Literature

Definition
Literature, a body of written works. The name has traditionally been applied to those
imaginative works of poetry and prose distinguished by the intentions of their authors and
the perceived aesthetic excellence of their execution. Literature may be classified
according to a variety of systems, including language, national origin, historical
period, genre, and subject matter.
For historical treatment of various literatures within geographical regions, see such
articles as African literature; African theatre; Oceanic literature; Western
literature; Central Asian arts; South Asian arts; and Southeast Asian arts. Some
literatures are treated separately by language, by nation, or by special subject
(e.g., Arabic literature, Celtic literature, Latin literature, French literature, Japanese
literature, and biblical literature).
Definitions of the word literature tend to be circular. The 11th edition of Merriam-
Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary considers literature to be “writings having excellence of
form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest.” The 19th-
century critic Pate referred to “the matter of imaginative or artistic literature” as a
“transcript, not of mere fact, but of fact in its infinitely varied forms.” But such definitions
assume that the reader already knows what literature is. And indeed its central meaning,
at least, is clear enough. Deriving from the Latin littera, “a letter of the alphabet,” literature
is first and foremost humankind’s entire body of writing; after that it is the body
of writing belonging to a given language or people; then it is individual pieces of writing.
But already it is necessary to qualify these statements. To use the word writing when
describing literature is itself misleading, for one may speak of “oral literature” or “the
literature of preliterate peoples.” The art of literature is not reducible to the words on the
page; they are there solely because of the craft of writing. As an art, literature might be
described as the organization of words to give pleasure. Yet through words literature
elevates and transforms experience beyond “mere” pleasure. Literature also functions
more broadly in society as a means of both criticizing and affirming cultural values.

Scope of literature
Literature is a form of human expression. But not everything expressed in words—even
when organized and written down—is counted as literature. Those writings that are
primarily informative—technical, scholarly, journalistic—would be excluded from the rank
of literature by most, though not all, critics. Certain forms of writing, however, are
universally regarded as belonging to literature as an art. Individual attempts within these
forms are said to succeed if they possess something called artistic merit and to fail if they
do not. The nature of artistic merit is less easy to define than to recognize. The writer
need not even pursue it to attain it. On the contrary, a scientific exposition might be of
great literary value and a pedestrian poem of none at all.
The purest (or, at least, the most intense) literary form is the lyricpoem, and after it comes
elegiac, epic, dramatic, narrative, and expository verse. Most theories of literary
criticism base themselves on an analysis of poetry, because the aesthetic problems of
literature are there presented in their simplest and purest form. Poetry that fails as
literature is not called poetry at all but verse. Many novels—certainly all the world’s great
novels—are literature, but there are thousands that are not so considered. Most great
dramas are considered literature (although the Chinese, possessors of one of the world’s
greatest dramatic traditions, consider their plays, with few exceptions, to possess no
literary merit whatsoever).
The Greeks thought of history as one of the seven arts, inspired by a goddess, the muse
Clio. All of the world’s classic surveys of history can stand as noble examples of the art
of literature, but most historical works and studies today are not written primarily with
literary excellence in mind, though they may possess it, as it were, by accident.
The essay was once written deliberately as a piece of literature: its subject matter was of
comparatively minor importance. Today most essays are written as expository,
informative journalism, although there are still essayists in the great tradition who think of
themselves as artists. Now, as in the past, some of the greatest essayists are critics of
literature, drama, and the arts.
Some personal documents (autobiographies, diaries, memoirs, and letters) rank among
the world’s greatest literature. Some examples of this biographical literature were written
with posterity in mind, others with no thought of their being read by anyone but the writer.
Some are in a highly polished literary style; others, couched in a privately evolved
language, win their standing as literature because of their cogency, insight, depth, and
scope.
Many works of philosophy are classed as literature. The Dialoguesof Plato (4th
century BC) are written with great narrative skill and in the finest prose; the Meditations of
the 2nd-century Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius are a collection of apparently random
thoughts, and the Greek in which they are written is eccentric. Yet both are classed as
literature, while the speculations of other philosophers, ancient and modern, are not.
Certain scientific works endure as literature long after their scientific content has become
outdated. This is particularly true of books of natural history, where the element of
personal observation is of special importance. An excellent example is Gilbert
White’s Natural History and Antiquities of Selbourne (1789).
Oratory, the art of persuasion, was long considered a great literary art. The oratory of
the American Indian, for instance, is famous, while in Classical Greece, Polymnia was the
muse sacred to poetry and oratory. Rome’s great orator Cicero was to have a decisive
influence on the development of English prose style. Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg
Address is known to every American schoolchild. Today, however, oratory is more usually
thought of as a craft than as an art. Most critics would not admit advertising copywriting,
purely commercial fiction, or cinema and television scripts as accepted forms of literary
expression, although others would hotly dispute their exclusion. The test in individual
cases would seem to be one of enduring satisfaction and, of course, truth. Indeed, it
becomes more and more difficult to categorize literature, for in modern civilization words
are everywhere. Man is subject to a continuous flood of communication. Most of it is
fugitive, but here and there—in high-level journalism, in television, in the cinema, in
commercial fiction, in westerns and detective stories, and in plain, expository prose—
some writing, almost by accident, achieves an aesthetic satisfaction, a depth and
relevance that entitle it to stand with other examples of the art of literature.

Importance of literature
Today, there are too many people who believe that literature is simply not important or
underestimate its abilities to stand the test of time and give us great knowledge. There
is a stigma in society that implies one who is more inclined toward science and math will
somehow be more successful in life, and that one who is more passionate toward
literature and other art forms will be destined to a life of low-paying jobs and
unsatisfying careers. Somewhere along the line, the world has come to think that
literature is insignificant. To me, however, literature serves as a gateway to learning of
the past and expanding my knowledge and understanding of the world. Here are just a
few reasons why literature is important.
1. Expanding horizons
First and foremost, literature opens our eyes and makes us see more than just what the
front door shows. It helps us realize the wide world outside, surrounding us. With this,
we begin to learn, ask questions, and build our intuitions and instincts. We expand our
minds.
2. Building critical thinking skills
Many of us learn what critical thinking is in our language arts classes. When we read,
we learn to look between the lines. We are taught to find symbols, make connections,
find themes, learn about characters. Reading expands these skills, and we begin to look
at a sentence with a larger sense of detail and depth and realize the importance of
hidden meanings so that we may come to a conclusion.
3. A leap into the past
History and literature are entwined with each other. History is not just about power
struggles, wars, names, and dates. It is about people who are products of their time,
with their own lives. Today the world is nothing like it was in the 15th century; people
have changed largely. Without literature, we would not know about our past, our
families, the people who came before and walked on the same ground as us.
4. Appreciation for other cultures and beliefs
Reading about history, anthropology, or religious studies provides a method of learning
about cultures and beliefs other than our own. It allows you to understand and
experience these other systems of living and other worlds. We get a view of the inside
looking out, a personal view and insight into the minds and reasoning of someone else.
We can learn, understand, and appreciate it.
5. Better writing skills
When you open a book, when your eyes read the words and you take in its contents, do
you ask yourself: How did this person imagine and write this? Well, many of those
authors, poets, or playwrights used literature to expand their writing.
6. Addressing humanity
All literature, whether it be poems, essays, novels, or short stories, helps us address
human nature and conditions which affect all people. These may be the need for
growth, doubts and fears of success and failure, the need for friends and family, the
goodness of compassion and empathy, trust, or the realization of imperfection. We learn
that imperfection is not always bad and that normal can be boring. We learn that life
must be lived to the fullest. We need literature in order to connect with our own
humanity.
Literature is important and necessary. It provides growth, strengthens our minds and
gives us the ability to think outside the box.

Nature of literature
Literature can be defined as an expression of human feelings, thoughts, and ideas whose
medium is language, oral and written. Literature is not only about human ideas, thoughts,
and feelings but also about experiences of the authors. Literature can be medium for
human to communicate what they feel, think, experience to the readers.
There are many ways to define the term ‘literature’ based on different point of views such
as literature is art, literature is language, literature is aesthetic, literature is
fictional, literatureis expressive, and literature is affective. Literature is everything in print.
It means any writing can be categorized as literature. Another way of defining literature is
to limit it to ‘great books’ which are ‘notable for literary form or expression’. Ellis (1989:30)
defines literature as the verbal expression of human imagination and one of the primary
means by which a culture transmits itself. Based on thus definitions, literature contains
universal ideas, human imagination, and human interest that written in any writings and
use language as medium to express human’s ideas and feelings.

In conjunction with literature as art form, it is broken down into imaginative literature and
non-imaginative literature. Imaginative literature and non-imaginative literature are
distinguished based on the particular use made of language in literature. Language of
imaginative literature is highly ‘connotative’ and language of non-imaginative literature is
purely ‘denotative’. The connotative meaning means words that used in literary works
have feeling and shades of meaning that words to tend to evoke while denotative meaning
means that the words refer to meaning in dictionary.
he language that is used by literature differ form ordinary spoken or written
language. Literature uses special words, structures, and characteristics. Primarily the
language of literature differs from ordinary language in three ways: (1) language is
concentrated and meaningful, (2) its purpose is not simply to explain, argue, or make a
point but rather to give a sense of pleasure in the discovery of a new experience, and (3)
it demands intense concentration from the readers. It indicates that the language of
literature has originality, quality, creativity, and pleasure.

In this case, to differentiate between the literary texts and non-literary texts (imaginative
and non-imaginative), Kleden (2004:7-8) states that literature can be differentiate based
on the kind of meanings that exist in a text. Literary text consists of textual meaning and
referential meaning and non-literary text only consists of referential meaning. The textual
meaning is the meaning that is produced by the relationship of text itself. While referential
meaning is meaning that is produced by the relationship between internal text and
external text (world beyond the text).
The nature of literature is very open-ended and could be answered in many different
ways. I would say that the difference between literature and writing that is not literature
would be the function. Literature functions to entertain and/or education. What I mean is,
as opposed to advertising or explaining, good literature stands on its own as a good or
great story. It has developed characters and a setting and an identifiable plot. It has a
conflict and resolution that is played out in the story line. It tells a story and has a narrator
whether it is first person narrator or omniscent narrator. When we read literature we can
love it or hate it or whatever because it's not true. We are not expected to believe it as
the truth. In the end, however, we can learn a lot about how people interact and how they
speak as opposed to how they think. We can learn to examine our own thoughts and
actions through comparing them to the literature we read.
In addition to all that, we can learn how to write by reading literature. It can be
instructional.

Attempts to come up with a narrow definition have, however, led to such a diversity of
approaches that one can hardly talk about ‘the’ narrow definition. Nevertheless, it is
possible to sift out some of the criteria scholars have applied in order to demarcate ‘literary
texts’ from ‘non-literary texts’.
These criteria include:
• fictionality – product of imagination
• specialized language – differs considerably from normal everyday language
• lack of pragmatic function – not have been intended by the author for any specific
purpose
• ambiguity – open to interpretation

What is LITERATURE?
It is an enduring expression of a significant human experience in words well-chosen and
arranged.
enduring – lasting, not ephemeral
expression – sharing; a manifestation
significant – important, necessary, meaningful
human – people; different human conditions
experience – heart of literature
words well-chosen and arranged
It comes from a Latin word “litera” which means an acquaintance with letters.
Literature can be defined as everything in print.
Literature is language in use that provides insights and intellectual stimulation to the
reader. As one explores literature, he likewise discovers the beauty of language.
The language that is used by literature differs from ordinary spoken or written language.
Literature uses special words, structure, and characteristics. Primarily the language of
literature differs from ordinary language in three ways:
language is concentrated and meaningful;
its purpose is not simply to explain, argue, or make a point but rather to give a sense of
pleasure in the discovery of a new experience; and
it demands intense concentration from the readers.
It indicates that the language of literature has originality, quality, creativity, and pleasure.

Elements of literature
Component parts of a work of literature.
Allegory
The characters are representative of some larger humanistic trait and attempt to convey
some larger lesson or meaning in life.
Allusion
A reference to something in history, culture or literature (especially historical).
Antagonist
The force that works against the protagonist.
Characterization
The creation and development of the people in a story.
Climax
The point in the story where the conflict is at its peak.
Conflict
The struggle a character must overcome.
Connotation
Implied meaning of the word is the associated meaning that comes from its use in
various social contexts; will change over time and vary from location to location.
Crisis
A significant turning point in the story that determines how it must end.
Diction
The author's choice of words to imply some social or connotative meaning.
Exposition
The background information of a story.
Flashback
A strategy of plot sequencing where the author takes the reader back to events that
occurred before the present time in the story.
Foreshadowing
Use of clues to suggest something that is going to happen.
Imagery
The author's attempt to create a mental picture in the mind of the reader.
Irony
A twist of fate in which the results of action are not the expected results.
Metaphor
A comparison of two generally unlike things meant to illuminate truth.
Motif
A recurring image or idea.
Mood
The feeling a reader gets from a story.
Plot
The events that occur in a story.
Point of View
Refers to whether that story is told by a character or an outside observer.
Protagonist
The character the story revolves around.
Resolution
The conclusion of the story.
Setting
Where and when the action takes place.
Structure
The way that the writer arranges the plot of a story.
Subplot
A secondary plot strand that is a supporting side story for the main plot.
Suspense
The tension that the author uses to create a feeling of discomfort about the unknown.
Symbolism
A person, place, event or object that has a deeper meaning that its literal meaning.
Theme
The central idea or lesson about life that an author conveys.
Tone
The author's voice or attitude about what he or she writes
A term like “Elements of Literature” might seem kind of imposing. In reality, you were
exposed to each and every element of literature before you could even read. Every story
you have ever experienced has, in fact, contained all of these elements. You may not
have realized it at the time, but something as simple as “Green Eggs and Ham” has the
same core structure, and same basic components as “King Lear”.
Narrative fiction, that is, the telling of a story, must follow certain patterns. These patterns
can be chopped up, rearranged, and sometimes purposefully hidden by the storyteller,
but all the necessary elements are there. No matter how complex or sprawling a story
may be, it has a beginning, an end, a setting, a cast of characters, and a plot. Being able
to property identify those elements, and parse them out in an academic way does require
a little literary direction, and a little practice. That’s where this list comes in so you
can write your book today.
Plot
Simply put, the plot is the sequence of events which make up a story. It is everything that
happens from the beginning to the end. Crafting a good plot is essential to a story being
understood. Even though the story itself might be mysterious, or purposefully written out
of order, at the end of the story, the readers and listeners should be able to grasp
everything that happened. As the story unfolds, the audience should experience
emotional reactions, curiosity, and even an artistic appreciation for the story. Plot is the
most basic, but also the largest and most all-encompassing of the literary elements.
Typically, plots follow a specific pattern called an arc. Beginning with “Exposition”
wherein the stage is set, and characters are introduced, it next moves onto a
“Catalyst”. Sometimes also referred to as the “Inciting Incident”, the Catalyst is the event
which sets the story in motion. The story then goes on to experience “Rising Action”, or
the mounting of events leading up to the “Climax”, or turning point of the story. The climax
is often the most exciting or emotional part of the story. Afterwards, the plot begins to
descend into “Falling Action” which is where the characters hurtle towards the
ending. This phase of the story may be brief, but also tense, as the ending is still
uncertain. Finally, the plot ends in the “Denouement”, or the final resolution of the story.
Setting
The setting of the story is the location in which the events take place. This backdrop
could be in any geographic location, and in any time period (real or imagined). Writing a
compelling setting is one of the main elements of literature, and the sign of a talented
author. The setting helps to accent the mood and context of the story. It helps the
audience to understand the surrounding culture, landscape, and moment in time. A story
set in a speculative, totalitarian future will feel significantly different than a story set in
rural America during the 1930s.
Character
A character is a person, animal, or any other being of significance in a story. Characters
are the vehicles by which the audience is able to travel through the plot and
setting. Whatever the characters experience is made known to the audience, and they
are therefore able to feel and interpret the various situations in the story.
Characters can be numerous, or sparse. There are several stories with only one
character, while others have casts of hundreds -each given a unique voice. If an author
wants the audience to understand something important, or react to something in a certain
way, they accomplish this through the thoughts, words and emotions attributed to the
characters.
Characters will often include familiar archetypes like a hero, a villain, a fiend, a love
interest, a rival, a mentor, and so on. Characters can be “round”, meaning they have a
lot of complexity and depth – or they can be “flat” meaning they are somewhat one-note
and do not change much throughout the story. It’s all a matter of what the story calls for
in order for the author to get his or her point across.
Theme
Theme may be one of the more subtle elements of literature. The theme of the story is
different from the plot, because whereas the plot tells you what happened in the story, the
theme tells you what the story was really about. This is usually in terms of a single word
or short phrase such as “Love”, “Jealousy”, “One person can make a difference”, or “The
dangers of greed”. Stories often have more than one theme. Themes are central to the
story, but often not explicitly stated by any of the characters. Rather, theme becomes
apparent by observing what the characters do, and how it effects them.
For instance, a novel such as “The Joy Luck Club” has themes of “Family”, “Tradition”,
“Loss”, “Mothers and Daughters”, and “Immigration”. All of these are concepts that are
visible throughout the story, even if the characters never stop to specifically point them
out.
A compelling theme can be a great start. Begin writing your story today.
Mood
Mood is an overall feeling your audience can pick up from experiencing the story. It is
usually influenced greatly by the setting. If a story were to be set in a boardwalk dance
hall during the 1920s, the mood of that story might be raucous, frivolous, and perhaps a
little seedy or dangerous. Meanwhile, a story set at the peak of an uninhabited mountain
might promote moods of loneliness, physical endurance, and isolation.
Audiences can also take a lot of cues from the narrator’s attitude. Since the reader
depends on the narrator to feed them the story, the way that character feels about the
story, is often how the audience feels about the story. The mood is presented via a
characters actions and reactions. Also related is the manner in which the story is written
– sometimes called “diction“. If a narrator’s diction is loose and unpolished, that creates
an informal mood. Likewise, if the narrator’s diction is gruff and profane, that gives the
reader a pretty good feel for what the mood of the story will be.
Conflict
To put it simply, conflict is the “problem” present in every story. It could manifest very
literally as two characters physically fighting with one another, or it could be a little more
abstract, like an unreasonable deadline on an important project. Characters in a story
are going to have different objectives and goals. These are likely to clash and become
incompatible at some point in the story. When that incompatibility is brought up, that is
when you will find the conflict in the story.
There are four basic types of conflict in the elements of literature. They are:
Man against man: Meaning one character in the story is up against another character.
Man against nature: A character is at the mercy of the weather, the elements, the local
fauna, or any other aspect of nature. The character must overcome it in order to succeed.
Man against society: Rather than one enemy, the character is at odds with the entire
social and/or governmental structure of the story.
Man against self: Something in the characters tendencies or actions are thwarting the
chances of success. The character is either literally or figuratively self destructive.
Besides just being present in familiar fiction stories, the elements of literature can be
found in memoirs, and non fiction too. Find the elements in your story by trying out “How
to Write Your Life Story” at Udemy.

Purpose of literature
Literature is the means by which a community or society embodies its deepest
commitments. That is why so many literary "bits" are needed. It is also why literature does
not exist autonomously. It depends entirely on the spirit of its culture. Thus David Hicks:
"Literature is only as important as the culture it sustains." We have the opportunity to feed
on a literary heritage that draws the best out of 3000 years of human history. Instead, we
have chosen to follow the narrow claims of the rationalists and the empiricists, and let
them run our schools. In spite of that, we have a fervent literary energy in our country.
Only it lacks a logos. In my wistful moments, I find myself wishing people could realize
the seriousness of our situation. In my more resolute moments, I recommit myself to the
work of the CiRCE Institute - especially the apprenticeship.

Literature reflects the various experiences, ideas, passions of human beings in their daily
life that express on several forms and styles of literary works. Since literature directly
derives from human life, it can increase our knowledge and experiences about human
problems included values, morals, cultures, and human interests.
After reading a literary work, the readers may get a certain impression of what he/she has
read.

Literature as a product of human culture has its own functions. Literature has two
functions. The first is literature of power. Literature of power means that the function of
literature as power is to move the heart and mind of the readers. The second is literature
of knowledge. Literature of knowledge has function to teach. It means that literature gives
particular values, messages, and themes to the readers.

Literature has great function in developing human’s feelings, ideas, and interests.
Generally, the functions of literature are as follows: the first function is literature gives
knowledge of those particularities with which science and philosophy are not concerned.
The second function is that literature makes the human perceive what human see,
imagine what human already know conceptually or practically. The final function of
literature is that literature relieve human—either writers or readers—from the pressure of
emotions.

Literature also functions to contribute values of human lives. In education program,

literature may give significant contribution for students’ development and knowledge. The
contribution of literature in education covers intrinsic values and extrinsic values. The
intrinsic values are the reward of a lifetime of wide reading recognizable in the truly literate
person while the intrinsic values facilitate the development of language skills and
knowledge.

Many literary texts such as poem, song lyric, and short story are used in language
teaching. There are some factors of using literature in language teaching in terms of
linguistic, cultural, and personal growth. Linguistically, literary texts offer a range of
genuine texts in a variety of registers, styles, and text-types at many level of difficulty.
Literary texts provide a very real sense the vehicle for culture. The settings,
characterizations, situations, and assumptions which literary texts embody offer the
students with manifold opportunities for raising awareness of difference and for
developing tolerance and understanding. Finally, literature provides affect and emotion.
When the students interact with a literary text, it usually involves a deeper level of mental
processing, a greater personal involvement and response. In this case, students also
learnt a lot about reading critically, emphatically, and creatively.

Therefore, because of its functions and contributions of literature in language teaching,

literature is used as an innovative technique of teaching and even some institutions of
education design a literature program and put the literature as compulsory subject.