Introduction to literature

A Lecture presented to Students of

SORAN University
 The Importance of Literature
Literature (Derived from the Latin litteratura meaning "writing formed with letters,") is: art or
body of a written work on a particular subject . Studying literature is important because:
❖ It improves your command of language.
❖ It teaches you about the life, cultures and experiments of people in other parts of the
world.
❖ It gives you information about other parts of the world.which you may never to sit in your
lifetime.
❖ It entertains you and pro des useful occupation in your free time.
❖ It makes you wiser and more experienced person by forcing you to judge, sympathize with ,
or criticize the characters you read about.
❖ It helps you to compare your experience with experience of other people.
❖ It gives information which may be useful in other subjects, for example, in Geography,
Science and Social Studies.
 Kinds of Literature

Fictional Literature Nonfiction

The work of art based on the writer’s
imagination rather than reality ,
e.g poems,short stories, plays,
novels,oral literature and songs
factual writing that gives facts that can be
proved as it pro des real places, events,
characters, times or reality rather than
imaginary things,e.g autobiographies,
biographies, essays, diaries, journals, subtext
books like Geography,Science, History, …etc,
 Prose and Verse
❑ Based on the language of writing, literature can also be di ded into prose and poetry.

Prose is the spoken or written language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure.
Verse is the writing arranged with a metrical rhythm, typically ha ng a rhyme.

❑ Difference Between Prose and Verse

Rhyme and Rhythm

Prose does not pay attention to rhyme and rhythm.
Verse pays attention to rhyme and rhythm.
Structure
In Prose, ideas are written in sentences; sentences are grouped into paragraphs.
In Verse, ideas are written in lines; lines are grouped into stanzas.
Language
Prose is written in more natural and grammatical language.
Verse is written in figurative and rhythmical language.
 English literature

● English Literature is the literature which is

distinctly written in the English language as
opposed to other languages.It includes literature
composed in English by writers not necessarily
from England nor from English speaking nations, e.
g Robert Burns (Scottish), James Joyce(Irish),
Joseph Conrad(Polish) and Vladimir Nabokov was
Russian
Thank You