Full Answer
What is the best way to understand literature?
- Classify the book according to subject matter.
- State what the whole book is about. Be as brief as possible.
- List the major parts in order and relation. Outline these parts as you have outlined the whole.
- Define the problem or problems the author is trying to solve.
How to pronounce literature in English?
Here are 4 tips that should help you perfect your pronunciation of 'literature':
- Break 'literature' down into sounds : [LIT] + [RUH] + [CHUH] - say it out loud and exaggerate the sounds until you can consistently produce them.
- Record yourself saying 'literature' in full sentences, then watch yourself and listen. ...
- Look up tutorials on Youtube on how to pronounce 'literature'.
Which is better, English language or literature?
- Reading: this is the ability to comprehend written language in all its forms. ...
- Composition: essentially the language skill of writing, composition takes many forms. ...
- Speaking: this is the ability to deliver language orally. ...
- Listening: this is the ability to understand language as it is delivered by someone or something else. ...
How do you define literature?
• Some define literature as writing which is "imaginative" or fictive, as opposed to factual, true, or historical. This seems reasonable until we realize that ... (1) what counts as "fact" varies with cultures and time periods. Is the book of Genesis (and the entire Bible for that matter) fact or fiction?
What is the simple meaning of literature?
literature, a body of written works. The name has traditionally been applied to those imaginative works of poetry and prose distinguished by the intentions of their authors and the perceived aesthetic excellence of their execution.
What is the best definition of literature?
Literature is a term used to describe written and sometimes spoken material. Derived from the Latin word literature meaning "writing formed with letters," literature most commonly refers to works of the creative imagination, including poetry, drama, fiction, nonfiction, and in some instances, journalism, and song.
What is the 3 definition of literature?
The body of written works of a language, period, or culture. 2. Imaginative or creative writing, especially of recognized artistic value: "Literature must be an analysis of experience and a synthesis of the findings into a unity" (Rebecca West). 3. The art or occupation of a literary writer.
What is the original meaning of literature?
Etymologically, the term derives from Latin literatura/litteratura "learning, a writing, grammar," originally "writing formed with letters," from litera/littera "letter". In spite of this, the term has also been applied to spoken or sung texts.
What is literature definition PDF?
Literature is the imaginative work that pictures the human life in society which can be enjoyed, understandable, and used by the society also. The author will write the result of this imagination in a form of literary works. The form of those literary work such as drama, poem, short story and also novel.
What are the 5 types of literature?
Today, Vista Higher Learning is breaking down the differences to give you a crash course on the five main genres of literature.#1 Fiction. One of the most popular genres of literature, fiction, features imaginary characters and events. ... #2 Nonfiction. ... #3 Drama. ... #4 Poetry. ... #5 Folktale.
What is example of literature?
Literature is defined as books and other written works, especially those considered to have creative or artistic merit or lasting value. Books written by Charles Dickens are an example of literature. Books written on a scientific subject are examples of scientific literature.
What are the two types of literature?
Literature is a broad term that refers to almost any widely available written work that centers on a common theme. All literature can be sorted into one of two categories: nonfiction, which describes writing based on facts, and fiction, which is fabricated to some degree.
What is literature According to Oxford dictionary?
Quick Reference. A body of written works related by subject-matter (e.g. the literature of computing), by language or place of origin (e.g. Russian literature), or by prevailing cultural standards of merit.
Who is the father of literature?
1340s – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for The Canterbury Tales. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry"....Geoffrey ChaucerChildren4, including ThomasSignature8 more rows
What is literature and its purpose?
The literary purpose is used to entertain and to give aesthetic pleasure. The focus of the literary purpose is on the words themselves and on a conscious and deliberate arrangement of the words to produce a pleasing or enriching effect. A writer often expresses a worldview when using the literary purpose.
What is the nature of literature?
Literature can be defined as an expression of human feelings, thoughts, and ideas whose medium is language, oral and written. Literature is not only about human ideas, thoughts, and feelings but also about experiences of the authors.
What is literature noun?
literature noun [U] (SPECIALIST TEXTS) all the information relating to a subject, especially information written by experts: It's important to keep up-to-date with the literature in your field. There is very little literature on the disease. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases.
What is literature in medical terms?
literature noun [U] (INFORMATION) all the information written about a subject: The medical literature is full of examples of accidental discoveries that led to important advances in science. Literature is also printed material published by a company that informs people about its products or services:
What is the definition of literature?
the writings dealing with a particular subject: the literature of ornithology. the profession of a writer or author. literary work or production. any kind of printed material, as circulars, leaflets, or handbills: literature describing company products. Archaic. polite learning; literary culture; appreciation of letters and books.
What is literature in writing?
literature. writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays. the entire body of writings of a specific language, period, people, etc.: the literature of England. the writings dealing with ...
What is literature in the broadest sense?
In the broadest sense, literature includes any type of writings on any subject: the literature of medicine; usually, however, it means the body of artistic writings of a country or period that are characterized by beauty of expression and form and by universality of intellectual and emotional appeal: English literature of the 16th century.
How to use "literature" in a sentence?
How to use literature in a sentence. If you want to understand the flamboyant family of objects that make up our solar system—from puny, sputtering comets to tremendous, ringed planets—you could start by immersing yourself in the technical terms that fill the scientific literature.
What is Belles-Lettres?
Belles-lettres is a more specific term for writings of a light, elegant, or excessively refined character: His talent is not for scholarship but for belles-lettres. Letters (rare today outside of certain fixed phrases) refers to literature as a domain of study or creation: a man of letters.
What is literature in Latin?
Definition of Literature. The word ‘Literature’ is a modified form of a Latin word (literra, litteratura or litteratus) that means ‘writing formed with letters’. Let us look at what is literature in definition. Literature generally can be any written work, but it especially is an artistic or intellectual work of writing.
What are the effects of literature on society?
The effects of literature on a society: The effects of literature on a society can be both positive and negative. Because of this, the famous philosophers Aristotle and Plato have different opinions about its effect on society. Plato was the one who started the idea of written dialogue. He was a moralist and he did not approve ...
What did Aristotle think of literature?
Now Aristotle considers literature of all kinds to be an important part of children’s upbringing. Aristotle claims that, “poetry takes us closer to reality. He also mentioned in his writings that it teaches, warns, and shows us the consequences of bad deeds”.
Why did Plato not approve of poetry?
He was a moralist and he did not approve of poetry because he deemed it immoral. He considered poetry as based on false ideas whereas the basis of philosophy came from reality and truth. ( 4) Plato claims that, “poetry inspires undesirable emotions in society.
What does Lewis mean by "Literature adds to reality"?
Lewis: “Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.”. Oscar Wilde: “Literature always anticipates life.
Who said "Literature always anticipates life"?
Oscar Wilde : “Literature always anticipates life. It does not copy it but moulds it to its purpose. The nineteenth century, as we know it, is largely an invention of Balzac.”. Chesterton: “Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.”. Forster: The definition of literature by Forster is much interesting.
Who defined literature in a perfect way?
Virginia Woolf: Virginia defined literature in a perfect way. “Literature is strewn with the wreckage of those who have minded beyond reason the opinion of others.”. Ezra Pound: “Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.”. Alfred North Whitehead: “It is in literature that the concrete outlook ...
What does "literature" mean?
And indeed its central meaning, at least, is clear enough. Deriving from the Latin littera, “a letter of the alphabet ,” literature is first and foremost humankind’s entire body of writing; after that it is the body of writing belonging to a given language or people; then it is individual pieces of writing.
What is literature in literature?
Literature, a body of written works. The name has traditionally been applied to those imaginative works of poetry and prose distinguished by the intentions of their authors and the perceived aesthetic excellence of their execution. Literature may be classified according to a variety of systems, including language, national origin, ...
What is the art of persuasion?
Oratory, the art of persuasion, was long considered a great literary art. The oratory of the American Indian, for instance, is famous, while in Classical Greece, Polymnia was the muse sacred to poetry and oratory. Rome’s great orator Cicero was to have a decisive influence on the development of English prose style.
Is oratory considered an art?
Today, however, oratory is more usually thought of as a craft than as an art. Most critics would not admit advertising copywriting, purely commercial fiction, or cinema and television scripts as accepted forms of literary expression, although others would hotly dispute their exclusion.
Is literature an art form?
Those writings that are primarily informative—technical, scholarly, journalistic—would be excluded from the rank of literature by most, though not all, critics. Certain forms of writing, however, are universally regarded as belonging to literature as an art. Individual attempts within these forms are said to succeed if they possess something called artistic merit and to fail if they do not. The nature of artistic merit is less easy to define than to recognize. The writer need not even pursue it to attain it. On the contrary, a scientific exposition might be of great literary value and a pedestrian poem of none at all.
Is a scientific exposition a pedestrian poem?
On the contrary, a scientific exposition might be of great literary value and a pedestrian poem of none at all. The purest (or, at least, the most intense) literary form is the lyric poem, and after it comes elegiac, epic, dramatic, narrative, and expository verse.
Is writing considered an art form?
Certain forms of writing, however, are universally regarded as belonging to literature as an art. Individual attempts within these forms are said to succeed if they possess something called artistic merit and to fail if they do not. The nature of artistic merit is less easy to define than to recognize.
What is the definition of English literature?
While in high school and general usage, English literature often refers to any literature written in English.
What does "litera" mean in literature?
Literature comes from the Latin word "litera" which means "acquainted with letters.".
When did English literature begin?
When English literature solely refers to literature from the British Isles, the literature definition is said to begin around the year 1450 . The Tudors and the Elizabethan era brought humanism, renaissance and foreign influence such as the Italian sonnet. Spenser, Sidney, Marlowe and Shakespeare are noteworthy writers from this era ...
Who are some examples of literary works of this time period?
Examples of literature in this time period include "The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli and Shakespeare's Macbeth.
What were the most famous writers of the Victorian era?
In literature class, poets like Hopkins, Housman and Rossetti are taught alongside non-fiction writers like Macaulay, Carlyle and Ruskin.
What is English literature?
English literature is the study of literature written in the English language. The writers do not necessarily have to be from England but can be from all over the world. It includes some of history's most famous writers: James Joyce (Ireland), William Shakespeare (England), Mark Twain (United States), Arthur Conan Doyle (Scotland), ...
Why is English literature so popular?
It is time-tested and well-worn for a reason. English literature deals with universal themes and values that help us grow in our everyday lives. It also teaches us about different time periods and faraway places.
What is an example of alliteration?
Perhaps the most popular example was Pearl, Purity and Patience, a grouping of poems written by an unknown poet.
What is the Renaissance?
First off, the word 'renaissance' means revival or rebirth. The Renaissance period marks the true start of a major artistic movement throughout Europe. We can attribute this rebirth in part to the invention of the printing press, which took the written word to a new mass-produced territory. The written word became king of the English-speaking world during this era.
What is a pilgrim's tale?
Each pilgrim's tale takes on a narrative of its own. The poem is structured as a frame narrative, or 'story within a story:' a literary device that would go on to become one of the most popular storytelling techniques in the history of literature.
What is the Canterbury Tales?
One of his most renowned works, The Canterbury Tales, is an epic story of pilgrims playfully pitted against each other in a storytelling contest. Each pilgrim's tale takes on a narrative of its own.
When did the Middle English language start?
Middle English Literature (1150-1485) Some scholars would argue that the Middle English period started as early as the 1100s. However, because the English language did not evolve into a dialect we could understand today until about the 12th century, 1150 seems like a better place to start.