Introduction

Because of the variety in the forms of literature, it can be defined in many ways. The most general definition of literature would be any written work.

The three types of literature covered in this activity include:

1. Poetry – Often identified with a rhyme scheme, poetry tells a story in an artistic format. You may notice the structure is laid out in lines vs. paragraphs, and the style and rhythm of the piece has a larger impact on how you read it.
2. Prose – If you were to write a story down based on memory, it would likely fall into the prose category. Prose does not include a rhyme scheme, rhythm, or anything aside from standard grammar rules.
3. Drama – Drama was traditionally written with the intention of having it acted out on stage. Dramas were written for performance in a theatre setting in front of a live audience. In addition to theatres, this now includes other mediums of performance, including movies, TV shows, and radio shows.

Literature is a means of traveling, exploring, and learning. You can immerse yourself in a fictional novel or learn specific details of someone’s life in a nonfiction piece. The resources provided in this activity will give you a solid understanding of race and multiculturalism in literature, the impact fiction can have on your everyday life, and the importance of literature over time.

Defining Literature

Literature

Literature, in its broadest sense, is any written work. Etymologically, the term derives from Latin litaritura/litteratura “writing formed with letters,” although some definitions include spoken or sung texts. More restrictively, it is writing that possesses literary merit. Literature can be classified according to whether it is fiction or non-fiction and whether it is poetry or prose. It can be further distinguished according to major forms such as the novel, short story or drama, and works are often categorized according to historical periods or their adherence to certain aesthetic features or expectations (genre).

Taken to mean only written works, literature was first produced by some of the world’s earliest civilizations—those of Ancient Egypt and Sumeria—as early as the 4th millennium BC; taken to include spoken or sung texts, it originated even earlier, and some of the first written works may have been based on a pre-existing oral tradition. As urban cultures and societies developed, there was a proliferation in the forms of literature. Developments in print technology allowed for literature to be distributed and experienced on an unprecedented scale, which has culminated in the twenty-first century in electronic literature.

Definition

Definitions of literature have varied over time. In Western Europe prior to the eighteenth century, literature as a term indicated all books and writing.[1] A more restricted sense of the term emerged during the Romantic period, in which it began to demarcate “imaginative” literature.[2]

Contemporary debates over what constitutes literature can be seen as returning to the older, more inclusive notion of what constitutes literature. Cultural studies, for instance, takes as its subject of analysis both popular and minority genres, in addition to canonical works.[3]

Major Forms

Poetry

French words arranged on a page to form a sketch of a man wearing a hat
A calligram by Guillaume Apollinaire. These are a type of poem in which the written words are arranged in such a way to produce a visual image.
Poetry is a form of literary art that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, prosaic ostensible meaning (ordinary intended meaning). Poetry has traditionally been distinguished from prose by its being set in verse;[4] prose is cast in sentences, poetry in lines; the syntax of prose is dictated by meaning, whereas that of poetry is held across metre or the visual aspects of the poem.[5]

Prior to the nineteenth century, poetry was commonly understood to be something set in metrical lines; accordingly, in 1658 a definition of poetry is “any kind of subject consisting of Rythm or Verses”.[6] Possibly as a result of Aristotle’s influence (his Poetics), “poetry” before the nineteenth century was usually less a technical designation for verse than a normative category of fictive or rhetorical art.[7] As a form it may pre-date literacy, with the earliest works being composed within and sustained by an oral tradition;[8] hence it constitutes the earliest example of literature.

calligram by Guillaume Apollinaire. These are a type of poem in which the written words are arranged in such a way to produce a visual image. C

Calligram by Guillaume Apollinaire. These are a type of poem in which the written words are arranged in such a way to produce a visual image.

Prose

Prose is a form of language that possesses ordinary syntax and natural speech rather than rhythmic structure; in which regard, along with its measurement in sentences rather than lines, it differs from poetry.[9] On the historical development of prose, Richard Graff notes that ”

Novel: a long fictional prose narrative.
Novella:The novella exists between the novel and short story; the publisher Melville House classifies it as “too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story.”[10]
Short story: a dilemma in defining the “short story” as a literary form is how to, or whether one should, distinguish it from any short narrative. Apart from its distinct size, various theorists have suggested that the short story has a characteristic subject matter or structure;[11] these discussions often position the form in some relation to the novel.[12]

Drama

Drama is literature intended for performance.[13]

1. Leitch et al., The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, 28 ↵
2. Ross, “The Emergence of “Literature”: Making and Reading the English Canon in the Eighteenth Century,” 406 & Eagleton, Literary theory: an introduction, 16 ↵
3. Leitch et al., The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, 28 ↵
4. “poetry, n.”. Oxford English Dictionary. OUP. Retrieved 13 February 2014. (subscription required) ↵
5. Preminger, The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 938–9 ↵
6. “poetry, n.”. Oxford English Dictionary. OUP. Retrieved 13 February 2014. (subscription required) ↵
7. Ross, “The Emergence of “Literature”: Making and Reading the English Canon in the Eighteenth Century”, 398 ↵
8. Finnegan, Ruth H. (1977). Oral poetry: its nature, significance, and social context. Indiana University Press. p. 66. & Magoun, Jr., Francis P. (1953). “Oral-Formulaic Character of Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poetry”.Speculum 28 (3): 446–67. doi:10.2307/2847021 ↵
9. Preminger, The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 938–9 &Alison Booth; Kelly J. Mays. “Glossary: P”.LitWeb, the Norton Introduction to Literature Studyspace. Retrieved 15 February 2014. ↵
10. Antrim, Taylor (2010). “In Praise of Short”. The Daily Beast. Retrieved 15 February 2014. ↵
11. Rohrberger, Mary; Dan E. Burns (1982). “Short Fiction and the Numinous Realm: Another Attempt at Definition”. Modern Fiction Studies. XXVIII (6). & May, Charles (1995). The Short Story. The Reality of Artifice. New York: Twain. ↵
12. Marie Louise Pratt (1994). Charles May, ed. The Short Story: The Long and the Short of It. Athens: Ohio UP. ↵
13. Elam, Kier (1980). The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama. London and New York: Methuen. p. 98.ISBN 0-416-72060-9. ↵

Literature. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literature#cite_note-44. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

Image of man formed by words. Authored by: Guillaume Apollinaire. Located at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Calligramme.jpg. License: Public Domain: No Known Copyright

Landy, J. (2009). The Role of Fiction in the Well-Lived Life. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DFJxLVSkZ0

Moya, P. (2015). Defining the Humanities: Multicultural Literature. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiJIgCjOY4I

Wach, M. (2010). The Importance of Literature. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neRyi3i3K20

Summary

Because literature has so much variety in its form, purpose, and structure, it’s critical for you to explore each avenue to understand the intention behind each. Historical periods, geographic locations, meaning, style, and creativity all have an impact on literature.

To review, the three forms of literature we explored in this activity include:

Poetry – Often identified with a rhyme scheme, poetry tells a story in an artistic format. You may notice the structure is laid out in lines vs. paragraphs, and the style and rhythm of the piece has a larger impact on how you read it.

Prose – If you were to write a story down based on memory, it would likely fall into the prose category. Prose does not include a rhyme scheme, rhythm, or anything aside from standard grammar rules.

Drama – Drama was traditionally written with the intention of having it acted out on stage. Dramas were written for performance in a theatre setting in front of a live audience. In addition to theatres, this now includes other mediums of performance, including movies, TV shows, and radio shows.