Hesiod's Works and Days is the oldest classical work in the genre of the didactic epic and presents moral and practical instructions rather than relating legends about heroes' feats and adventures (as the heroic epics do). It is hypothesized that it was composed in the eighth century BCE.

Owing to his Works and Days, Hesiod is considered as an artist who composed his work on rural subjects. In his work there is none of the idealization of peasant or shepherd life which characterized the later genre of the pastoral, bucolic idyll; however, if we are to believe his own reports, Hesiod was himself a shepherd. He attests that it was in this occupation at Mount Helicon that the Muses appeared to him and imparted to him the gift of inspired singing.

Hesiod wrote his Works and Days as a collection of instructions for his unwise and unrighteous brother Perses, who had previously litigated against him concerning their patrimony. Having won the case due to the help of wicked protectors, Perses proceeded to squander the entirely of his and his brother's inheritance and thus returned to Hesiod in order to make more legal demands. Works and Days was therefore a response to his brother's unscrupulous actions.

Thus, unlike Homer, Hesiod's personal life and experiences are very much present in his poem. He chastises and instructs, frequently recalling and explaining his own experiences. To recast his personal experiences in relation to ideas of broader significance, he then uses parables and myths to express morals and virtues rather than evoking these figures as characters in a narrative.

Furthermore, in direct contrast to Homer (who took the lives and deeds of heroes as his subjects), Hesiod rather pays homage to common men, such as the humble field worker. He explains the necessity of toil for humanity by narrating the story of Prometheus. After Prometheus stole fire from the gods in order to help humanity, the gods retaliated by creating Pandora, whose name translates to "All-Gift." This name, however, is a cruel irony: the gods, "who have their mansions on Olympus had given her a gift—a woe for men who live on bread." Thus, while Prometheus imparted the gift of fire on humanity, the vengeful gods also imparted the "gift" of toil and strife through Pandora's misdeeds. Hesiod asserts that this is why life for humanity must be filled with hard work; it is what is required in light of these "gifts."

The poet continues to tell of the present age, which he calls "one of iron" and which has followed the ages of gold, silver, bronze, and "the godly race of men-heroes, who are called demigods":

For now the race is indeed one of iron. And they will not cease from toil and distress by day, nor from being worn out by suffering at night, and the gods will give them grievous cares.

In this Iron Age, kings are greedy and unjust despite the fact that Zeus himself watches over the earth, a reflection of Hesiod's deep pessimism.

The next part of his poem begins with agricultural instructions. The instructions are very down-to-earth and practical and are considered to be the "Works" of the title. Hesiod focuses on the details of farming, plowing, sowing, harvesting, pruning vines, and so on. Pictures of natural phenomena and changes of seasons serve as the background for human activities. However, the poet treats these descriptions of everyday activity in aesthetic terms, proving that the craft of Works and Days is at once poetic and pragmatic—highlighting the inherent beauty and art in activities that were conventionally understood to...