Reading the great works
Study guides
The Poetry Codex study guides to the great poems, epics and plays: summary and analysis of every book, characters, themes, critical debates, key passages, questions and a scholarly bibliography, written by the editors.
Ancient Greek & Roman
- The AeneidVirgil
- AgamemnonAeschylus
- The AnnalsTacitus
- AntigoneSophocles
- ApologyPlato
- The ArgonauticaApollonius of Rhodes
- The BacchaeEuripides
- The Gallic WarJulius Caesar
- The GeorgicsVirgil
- The HistoriesHerodotus
- History of the Peloponnesian WarThucydides
- The IliadHomer
- Livy, History of Rome: Books I–V (the first pentad)Livy
- MedeaEuripides
- MeditationsMarcus Aurelius
- MetamorphosesOvid
- The OdysseyHomer
- Oedipus the King (Oedipus Tyrannus)Sophocles
- The Pharsalia (The Civil War)Lucan
- Prometheus BoundAttributed to Aeschylus
- The RepublicPlato
- SymposiumPlato
- The ThebaidStatius
- TheogonyHesiod
- Works and DaysHesiod
Ancient Near East
Anglo-Saxon
Medieval
- The Canterbury TalesGeoffrey Chaucer
- EverymanAnonymous (Middle English)
- PearlAnonymous (the 'Pearl' or 'Gawain' poet)
- Piers PlowmanWilliam Langland
- The Poem of the CidAnonymous (Old Spanish; 'Per Abbat')
- Sir Gawain and the Green KnightAnonymous (the 'Pearl' or 'Gawain' poet)
- Troilus and CriseydeGeoffrey Chaucer
Tudor & Elizabethan
- As You Like ItWilliam Shakespeare
- The Faerie QueeneEdmund Spenser
- The First Part of King Henry the FourthWilliam Shakespeare
- Hero and LeanderChristopher Marlowe and George Chapman
- The Jew of MaltaChristopher Marlowe
- King LearWilliam Shakespeare
- The Life of King Henry the FifthWilliam Shakespeare
- The Merchant of VeniceWilliam Shakespeare
- A Midsummer Night's DreamWilliam Shakespeare
- Much Ado About NothingWilliam Shakespeare
- OthelloWilliam Shakespeare
- The Shepheardes CalenderEdmund Spenser
- Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1Christopher Marlowe
- The TempestWilliam Shakespeare
- The Tragedy of Antony and CleopatraWilliam Shakespeare
- The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkWilliam Shakespeare
- The Tragedy of Julius CaesarWilliam Shakespeare
- The Tragedy of King Richard the ThirdWilliam Shakespeare
- The Tragedy of MacbethWilliam Shakespeare
- The Tragedy of Romeo and JulietWilliam Shakespeare
- The Tragical History of Doctor FaustusChristopher Marlowe
- Twelfth Night; or, What You WillWilliam Shakespeare
Metaphysical & Cavalier
- The AlchemistBen Jonson
- Christ's Victorie and TriumphGiles Fletcher the Younger
- Comus (A Masque Presented at Ludlow Castle)John Milton
- DavideisAbraham Cowley
- The Duchess of MalfiJohn Webster
- GondibertSir William Davenant
- HudibrasSamuel Butler
- Paradise LostJohn Milton
- Paradise RegainedJohn Milton
- Samson AgonistesJohn Milton
- Volpone; or, The FoxBen Jonson
Restoration & Augustan
Romantic
- Childe Harold's PilgrimageLord Byron
- Don JuanLord Byron
- EndymionJohn Keats
- The Lady of the LakeSir Walter Scott
- Lalla RookhThomas Moore
- The Lay of the Last MinstrelSir Walter Scott
- ManfredGeorge Gordon, Lord Byron
- MarmionSir Walter Scott
- The PreludeWilliam Wordsworth
- Prometheus UnboundPercy Bysshe Shelley
Victorian
American
Turkish & Ottoman
Arabic & Persian
Indian
- The Bhagavad GitaVyasa (traditional)
- The Birth of the War-God (Kumārasambhava)Kālidāsa
- The BuddhacaritaAśvaghoṣa
- The Cloud Messenger (Meghaduta)Kalidasa
- Gita GovindaJayadeva
- The MahabharataVyasa (traditional)
- Nala and DamayantiVyasa (traditional)
- The RaghuvaṃśaKālidāsa
- The RamayanaValmiki
- Shakuntala (Abhijnanashakuntalam)Kalidasa