What Is Literature? Essay, Research Paper
What is Literature?
The Mirriam-Webster dictionary defines literature as: Hagiographas in prose or poetry; particularly
Hagiographas holding excellence of signifier or look and showing thoughts of permanent or universal
involvement. This construct of ideas and thoughts on paper is a good start but does non thoroughly
define literature. Literature takes many signifiers and has evolved over clip along with world.
Therefore to thoroughly define literature one must discourse the elements of literature, the history
of literature and what literature has become to today? s society.
Equally diverse as people themselves literature takes on many signifiers. The three major signifiers
are prose, poesy, and play. This paper will discourse chiefly prose literature. Prose is defined in
Mirriam-Webster as a literary medium distinguished from poesy particularly by its greater
abnormality and assortment of beat and its closer correspondence to the forms of mundane
address. Prose is besides different from play in that prose does non necessitate the moving out of its
contents. Literature allows people to? populate? vicariously. That means that is used to go through thoughts and
emotion of a alone state of affairs to people who would otherwise non be able to see them.
This is the chief intent of all literature. Literature does this through both existent state of affairss which
rich person happened, called non-fiction and imagined state of affairss, called fiction. These state of affairss allow
people to fulfill their innate desire to work out jobs. The beginning of these? jobs? in
literature is called struggle. Imagery allows a author to compare the alone state of affairs they are
composing about to a state of affairs that may be closer to what the reader has experienced. Symbols are
images that are used to stand for otherwise intangible thoughts, for illustration, the river of life.
Literature delivers these state of affairss through narratives. Narratives have a secret plan which is the method to
how the narrative will be told. Stories besides help to go through on lessons through clip which allows people
to entree the cognition of history. This passing of information is indispensable to turn as a species.
Without literature adult male would merely be another carnal forage for nutrient.
Literature has evolved with adult male. It has non even ever been written. Before the
development of linguistic communication, literature took the signifier of images. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and
cave drawings picturing series of events were the first of these. Once linguistic communication had developed
people started to set their thoughts into words. Peoples are non the lone being T
o create literature,
harmonizing to Hebrew history even God has produced literature, i.e. the Ten Commandments. The
ancient Greeks produced many narratives of their Supreme beings and of great escapades. Aesop? s fabrications, and
Homer? s the Iliad and the Odyssey, which were heroic poems, are some of the more noteworthy antediluvian Hellenic
plants. Sophocles, Plato and Aristotle besides contributed important plants. These were the first
literary giants. The first work which could be called a novel was written by a Roman named
Petronius Arbiter, who died in about 66 AD ( ? Literature? ) It was called ‘ Satyricon’and
was a narrative about the society at that clip which was written humorously. In the center ages
world did non do many progresss. The deficiency of entree to literature by the huge bulk of the
population did non advance the sharing of thoughts. The Arthurian fables were the most celebrated
pieces of literature to originate from this period. In about 1450 AD Johannes Gutenberg invented the
publishing imperativeness and changed the face of literature.
Modern twenty-four hours literature is considered to hold started during the Renaissance. Many plants
started to look. The most noteworthy writers of the Renaissance include Cervantes, Shakespeare,
and Swift ( ? Literature? ) . Prose novels were easier to administer due to the printing imperativeness. During
the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries many plants that are considered classics today were
written. These plants centered on the societal subjects of society. In the Twentieth century novels
took on a new signifier of chiefly amusement. Fiction was broken down into several subcatagories
including enigma and science-fiction. Non-fiction has besides taken on many signifiers such as
lifes and how-to books. Even poesy and play has changed taking signifiers in modern
vocals and in films and telecasting.
It would take a big work of literature to seek to specify what literature is. Literature is a
contemplation of world. It is our emotions, our tests, our victory and all our existent or imagined
experiences written down so that what has happened will be remembered. Literature is written so
that worlds can seek to reiterate our successes and learn from our failures. Literature may alter
but it is necessary to our development as a species.
Jacobs, Henry, E. and Roberts, Edgar, V. Literature. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1998
? Literature. ? Compton? s Encyclopedia. Online erectile dysfunction. 05 June 2000. File transfer protocol:
comptonsv3.web.aol.com.
? Printing. ? Encyclopedia.com. Online erectile dysfunction. 05 June 2000. File transfer protocol:
www.encyclopedia.com/interstitialCoSlth.html
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