32: Art of Literature

• Literature


  Any written work that deals with man and his experiences expressed in artistic, imaginative, creative, and meaningful languages which arouses a noble feeling of pleasure in its interpretation and commentary on man's fate and destiny
• Literature


  • An essential part of history
  • Tells us something about our past and our present
  • Used to inform what is happening in the country and the world
  • Used for entertainment, to instruct and improve the readers
• Literature


  A body of written works, traditionally applied to 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, historical period, genre, and subject matter
• To use the word 'writing' when describing literature is misleading, for one may speak of "oral literature" or "the literature of preliterate peoples"
• The art of literature

  • Not reducible to the words on the page; they are there solely because of the craft of writing
  • The organization of words to give pleasure
  • Elevates and transforms experience beyond "mere" pleasure
  • Functions as a means of both criticizing and affirming cultural values
• Literature


  A form of human expression, but not everything expressed in words – even when organized and written down – is counted as literature
• 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 are universally regarded as belonging to literature as an art, and individual attempts within these forms are said to succeed if they possess something called artistic merit and to fail if they do not
• Literature


  Has uses that go far beyond mere entertainment, it illuminates the human condition by allowing us to share the thoughts and feelings of other people
• Fiction


  A work with imagined facts which illustrates a truth about life, broadly defined as any type of narrative – oral or written, poetic or prose, dramatic, mythic, or folk–that creates an imaginative rather than a factual reality
• Non-fiction


  A work based entirely on facts and true events
• Prose


  • Writing in narrative form with sentences and paragraphs, using everyday language, with effective use of grammar
• Poetry


  • Writing in form of lines and stanzas, with rhyme and rhythm, and melodious tone, using aesthetic and meaningful language, usually with figures of speech
• Biography


  A life account of a person written by other people
• Autobiography


  An author's written account of his or her own life
• Anecdote


  An interesting and amusing story, a short, entertaining account of an event or incident, usually based on real life
• Essay


  A type of prose literature that deals with one subject and expresses the author's personal thoughts and feelings on a subject, the most flexible of all literary forms
• Folktale


  A story that usually began from the storytellers of ancient villages, handed down orally as part of cultural tradition
• Legend


  A story about the origin of things, a long-told story or a group of related stories about a person or a place that is popularly believed to have some historical truth
• Fable


  A narrative that uses animals as characters, giving them human attributes, with the distinctive feature of conveying a moral truth and teaching virtues and values
• Myth


  Stories that narrate in an imaginative and symbolic manner the total and basic structures upon which a culture rests, appearing fantastic and bizarre because they cannot be explained in the terms of the ordinary conventions of the culture
• Short Story


  A brief fictional narrative that intends to create a strong and powerful impression on the reader
• Novel


  A work of fiction that is longer and more complex than a short story, with the setting, character, conflict, and plot developed in detail, allowing for more complex plots and subplots
• Epistolary novel


  A literary work composed of a series of letters, diary entries, newspaper clippings, and other related documents
• Parable


  A story that illustrates a moral, religious, or philosophical lesson, often suggesting ways for proper action in life, resembling a fable but being an extended metaphor that alludes to spiritual truth through a simple story
• Narrative Poetry


  An account of events, or simply a story, expressed in poetry
• Epic


  An adventure of a hero under supernatural elements, reflecting the values of a particular group and promoting unity in a society, a long narrative poem or prose work retelling important events in the life of a central hero or heroine, who is usually seen as representative of his or her culture
• Metrical Tale


  The short story of poetry, dealing with any emotion, told in a straightforward manner
• Ballad


  A narrative poem that is intended to be sung
• Lyric Poetry


  Short, subjective poems that talk about a single idea or theme and are intended to arouse feelings and emotions, often involving a speaker who expresses his/her feelings and thoughts about a particular emotional experience
• Psalm


  A song praise to God
• Elegy


  A poem expressing melancholy, grief, and death, a mournful poem that laments the death of a loved one
• Haiku


  A form of poetry famous in Japan, a reflection of a person's feelings and thoughts, composed of only three lines of seventeen syllables and arranged in lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables, noted for its simplicity and depth
• Ode


  A poem praising an object which the writer admires, the most elevated and dignified kind of lyric poetry, originally a ceremonious poem written to celebrate public occasions or exalted subjects
• Sonnet


  A poem of 14 iambic pentameter lines, traditionally following the Italian or Petrarchan rhyme scheme of an octave (8 lines) rhyming abbaabba and a sextet (6 lines) using two or three rhymes in various combinations
• Dramatic Poetry


  An emotional piece of literature which includes a story which is recited of sung, referring to the dramatic genre of poetry
• Drama


  Actions or deeds as they are performed in a theatrical setting for the benefit of a body of spectators, a type of literature that is meant to be performed before an audience, made up of one or more acts
• Melodrama


  A sad drama but has a happy ending, a rigidly conventionalized genre of popular drama, theatrical rather than literary in appeal, characterized by rapid and exciting physical action, sharply contrasted and simplified characters, and colourful alternation of violence, pathos, and humor
• Social Drama


  Can be comic or tragic, pictures the life of today, craving for change