Table of Contents

Introduction

"The Wife's Lament"

• Author Unknown
• Composed before 990 (at the latest)
• Found in the Exeter Book manuscript (published around late 10th Century)

Sir Orfeo

• Author Unknown
• Composed Ca. 1300
• Originally published as a Manuscript (version mostly from Auchinleck manuscript)
• Seems like it may have been "translated" (stolen) from French origins
• Due to the mostly lyrical layout, may have been performed before it was published

The Country Wife

• by William Wycherly
• Composed in 1675
• Published first as a performance, later printed

Oroonoko

• by Ahpra Behn
• Composed in 1688 (but she had been recounting a similar story for decades)
• Originally published in Print as an early novel

A Journal of the Plague Year

• by Daniel Defoe
• Composed in 1722
• Originally published in Print