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Epics Books

Paradise Lost

John Milton

As with Dante's Inferno - which has its companion "Paradiso" - Milton's Paradise Lost was followed by Paradise Regained: but Lost is his most famous work. This epic poem deals with the Christian story..

Beowulf

Anonymous

The ultimate epic poem, detailing the exploits of Beowulf battling with a variety of Nordic monsters. It has everything: dragons, crazed monsters, kings, and copious amounts of mead. It is an epic poe..

Canterbury Tales and Other Poems

Geoffrey Chaucer

Chaucer is considered by some to be the Father of English Literature, and the Canterbury Tales is his magnum opus. It is a frame story - a collection of stories contained by a larger one - written in ..

Divine Comedy - Inferno

Dante Alighieri

The Inferno is an allegorical poem by Dante Alighieri featuring the poet as himself as he travels through the 9 circles of hell. He's guided by the Roman poet Virgil, who shows him each group of sinne..

The Iliad

Homer

The Iliad is an epic poem by Homer dating from around the 8th century BC. It takes place during the Trojan war, and it depicts the battles and events that occur during a fight between King Agamemnon a..

The Odyssey

Homer

Homer's Odyssey is the sequel to the Iliad, and it's synonymous with epic adventure. Once again we're faced with some potential Greco-Roman confusion, as the hero this time is Odysseus, or Ulysses, de..

Sophocles' Oedipus Trilogy

Sophocles

Oedipus Rex ie the first in the trilogy is one of the most powerful dramas I've had the chance to read. It defines the term 'epic' both in scale and emotion; its narrative is grand and gripping, and t..

Babylonian and Assyrian Literature

Anonymous

The great nation which dwelt in the seventh century before our era on the banks of Tigris and Euphrates flourished in literature as well as in the plastic arts, and had an alphabet of its own. The Ass..