Yes, the mountain. Is anyone really surprised? For MLK, it's a kind of Mount Doom. But that's not exactly what he meant at the time. Except kind of. We explore mountain imagery in "In a Nutshell",...

Elementally, Shmoopers. Elementally. Like mountains, fire and water are archetypes, which means they've been used as symbols more or less forever. And as archetypes, the figurative meanings of fire...

"Watch your posture! Stand up straight!" Maybe you've never had to balance a cup on your head, but chances are pretty good that you've been reprimanded for your posture. We all have. And that's not...

We wish upon stars. We reach for them. We thank our lucky ones. We hitch our wagons to them. We're star-crossed lovers. Things are written in the stars.Stars are as distant and mysterious as the fu...

Affliction, implicitly of the mental variety, pops up a few times in "Mountaintop," and it's an expression we recognize. Let's hear from MLK:The nation is sick, trouble is in the land, confusion al...

When you repeat a word or phrase over and over, it creates emphasis. When you repeat a word or phrase over and over, it creates rhythm. When you repeat a word or phrase over and over, it sounds lik...

The entire internet is one giant snarl of snark, so we're pretty sure you're already all too familiar with it. Dr. King's particular brand of snark is a lot like the sort of thing you've probably s...