Literature is literally "acquaintance with letters" as in the first sense given in the Oxford

English Dictionary (from the Latin littera meaning "an individual written character
(letter)"). The term has generally come to identify a collection of texts or work of art,
which in Western culture are mainly prose, both fiction and non-fiction, drama and
poetry. In much, if not all of the world, texts can be oral as well, and include such genres
as epic, legend, myth, ballad, plus other forms of oral poetry, and the folktale.

Contents
[hide]

1 Introduction
2 Forms of literature
o 2.1 Poetry
o 2.2 Drama
o 2.3 Essays
o 2.4 Prose fiction
o 2.5 Other prose literature
3 Related Narrative Forms
4 Genres of literature
5 Literary techniques
6 Literary figures
7 Literature by country, language, or cultural group
8 Literary criticism
9 Themes in literature
10 Other
11 See also
o 11.1 Lists
o 11.2 Related topics
12 Notes

13 External links

[edit] Introduction
Literature

Major forms

Epic Romance Novel

Media
Performance Book
Techniques
Prose Poetry
History & lists
History Modern History
Books Authors Awards
Basic Topics
Discussion
Criticism Theory
Magazines
Nations can have literatures, as can corporations, philosophical schools or historical
periods. Popular belief commonly holds that the literature of a nation, for example,
comprises the collection of texts which make it a whole nation. The Hebrew Bible,
Persian Shahnama, the Indian Mahabharata, Ramayana and Thirukural, the Iliad and the
Odyssey, Beowulf, and the Constitution of the United States, all fall within this definition
of a kind of literature.[citation needed]
More generally, one can equate a literature with a collection of stories, poems, and plays
that revolve around a particular topic. In this case, the stories, poems and plays may or
may not have nationalistic implications. The Western Canon forms one such literature.
The term "literature" has different meanings depending on who is using it and in what
context. It could be applied broadly to mean any symbolic record, encompassing
everything from images and sculptures to letters. In a more narrow sense the term could
mean only text composed of letters, or other examples of symbolic written language
(Egyptian hieroglyphs, for example). An even more narrow interpretation is that text have
a physical form, such as on paper or some other portable form, to the exclusion of
inscriptions or digital media.

Furthermore, people may perceive a difference between "literature" and some popular
forms of written work. The terms "literary fiction" and "literary merit" often serve to
distinguish between individual works. For example, almost all literate people perceive the
works of Charles Dickens as "literature", whereas some critics[citation needed] look down on
the works of Jeffrey Archer as unworthy of inclusion under the general heading of
"English literature". Critics may exclude works from the classification "literature", for
example, on the grounds of a poor standard of grammar and syntax, of an unbelievable or
disjointed story-line, or of inconsistent or unconvincing characters. Genre fiction (for
example: romance, crime, or science fiction) may also become excluded from
consideration as "literature".
Frequently, the texts that make up literature crossed over these boundaries. Illustrated
stories, hypertexts, cave paintings and inscribed monuments have all at one time or
another pushed the boundaries of "literature".
Different historical periods have emphasized various characteristics of literature. Early
works often had an overt or covert religious or didactic purpose. Moralizing or
prescriptive literature stems from such sources. The exotic nature of romance flourished
from the Middle Ages onwards, whereas the Age of Reason manufactured nationalistic
epics and philosophical tracts. Romanticism emphasized the popular folk literature and
emotive involvement, but gave way in the 19th-century West to a phase of so-called
realism and naturalism, investigations into what is real. The 20th century brought
demands for symbolism or psychological insight in the delineation and development of
character.
The Muslim Scientist and Philosopher Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq defined Literature as follows:
"Literature is the garment which one puts on what he says or writes so that it may appear
more attractive." [1]

[edit] Forms of literature

[edit] Poetry
A poem is commonly defined as a composition written in verse (although verse has been
equally used for epic and dramatic fiction). Poems rely heavily on imagery, precise word
choice, and metaphor; they may take the form of measures consisting of patterns of
stresses (metric feet) or of patterns of different-length syllables (as in classical prosody);
and they may or may not utilize rhyme. One cannot readily characterize poetry precisely.
Typically though, poetry as a form of literature makes some significant use of the formal
properties of the words it uses the properties attached to the written or spoken form of
the words, rather than to their meaning. Metre depends on syllables and on rhythms of
speech; rhyme and alliteration depend on words that have similar pronunciation. Some
recent poets, such as E. E. Cummings, made extensive use of words' visual form.
Poetry perhaps pre-dates other forms of literature: early known examples include the
Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh (dated from around 2700 B.C.), parts of the Bible, the

surviving works of Homer (the Iliad and the Odyssey), and the Indian epics Ramayana
and Mahabharata. In cultures based primarily on oral traditions the formal characteristics
of poetry often have a mnemonic function, and important texts: legal, genealogical or
moral, for example, may appear first in verse form.
Much poetry uses specific forms: the haiku, the limerick, or the sonnet, for example. A
haiku must have seventeen syllables, distributed over three lines in groups of five, seven,
and five, and should have an image of a season and something to do with nature. A
limerick has five lines, with a rhyme scheme of AABBA, and line lengths of 3,3,2,2,3
stressed syllables. It traditionally has a less reverent attitude towards nature.
Language and tradition dictate some poetic norms: Persian poetry always rhymes, Greek
poetry rarely rhymes, Italian or French poetry often does, English and German can go
either way (although modern non-rhyming poetry often, perhaps unfairly, has a more
"serious" aura). Perhaps the most paradigmatic style of English poetry, blank verse, as
exemplified in works by Shakespeare and by Milton, consists of unrhymed iambic
pentameters. Some languages prefer longer lines; some shorter ones. Some of these
conventions result from the ease of fitting a specific language's vocabulary and grammar
into certain structures, rather than into others; for example, some languages contain more
rhyming words than others, or typically have longer words. Other structural conventions
come about as the result of historical accidents, where many speakers of a language
associate good poetry with a verse form preferred by a particular skilled or popular poet.
Works for theatre (see below) traditionally took verse form. This has now become rare
outside opera and musicals, although many would argue that the language of drama
remains intrinsically poetic.
In recent years, digital poetry has arisen that takes advantage of the artistic, publishing,
and synthetic qualities of digital media.

[edit] Drama
A play or drama offers another classical literary form that has continued to evolve over
the years. It generally comprises chiefly dialogue between characters, and usually aims at
dramatic / theatrical performance (see theatre) rather than at reading. During the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, opera developed as a combination of poetry, drama,
and music. Nearly all drama took verse form until comparatively recently.
Greek drama exemplifies the earliest form of drama of which we have substantial
knowledge. Tragedy, as a dramatic genre, developed as a performance associated with
religious and civic festivals, typically enacting or developing upon well-known historical
or mythological themes. Tragedies generally presented very serious Theme.
With the advent of newer technologies, scripts written for non-stage media have been
added to this form. War of the Worlds (radio) in 1938 saw the advent of literature written
for radio broadcast, and many works of Drama have been adapted for film or television.

Conversely, television, film, and radio literature have been adapted to printed or
electronic media.

[edit] Essays
An essay consists of a discussion of a topic from an author's personal point of view,
exemplified by works by Francis Bacon or by Charles Lamb.
'Essay' in English derives from the French 'essai', meaning 'attempt'. Thus one can find
open-ended, provocative and/or inconclusive essays. The term "essays" first applied to
the self-reflective musings of Michel de Montaigne, and even today he has a reputation as
the father of this literary form.
Genres related to the essay may include:

the memoir, telling the story of an author's life from the author's personal point of
view
the epistle: usually a formal, didactic, or elegant letter.
the blog, an informal short rant about a particular topic or topics, usually opinion

[edit] Prose fiction

Prose consists of writing that does not adhere to any particular formal structures (other
than simple grammar); "non-poetic writing," writing, perhaps. The term sometimes
appears pejoratively, but prosaic writing simply says something without necessarily
trying to say it in a beautiful way, or using beautiful words. Prose writing can of course
take beautiful form; but less by virtue of the formal features of words (rhymes,
alliteration, metre) but rather by style, placement, or inclusion of graphics. But one need
not mark the distinction precisely, and perhaps cannot do so. Note the classifications:

"prose poetry", which attempts to convey the aesthetic richness typical of poetry
using only prose
"free verse", or poetry not adhering to any of the structures of one or another
formal poetic style

Narrative fiction (narrative prose) generally favours prose for the writing of novels, short
stories, graphic novels, and the like. Singular examples of these exist throughout history,
but they did not develop into systematic and discrete literary forms until relatively recent
centuries. Length often serves to categorize works of prose fiction. Although limits
remain somewhat arbitrary, modern publishing conventions dictate the following:

A Mini Saga is a short story of exactly 50 words

A Flash fiction is generally defined as a piece of prose under a thousand words.
A short story comprises prose writing of less than 10,000 to 20,000 words, but
typically more than 500 words, which may or may not have a narrative arc.

A story containing between 20,000 and 50,000 words falls into the novella
category.
A work of fiction containing more than 50,000 words falls squarely into the realm
of the novel.

A novel consists simply of a long story written in prose, yet the form developed
comparatively recently. Icelandic prose sagas dating from about the 11th century bridge
the gap between traditional national verse epics and the modern psychological novel. In
mainland Europe, the Spaniard Cervantes wrote perhaps the first influential novel: Don
Quixote, the first part of which was published in 1605 and the second in 1615. Earlier
collections of tales, such as Boccaccio's Decameron and Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales,
have comparable forms and would classify as novels if written today. Earlier works
written in Asia resemble even more strongly the novel as we now think of it for
example, works such as the Chinese Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Japanese
Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki. Compare to The Book of One Thousand and One
Nights.
Early novels in Europe did not, at the time, count as significant literature, perhaps
because "mere" prose writing seemed easy and unimportant. It has become clear,
however, that prose writing can provide aesthetic pleasure without adhering to poetic
forms. Additionally, the freedom authors gain in not having to concern themselves with
verse structure translates often into a more complex plot or into one richer in precise
detail than one typically finds even in narrative poetry. This freedom also allows an
author to experiment with many different literary and presentation styles including
poetry in the scope of a single novel.
See Ian Watt's The Rise of the Novel. [This definition needs expansion]

[edit] Other prose literature

Philosophy, history, journalism, and legal and scientific writings traditionally ranked as
literature. They offer some of the oldest prose writings in existence; novels and prose
stories earned the names "fiction" to distinguish them from factual writing or nonfiction,
which writers historically have crafted in prose.
The "literary" nature of science writing has become less pronounced over the last two
centuries, as advances and specialization have made new scientific research inaccessible
to most audiences; science now appears mostly in journals. Scientific works of Euclid,
Aristotle, Copernicus, and Newton still possess great value; but since the science in them
has largely become outdated, they no longer serve for scientific instruction, yet they
remain too technical to sit well in most programmes of literary study. Outside of "history
of science" programmes students rarely read such works. Many books "popularizing"
science might still deserve the title "literature"; history will tell.
Philosophy, too, has become an increasingly academic discipline. More of its
practitioners lament this situation than occurs with the sciences; nonetheless most new

philosophical work appears in academic journals. Major philosophers through history -Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Descartes, Nietzsche -- have become as canonical as any
writers. Some recent philosophy works are argued to merit the title "literature", such as
some of the works by Simon Blackburn; but much of it does not, and some areas, such as
logic, have become extremely technical to a degree similar to that of mathematics.
A great deal of historical writing can still rank as literature, particularly the genre known
as creative nonfiction. So can a great deal of journalism, such as literary journalism.
However these areas have become extremely large, and often have a primarily utilitarian
purpose: to record data or convey immediate information. As a result the writing in these
fields often lacks a literary quality, although it often and in its better moments has that
quality. Major "literary" historians include Herodotus, Thucydides and Procopius, all of
whom count as canonical literary figures.
Law offers a less clear case. Some writings of Plato and Aristotle, or even the early parts
of the Bible, might count as legal literature. The law tables of Hammurabi of Babylon
might count. Roman civil law as codified in the Corpus Juris Civilis during the reign of
Justinian I of the Byzantine Empire has a reputation as significant literature. The
founding documents of many countries, including the United States Constitution, can
count as literature; however legal writing now rarely exhibits literary merit.
Game Design Scripts - In essence never seen by the player of a game and only by the
developers and/or publishers, the audience for these pieces is usually very small. Still,
many game scripts contain immersive stories and detailed worlds making them hidden
literary gems.
Most of these fields, then, through specialization or proliferation, no longer generally
constitute "literature" in the sense under discussion. They may sometimes count as
"literary literature"; more often they produce what one might call "technical literature" or
"professional literature".

[edit] Related Narrative Forms

Graphic novels and comic books present stories told in a combination of

sequential artwork, dialogue and text.
Films, videos and broadcast soap operas have carved out a niche which often
parallels the functionality of prose fiction.
Interactive fiction, a term for a prose-based genre of computer games, occupies a
small literary niche.
Electronic literature is a developing literary genre meant to be read on a computer
screen, often making use of hypertext.

[edit] Genres of literature

A literary genre refers to the traditional divisions of literature of various kinds according
to a particular criterion of writing. See the list of literary genres.

[edit] Literary techniques

Main article: Literary technique
A literary technique or literary device may be used by works of literature in order to
produce a specific effect on the reader. Literary technique is distinguished from literary
genre as military tactics are from military strategy. Thus, though David Copperfield
employs satire at certain moments, it belongs to the genre of comic novel, not that of
satire. By contrast, Bleak House employs satire so consistently as to belong to the genre
of satirical novel. In this way, use of a technique can lead to the development of a new
genre, as was the case with one of the first modern novels, Pamela by Samuel
Richardson, which by using the epistolary technique strengthened the tradition of the
epistolary novel, a genre which had been practiced for some time already but without the
same acclaim.

[edit] Literary figures

Authors
Critics
Dramatists
Essayists
Journalist
Novelists
Poets
Short story authors
Writers
Zinesters

[edit] Literature by country, language, or cultural group

see Literature by country, language, or cultural group and the category literature by
nationality.

[edit] Literary criticism

Literary criticism
Literary history
Literary theory

Literary criticism implies a critique and evaluation of a piece of literature and in some
cases is used to improve a work in progress or classical piece. There are many types of

literary criticism and each can be used to critique a piece in a different way or critique a
different aspect of a piece. The major types of literary criticism are Marxism, Human
studies, which umbrellas homosexual studies and feminism, historical, and Traditional,
also known as New Criticism.

[edit] Themes in literature

Main article: Theme (literature)
Theme is a broad idea in a story, or a message conveyed by a work. This message is
usually about life, society or human nature. Themes are usually implied rather than
explicitly stated. Deep thematic content is not required in literature; however, some
readers would say that all stories inherently project some kind of outlook on life that can
be taken as a theme, regardless of whether or not this is the intent of the author. Analysis
of changes in dynamic characters can provide insight into a particular theme.

[edit] Other

Scientific literature
Literature cycle
Rabbinic literature
Vernacular literature
Postcolonial literature

[edit] See also

[edit] Lists

List of basic literature topics

List of authors
List of books
List of literary awards
List of literary terms
List of prizes, medals, and awards for literary prizes.
List of women writers
List of writers

[edit] Related topics

Asemic Writing
Children's literature
Cultural movement for literary movements.
English studies
Ergodic literature

Hinman Collator
History of literature (antiquity 1800)
History of modern literature (1800 )
Literature basic topics
Literary criticism
Literary magazine
Orature
World literature

[edit]