LITERATURE

The Definition Of literature.

Literature (from Latin litterae (plural); letter) is the art of written work and can, in some circumstances,
refer exclusively to published sources. The word literature literally means "things made from letters" and
the pars pro toto term "letters" is sometimes used to signify "literature," as in the figures of
speech "arts and letters" and "man of letters." Literature is commonly classified as having two major forms
—fiction and non-fiction—and two major techniques—poetry and prose.
Literature may consist of texts based on factual information (journalistic or non-fiction), as well as on
original imagination, such as polemical works as well as autobiography, and reflective essays as well
as belles-lettres. Literature can be classified according to historical periods, genres, and political
influences. The concept of genre, which earlier was limited, has broadened over the centuries. A genre
consists of artistic works which fall within a certain central theme, and examples of genre
include romance, mystery, crime, fantasy, erotica, and adventure, among others. Important historical
periods in English literature include Old English, Middle English, the Renaissance, the 17th
Century Shakespearean and Elizabethan times, the 18th Century Restoration, 19th Century Victorian, and
20th Century Modernism. Important intellectual movements that have influenced the study of literature
include feminism, post-colonialism, psychoanalysis, post-structuralism, post-modernism, romanticism,
and Marxism.
Distinction Of Literature And Literary Study
Literature is a creative activity, a work of art. While the study of literature is a branch of the
science, especially concerning about literature. However, many of the scientists who blur the
distinction. Some argue that we can not learn or review the literature if it does not try to make
a work of literature such as poetry or drama. This opinion is true, but a literary reviewers just
someone who translated the review of scientific literature into a beautiful language.

As for the opinion that the literary work also includes the work of two or second creation as
the work of Walter Pater 19th-century English poet who describes the work of Leonardo Da
Vinci, Mona Lisa, into the post. And for us it was just a replica and not a literary work.

In fact many argue that literature can not be reviewed. No other can only be read, enjoyed
and appreciated. If this were true, then how literature can flourish? How literature can be
appreciated if it was not explored further. How does a poet could work better if no
examination or criticism of his work?

Maybe that is needed here is an understanding or approach to art, the uniqueness of a work of
literature. So how? One answer is to apply the methods of the natural sciences into the study
of literature. Starting from the origin, causes, conditions that favor the formation of literature
such as economic, social and even the concept of geography even in tracing the evolutionary
biology literature.
But others argue that literature can not be formed without the contribution of the humanities.
Natural science also plays a role in the development of cultural studies of science literature
but also greatly contribute to the development of literary studies. Noteworthy is the purpose
of science is different from the culture of science. Many scientists and historians who argue
that science only includes facts or laws of a general nature while science culture prioritize the
facts that are specific or individual.
To prove this, we can understand the argument that most people like Shakespeare because of
uniqueness, not because of the similarities with others.

So, literature is essentially public, but also special. Literary works constructed from the words
that are 'common'. Literary works do have certain characteristics but it also has properties
similar to other works of art.
It can be concluded that the literature may be generalizable appropriate period or in
accordance with the arts in general but with respect to literary criticism and literary history
prioritize a literary quirk.
The Functions of Literature
Critics have been discussing from very early times about the function or functions of
literature. Though they differ among themselves regarding the other functions of literature,
they are all agreed on one point—that the main function of literature is to entertain the
readers, or, in other words, to give them pleasure. Longinus was the first critic to lay down
his thesis that loftiness or sublimity in literature has its end-ecstasy, transport, ‘lifting out of
onself”.

The value of a work of literature can be assessed, according to Longinus, by introspection on

the part of the reader or hearer: if he is carried away, transported, moved to ecstasy by the
grandeur and passion of the work, then the work is good. The Greek word which it has
become traditional to translate as sublime in English means literally height or elevation, and
Longinus, in his essay On The Sublime, refers to those qualities in a work of literature which
instantaneously create in the reader a sense of being carried to new heights of passionate
experience; sublimity is the greatest of all literary virtues, the one which makes a work,
whatever its minor defects, truly impressive. The ultimate function of literature, and its
ultimate justification, is to be sublime, and to have on its readers the effect of ecstasy or
transport that sublimity has. The sublime effect of literature, for Longinus, is attained not by
argument, but by revelation, or illumination. Its appeal is not through the reason, but what we
should call imagination. Its effect upon the mind is immediate, like a flash of lightning upon
the eye.
Sidney voiced the opinion of Longinus when he said that the chief function of literature
is to “move” “I never heard the old song of Percy and Douglas,” he declared, “that I found
not my heart moved more than with a trumpet”. Dryden was the next critic who cleared away
the ancient stumbling block of criticism—the doctrine that the aim of the writer is to instruct
or “make men better in some respect”. He asserted that the aim of the writer is, not to teach,
but to please, and he distinguished between literature which is art and literature which is
didactic. Instruction may result from the reading of poetry, but it is not the end: for ‘poesy
only instructs as it delights”. Referring to the function of literature to delight and to move, De
Quincey made the distinction between the literature of knowledge, and the literature of power
—“The function of the first is to teach” the function of the second is to move.”
Besides giving pleasure or entertaining or moving the readers, literature is supposed to
have other functions as well. One important function is to heighten the awareness of the
reader to certain aspects of life. The dramatic poetry of the Greeks, the works of Aeschylus,
Sophocles, and Euripides were created for festival and ceremonial occasions. They reminded
the great concourse of Athenian citizens of the traditional gods and heroes of history. They
were a civic drama expressive of the place and power of the Greek City States and suggested
that past history and the powers above them were with them. In the original sense of the word
they were ‘political’. The outcome was to heighten the awareness of the Greek citizen to what
were then regarded as significant aspects of Greek city life. Again, if we look at the ballad
writers and singers at a later date, we see that in their own way and in their own times, in
traditional fashion, each celebrated events of social significance or the so-called ‘heroic’
exploits. They brought news, recounted history, and reconstructed the past of which they had
learnt by word of mouth passed on from generation to generation. Their original purpose was
to entertain and to receive payment for it; but seen in retrospect their effect, their function
was then regarded as significant and of importance. The same is the case with all great works
of literature; they make us aware of the various aspects of life which lay hidden from us.
After reading Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear we begin to understand more about life and its
intricate problems than we could do before.
Thus the main functions of literature are to entertain and give pleasure to the reader, and
to heighten his awareness of certain aspects of life. Besides these two primary functions,
literature also performs three subsidiary functions—‘propaganda,’ ‘release’ and ‘escape.’
Propaganda literature’ must be distinguished from mere propaganda in which there is nothing
creative. The writer of mere propaganda is simply concerned to popularize facts, ideas, and
emotions with which he is familiar. But propaganda that is literature is a creative influence
irradiating and transforming the writer’s experience. The idea to be propagated is still alive
and growing in his mind. It is this living and growing idea which the artist communicates to
his reader and thereby transorms his whole attitude to life. He can do so by the direct method
of exposition and exhortation, as Ruskin did, or the indirect method of fiction like Dickens’.
‘Release literature’ is that in which the dominant motive of the writer is simply the
assuagement of starved needs, the release of pent-up forces in the personality. Romances,
detective stories, thrillers, poems etc. which are written with such originality of perception
and expression that they have a quickening effect on the reader, belong to this category.
Literature of the higher sort which is dominated by ‘release’ may be wholesome for the writer
and the reader, as it effects purgation or purification.
Literature also provides ‘escape’ from the grim realities of life, and many people read to
escape boredom. The higher type of literature helps the reader to escape from trivial reality
into significant reality.
To sum up, the primary functions of literature are to delight the reader, and heighten his
awareness of life. The subsidiary functions are ‘propaganda’, ‘release’ and ‘escape’; but they
are subordinated to the primary creative functions of literature.

Writing About Poetry

Writing about poetry can be one of the most demanding tasks that many students
face in a literature class. Poetry, by its very nature, makes demands on a writer who
attempts to analyze it that other forms of literature do not. So how can you write a
clear, confident, well-supported essay about poetry? This handout offers answers to
some common questions about writing about poetry.
What's the Point?
In order to write effectively about poetry, one needs a clear idea of what the point of
writing about poetry is. When you are assigned an analytical essay about a poem in
an English class, the goal of the assignment is usually to argue a specific thesis
about the poem, using your analysis of specific elements in the poem and how those
elements relate to each other to support your thesis.
So why would your teacher give you such an assignment? What are the benefits of
learning to write analytic essays about poetry? Several important reasons suggest
themselves:

 To help you learn to make a text-based argument. That is, to help you to defend
ideas based on a text that is available to you and other readers. This sharpens your
reasoning skills by forcing you to formulate an interpretation of something someone
else has written and to support that interpretation by providing logically valid reasons
why someone else who has read the poem should agree with your argument. This
 isn't a skill that is just important in academics, by the way. Lawyers, politicians, and
journalists often find that they need to make use of similar skills.
 To help you to understand what you are reading more fully. Nothing causes a person
to make an extra effort to understand difficult material like the task of writing about it.
Also, writing has a way of helping you to see things that you may have otherwise
missed simply by causing you to think about how to frame your own analysis.
 To help you enjoy poetry more! This may sound unlikely, but one of the real
pleasures of poetry is the opportunity to wrestle with the text and co-create meaning
with the author. When you put together a well-constructed analysis of the poem, you
are not only showing that you understand what is there, you are also contributing to
an ongoing conversation about the poem. If your reading is convincing enough,
everyone who has read your essay will get a little more out of the poem because of
your analysis.

What Should I Know about Writing about Poetry?

Most importantly, you should realize that a paper that you write about a poem or
poems is an argument. Make sure that you have something specific that you want to
say about the poem that you are discussing. This specific argument that you want to
make about the poem will be your thesis. You will support this thesis by drawing
examples and evidence from the poem itself. In order to make a credible argument
about the poem, you will want to analyze how the poem works—what genre the
poem fits into, what its themes are, and what poetic techniques and figures of
speech are used.
What Can I Write About?
Theme: One place to start when writing about poetry is to look at any significant
themes that emerge in the poetry. Does the poetry deal with themes related to love,
death, war, or peace? What other themes show up in the poem? Are there particular
historical events that are mentioned in the poem? What are the most important
concepts that are addressed in the poem?
Genre: What kind of poem are you looking at? Is it an epic (a long poem on a heroic
subject)? Is it a sonnet (a brief poem, usually consisting of fourteen lines)? Is it an
ode? A satire? An elegy? A lyric? Does it fit into a specific literary movement such as
Modernism, Romanticism, Neoclassicism, or Renaissance poetry? This is another
place where you may need to do some research in an introductory poetry text or
encyclopedia to find out what distinguishes specific genres and movements.
Versification: Look closely at the poem's rhyme and meter. Is there an identifiable
rhyme scheme? Is there a set number of syllables in each line? The most common
meter for poetry in English is iambic pentameter, which has five feet of two syllables
each (thus the name "pentameter") in each of which the strongly stressed syllable
follows the unstressed syllable. You can learn more about rhyme and meter by
consulting our handout on sound and meter in poetry or the introduction to a
standard textbook for poetry such as the Norton Anthology of Poetry. Also relevant to
this category of concerns are techniques such as caesura (a pause in the middle of a
line) and enjambment (continuing a grammatical sentence or clause from one line to
the next). Is there anything that you can tell about the poem from the choices that the
author has made in this area? For more information about important literary terms,
see our handout on the subject.
Figures of speech: Are there literary devices being used that affect how you read
the poem? Here are some examples of commonly discussed figures of speech:
 metaphor: comparison between two unlike things
 simile: comparison between two unlike things using "like" or "as"
 metonymy: one thing stands for something else that is closely related to it (For
example, using the phrase "the crown" to refer to the king would be an example of
metonymy.)
 synecdoche: a part stands in for a whole (For example, in the phrase "all hands on
deck," "hands" stands in for the people in the ship's crew.)
 personification: a non-human thing is endowed with human characteristics
 litotes: a double negative is used for poetic effect (example: not unlike, not
displeased)
 irony: a difference between the surface meaning of the words and the implications
that may be drawn from them