2023 Reading Schedule Builder

Create your reading list to tackle the best classic books in the new year, setting aside just 20 minutes a day! More info & examples →
Your Schedule

Days Remaining: 365

No books selected yet

Reset

Unsaved lists will expire in 30 days

Most Popular Genres Collections

Genres › Poetry

The Inferno
Dante
31 days •
ⓘ 1320 • Join Dante and his guide Virgil as they journey through the pits of Hell, encountering the souls of the damned.
The Odyssey
Homer
47 days •
ⓘ 700 BC • Ten years have passed since Troy fell, yet still Odysseus has not returned home. As the Greek hero struggles against nature and the gods, his son deals with the suitors vying for Penelope's attention.
Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare
15 days •
ⓘ 1597 • In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, star-crossed lovers from warring families come together for a tragically brief time in this most famous of romances.
The Iliad
Homer
64 days •
ⓘ 760 BC • Homer's classic poem tells of the Trojan War, a ten year struggle filled with heroes, gods, destruction, and tragedy.
Beowulf
Anonymous
16 days •
ⓘ 700 • A diabolical monster is slaughtering the men in the hall of the King of the Danes. The hero of the Geats arrives to battle the shadowy horror.
Poetics
Aristotle
6 days •
ⓘ 335 BC • One of the earliest and most influential works of criticism, Aristotle discusses elements of drama and tragedy. "The plot is the source and the soul of tragedy."
Leaves of Grass
Walt Whitman
79 days •
ⓘ 1855 • A treasured collection of poetry, Whitman praises both nature and the role of humanity and the human mind. One of the central works of American poetry.
Volsunga Saga
Anonymous
24 days •
ⓘ 1250 • Follow the heroic exploits of Sigurd the dragon slayer in this collection of epic tales based on Viking Age poems. One of the great books of world literature.
Paradise Lost
John Milton
33 days •
ⓘ 1667 • An epic poem winding itself around the Biblical story of Adam, Eve, and Satan in the Garden of Eden in an effort to "justify the ways of God to men."
Les Fleurs du mal
Charles Baudelaire
10 days •
ⓘ 1857 • Declared by Victor Hugo to have created "un nouveau frisson" (a new shudder, a new thrill) in literature, this volume of poetry and its themes of decadence and eroticism is a critical work of the symbolist and modernist movements.
Aeneid
Virgil
45 days •
ⓘ 19 BC • An epic poem containing the legend of the Trojan Aeneas who travels to Italy and becomes the ancestor of the Romans.
The Faerie Queene
Edmund Spenser
19 days •
ⓘ 1590 • Book I of an incomplete epic poem and one of the inspirations of modern fantasy. An allegory in praise of Queen Elizabeth I, Spenser weaves together medieval romance and renaissance epic.
The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer
64 days •
ⓘ 1478 • A group of pilgrims on their way to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket exchange stories, aiming to win a free meal at the Tabard Inn. An iconic and remarkable portrait of life in the 14th century.
Poems: Three Series
Emily Dickinson
19 days •
ⓘ 1896 • The complete three volumes of Emily Dickinson's poetry, heavily edited according to the conventions of the time.
The Enormous Room
E.E. Cummings
34 days •
ⓘ 1922 • Free-spirited Edward Estlin Cummings goes from Red Cross ambulance volunteer in WWI to prisoner of a French concentration camp in this autobiographical quest for freedom.
Essays
Ralph Waldo Emerson
25 days •
ⓘ 1841 • A collection of Emerson's essays, including Self-Reliance, Compensation, The Over-Soul, and The Poet.
The Celtic Twilight
W.B. Yeats
14 days •
ⓘ 1902 • Take a dive into the fascinating world of Irish folklore. A "handful of dreams" with fairies, ghosts, and spirits.
Egil's Saga
Snorri Sturluson
25 days •
ⓘ 1240 • An Icelandic saga spanning multiple generations of Egil Skallagrimsson‘s family, including Egil’s struggle against the king of England.
Gitanjali
Rabindranath Tagore
7 days •
ⓘ 1910 • A collection of Bengali poems, a "spiritual offering of songs," translated into English by the author. Tagore received the Nobel Prize for Literature in part due to this book.
Poems
Edgar Allan Poe
18 days •
ⓘ 1845 • Collected poetry of Edgar Allan Poe including The Raven, The Sleeper, Lenore, The Conqueror Worm, and others.
The Gods of Pegana
Lord Dunsany
7 days •
ⓘ 1905 • A series of stories about Dunsany's pantheon of gods - a memorable early work of fantasy.
The Madman
Khalil Gibran
3 days •
ⓘ 1918 • Philosophical poetry and short stories on truth, spirituality, and love by Lebanese author Khalil Gibran
New Hampshire
Robert Frost
10 days •
ⓘ 1923 • A treasured collection of Frost's poetry including "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", "Nothing Gold Can Stay", "Fire and Ice".
Cane
Jean Toomer
17 days •
ⓘ 1923 • A collection of sketches, poems, and stories of black life in the South. A powerful work of the Harlem Renaissance.
The Prophet
Kahlil Gibran
8 days •
ⓘ 1923 • The prophet Al Mustafa discusses life, death, love, and pain before boarding a ship to go home in this collection of poetry fables.
Tender Buttons
Gertrude Stein
8 days •
ⓘ 1914 • A collection of poetry spotlighting everyday mundane objects. Described as a "masterpiece of verbal Cubism".
Tao Te Ching
Laozi
7 days •
ⓘ 600 BC • A fundamental Chinese text for philosophical and religious Taoism comprised of 81 short poetic sections.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Friedrich Nietzsche
29 days •
ⓘ 1883 • A philosophical novel in which the ancient prophet Zarathustra reveals God is dead, to be succeeded by a human embodiment of divinity: the Superman.
Songs of Innocence and of Experience
William Blake
7 days •
ⓘ 1789 • A collection of poetry by the "pre-romantic" William Blake, who was thought mad by his contemporaries.
Purgatorio
Dante
16 days •
ⓘ 1320 • The second part of Dante's Divine Comedy. Dante is led up the Mount of Purgatory, discussing vice, sin, and the penitent Christian life along the way.
Paradiso
Dante
15 days •
ⓘ 1320 • In the final part of Dante's journey, he travels through Heaven - spheres surrounding the Earth - towards the abode of God.
Three Stories and Ten Poems
Ernest Hemingway
5 days •
ⓘ 1923 • A collection of short works by Hemingway including "Up in Michigan" and "My Old Man."
Metamorphoses
Ovid
64 days •
ⓘ 8 AD • A poetic chronicle of the history of the world, lacing together hundreds of myths and stories. One of the most influential works in Western culture.
Faust
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
46 days •
ⓘ 1808 • Both parts of Goethe's famous tragic play, in which a disillusioned scholar makes a deal with a devil.
Bhagavad Gita
Anonymous
11 days •
ⓘ 400 BC • One of the most well known Hindu texts touching on a wide range of spiritual topics, perhaps most prominently the importance of selflessness.
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Various
5 days •
ⓘ 1920 • The ancient Mesopotamian epic from four thousand years ago, one of the earliest works of literature, chronicling the life and adventures of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
William Blake
4 days •
ⓘ 1790 • A collection of poetry satirizing religion, following the author’s descent to hell.
Songs of a Sourdough
Robert W. Service
11 days •
ⓘ 1907 • A collection of poetry, "ballads of Yukon," including "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee."
Tales of a Wayside Inn
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
14 days •
ⓘ 1863 • An exchange of stories at a Massachusetts inn, including the famous "Paul Revere's Ride."
Aurora Leigh
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
46 days •
ⓘ 1856 • An epic poem, "a novel in verse," tracing the life, work, and love of Aurora Leigh through Florence, Malvern, London and Paris. Praised as one of the greatest long poems of the 19th century.
Spirits in Bondage & Dymer
C.S. Lewis
15 days •
ⓘ 1919 • A collection of C.S. Lewis' earliest writings and poetry from before his conversion to Christianity.
Copper Sun
Countee Cullen
4 days •
ⓘ 1927 • A poetry collection from a Harlem Renaissance great, including many works on love - love as a unifier, love for nature, religious love, love leading to death.
The Tower
W.B. Yeats
8 days •
ⓘ 1928 • A collection of poetry including some of Yeats' most famous and influential works, including "Sailing to Byzantium," "Leda and the Swan," and "Among School Children."
West-Running Brook
Robert Frost
6 days •
ⓘ 1928 • A collection from the famed American poet including "Acquainted with the Night", "A Winter Eden", "Spring Pools", and more.
Mastodon Mastodon