LibGuides: Open Anthology of Early World Literature in English Translation: Home

Ancient Literature - Near Eastern

Gilgamesh
Academy for Ancient Texts. Translated by Maureen Gallery Kovacs, 1990. Non-commercial. HTML.
Gilgamesh
Liberty Fund Online Library. Translated by Jastrow and Clay, 1920. Public domain. Facsimile PDF.
Egyptian Love Poetry, 2000-1100 BCE
Ancient History Sourcebook, Fordham University. Translated by George A. Barton, 1920. Public domain. HTML.
The Bible
The Bible in English (Chadwyck - Healey). 21 comparable English translations. Anglo-Saxon - present. Password protected database (GALILEO). HTML.
The Quran
Tufts University Perseus Project. Arabic Materials. Public domain. HTML.

Ancient Literature - Indian

The Ramayana and the Mahabharata
Liberty Fund Online Library. Translated by Romesh C. Dutt, 1917. Public domain. Facsimile PDF, Kindle, HTML.
Bhagavad Gita
Academy for Ancient Texts. Translated by Sir Edwin Arnold, 1885. Public domain. HTML.
The Bhagvat-Geeta, or Dialogues of Kreeshna and Arjoon
Liberty Fund Online Library. Translated by Charles Wilkins, 1785. Public domain. Facsimile PDF.
Rigveda: A Vedic Reader for Students
Liberty Fund Online Library. Translated by Arthur Macdonell, 1917. Public domain. Facsimile PDF, HTML, Kindle.

Ancient Literature - Chinese

Confucian School, The Shi King, The Old "Poetry Classic" of the Chinese
LibertyFund Online Library. Translated by William Jennings, 1891. Public domain. Facsimile PDF, HTML, Kindle.
Shih King
Sacred Texts Archive. Translated by James Legge, 1879. Public domain. HTML.
The Analects of Confucius
Chinese Text Project. Translated by James Legge, 1898. Public domain. HTML.

Ancient Literature - Greco-Roman collection

Tufts University Perseus Digital Library Project
Edited by Gregory R. Crane, 1987. Public domain. HTML.

Ancient Literature - Greek

Sappho Poems
American Academy of Poets, with permission of. Translated by Richard Lattimore and Jim Powell; 1949, 2007. Non-commercial. HTML.
Sappho Poems
Sacred Texts Archive. Translated by Edwin Marion Cox, transliteration by J.B. Hare; 1925, 2000. Translation: public domain. Transliteration: non-commercial. HTML.
Iliad
Poetry in Translation. Translated by Anthony S. Kline, 2009. Non-commercial. HTML.
Iliad
Internet Classics Archive, MIT. Translated by Samuel Butler, 1898. Public domain. HTML.
Iliad
Project Gutenberg. Translated by William Cowper, 1791. Public domain. HTML.

Ancient Literature - Roman

Aeneid
Poetry in Translation. Translated by Anthony S. Kline, 2002. Non-commercial. HTML.
Aeneid
Internet Classics Archive, MIT. Translated by John Dryden, 1697. Public domain. HTML.
Aeneid
Project Gutenberg. Translated by J.W. MacKail, 1885. Public domain. HTML, ePub, Kindle.
Aeneid
Project Gutenberg. Translated by E. Fairfax Taylor, 1907. Public domain. HTML, ePub, Kindle.

Medieval Literature - Persia / Middle East

The Arabian Nights Entertainment
Project Gutenberg. Translated by Andrew Lang, 1918. Public domain. HTML, ePub, Kindle.
The Arabian Nights
Sacred Texts Archive. Translated by Richard Burton, 1850. Public domain. HTML.
Laili and Majnun by Nizami Ganjavi
Hathi Trust Digital Library. Translated by James Atkinson, 1836. Public domain. HTML, PDF.
The Masnavi-i Ma'navi of Rumi
Sacred Texts Archive. Translated by E.H. Whinfield, 1898. Public domain. HTML.
Verses from Rumi and Omar Khayyam
Persian Poetry. Multiple translations. Public domain. HTML.

Medieval Literature - Indian

Shakuntala and the Ring of Recollection
Liberty Fund Online Library. Translated by Arthur Ryder, 1920. Public domain. Facsimile PDF, HTML, Kindle.
Shakuntala and the Ring of Recollection
Project Gutenberg. Translated by Arthur Ryder, 1920. Public domain. HTML, ePub, Kindle.
Sacontala, or The Fatal Ring
Columbia University. Translated by William Jones, 1789. Public domain. HTML.
Sakoontala, or The Lost Ring
Project Gutenberg. Translated by Monier-Williams, 1855. Public domain. HTML, ePub, Kindle.
Amaru Shataka
Community Texts Internet Archive. Translated by C.R. Devdhar, 1984. Non-commercial. Facsimile PDF, HTML, ePub, Kindle.

Medieval Literature - Japanese

Tale of Genji
Adelaide University. Translated by Edward Seidensticker, 1978. Public domain. HTML, ePub.
The Heike Monogatari
The Internet Archive. Trans. A.L. Sadler, 1918. Non-commercial. MTML, PDF.

Medieval Literature - Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse

Beowulf
Beowulf Translations. 100 comparable translations, 1805-2005. Public domain. HTML.
Beowulf
Poetry in Translation. Trans. Anthony S. Kline, 2012. HTML.
Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poetry Project
A.K. Hostetter. 2018. Non-commercial. HTML.
The Wanderer Project
R. McDonald; 2001. Non-commercial. HTML.
The Story of Grettir the Strong
Perseus Project, Tufts University. Edited and translated by Eirikr Magnusson and William Morris, 1869. Public domain. HTML.
Volsunga Saga
Perseus Project, Tufts University. Edited and translated by William Morris and Eirikr Magnusson, 1888. Public domain. HTML.

Medieval Literature - Italian

The Divine Comedy, Vol. 1 (The Inferno)
Liberty Fund Online Library. Translated by Courtney Langdon, 1918. Public domain. Facsimile PDF.
The Princeton Dante Project, Petrocchi ed. of Commedia
Princeton University. Translated by R. & J. Hollander, 1999-2007. Restricted to "individual scholars for research purposes." HTML.
Dante Lab
Dartmouth University. English translation by H.W. Longfellow; 1867, 2014. Non-commercial. HTML.
Digital Dante
Columbis University. Translated by Longfellow and A. Mandlebaum; 1867, 1980. Non-commercial. HTML.
World of Dante
University of Virginia. Translated by Mandlebaum, 1980. Non-commercial. HTML.

Medieval Literature - French

Song of Roland
Oribus Latinus. Translated by Charles Moncrief, 1919. Public domain. HTML.
Song of Roland
Community Texts Internet Archive. Translated by Leonce Rabillion, 1885. Public domain. Facsimile PDF, HTML, ePub, Kindle.
The Honeysuckle and the Hazel Tree
UC Press eBooks & California Digital Library. Translated by Patricia Terry, 1995. Non-commercial. HTML.
Lais of Marie de France
Project Gutenberg. Translated by Eugene Mason, 1911. Public domain. HTML.
Lais of Marie de France
University of Florida. Translated by Judith P. Shoaf, 1991-96. With translator's permission. PDF.

Early Modern Literature - Japanese

Atsumori by Zeami Motokiyo
Sacred Texts Archive. Translated by Arthur Waley, 1921. Public domain. HTML.
Atsumori by Zeami Motokiyo
GloPAC. Translated by Karen Bazell, 1998. Japanese PARC. HTML.

Early Modern Literature - Italian

The Sonnets, Triumphs, and Other Poems of Petrarch
Project Gutenberg. Edited by Thomas Campbell, 2006. Public domain. HTML, ePub, Kindle.
The Canzoniere and other works of Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca, Father of Humanism. Edited by Peter Sadlon, 2007. Public Domain. HTML.
The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio
Project Gutenberg. Translated by John Payne, 2007. Public domain. HTML, ePub, Kindle.
Italian Poetry to 1600
Poetry in Translation. Translated by Anthony S. Kline, 2004. HTML.
Amaro Lagrimar: the Poems of Vittoria Colonna
George Mason University. Translated and arranged by Ellen Moody, 2004. Non-commercial. HTML.

Early Modern Literature - French

Selected Poems of Pierre de Ronsard
Poetry in Translation. Translated by Anthony S. Kline, 2004. Non-commercial. HTML.
The Sonnets of Louise Labé
Translated by A.S. Kline, 2018. Non-commercial. HTML.
The Essays of Montaigne, Complete
Project Gutenberg. Translated by Charles Cotton and edited by William Hazlitt, 2012. Public domain. HTML, ePub, Kindle.

Early Modern Literature - Spanish

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Project Gutenberg. Translated by John Ormsby, 1885. Public domain. HTML, ePub, Kindle.

Early Modern Literature - English

Complete Plays and Poems of Shakespeare
Folger Shakespeare Library Digital Texts. Edited by Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine, 2010. Non-commercial. HTML.
Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature
Editor Anniina Jokinen. 2006. Public Domain. HTML.

Early Modern Literature - Native American

Popul Vuh
Mesoweb Publications. Translated by Allen J. Christenson, 2007. Non-commerical. PDF.
Popul Vuh
Sacred Texts Archive. Translated by Lewis Spence, 1908. Public domain. HTML.