-reading questions, and a classroom exercise.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible guide to the Chorus in ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its role as a collective voice, dramatic participant, and performer of choral odes. Includes examples from Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Medea, along with reading strategies, discussion questions, and a classroom activity.
Read resource →FOR STUDENTS
A student-friendly guide to recognizing and analyzing Homer’s epic similes, with a printable organizer that helps students move from identifying a comparison to explaining what it contributes to the poem.
Read resource →FOR STUDENTS
A clear, student-friendly guide to the essential words and ideas needed to understand Homer’s Iliad, from honor and glory to epic similes, fate, and divine intervention.
Read resource →FOR STUDENTS
A clear introduction to the Greek mythological background students need before reading Homer, including the Trojan War, the major gods, the House of Atreus, the judgment of Paris, and the events that connect The Iliad and The Odyssey.
Read resource →FOR STUDENTS
A practical introduction for students reading Homer for the first time, with guidance on unfamiliar names, gods, heroic values, repeated language, long speeches, battle scenes, and the best ways to approach The Iliad and The Odyssey without feeling overwhelmed.
Read resource →FOR STUDENTS
A student-friendly guide to the heroic values that shape the Iliad, explaining honor, glory, and shame through Achilles, Agamemnon, Hector, and Patroclus, with a printable character-analysis worksheet.
Read resource →FOR TEACHERS
Eight printable worksheets for reading, discussion, close reading, and written response as students work through Homer’s Iliad.
Read resource →FOR STUDENTS
An illustrated-literature study guide exploring the extraordinary shield Hephaestus makes for Achilles in Book 18 of Homer's Iliad. Examines its scenes of peace, war, work, and celebration, with a printable analysis organizer.
Read resource →THE ODYSSEY • STUDENT GUIDE
A clear introduction to Homeric or epic similes in The Odyssey, explaining how these extended comparisons work, why Homer uses them, and how students can analyze their effect. Includes a printable student guide available by email.
Read resource →FOR STUDENTS
A clear introduction to the Greek mythological background students need before reading Homer, including the Trojan War, the major gods, the House of Atreus, the judgment of Paris, and the events that connect The Iliad and The Odyssey.
Read resource →THE ODYSSEY • STUDENT GUIDE
A clear guide to the unusual narrative structure of Homer’s Odyssey, showing how the poem moves between Ithaca and Odysseus, uses a long flashback for the famous wanderings, and brings its separate story lines together. Includes a printable narrative-structure organizer available by email.
Read resource →FOR STUDENTS
A practical introduction for students reading Homer for the first time, with guidance on unfamiliar names, gods, heroic values, repeated language, long speeches, battle scenes, and the best ways to approach The Iliad and The Odyssey without feeling overwhelmed.
Read resource →THE ODYSSEY • STUDENT GUIDE
A student-friendly guide to important symbols and recurring motifs in Homer’s Odyssey, including the olive-tree bed, Odysseus’ bow, weaving, disguise and recognition, the sea, and omens. Includes a printable analysis organizer available by email.
Read resource →STUDENT’S GUIDE · PEACE, GOVERNMENT & INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE
An accessible guide to Kant’s On Perpetual Peace, explaining the six preliminary articles, three definitive articles, republican constitutions, a federation of free states, and cosmopolitan hospitality. Includes reading prompts, discussion questions, and an activity designing a peace agreement.
Read resource →STUDENT’S GUIDE · EPICUREAN PHILOSOPHY & THE NATURAL WORLD
An accessible introduction to Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things, with an overview of its six books, explanations of important philosophical ideas, close-reading suggestions, discussion questions, and a classroom activity.
Read resource →STUDENT’S GUIDE · ENLIGHTENMENT THOUGHT & MORAL PROGRESS
An accessible introduction to Rousseau’s 1750 argument that advances in science, literature, and the arts do not necessarily improve human morality. Explores virtue, manners, luxury, vanity, and the meaning of progress, with reading questions and a contemporary comparison activity.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible introduction to ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its origins, major playwrights, theatrical conventions, Chorus, dramatic structure, religious context, and central conflicts. Includes essential literary terms, reading strategies, and questions students can apply to tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student Resources
An accessible introduction to Sophocles’ Ajax, with historical background, a guided plot summary, character descriptions, major themes, close-reading activities, and discussion questions.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
A clear introduction to the structure of ancient Greek tragedy, explaining the prologue, parodos, episodes, stasima, and exodos. Includes additional dramatic terms, a simplified performance sequence, an example from Sophocles’ Antigone, close-reading questions, and a classroom exercise.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible guide to the Chorus in ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its role as a collective voice, dramatic participant, and performer of choral odes. Includes examples from Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Medea, along with reading strategies, discussion questions, and a classroom activity.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible introduction to ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its origins, major playwrights, theatrical conventions, Chorus, dramatic structure, religious context, and central conflicts. Includes essential literary terms, reading strategies, and questions students can apply to tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Read resource →ANTIGONE • STUDENT GUIDE
A clear student guide to Sophocles’ Antigone, with essential background, character orientation, a reading roadmap, key conflicts, guidance for understanding the Chorus, questions to carry through the play, and a quick review checklist.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
A clear introduction to the structure of ancient Greek tragedy, explaining the prologue, parodos, episodes, stasima, and exodos. Includes additional dramatic terms, a simplified performance sequence, an example from Sophocles’ Antigone, close-reading questions, and a classroom exercise.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible guide to the Chorus in ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its role as a collective voice, dramatic participant, and performer of choral odes. Includes examples from Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Medea, along with reading strategies, discussion questions, and a classroom activity.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly companion to Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus, introducing the story, characters, major themes, and questions of exile, family loyalty, justice, and dignity. Includes reading guidance and questions to support thoughtful discussion.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible introduction to ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its origins, major playwrights, theatrical conventions, Chorus, dramatic structure, religious context, and central conflicts. Includes essential literary terms, reading strategies, and questions students can apply to tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
An accessible companion to Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, introducing the story, characters, central conflicts, and major themes. Helps students follow Oedipus’s investigation, understand dramatic irony, and consider questions of fate, choice, knowledge, and responsibility.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
A clear introduction to the structure of ancient Greek tragedy, explaining the prologue, parodos, episodes, stasima, and exodos. Includes additional dramatic terms, a simplified performance sequence, an example from Sophocles’ Antigone, close-reading questions, and a classroom exercise.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible guide to the Chorus in ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its role as a collective voice, dramatic participant, and performer of choral odes. Includes examples from Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Medea, along with reading strategies, discussion questions, and a classroom activity.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible introduction to ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its origins, major playwrights, theatrical conventions, Chorus, dramatic structure, religious context, and central conflicts. Includes essential literary terms, reading strategies, and questions students can apply to tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly companion to Sophocles’ Philoctetes, introducing the story, principal characters, and major themes of honesty, betrayal, suffering, and moral choice. Includes reading guidance and questions to encourage thoughtful discussion.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
A clear introduction to the structure of ancient Greek tragedy, explaining the prologue, parodos, episodes, stasima, and exodos. Includes additional dramatic terms, a simplified performance sequence, an example from Sophocles’ Antigone, close-reading questions, and a classroom exercise.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible guide to the Chorus in ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its role as a collective voice, dramatic participant, and performer of choral odes. Includes examples from Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Medea, along with reading strategies, discussion questions, and a classroom activity.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly companion to Sophocles’ Women of Trachis, introducing Deianeira, Heracles, and the tragedy that results from a deceptive promise. Explores intention and consequence, trust, unequal power, heroism, and family obligations, with reading guidance and discussion questions.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
A clear introduction to the structure of ancient Greek tragedy, explaining the prologue, parodos, episodes, stasima, and exodos. Includes additional dramatic terms, a simplified performance sequence, an example from Sophocles’ Antigone, close-reading questions, and a classroom exercise.
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