The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 2nd Edition

One of the courses I am studying this semester is World Literature. The first thing I learned is that writing came about because of economics and not from a desire to record stories. That was interesting. So far I have read the epic of Gilgamesh, several ancient Egyptian poems, and Homer's Illiad. I loved Gilgamesh; The Illiad is tolerable (but not my favorite); and I was intrigued by the Egyptian poetry. My favorite:

Love of you is mixed deep in my vitals

"Love of you is mixed deep in my vitals, like water stirred into flour for bread,
Like simples compound in a sweet tasting drug, like pastry and honey mixed to perfection.
Oh, hurry to look at your love! Be like horses charging in battle,
Like a gardener up with the sun burning to watch his prize bud open.
High heaven causes a girl's lovelonging.
It is like being too far from the light,
Far from the hearth of familiar arms.
It is this being so tangled in you."

So far I have read 172 pages, and I will continue to share the stories I've studied as the semester progresses.