These excerpts from works of philosophy and religion, history and drama, fiction, poetry, and other genres introduce the many facets of medieval literature. The anthology opens with chapters from The Confessions of St. Augustine, the first Western biography and a model for Christian writers throughout the Middle Ages. Book One of Boethius's The Consolation of Philosophy follows, along with selections from the Venerable Bede's The Ecclesiastical History of the English People and the Old English epic poem Beowulf.