It’s their goal to help students prepare for tests, papers, and better understand books. They describe themselves as writers that graduated from top schools and edited books on literary topics.
What Does SparkNotes Offer?
On SparkNotes, readers can get access to physical and online study material, as well as resources for eReaders. On their website, there are summaries and critical analyses as well as around 500 guides to English literature and Shakespeare. Although those are the subjects they’re the best-known form, SparkNotes also offers study guides for history, math, biology, and more. Students can take advantage of their quizzes to help with information retention and No Fear Shakespeare, a popular resource for side-by-side translations of Shakespeare into contemporary English.
Their website also offers key questions and answers to popular topics in novels and plays, as well as the full text of classic novels, such as Great Expectations and Jane Eyre. While SparkNotes does have some information on poetry, such as overviews of major works by one author or essays about another, their focus is primarily on novels and Shakespeare.
A study guide for a novel includes summaries and analyses of the chapters, key questions and answers, a plot overview, a video of the plot summary, and a section that helps explain the ending of the novel. Readers will also find a list of characters, themes, and techniques.
What Does Poem Analysis Offer?
Poem Analysis has a much greater focus on poetry. Poem Analysis contains 4,377 analyzed poems, many of which come straight from school syllabuses around the world. Additionally, Poem Analysis offers a dedicated list of literary terms, which currently contains 890 terms explained. Readers will also find information about 1100 poets, numerous nursery rhymes, and idioms.
It’s quite easy to find the information you’re looking for on Poem Analysis. Each poem has a dedicated page, table of contents, and material that is meant to help you easily and quickly understand the verse you’re learning about. Readers can explore themes, symbols, literary devices, information about the author’s life, the historical context of the poem, summaries, line by line analyses, and more. Additionally, if there’s a piece of information that’s unclear or something that a web user would like more information on, the comments section allows readers to easily communicate with Poem Analysis’s expert team of writers.
One of Poem Analysis’s best features is its collection of best poems and poets. These lists help readers quickly learn about the best poems in a poet’s oeuvre or the best poems ever written on a particular theme, like friendship or nature.
What more, the Poem Analysis brand has continued into books, with Book Analysis. With this site, you’ll find summaries, analyses, and reviews of books, such as The Catcher in the Rye, with a whole range of information on each author too.