The Really Long List of Great Literature
Continued
Ancient • Medieval & Renaissance • 18th & 19th century • 20th century • 21st century
Medieval Literature (401 to 1500 CE)
c.450–500
The Three Satakas
Bhartṛhari
India, poetry collection
c.500
The Tale of an Anklet
Iḷaṅkõ Aṭikaḷ
India, poem
c.700
England, poem
The Táin
Anonymous
Ireland, poem
c.750
Selected Poems
Li Bai
China, poetry collection
c.759
Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro et al
Japan, poetry collection
c.799
Epistle on the Singing Girls
Al-Jahiz
Iraq, story collection
c.800
The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain
Hanshan
China, poetry collection
Book of Misers
Al-Jahiz
Iraq, story collection
c.800–1200
Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor
Anonymous
Persia, story collection
c.800–1400
One Thousand and One Nights
Anonymous
Persia, story collection
Includes Tale of the Fisherman and the Jinni, The Tale of the Three Apples, The Barber's Tale of Himself, and more
c.900
The Butterfly Lovers
Anonymous
China, story
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
Anonymous
Japan, novel
977–1010
The Book of Kings
Ferdowsi
Persia, poem
c.1000
The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon
Sei Shonagon
Japan, diary
c.1000–1300
The Poetic Edda
Anonymous
Iceland, poem
c.1020
The Tale of Genji
Japan, novel
c.1060
The Sarashina Diary
Lady Sarashina
Japan, memoir
c.1100
Song of Roland
Anonymous
France, poem
Assemblies of Hariri
al-Hariri of Basra
Iraq, story collection
Rubaiyat
Omar Khayyám
Persia, Poetry
Mabinogion
Anonymous
Wales, story collection
c.1100–1250
Volsungsaga
Anonymous
Iceland, Poetry
c.1125
The Improvement of Human Reason
Ibn Tufayl
Andalusia, novel
c.1140
The Poem of the Cid
Anonymous
Spain, poem
c.1145
King Rother
Anonymous
Germany, poem
1177
The Conference of the Birds
Farid od-Din Attar
Persia, poem
c.1177–1181
Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart
Chrétien de Troyes
France, poem
c.1180
Lais of Marie de France
Marie de France
England, Poetry
1181–1190
Perceval, the Story of the Grail
Chrétien de Troyes
France, poem
c.1200
The Nibelungenlied
Anonymous
Germany, poem
The Prose Edda
Snorri Sturlson
Iceland, novel
The Tale of Igor's Last Campaign
Anonymous
Kieven Rus', novel
c.1200–1210
Parzival
Wolfram von Eschenbach
Germany, poem
1210
Tristan und Isolde
Gottfied von Strassburg
Germany, poem
c.1220
The Tale of the Heike
Anonymous
Japan, novel
1230
Heimskringla
Snorri Sturlson
Iceland, story collection
1230–1275
Romance of the Rose
Guillaume de Lorris, Jean de Meun
France, poem
c.1240
Egil's Saga
Anonymous
Iceland, novel
c.1250
The Saga of Burnt Njal
Anonymous
Iceland, poem
1257
The Orchard
Saadi Shirazi
Persia, poetry collection
1258
The Garden
Saadi Shirazi
Persia, poetry collection
1258–1273
Masnavi
Rumi
Persia, poem
c.1280
The Owl and the Nightingale
Anonymous
England, poem
1294
The New Life
Alighieri Dante
Italy, prose and poetry collection
1298–1299
The Travels of Marco Polo
Rustichello da Pisa
Italy, nonfiction
c.1300
The Chalk Circle
Li Qianfu
China, play
Deeds of the Romans
Anonymous
Unknown, story collection
c.1300–1400
The Sage of Grettir the Strong
Anonymous
Iceland, peim
1307
The Divine Comedy
Alighieri Dante
Italy, poem
c.1322
The Glory of the Kings
Anonymous
Ethiopia, novel
1327–1368
Il Canzoniere / Le Rime Sparse
Francesco Petrarch
Italy, poetry collection
1330–1332
Essays in Idleness
Yoshida Kenkō
Japan, essay collection
1335
Tales of a Parrot
Nakhshabi
Persia, story collection
1348
The Decameron
Giovanni Boccaccio
Italy, story collection
c.1350
The Divān of Hafez
Hafez
Persia, poem
1352
The Triumphs
Giovanni Boccaccio
Italy, poem
c.1360–1400
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Luo Guanzhong
China, novel
c.1360–1589
Water Margin
Shi Nai'an, Luo Guanzhong
China, novel
1362
The Vision of Piers the Ploughman
William Langland
England, Poetry
c.1380
Pearl
Anonymous
England, poem
c.1382–1386
Troilus and Cressida
Geoffrey Chaucer
England, poem
1387
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Anonymous
England, poem
c.1387–1400
The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer
England, prose and poetry collection
c.1400
Atsumori
Zeami Motokiyo
Japan, play
Amadís de Gaula
Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo
Portugal, novel
1405
The Book of the City of Ladies
Christine de Pizan
Italy, novel
1461
The Great Testament
François Villon
France, poetry collection
1483–1495
Orlando Innamorato
Matteo Maria Boiardo
Italy, poem
1485
Everyman
Anonymous
England, play
Le Morte d'Arthur
Thomas Malory
England, novel
1490
Tyrant the White
Joanot Martorell, Martí Joan de Galba
Spain, poem
1492
Prison of Love
Diego de San Pedro
Spain, novel
1494
Ship of Fools
Sebastian Brant
Germany, poetry collection
1499
La Celestina
Fernando de Rojas
Spain, novel
c.1500
Lilit Phra Lo
Anonymous
Thailand, poem
The Feather Mantle
Anonymous
Japan, play
Renaissance Literature (1500 to 1700 CE)
1501
Judita
Marko Marulić
Croatia, poem
1516
Utopia
Thomas More
England, novella
1516–1532
Orlando Furioso
Ludovico Ariosto
Italy, poem
1528
The Book of the Courtier
Baldasarre Castiglione
Italy, nonfiction
1532
The Prince
Niccolo Macchiavelli
Italy, nonfiction
1532–1564
The Life of Gargantua and Pantagruel
Francois Rabelais
France, novel series
Includes Pantagruel, Gargantua, The Third Book of Pantagruel, The Fourth Book of Pantagruel, The Fifth Book of Pantagruel
1550–1568
Lives of the Artists
Giorgio Vasari
Italy, biography
1554
Lazarillo de Tormes
Anonymous
Spain, novella
1558
The Heptaméron
Marguerite de Navarre
France, story collection
1569—1589
The Araucaniad
Alonso Ercilla
Spain, poem
1572
Franciad
Pierre de Ronsard
France, poem
The Lusiads
Luis de Camoëns
Portugal, poem
1575
Jerusalem Delivered
Torquato Tasso
Italy, poem
1578–1591
Poems of Saint John of the Cross
Saint John of the Cross
Spain, poetry collection
1580
Essays
Michel de Montaigne
France, essay collection
1580–1593
The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia
Philip Sidney
England, novel
c.1582
The Siege of Numantia
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Spain, play
1585
Campaspe
John Lyly
England, play
La Galatea
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Spain, novel
1586
The Spanish Tragedy
Thomas Kyd
England, play
1587
Tamburlaine the Great
Christopher Marlowe
England, play
1589
The Faerie Queen
Edmund Spenser
England, poem
c.1590
The Golden Lotus
Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng
China, novel
c.1590–1599
Satires
John Donne
England, poetry collection
Elegies
John Donne
England, poetry collection
1591
Richard III
William Shakespeare
England, play
Astrophel and Stella
Philip Sidney
England, poem
c.1591
The Taming of the Shrew
William Shakespeare
England, play
1592
Journey to the West
Wu Cheng'en
China, novel
Doctor Faustus
Christopher Marlowe
England, play
1594
The Unfortunate Traveller
Thomas Nashe
England, novel
The Battle of Alcazar
George Peele
England, play
1598
The Peony Pavilion
Tang Xianzu
China, play
1599
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
Christopher
England, poem
As You Like It
William Shakespeare
England, play
1603
A Woman Killed With Kindness
Thomas Heywood
England, play
1604–1605
The Honest Whore
Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton
England, play
1605
Investiture of the Gods
Xu Zhonglin
China, novel
1605–1615
Don Quixote
Spain, novel
1606
Volpone
Ben Jonson
England, play
1609
Sonnets
England, poetry collection
Includes "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?"; "When, in Disgrace with Fortune and Men's Eyes"; and others
1610
The Alchemist
Ben Jonson
England, play
The White Devil
John Webster
England, play
1613
Henry VIII
William Shakespeare, John Fletcher
England, play
The Duchess of Malfi
John Webster
England, play
Solitudes
Luis de Góngora
Spain, poem
1616
Les Tragiques
Agrippa D'Aubigné
France, poem
1619
Lost in a Mirror
Lope de Vega
Spain, play
1622
The Changeling
Thomas Middleton, William Rowley
England, poem
1624
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
John Donne
England, Prose collection
Includes No Man Is an Island
1626
The Swindler
Francisco de Queveda
Spain, novel
1631
Punishment Without Revenge
Lope de Vega
Spain, play
1633
Holy Sonnets
John Donne
England, poetry collection
Includes Death Be Not Proud; Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God; and others
The Temple
George Herbert
England, poem
1635
Life Is a Dream
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Spain, play
1636
Le Cid
Pierre Corneille
France, play
The Comic Illusion
Pierre Corneille
France, play
1643
The Mayor of Zalamea
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Spain, play
1648
Hesperides
Robert Herrick
England, poetry collection
Includes To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time; Upon Julia's Clothes; and others
1667
Paradise Lost
John Milton
England, poem
Andromaque
Jean Racine
France, play
1668
The Miser
Molière
France, play
Simplicius Simplicissimus
Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen
Germany, novel
1668–1694
La Fontaine's Fables
Jean de La Fontaine
France, poetry collection
Includes The Fox and the Crow, The Tortoise and the Hare, The Ant and the Grasshopper, and others
Bérénice
Jean Racine
France, play
1671
Samson Agonistes
John Milton
England, poem
1672
The Learned Ladies
Molière
France, play
The Life of Archpriest Avvakum
Avvakum
Russia, memoir
1673
On His Blindness
John Milton
France, poem
The Imaginary Invalid
Molière
France, play
1677
The Rover
Aphra Behn
England, play
Phèdre
Jean Racine
France, play
1678
The Pilgrim's Progress
John Bunyan
England, novel
La Princesse de Clèves
Madame de La Fayette
France, novella
1682
The Life of an Amorous Man
Ihara Saikaku
Japan, novel
1691
Athalie
Jean Racine
France, play
1692
Dream
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Mexico, poem
1697
Tales of Mother Goose
Charles Perrault
France, story collection
Includes Cinderella, Puss in Boots, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, and others
1699
The Adventures of Telemachus
François de Salignac de la Mothe Fénelon
France, novel
1700
The Way of the World
William Congreve
England, play
Ancient • Medieval & Renaissance • 18th & 19th century • 20th century • 21st century
See also:
Creating the Greatest Literature of All Time list
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