Epics Books

Homer's Odyssey - A Commentary

Denton Jaques Snider

The Odyssey starts by organizing itself; it maps out its own structure in what may be called a General Introduction. Herein lies a significant difference between it and the Iliad, which has simply an ..

Divine Comedy - Purgatory

Dante Alighieri

Purgatory is the second part of Dante's Divine Comedy, following the Inferno, and preceding the Paradiso. The poem was written in the early 14th century. It is an allegory telling of the climb of Dant..

Divine Comedy - Paradise

Dante Alighieri

Paradise is the third and final part of Dante's Divine Comedy, following the Inferno and the Purgatorio. It is an allegory telling of Dante's journey through Heaven, guided by Beatrice, who symbolises..

The New Life (La Vita Nuova)

Dante Alighieri

The New Life (La Vita Nuova) is a text by Dante Alighieri published in 1295. It is an expression of the medieval genre of courtly love in a prosimetrum style, a combination of both prose and verse.The..

Florante at Laura

Francisco Balagtas

Florante at Laura, written by Francisco Balagtas, is considered as one of the masterpieces of Philippine literature. Balagtas wrote the epic during his imprisonment. He dedicated it to his sweetheart ..

The Kalevala

Anonymous

The Kalevala is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology. It is regarded as the national epic of Karelia and Finland and is on..

The Nibelungenlied

Anonymous

The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem from around 1200 written in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau...

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

If you've ever wondered at the expression "an albatross around one's neck," it comes from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The albatross is understood to mean the spirit of C..