Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. The poem concerns the biblical story of the fall of man; the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
Iago is Othello's malevolent ensign, who maliciously stokes his master's jealousy until the usually stoic Moor kills his beloved wife in a fit of blind rage.
It's a classic rags-to-riches story about an orphan who has to find his way through a city full of criminals, and avoid being corrupted.
Oedipus the King unfolds as a murder mystery, a political thriller, and a psychological whodunit. Throughout this mythic story of patricide and incest, Sophocles emphasizes the irony of a man determined to track down, expose, and punish an assassin, who turns out to be himself.
T. S. Eliot's most famous drama, a retelling of the murder of the archbishop of Canterbury
A literary classic that wasn't recognized for its merits until decades after its publication, Herman Melville's Moby-Dick tells the tale of a whaling ship and its crew, who are carried progressively further out to sea by the fiery Captain Ahab. Obsessed with killing the massive whale, which had previously bitten off Ahab's leg, the seasoned seafarer steers his ship to confront the creature, while the rest of the shipmates, including the young narrator, Ishmael, and the harpoon expert, Queequeg, must contend with their increasingly dire journey.
Medea is an ancient Greek tragedy written by Euripides. It is based upon the myth of Jason and Medea and was first produced in 431 BC as part of a trilogy; the two other plays have not survived.
Taken from the poverty of her parents' home in Portsmouth, Fanny Price is brought up with her rich cousins at Mansfield Park, acutely aware of her humble rank and with her cousin Edmund as her sole ally. During her uncle's absence in Antigua, the Crawford's arrive in the neighborhood bringing with them the glamour of London life and a reckless taste for flirtation.
Three witches tell the Scottish general Macbeth that he will be King of Scotland. Encouraged by his wife, Macbeth kills the king, becomes the new king, and kills more people out of paranoia.
Chronicles the joys and sorrows of the four March sisters as they grow into young women in nineteenth-century New England.
Life on the Mississippi (1883) is a memoir by Mark Twain of his days as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before the American Civil War, and also a travel book, recounting his trip along the Mississippi from St. Louis to New Orleans many years after the War.
Leaves of Grass is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman.
King Lear divides his kingdom among the two daughters who flatter him and banishes the third one who loves him.
Brutus joins a conspiracy led by Cassius to assassinate Julius Caesar, to prevent him from becoming a tyrant.
An adventurous geology professor chances upon a manuscript in which a 16th-century explorer claims to have found a route to the earth's core.
Jane Eyre is a plain, yet spirited, governess whose virtuous integrity, keen intellect, and perseverance break through class barriers to reach the man she loves.
In Our Time is a collection of eighteen vignettes, presented as chapters, about the years prior to, during, and after the first world war.
One of the foremost achievements in Western literature, Homer's Iliad tells the story of the darkest episode of the Trojan War.
Marlowe sails down the Congo in search of Kurtz, a company agent who has, according to rumors, become insane in the jungle isolation. Also includes "Typhoon," and "The Secret Sharer."
The ghost of the King of Denmark tells his son Hamlet to avenge his murder by killing the new king, Hamlet's uncle.
Gulliver's Travels recounts the story of Lemuel Gulliver, a practical-minded Englishman trained as a surgeon who takes to the seas when his business fails.
Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens that follows the journey of an orphan named Pip. Growing up in Kent with his older sister and her husband, Joe, Pip aids an escaped convict. His life takes a turn when he meets the wealthy and eccentric Miss Havisham, falling in love with her adopted daughter, Estella. The novel explores themes of ambition, unrequited love, and the consequences of one’s actions.
A monster assembled by a scientist from parts of dead bodies develops a mind of his own as he learns to loathe himself and hate his creator.
A carefully curated selection of poetry by Marlowe, Shakespeare, Donne, Wheatley, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Longfellow, Emerson, Poe, Browning, Dickinson, Whitman, Dunbar, Kipling, and more.
As daughter of the richest, most important man in the small provincial village of Highbury, Emma Woodhouse is firmly convinced that it is her right--perhaps even her "duty"--To arrange the lives of others. Considered by most critics to be Austen's most technically brilliant achievement, "Emma" sparkles with ironic insights into self-deception, self-discovery, and the interplay of love and power.
