This book introduces students who have previously read some Homer to both the Theogony and the Works and Days, of his immediate successor, Hesiod. Just over 800 lines are included of the Greek text Theogony 1-232, 453-733 and Works and Days 1-307, along with introduction and commentary.

The annotation generally assumes a basis of Homeric grammar, dialect and metre, but refers frequently to the classic editions like Munro's Homeric Grammar and to Denniston's The Greek Particles (both available from Bloomsbury). It concentrates, however, on the quite complex content and the literary quality of the poetry.