01The task archive
Essay prompts that
demand an argument.
Stop improvising essay questions. Exam-style analytical, argumentative, and comparative tasks for 277+ classic texts — aligned to AP Literature, AQA, IB, and beyond.
Find a set text
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02Anatomy
The anatomy of a strong prompt.
A weak prompt invites summary; a strong one demands an argument. Every set in the archive is built from three task shapes that force higher-order thinking.
The analytical lens
Ties an authorial method to a thematic claim, so the essay must analyse how the text is built — not retell what happens in it.
Explore how Shakespeare presents the collapse of natural order through the fractured verse and imagery of Act 2.
Highlight — thematic core (AO1) · underline — method constraint (AO2)
The contextual synthesis
Positions the text inside its historical and intellectual moment, so context has to do argumentative work instead of decorating the introduction.
“Frankenstein is less a Gothic fantasy than an anxious response to its scientific moment.” To what extent does Shelley's novel depend on the anxieties of its age for its terror?
Highlight — the contextual claim the essay must weigh (AO3)
The argumentative pivot
Opens with a limiting critical assertion the writer must defend, challenge, or qualify — instant thesis friction from the first line.
Consider the assertion: “Gatsby is denied genuine tragedy because his suffering is entirely transactional.” Defend, challenge, or qualify this reading of Fitzgerald's ending.
Highlight — where the writer's own position must land
03Frequently assigned
Complete index
Browse all 277 prose and drama texts alphabetically.
A
- Absalom, Absalom!William Faulkner
- AdlestropEdward Thomas
- AfternoonsPhilip Larkin
- All My SonsArthur Miller
- All the Light We Cannot SeeAnthony Doerr
- All the Pretty HorsesCormac McCarthy
- AmericanahChimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- An Arundel TombPhilip Larkin
- Animal FarmGeorge Orwell
- Anita and MeMeera Syal
- Anna KareninaLeo Tolstoy
- AntigoneSophocles
- Antony and CleopatraWilliam Shakespeare
- As I Lay DyingWilliam Faulkner
- As imperceptibly as GriefEmily Dickinson
- As You Like ItWilliam Shakespeare
- The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnMark Twain
- The AlchemistPaulo Coelho
- The AwakeningKate Chopin
B
- Bayonet ChargeTed Hughes
- Before You Were MineCarol Ann Duffy
- Belfast ConfettiCiaran Carson
- BelovedToni Morrison
- BeowulfAnonymous
- Billy Budd, SailorHerman Melville
- Black BoyRichard Wright
- Bleak HouseCharles Dickens
- Bless Me, UltimaRudolfo Anaya
- Blood BrothersWilly Russell
- Blood MeridianCormac McCarthy
- Brave New WorldAldous Huxley
- The Bluest EyeToni Morrison
- The Book ThiefMarkus Zusak
- The Brothers KaramazovFyodor Dostoevsky
C
- A Christmas CarolCharles Dickens
- A Court of Thorns and RosesSarah J. Maas
- Catch-22Joseph Heller
- Cat on a Hot Tin RoofTennessee Williams
- CatrinGillian Clarke
- CeremonyLeslie Marmon Silko
- Checking Out Me HistoryJohn Agard
- ChildSylvia Plath
- Chronicle of a Death ForetoldGabriel García Márquez
- Civil DisobedienceHenry David Thoreau
- Climbing My GrandfatherAndrew Waterhouse
- Cold MountainCharles Frazier
- Common SenseThomas Paine
- Composed upon Westminster BridgeWilliam Wordsworth
- Cousin KateChristina Rossetti
- Cozy ApologiaRita Dove
- Crime and PunishmentFyodor Dostoevsky
- Cry, the Beloved CountryAlan Paton
- The Canterbury TalesGeoffrey Chaucer
- The Cask of AmontilladoEdgar Allan Poe
- The Catcher in the RyeJ. D. Salinger
- The Charge of the Light BrigadeAlfred, Lord Tennyson
- The Cherry OrchardAnton Chekhov
- The Class GameMary Casey
- The Color PurpleAlice Walker
- The Count of Monte CristoAlexandre Dumas
- The CrucibleArthur Miller
D
- A Doll's HouseHenrik Ibsen
- David CopperfieldCharles Dickens
- Death and the MaidenAriel Dorfman
- Death, be not proudJohn Donne
- Death of a NaturalistSeamus Heaney
- Death of a SalesmanArthur Miller
- DiggingSeamus Heaney
- DisgraceJ. M. Coetzee
- DNADennis Kelly
- Don QuixoteMiguel de Cervantes
- DraculaBram Stoker
- DublinersJames Joyce
- Dulce et Decorum EstWilfred Owen
- The Declaration of IndependenceThomas Jefferson
- The Destruction of SennacheribLord Byron
E
F
- A Farewell to ArmsErnest Hemingway
- Fahrenheit 451Ray Bradbury
- FencesAugust Wilson
- First FlightU. A. Fanthorpe
- FollowerSeamus Heaney
- For Whom the Bell TollsErnest Hemingway
- Fourth WingRebecca Yarros
- FrankensteinMary Shelley
- The Fall of the House of UsherEdgar Allan Poe
- The Farmer's BrideCharlotte Mew
- The Federalist No. 10James Madison
- The FishElizabeth Bishop
- The FleaJohn Donne
G
H
- Half-casteJohn Agard
- Half of a Yellow SunChimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- HamletWilliam Shakespeare
- Hard TimesCharles Dickens
- HatchetGary Paulsen
- Hawk RoostingTed Hughes
- Heart of DarknessJoseph Conrad
- Hedda GablerHenrik Ibsen
- Henry IV, Part 1William Shakespeare
- HolesLouis Sachar
- House Made of DawnN. Scott Momaday
- Howards EndE. M. Forster
- How Many Miles to Babylon?Jennifer Johnston
- The History BoysAlan Bennett
- The House of Bernarda AlbaFederico García Lorca
- The House of the SpiritsIsabel Allende
- The House on Mango StreetSandra Cisneros
I
J
L
- A Lesson Before DyingErnest J. Gaines
- A Little LifeHanya Yanagihara
- Les MisérablesVictor Hugo
- Letter from Birmingham JailMartin Luther King Jr.
- Letters from YorkshireMaura Dooley
- Light in AugustWilliam Faulkner
- Like Water for ChocolateLaura Esquivel
- Little WomenLouisa May Alcott
- Living SpaceImtiaz Dharker
- LondonWilliam Blake
- Long Day's Journey into NightEugene O'Neill
- Lord JimJoseph Conrad
- Lord of the FliesWilliam Golding
- Love in the Time of CholeraGabriel García Márquez
- Love's PhilosophyPercy Bysshe Shelley
- The LotteryShirley Jackson
M
- A Married StateKatherine Philips
- A Midsummer Night's DreamWilliam Shakespeare
- A Modest ProposalJonathan Swift
- MacbethWilliam Shakespeare
- MausArt Spiegelman
- MedeaEuripides
- MiddlemarchGeorge Eliot
- Moby-DickHerman Melville
- Morning SongSylvia Plath
- Mother, any distanceSimon Armitage
- Mrs. DallowayVirginia Woolf
- Much Ado About NothingWilliam Shakespeare
- My Last DuchessRobert Browning
- The ManhuntSimon Armitage
- The Master and MargaritaMikhail Bulgakov
- The Mayor of CasterbridgeThomas Hardy
- The Merchant of VeniceWilliam Shakespeare
- The MetamorphosisFranz Kafka
- The Most Dangerous GameRichard Connell
N
O
- An Occurrence at Owl Creek BridgeAmbrose Bierce
- Oedipus RexSophocles
- Of Mice and MenJohn Steinbeck
- Oliver TwistCharles Dickens
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's NestKen Kesey
- One Hundred Years of SolitudeGabriel García Márquez
- OrlandoVirginia Woolf
- OthelloWilliam Shakespeare
- OzymandiasPercy Bysshe Shelley
- The OdysseyHomer
- The OutsidersS. E. Hinton
P
- A Passage to IndiaE. M. Forster
- A Poison TreeWilliam Blake
- A Portrait of the Artist as a Young ManJames Joyce
- Paradise LostJohn Milton
- PersepolisMarjane Satrapi
- PersuasionJane Austen
- Philadelphia, Here I Come!Brian Friel
- PoppiesJane Weir
- Porphyria's LoverRobert Browning
- Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen
- Project Hail MaryAndy Weir
- Purple HibiscusChimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- PygmalionGeorge Bernard Shaw
- The Piano LessonAugust Wilson
- The Picture of Dorian GrayOscar Wilde
- The Plough and the StarsSeán O'Casey
- The ProdigalElizabeth Bishop
R
S
- A Streetcar Named DesireTennessee Williams
- Sailing to ByzantiumW. B. Yeats
- Self-RelianceRalph Waldo Emerson
- Sense and SensibilityJane Austen
- Singh Song!Daljit Nagra
- Slaughterhouse-FiveKurt Vonnegut
- Song of SolomonToni Morrison
- Sonnet 29 — I think of thee!Elizabeth Barrett Browning
- Sonnet 43 — How do I love thee?Elizabeth Barrett Browning
- Stopping by Woods on a Snowy EveningRobert Frost
- Storm on the IslandSeamus Heaney
- SulaToni Morrison
- SweatLynn Nottage
- The Scarlet LetterNathaniel Hawthorne
- The Screwtape LettersC. S. Lewis
- The SeagullAnton Chekhov
- The Second ComingW. B. Yeats
- The Secret HistoryDonna Tartt
- The Sound and the FuryWilliam Faulkner
- The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. HydeRobert Louis Stevenson
- The StrangerAlbert Camus
- The Sun Also RisesErnest Hemingway
T
- A Tale of Two CitiesCharles Dickens
- Tess of the d'UrbervillesThomas Hardy
- Their Eyes Were Watching GodZora Neale Hurston
- The Tell-Tale HeartEdgar Allan Poe
- The TempestWilliam Shakespeare
- The Things They CarriedTim O'Brien
- The Tin DrumGünter Grass
- The Tollund ManSeamus Heaney
- The TrialFranz Kafka
- The TygerWilliam Blake
- Things Fall ApartChinua Achebe
- TissueImtiaz Dharker
- To AutumnJohn Keats
- To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee
- Topdog/UnderdogSuzan-Lori Parks
- To the LighthouseVirginia Woolf
- TranslationsBrian Friel
- Twelfth NightWilliam Shakespeare
W
- A Wife in LondonThomas Hardy
- A Wrinkle in TimeMadeleine L'Engle
- The WindhoverGerard Manley Hopkins
- The Woman in BlackSusan Hill
- Waiting for GodotSamuel Beckett
- WaldenHenry David Thoreau
- Walking AwayC. Day-Lewis
- War and PeaceLeo Tolstoy
- War PhotographerCarol Ann Duffy
- We Were LiarsE. Lockhart
- When We Two PartedLord Byron
- Where the Picnic WasThomas Hardy
- Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?Edward Albee
- WickedGregory Maguire
- Wide Sargasso SeaJean Rhys
- Winter SwansOwen Sheers
- WonderR. J. Palacio
- Wuthering HeightsEmily Brontë
05Beyond the catalogue
Teaching something off-catalogue?
Generate exam-style essay prompts for any book, play, or poem — tuned to your curriculum and level.
Essay prompts for poems.
Single-poem tasks grounded in Storgy's own analysis — theme, form, and context. Search by poem or poet.
06How it works
From archive to assignment in seconds.
- 01Find the textSearch 100+ set texts by title or author, or browse the complete A–Z index below.
- 02Open the prompt setAnalytical, argumentative, and comparative tasks for every work — organised by curriculum and level.
- 03Set the essayCopy, print, or project. Use a full set for an assignment bank or pull one prompt for timed practice.
Frequently asked
Are the essay prompts free to use?
Yes. Every set of essay prompts on Storgy is free to browse, print, and use in your classroom — no account or signup required.
Which curricula are covered?
Prompts are tagged for AP Literature, AP Language, AQA GCSE and A Level, IB Literature and Language & Literature, Eduqas, OCR, Edexcel, Common Core, and Leaving Certificate. Many prompts are universal and work across any curriculum.
What kinds of essay prompts are included?
Each set includes analytical prompts focused on character, theme, and structure; argumentative prompts that ask students to defend a position; and comparative prompts that connect the work to other texts or broader literary traditions.
Can I print or copy the prompts for my class?
Yes. The prompts are provided for educational use. You can copy, paste, or print them for use in your classroom without restriction.
How do I find prompts for a specific book?
Use the search box above to type the book title or the author's name. A list of matching works appears instantly — click any title to go directly to its essay prompts.
Storgy for teachers
Set the essay. Then mark it faster.
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