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In literature, paradoxes can create humor, express the confusion or frustration of a seeming impossibility, or make clear the absurdity of an unexpected situation.

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The best study guide to How to Read Literature Like a Professor on the planet, from the creators of SparkNotes. Get the summaries, analysis, and quotes you need.

Oxymoron Definition What is an oxymoron? Here’s a quick and simple definition: An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two contradictory terms or ideas are intentionally paired in order to make a …

Get all the key plot points of Thomas C. Foster's How to Read Literature Like a Professor on one page. From the creators of SparkNotes.

We want everyone to use and enjoy LitCharts, so we cover books beyond just high-school classics, like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and we devote all of our energy and resources to …

Foreshadowing Examples in Literature Writers of fiction (and writers of epic poems that tell a story) use foreshadowing to direct their readers' attention to important details, to heighten suspense, and to …

What's the Function of Tone in Literature? First and foremost, tone clues readers into the essence and the purpose of what they're reading. It wouldn't make sense to use a wordy, poetic tone to write a …