Lesson 1: An Introduction to Literature

Welcome to the world of literature. In this world, we will read varied selections and
experience a multitudinous variety of characters, thoughts and ideas, feelings and
emotions, and life experiences as we travel through time and space to different places,
eras, cultures and societies.

But before reading the literary texts that we have in store for you, we need to know some
basic things about this literary world and experience what we are about to enter. What
kind of world is it? Is it similar to or any different from the real world we live in? How
different? Why do we read literature? What do we get from it?

Is our life made any better for reading literature? Are we any better for it? How and why
are we and our lives enriched by our experience of literature?

Let us begin with among the best definitions of literature.

Literature (origin of term- litera which means letter) deals with ideas, thoughts and emotions
of man- thus it can be said that literature is the story of man. (Kahayon, 1998, p 5-7);
Literature comes from the French phase “belles-letters” which means beautiful writing.
(Baritugo, et al. 2004). Literature refers to artistic expression of significant human experience
using the medium of language.

Literature, in its broadest sense, is everything that has ever been written. According to
Garcia, the best way to understand human
nature fully and to know a nation completely is
to study it. In this way, we learn the innermost
feelings and thoughts of people- the most real
part of themselves, thus we gain understanding
not only of others, but more importantly of
ourselves and life itself. Literature appeals to
man’s higher nature and its needs- emotional,
spiritual, intellectual, and creative. Like all other
forms of art (i.e., music, dance, painting, sculpture, theatre and architecture), literature
entertains and gives pleasure; it fires the imagination and arouses noble emotions and it
enriches man by enabling him to reflect on life and by filling him with new ideas. It offers us
an experience in which we should participate as we read and test what we read by our
own experience. It does not yield much unless we bring something of ourselves to it.

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Why do people read literature? We read for various reasons which may be for information,
for amusement, for higher and keener pleasure, for cultural upliftment and for discovery of
broader dimensions in life.

The ability to judge good literature is based on the application of certain recognizable
standards of good literature. Great literature is distinguishable by the following qualities:
(Garcia, 1993, p.3)

a. Artistry – when a literary work appeals to our sense of beauty;

b. Intellectual value- when it stimulates thought and enriches our mental life by making
us realize the fundamental truths about life and human nature;
c. Suggestiveness- the quality associated with the emotional power of literature, such
that it should move us deeply and stir our creative imagination, giving and evoking
vision above and beyond the plane of ordinary life and experience;
d. Spiritual value- when a literary piece elevates the spirit by bringing out moral values
which make us better persons
e. Permanence- when a great literary work endures- it can be read again and again
as each reading gives fresh delight and new insights and open new worlds of
meaning and experience; and
f. Universality- when a great literature is timeless and timely- forever relevant in terms of
its theme and conditions.

All literature falls under two main divisions:

Prose Poetry
Form Written in paragraph form Witten in stanza form

Language Expressed in ordinary language Expressed in metrical,

rhythmical and figurative
language
Appeal To the intellect To the emotion

Aim To convince, inform, instruct, imitate Stir the imagination and set
and reflect an ideal of how life should be

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Exercise:

Identify if the following f is a prose or poetry.

1. Diary of Ann Frank

2. Chronicles of Narnia
3. El Filibusterismo
4. Application Letter
5. Cinderella
6. Sonnet
7. The Road Not Taken
8. I Won’t Give Up on Us by Jason Mraz
9. Photograph- Ed Sheeran
10. Life and Works of Rizal by Daquila

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