Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction to poetry: Poetry -- Divisions and types of poetry -- Prose -- Divisions and types of prose -- Drama -- Qualities of a literary masterpiece -- African literature: The two brothers -- The voter -- Literature of Nigeria -- Once upon a time -- Literature of Ghana -- Life in our village -- Literature of Africa -- The little bird -- Play song -- Asian literature: Analects -- He walked by day -- The wisdom of Confucius -- Memories of Peking -- The people of Tao-Chou -- The flower market -- Chinese poems: Home -- Answering vice - Perfect Chang -- What should a man want -- Anxiety of a young lady to get married? -- In absence -- The red cockatoo -- A cicada -- Literature of India: The rig -- Veda the creation hymn -- The unknown God -- To India -- Street cries -- Indian epic: The Mahabharata -- My Thai cat -- A little incident -- Rice pounding songs -- Like the molave -- My boyhood in India -- Literature of Japan: Autumn -- Things that bend in the wind -- River fog -- The dew -- The spider's thread -- Literature of Arabia: The Arabian's nights: The first voyage of Sinbad of the sea -- The story of Ruth -- Jonah -- The prayer of Jonah -- Literature of Lebanon: About work -- Literature of the Hebrews: Psalm 1 -- Psalm 23 -- The prodigal son -- Australian literature: Prognosis -- The wild colonial boy -- The days when we went swimming -- Ode to a dead millionaire -- European literature: The Iliad -- The Odyssey -- The last judgement -- Literature of Rome: Pygmalion -- The Aneid -- Literature of Italy: The divine comedy -- The prince: an exhortation to liberate Italy from the barbarians -- Decameron: the story of a conversion -- Six sonnets from themes on the life of Laura -- Literature of England: From Beowulf -- Beowulf's fight with Grendel -- Beowulf's fight with Grendel's mother -- Arabi -- Of studies -- Can we live in peace? -- Sonnet 18 -- Sonnet 29 -- From an essay on criticism -- From Part II -- The solitary reaper -- Ode to a nightingale -- Poets -- Meeting at night -- Memorablia -- Summon Bonum -- My last duchess -- Epilogue -- Poems -- Sweet and low -- In memoriam -- You ask me, why though I'll at ease -- North and Latin American literature: The Noble Prize speech -- Roughing it -- Sinner in the hands of an angry God -- The haunted mind -- Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening -- The gift outright -- Desert places -- The tell-tale heart -- A discourse on literature and publishing today -- Balthazar's marvelous afternoon -- Una muchachita -- The unforseen -- Give yourself wholly.