Jeremy Black 
Reading Sumerian Poetry [PDF ebook] 

An analysis of the oldest form of poetry. Sumer, in the southern part of Iraq, created the first literary culture in history, as early as 2500BC. The account is structured around a complete English translation of the fragmentary Lugalbanda poems, narrating the adventures of the eponymous hero. The study reveals a work of a rich and sophisticated poetic imagination and technique, which, far from being in any sense “primitive“, are so complex as to resist much modern literary analysis.