The Really Long List of Great Literature (cont'd)
Ancient • Medieval & Renaissance • 18th & 19th century • 20th century • 21st century
Medieval Literature (401 to 1500 CE)
c.450–500
The Three Satakas
by Bhartṛhari, India
Poetry collection
c.500
The Tale of an Anklet
by Iḷaṅkõ Aṭikaḷ, India
Poem
The Táin
by Anonymous, Ireland
Poem
c.750
Selected Poems
by Li Bai, China
Poetry collection
c.759
Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves
by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro et al, Japan
Poetry collection
c.799
Epistle on the Singing Girls
by Al-Jahiz, Iraq
Story collection
c.800
The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain
by Hanshan, China
Poetry collection
Book of Misers
by Al-Jahiz, Iraq
Story collection
c.800–1200
Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor
by Anonymous, Persia
Story collection
c.800–1400
One Thousand and One Nights
by 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
by Anonymous, China
Story
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
by Anonymous, Japan
Novel
977–1010
The Book of Kings
by Ferdowsi, Persia
Poem
c.1000
The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon
by Sei Shonagon, Japan
Diary
c.1000–1300
The Poetic Edda
by Anonymous, Iceland
Poem
c.1060
The Sarashina Diary
by Lady Sarashina, Japan
Memoir
c.1100
Song of Roland
by Anonymous, France
Poem
Assemblies of Hariri
by al-Hariri of Basra, Iraq
Story collection
Rubaiyat
by Omar Khayyám, Persia
Poetry collection
Mabinogion
by Anonymous, Wales
Story collection
c.1100–1250
Volsungsaga
by Anonymous, Iceland
Epic poem
c.1125
The Improvement of Human Reason
by Ibn Tufayl, Andalusia
Novel
c.1140
The Poem of the Cid
by Anonymous, Spain
Poem
c.1145
King Rother
by Anonymous, Germany
Poem
1177
The Conference of the Birds
by Farid od-Din Attar, Persia
Poem
c.1177–1181
Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart
by Chrétien de Troyes, France
Poem
c.1180
Lais of Marie de France
by Marie de France, England
Poetry collection
1181–1190
Perceval, the Story of the Grail
by Chrétien de Troyes, France
Poem
c.1200
The Nibelungenlied
by Anonymous, Germany
Poem
The Prose Edda
by Snorri Sturlson, Iceland
Novel
The Tale of Igor's Last Campaign
by Anonymous, Kieven Rus'
Novel
c.1200–1210
Parzival
by Wolfram von Eschenbach, Germany
Poem
1210
Tristan und Isolde
by Gottfied von Strassburg, Germany
Poem
c.1220
The Tale of the Heike
by Anonymous, Japan
Novel
1230
Heimskringla
by Snorri Sturlson, Iceland
Story collection
1230–1275
Romance of the Rose
by Guillaume de Lorris, Jean de Meun, France
Poem
c.1240
Egil's Saga
by Anonymous, Iceland
Novel
c.1250
The Saga of Burnt Njal
by Anonymous, Iceland
Poem
1257
The Orchard
by Saadi Shirazi, Persia
Poetry collection
1258
The Garden
by Saadi Shirazi, Persia
Poetry collection
1258–1273
Masnavi
by Rumi, Persia
Poem
c.1280
The Owl and the Nightingale
by Anonymous, England
Poem
1294
The New Life
by Alighieri Dante, Italy
Prose and poetry collection
1298–1299
The Travels of Marco Polo
by Rustichello da Pisa, Italy
Nonfiction
c.1300
The Chalk Circle
by Li Qianfu, China
Play
Deeds of the Romans
by Anonymous, Unknown
Story collection
c.1300–1400
The Sage of Grettir the Strong
by Anonymous, Iceland, peim
1307
The Divine Comedy
by Alighieri Dante, Italy
Poem
c.1322
The Glory of the Kings
by Anonymous, Ethiopia
Novel
1327–1368
Il Canzoniere / Le Rime Sparse
by Francesco Petrarch, Italy
Poetry collection
1330–1332
Essays in Idleness
by Yoshida Kenkō, Japan, essay collection
1335
Tales of a Parrot
by Nakhshabi, Persia
Story collection
1348
The Decameron
by Giovanni Boccaccio, Italy
Story collection
c.1350
The Divān of Hafez
by Hafez, Persia
Poem
1352
The Triumphs
by Giovanni Boccaccio, Italy
Poem
c.1360–1400
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
by Luo Guanzhong, China
Novel
c.1360–1589
Water Margin
by Shi Nai'an, Luo Guanzhong, China
Novel
1362
The Vision of Piers the Ploughman
by William Langland, England
Poem
c.1380
Pearl
by Anonymous, England
Poem
c.1382–1386
Troilus and Cressida
by Geoffrey Chaucer, England
Poem
1387
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
by Anonymous, England
Poem
c.1387–1400
The Canterbury Tales
by Geoffrey Chaucer, England
Prose and poetry collection
c.1400
Atsumori
by Zeami Motokiyo, Japan
Play
Amadís de Gaula
by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, Portugal
Novel
1405
The Book of the City of Ladies
by Christine de Pizan, Italy
Novel
1461
The Great Testament
by François Villon, France
Poetry collection
1483–1495
Orlando Innamorato
by Matteo Maria Boiardo, Italy
Poem
1485
Everyman
by Anonymous, England
Play
Le Morte d'Arthur
by Thomas Malory, England
Novel
1490
Tyrant the White
by Joanot Martorell, Martí Joan de Galba, Spain
Poem
1492
Prison of Love
by Diego de San Pedro, Spain
Novel
1494
Ship of Fools
by Sebastian Brant, Germany
Poetry collection
1499
La Celestina
by Fernando de Rojas, Spain
Novel
c.1500
Lilit Phra Lo
by Anonymous, Thailand
Poem
The Feather Mantle
by Anonymous, Japan
Play
Renaissance Literature (1500 to 1700 CE)
1501
Judita
by Marko Marulić, Croatia
Poem
1516
Utopia
by Thomas More, England
Novella
1516–1532
Orlando Furioso
by Ludovico Ariosto, Italy
Poem
1528
The Book of the Courtier
by Baldasarre Castiglione, Italy
Nonfiction
1532
The Prince
by Niccolo Macchiavelli, Italy
Nonfiction
1532–1564
The Life of Gargantua and Pantagruel
by 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
by Giorgio Vasari, Italy
Biography
1554
Lazarillo de Tormes
by Anonymous, Spain
Novella
1558
The Heptaméron
by Marguerite de Navarre, France
Story collection
1569—1589
The Araucaniad
by Alonso Ercilla, Spain
Poem
1572
Franciad
by Pierre de Ronsard, France
Poem
The Lusiads
by Luis de Camoëns, Portugal
Poem
1575
Jerusalem Delivered
by Torquato Tasso, Italy
Poem
1578–1591
Poems of Saint John of the Cross
by Saint John of the Cross, Spain
Poetry collection
1580
Essays
by Michel de Montaigne, France, essay collection
1580–1593
The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia
by Philip Sidney, England
Novel
c.1582
The Siege of Numantia
by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Spain
Play
1585
Campaspe
by John Lyly, England
Play
La Galatea
by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Spain
Novel
1586
The Spanish Tragedy
by Thomas Kyd, England
Play
1587
Tamburlaine the Great
by Christopher Marlowe, England
Play
1589
The Faerie Queen
by Edmund Spenser, England
Poem
c.1590
The Golden Lotus
by Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng, China
Novel
c.1590–1599
Satires
by John Donne, England
Poetry collection
Elegies
by John Donne, England
Poetry collection
1591
Richard III
by William Shakespeare, England
Play
Astrophel and Stella
by Philip Sidney, England
Poem
c.1591
The Taming of the Shrew
by William Shakespeare, England
Play
1592
Journey to the West
by Wu Cheng'en, China
Novel
Doctor Faustus
by Christopher Marlowe, England
Play
1594
The Unfortunate Traveller
by Thomas Nashe, England
Novel
The Battle of Alcazar
by George Peele, England
Play
1598
The Peony Pavilion
by Tang Xianzu, China
Play
1599
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
by Christopher, England
Poem
As You Like It
by William Shakespeare, England
Play
1603
A Woman Killed With Kindness
by Thomas Heywood, England
Play
1604–1605
The Honest Whore
by Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton, England
Play
1605
Investiture of the Gods
by Xu Zhonglin, China
Novel
1606
Volpone
by Ben Jonson, England
Play
1609
Sonnets
by William Shakespeare, 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
by Ben Jonson, England
Play
The White Devil
by John Webster, England
Play
1613
Henry VIII
by William Shakespeare, John Fletcher, England
Play
The Duchess of Malfi
by John Webster, England
Play
Solitudes
by Luis de Góngora, Spain
Poem
1616
Les Tragiques
by Agrippa D'Aubigné, France
Poem
1619
Lost in a Mirror
by Lope de Vega, Spain
Play
1622
The Changeling
by Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, England
Poem
1624
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
by John Donne, England, Prose collection
Includes No Man Is an Island
1626
The Swindler
by Francisco de Queveda, Spain
Novel
1631
Punishment Without Revenge
by Lope de Vega, Spain
Play
1633
Holy Sonnets
by John Donne, England
Poetry collection includes Death Be Not Proud; Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God; and others
The Temple
by George Herbert, England
Poem
1635
Life Is a Dream
by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spain
Play
1636
Le Cid
by Pierre Corneille, France
Play
The Comic Illusion
by Pierre Corneille, France
Play
1643
The Mayor of Zalamea
by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spain
Play
1648
Hesperides
by Robert Herrick, England
Poetry collection includes To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time; Upon Julia's Clothes; and others
1667
Paradise Lost
by John Milton, England
Poem
Andromaque
by Jean Racine, France
Play
1668
The Miser
by Molière, France
Play
Simplicius Simplicissimus
by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen, Germany
Novel
1668–1694
La Fontaine's Fables
by 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
1670
The Bourgeois Gentleman
by Molière, France
Play also known as The Would-Be Gentleman; The Middle-Class Gentleman; The Tradesman; The Shopkeeper Turned Gentleman
Bérénice
by Jean Racine, France
Play
1671
Samson Agonistes
by John Milton, England
Poem
1672
The Learned Ladies
by Molière, France
Play
The Life of Archpriest Avvakum
by Avvakum, Russia
Memoir
1673
On His Blindness
by John Milton, France
Poem
The Imaginary Invalid
by Molière, France
Play
1677
The Rover
by Aphra Behn, England
Play
Phèdre
by Jean Racine, France
Play
1678
The Pilgrim's Progress
by John Bunyan, England
Novel
La Princesse de Clèves
by Madame de La Fayette, France
Novella
1682
The Life of an Amorous Man
by Ihara Saikaku, Japan
Novel
1691
Athalie
by Jean Racine, France
Play
1692
Dream
by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexico
Poem
1697
Tales of Mother Goose
by Charles Perrault, France
Story collection includes Cinderella, Puss in Boots, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, and others
1699
The Adventures of Telemachus
by François de Salignac de la Mothe Fénelon, France
Novel
1700
The Way of the World
by 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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