World masterpieces

This first volume of the anthology traces the literature of Western civilization from its earliest roots up to the Renaissance. It is arranged in three sections. The first gathers works from the ancient world, drawing on the Old and New Testaments, the Greek writers Homer, Aeschylus, Thucydides, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Plato and Aristotle, and the Roman authors Lucretius, Cicero, Virgil and Petronius, closing with Saint Augustine.

The second section turns to the Middle Ages, featuring Dante, Boccaccio, the anonymous Arthurian romance Sir Gawain, Chaucer, and the morality play Everyman. The third section covers the Renaissance, with selections from Petrarch, Erasmus, Castiglione, Machiavelli, Rabelais, Montaigne, Cervantes, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Donne, Calderón de la Barca and Milton.

Together the sections present poetry, drama, philosophy, religious writing and prose, making the volume a broad survey for readers who want to explore the major works and writers that shaped Western thought and storytelling.