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 visit in your
lifetime.
 It entertains you and provides 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 provides 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 divided 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 having 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