Lit 2: Handout 1 1

History of Literature

Literature is derived from the Latin term “Litterae” which means “letters” or writing. It is the
enduring expression of significant human experiences in words well-arranged. These are referred
to as significant human stories that are passed from one generation to another by word of mouth.
It is also considered as the art of using the language. Some experts define it as the author’s
ultimate expression of his thoughts and feelings. Words are considered to be the flesh and blood
of literature.

Literature began as soon as the different forms of writing invented by the early people who put
into writing everything that they observed in their surroundings. Among the early forms of
handwriting are:

Cunieform – a form of writing made up of wedge-shaped characters.

Hieroglyphics – picture writing which were seen in some pyramids found in Egypt and in other
ancient countries. These pictures depict the events that took place and are regarded as significant
for they have divine religious symbolisms.

Further development took place when the Greeks and the people from Phoenicia invented the
alphabet. It made up of:

Phoenician Consonantal Scripts + Greek Vowels = Real Alphabet

Gilgamesh/Epic of Gilgamesh – oldest existing literary work (2700-2000 B.C.) It is an ancient

text from Summeria that is considered to be older than Greek and Roman Literatures.

Aims of Literature

• Inspire and uplift the taste

A person gets to appreciate a literary work if it would inspire him to become a better
person. He is able to realize certain values and virtues essential for living.
• To read for pleasure
Reading is a very good pastime because people could learn a lot from it. This activity
enhances people’s perspective and thereby enables them to think rationally and analyze
things critically so that one could come up with an informed opinion. Reading also
develops one’s vocabulary which could be helpful in expressing ideas and thoughts.
• Widens experiences
Experiences, as it is said, is the best teacher. By reading these literary texts, readers get
to experience the things which they have not encountered before. This encounter is one
of the priceless values that literature could offer.
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• Broadens sympathies with other people

By reading certain literary works, we are inspired to become better individuals and be
more compassionate towards other people. We develop the attitude of becoming
sensitive towards the feeling of other person and thus, we become humane.

Values Derived from Literature

Intellectual- the way how a particular work is presented and what are the basic truths realized.
It gives us more knowledge of things, it feeds our hungry minds so that we could thus become
more learned and informed.

Emotional- the personal appeal made to the reader. A particular literary work could touch our
soul by the emotional value that it carries and imparts. It could also bring about the best of
ideas and at times, the worst among people. The emotional appeal made on the reader is one
tool in measuring the effect or impact of a work.

Some of the authors define the values of literature as the following:

Aesthetic – concerns with the beauty enclosed in a particular literary work, in terms of how it
has been written, the lines and most especially the message it conveys.

Didactic – this value of literature which imparts moral aspects in which it can bring about
improvement in the customs and norms of the society.

Functional – defines the use of literature. Most writers use their works as avenues in expressing
their ideas and thoughts while others use their works in order to echo their grievances a social
and political system either presently or in the past.

How to Study Literature?

Since literature is a complex subject as there are many texts that must be understood and
analyzed, the reader must be able to grasp the desired message that each work tries to deliver.

The following steps are the best ways to easily understand such literary texts:

1. Read the texts through once. These texts must be read in detail so as to familiarize the reader
to all the elements in the story such as the main characters and plots.

2. Summarize each chapter using bullet points after reading a particular work for the second
time as this will be helpful in case there may be revisions in the future.

3. Profiling each main character will be helpful. Make sure to include important details about
the character as well as the things that he says or does and the links he or she was able to
establish with other characters.
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4. Make detailed notes. Include in your notes the main themes and the importance of each of
the character in the story.

5. Read the text at least 3 times. This will aid the reader in an exam situation and can thereby
develop familiarity in the storyline.

6. Study by heart the poems. It is important to know the basics of the poem such as the
structure, themes with the storyline.

7. Remember the important statements said by some of the main characters in the story.

Literary Standards
The following are the important standards that must be considered in studying literature:

1. Artistry - It is a standard which appeals to the sense of beauty.

2. Intellectual value - It is a standard which can stimulate one’s intellect and can enrich mental
activity by realizing the basic truths in life and human nature.

3. Suggestiveness – A good literary work moves and stirs deeply the feeling and imagination.

4. Spiritual value – Literature elevates the spirit by bringing out moral values which can
motivate readers to become better persons.

5. Permanence – A great work of literature endures. It can be read repeatedly for its appeal is
lasting.

6. Universality – A great literary piece is timeless and timely. Forever relevant, it appeals to one
and all, anytime, anywhere because it deals with universal and fundamental truths and
conditions.

7. Style – It is the unique way in which a particular writer sees life, forms his ideas, and presents
them to the readers.

Literary Genres
There are four literary genres:

1. Fiction
It is defined as narrative literary works whose content is produced by the imagination and is not

necessarily based on fact. In fiction, something is feigned, invented, or imagined called a made-
up story.
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2. Essay
It is a short literary composition that reflects the author’s outlook or point of view. It
corresponds to a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject that is usually in
prose and is generally analytic, speculative or interpretative.

3. Drama
A genre of literature that involves dramatic art in the way it is represented. This genre is made
up of verse and prose, usually for theatrical performance where conflicts and emotion are
expressed through dialogues and actions.

4. Poetry
It is a verse and rhythmic writing with imagery that evokes an emotional response from the
reader. The art of poetry is rhythmical in composition, either written or spoken. This genre of
literature is for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative or elevated thoughts.

Ingredients of Literature
These refer to the very important aspects in a literary work that writers must adhere to.

1. Form – It is a verbal and artistic structuring of ideas in any literary piece. It may be in the
form of stanzas, rhyme, meter for poetry; of arrangement of incidents in a particular plot or of
the sequence in which ideas are developed for the novel, of the development and sequence of
ideas for the essay. It is somehow always connected with arrangement and, in the larger sense,
the satisfaction of man’s need for significant patterns.

2. Subject – Any work of literature is about something, and for this reason, it has a subject. It
usually refers to a person or idea, events and human condition or system of value in which the
topic of the poem deals with it.

3. Point of View – This is referred to the angle of vision of the narrator- first person omniscient,
modified omniscient, etc. It could also mean the tone of the utterance that is the sense that the
reader gains from the author’s attitude toward the subject. It deals with the problems of
persons and irony, where the statement of characters and/or narrator are not necessarily those
of the author. It is the voice through which a writer tells a story.

Figures of Speech
The use of figures of speech makes writing rich and interesting, it must however observe four
characteristics namely (Bargo, 2012):
1. Generally brief
2. Freshness (original and spontaneous)
3. Likeness and unlikeness to the original idea
4. Appropriateness and harmony of effect
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Most figures of speech are classified according to basis namely: (Serrano & Ames, 1986 as cited
by Bargo,2012)

Based according to Likeness

1. Simile- comparison of two things using “like/as”

Example: As soft as a cotton...

As light as a feather... As hard as a stone...

2. Metaphor- word or phrase denoting an idea or object in place of another to suggest a

likeness between the two

Example: Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. The Lord is my shepherd...

The past is a bucket of ashes...

3. Personification - representation of inanimate objects or abstract ideas as living beings or

having human qualities

Example: The storm claps its hands...

Let not ambition mock their useful toil...

Forests jump to life with wind-footed fawns at His bidding...

4. Apostrophe- a device by which a writer addresses a person who is usually either absent or
deceased, an inanimate object, or an abstract idea

Example: Death is like a thief in the night... Bloom forever, O Republic...

From the dust of my bosom...

5. Allegory – expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and actions of truth or

generalizations about human experience

Example: I feel like a dog today.

I rolled out of my basket, and munched on some biscuits like cereal.

Scratching as I get on the train, I sniffed a passing female.

Based upon other Relations

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1. Metonymy – It is the use of words or phrase for another to which it bears an important
relation, an effect for the cause, that abstract for the concrete, and similar constructions.

Example: Estates belonging to the crown... (meaning land owned by the ruler) Some mute
inglorious Milton here may rest...
The pen is mightier than the sword...

2. Synecdoche – It is a form of metonymy which shows part representing the whole, the whole
representing a part, the species for the genus, or vice versa.

Example: The tribe has traditionally asked for the maiden’s hand... Some heart once pregnant
with celestial fire...
There is much sense in her for a woman of 16 summers...

3. Hyperbole – It is a form of in ordinate exaggeration according to which a person or thing is

depicted as being better or worse, larger or smaller than is the actual case.

Example: Mile- high Christmas tree...

Say that his hand-grip has thirty men’s strength... In spite of ambition enough for twenty
Caesars...

Based upon Sentence and Structure

1. Climax – It is the arrangement of words, clauses, or sentences in the order of importance

from least to most.

Example: “There are three that will endure: faith, hope, love. But the greatest of these is love.”
-1 Corinthians 13:13

“I think we’ve reached a point of great decision, not just for our nation, not only for humanity,
but for life upon earth.” - George Wald

“...Lost, vaded, broken, dead within an hour.” -William Shakespeare

2. Anti-climax – It is a sequence of ideas that abruptly diminish in dignity or importance at the

end of a sentence or passage used to get a satirical effect.

Example: “The great Dalhousie, he, the god of war, Lieutenant-colonel to the earl of Mar.”

She is a great writer, a mother and a good humorist. He lost his family, his car and his
cellphone.

3. Irony – It is a dryly humorous or lightly sarcastic mode of speech in which words are used to
convey a meaning contrary to their literal sense.
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Example: It grieves me much, replied the Peer again, Who speaks so well should ever speak in
vain Bill Gates won a computer.

Having a fight with your best friend just before your birthday, and commenting – “Great, this is
just what I needed.”

4. Alliteration – It is the sound device in which consonant sounds at the beginning of two or
more consecutive words are repeated.

Example: The river Weser, deep and wide

Washes its wall on the southern side . . . .

- Robert Browning (“Pied Piper of Hamelin”)

Don’t delay dawns disarming display. Dusk demands daylight. - Paul McCan

5. Antithesis – It is the juxtaposition of two words, phrases, clauses, or sentences contrasted or

opposed in meaning in such a way as to give emphasis to contrasting ideas.

Example: It ruined all right the day I left, the weather it was dry, the sun so hot, I froze to death
. . . - Oh Susanna (Song)

You’re easy on the eyes, hard on the heart . . . - Terri Clark (Song)

Love is an ideal thing, marriage is a real thing. - Goethe

6. Paradox – It is a statement that seems contradictory or unbelievable but is actually true in

fact.

Example: She drew an angel clown.

He raised a mortal to the skies.

Love’s pleasure drives his love away.

Historical Background of World Literature

World literature is the totality of all national literatures. The formation of literature in different
countries happened not at the same time, which is connected with the emergence of writing and
artistic creativity.

Each nation`s literature has its own artistic and national features. World literature is very
important for the studying, still the literature of one country develops together with other
national literatures. They enrich each other borrowing certain literary elements. There are a lot
of scientific works on world literature, which explain the peculiarities of this phenomenon. As a
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concept, world literature emerged only in the 19th century when the literary connections of
different countries had spread and strengthened.

The term “world literature” was introduced by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He used the word
“Weltliteratur” in 1827. Goethe studied the characteristic features and interrelationships of
different national literatures, the tendencies of their development and their achievements. He
studied the works of famous writers which presented different literary phenomena of different
historic periods.

He claimed that literature shouldn`t be restrained by national boundaries. In 1894 the world saw
the first book about world literature – “The history of world literature”. The world literature
emerged because of the development of global economic and cultural relations. This global
literary process was also caused by the rapid development of national literatures. In the history
of world literature, we define several stages of its development such as the literature of Bronze
Age, Classical literature, Early Medieval literature, Medieval Literature, Early Modern and
Modern literature.

World literature is the cultural heritage of all humanity. It is essential to study world literature as
it helps us understand the life of different people from all over the world, forms our world-
outlook and acquaints us with the masterpieces of literature.