The 100 best books about death and mortality

No. 11 on this list. Complete Poems · John Keats · 1820

No modern syllabus or award-tracking data applies to a poet who died in 1821, but Keats's odes are among the most anthologized and taught poems in the English language, a fixture of every survey of Romantic and British literature. His Wikipedia presence is extensive and translated into dozens of languages, on par with the other major Romantics.

No. 12 on this list. Life Studies · Robert Lowell · 1959

One of the most important collections in postwar American poetry. 'Skunk Hour' alone secures its place in the canon.

No. 13 on this list. Collected Poems · Robert Frost · 1930

Frost appears on virtually every American high school and university English curriculum. 'The Road Not Taken,' 'Mending Wall,' and 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' are among the most-taught poems in the English language, and the Collected Poems is the standard edition used in academic settings. His work is a fixture of the canon in a way shared by almost no other 20th-century American poet.

No. 14 on this list. The Winter's Tale · William Shakespeare · 1611

Included in: Great Books of the Western World

A standard text in university Shakespeare courses worldwide, The Winter's Tale is taught as part of the late romances alongside The Tempest and Pericles. While it ranks below the major tragedies in curriculum frequency, it is required reading in virtually all advanced Shakespeare courses and appears regularly in comparative drama syllabi globally.

No. 15 on this list. Dubliners · James Joyce · 1914

Taught in schools: CSEC English B – Caribbean Examinations Council

Dubliners appears on 1,771 university syllabi according to the Open Syllabus Project (81st percentile), making it a fixture in modernist literature and short fiction courses worldwide. Its Wikipedia article spans 43 languages, and prestige editions from Penguin Classics and NYRB Classics attest to its sustained standing as essential reading. Every serious curriculum in Irish, British, or modernist literature includes it.

No. 16 on this list. Ariel · Sylvia Plath · 1965

Taught in schools: AQA GCSE and A-level English Literature (UK)

Ariel is standard reading across American and British university literature and women's studies curricula, appearing on thousands of syllabi. The collection is included on virtually every 'essential 20th century poetry' list and occupies a permanent position in the confessional poetry canon. Its Wikipedia article exists in over 30 languages, and it has been continuously in print since its 1965 publication.

No. 17 on this list. A Hunger Artist · Franz Kafka · 1924

Kafka's short fiction is taught in university literature courses worldwide, and 'A Hunger Artist' is among his most frequently anthologized works. It appears in virtually every Kafka collection and features in major short story anthologies. The work has sustained academic and pedagogical attention since its posthumous publication in 1922.

No. 18 on this list. The Sorrows of Young Werther · Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1774

Standard curriculum in German literature and comparative literature courses worldwide. The novel launched the Sturm und Drang movement and anchored the European Romantic turn. No syllabus data is available in the database, but its presence in university world literature courses is pervasive and long-established.

No. 19 on this list. Lycidas · John Milton · 1638

Included in: Great Books of the Western World

A fixture of the Norton Anthology and of every Milton and Renaissance poetry course, and the standard example of the English pastoral elegy. Its place in anthologies and survey courses has been secure since the eighteenth century.

No. 20 on this list. Epic of Gilgamesh · Anonymous

The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest surviving great literary work and is universally taught in world literature, ancient history, comparative literature, and religion courses at all levels. It appears in every comprehensive anthology of world literature and is foundational to understanding how narrative, religion, and mortality entered written culture. Unquestioned canonical status as a civilization-defining text.

No. 21 on this list. As I Lay Dying · William Faulkner · 1930

Taught in schools: Common Core text exemplars (Appendix B) (US)

As I Lay Dying appears on 1,422 university syllabi (78.8th percentile) and is listed on the Modern Library 100 Best Novels and the Open Syllabus Top 500 Literature list. Wikipedia articles exist in 24 languages and the entry notes an adaptations section indicating cultural reach. A fixture of American modernism courses, though less universally assigned than The Great Gatsby (95) or To Kill a Mockingbird (92).

No. 22 on this list. Electra · Sophocles · c. 410 BCE

Included in: Great Books of the Western World

Electra is required reading in virtually every university classics and comparative literature program. All seven of Sophocles' surviving plays form the backbone of Western classical studies, and Electra — alongside Oedipus Rex and Antigone — is among the most taught. It appears on syllabi across departments from literature to philosophy to theater.

No. 23 on this list. Troilus and Criseyde · Geoffrey Chaucer · 1385

Included in: Great Books of the Western World

Required reading in virtually every medieval English literature curriculum, taught across English, Comparative Literature, and Medieval Studies programs at universities worldwide. Though Open Syllabus data is unavailable here, Chaucer courses built around this text are standard at every major university with an English department. It holds a place among the most-studied long poems in the English language.

No. 24 on this list. To the Lighthouse · Virginia Woolf · 1927

Included in: Bokklubben World Library, Great Books of the Western World

To the Lighthouse appears on 2,429 university syllabi according to Open Syllabus (84.6th percentile), placing it in the same tier as Beloved (85th). It holds places on the Modern Library 100 Best Novels (1998), TIME's All-TIME 100 Novels (2005), 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006), and is published by both Everyman's Library and Penguin Modern Classics. Wikipedia articles exist in 35 languages.

No. 25 on this list. The Tower · William Butler Yeats · 1928

Yeats wrote the poems in this collection in his sixties, and the proximity of death stripped his verse of Celtic twilight and replaced it with granite: "Sailing to Byzantium," "Leda and the Swan," and "Among School Children" are here, each one forging private obsession into formal perfection. The volume represents the rare case of a major poet reaching his peak decades after his reputation was already secured.

No. 26 on this list. Beowulf · Anonymous

The oldest surviving long poem in Old English transforms a Scandinavian hero's monster-fights into a meditation on the transience of glory and the duty of a leader to spend his life for his people. Its recovery from a single fire-damaged manuscript preserved the founding work of English-language literary tradition.

No. 27 on this list. Kokoro · Natsume Sōseki · 1914

Included in: UNESCO Collection of Representative Works

Kokoro is universally regarded as the supreme masterpiece of modern Japanese literature and one of the most important novels of the twentieth century in any language. It is the single most commonly assigned novel in Japanese high schools and universities, and appears on literature syllabi worldwide. It has been continuously in print since 1914 and has been translated into dozens of languages. It is a permanent fixture of every serious list of world literature, from the Penguin Classics and Oxford World Classics catalogs to Harold Bloom's discussions of global literary achievement.

No. 28 on this list. Bérénice · Jean Racine · 1670

Included in: Great Books of the Western World

Bérénice is a cornerstone of French classical literature, taught in virtually every French lycée and featured in world literature and drama curricula internationally. Alongside Phèdre and Andromaque, it is one of the three works most associated with Racine's genius and is considered essential reading for anyone studying French neoclassical theatre.

No. 29 on this list. Mrs. Dalloway · Virginia Woolf · 1925

Taught in schools: OCR GCSE and A-level English Literature (UK), Pearson Edexcel GCSE and A-level English Literature (UK)

Included in: Bokklubben World Library

Appears on 4,254 university syllabi according to the Open Syllabus Project, placing it at the 90.7th percentile of all taught texts — above Beloved's range and approaching The Great Gatsby's 3,500+ appearances. Listed on TIME's All-TIME 100 Novels (2005) and in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. Wikipedia articles in 35 languages with an adaptations section confirm broad global reach.

No. 30 on this list. The Plague · Albert Camus · 1947

Taught in schools: Lektury obowiązkowe – Polish national reading list (Poland)

Included in: UNESCO Collection of Representative Works

The Plague is taught across Europe, the Americas, and Asia in existentialism, 20th-century literature, and French literature courses. Its Wikipedia article exists in 124 languages — comparable to the reach of Kafka's The Trial and well above most postwar novels. Listed in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die and enshrined as a Penguin Modern Classic.