Life on the Mississippi Summary
Mark Twain

THE ‘BODY OF THE NATION’ But the basin of the Mississippi is the body of the nation.  All the other parts are but members, important in themselves, yet more important in their relatio... Read more

Biography EssayIn the early spring of 1835 John Marshall Clemens and his wife, Jane, loaded up their possessions, their five children, and their single slave in Three Forks, Tennessee, to move to Miss... Read more

At the end of a long and prolific career with the pen, America's favorite humorist grew reflective about his craft, yet kept his tongue firmly planted in his cheek: "I have always been able to gain my... Read more

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known to America and the world as Mark Twain, is one of the most loved and read men of American letters. Especially noted for his novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) a... Read more

An author and platform entertainer who became tremendously popular in his own day, Samuel Clemens participated in the major literary movements of the century and knew virtually every one of his distin... Read more

For the readers of the late nineteenth century Samuel Clemens was first and foremost a travel writer, not a novelist. He earned his greatest respect and patronage from his contemporaries not for being... Read more

What was your childhood fantasy? In an excerpt from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain, characterization, setting and mood are used to convey the overall theme of the passage. Twain describes the i... Read more