Introduction to Literature

Literature has been defined by many scholars in different ways. As stated by Rosenberg (1992), literature is composed of words that are artfully arranged to stimulate feelings and impart understanding. Its purpose is not really to impose knowledge but more of to entertain and enlighten the reader. Literature deals also with man’s love, grief, thoughts, dreams, and aspirations in a beautiful language.

Literature, literally translated, means "acquaintance with letters." The word comes from the Latin “littera” which means letter. Therefore the academic study of literature is known as Letters (https://www.ancient.eu/literature/).

With the many definitions associated with literature, let us have a common understanding of the word. Literature is a timeless expression of significant human experiences told in words that are well-chosen and arranged in a highly creative style capable of engaging the reader’s imagination. Let us discuss further the highlighted word/phrases in the given definition to fully understand what literature is. First, when we say timeless, it stands the test of time. These literary pieces even written ages ago can still be used in the present times and are still relevant to be read and discussed. In the local context, the writings of Jose Rizal like his famous novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo are still being tackled in schools. Even if these were written years ago, people can still relate to its theme, plot, characters and the like. The major themes of these texts center on revolution and oppression. Some characters like the prayles, gobernador heneral etc. are symbols and images associated to colonialism and abusive powers. Thus, the worthiness of the text is unquestionable. Another example of these are the works of William Shakespeare. For example, the tragedy Romeo and Juliet is a classic drama that has been written centuries ago and still a text to read at the present times. Most can still relate to its theme of an ill-fated love affair, thus, led the main characters to their tragic downfall. These given examples make literature timeless.

Second that I would like to discuss is that literature deals with significant human experiences. Most of the time, literary works were results of the writers’ pent-up of emotions. Aside from this, the writer’s milieu such as current political underpinnings, social conditions, religious reforms and the like sometimes influence their writings as well to be able to address pressing concerns at that moment. Literature is not written to communicate information but to communicate and participate in these significant human experiences. These are all may be an eye opener to many and may be relatable to different kinds of people. Third point deals with words that are creative. The words that are used in literature are usually not literally taken nor what we use as everyday language. The writer carefully selects words and incorporate the use of figurative language such as symbols, imagery, figures of speech etc. which has an aesthetic

appeal to the readers. This may be the primary reason that’s why there’s difficulty in interpreting literary pieces because they are not taken literally. There is an extra effort for readers to make use of their imagination and must have a background on figurative language. And lastly through literature, readers are able to widen their imagination as they read through the text.

Literature is also classified as both written and oral tradition. Oral tradition means that stories are handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. As cited in the article of Andrews (2018) in History, the oldest recorded fictional story is probably the mythic poem “Epic of Gilgamesh” which appeared around the third millennium BC.

The recorded written literature in the west originated from the southern Mesopotamia region (c. 3200) which flourished in Egypt and later on in Greece then to Rome (https://www.ancient.eu/literature/). While the literature from the east mostly originated in China around (1600-1046 BCE) during the Shang Dynasty (https://www.ancient.eu/Chinese_Literature/).

Talking about how world literature started, the term was coined by a German poet named Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe and introduced the concept of Weltliteratur in 1827 to describe the growing availability of texts from other nations including translations from Sanskrit, Islamic, and Serbian epic poetry. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels eventually used the term in their Communist Manifesto (1848) to describe the "cosmopolitan character" of bourgeois literary production.

World literature also refers to literature from all over the world, including African literature, Arabic literature, American literature, Latin American literature, Caribbean Literature, Asian literature, European literature and Australasian literature.

The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry which attempts to provide entertainment, enlightenment, or instruction to the reader/hearer/observer, as well as the development of the literary techniques used in the communication of these pieces.

Literature empowers the reader to overcome the limitations of sex, race and culture.

Through reading, we seem to travel by using our imagination and thus experience other’s culture and prepare us on what to expect and what to experience in another country without being bias. We get to understand of what seems to be peculiar to us.

Literature also enables the reader to experience even vicariously the worthwhile experiences of others. The reason why many are hooked in to reading is that at a certain moment, the readers tend to be in another dimension where they get to be the characters that they are reading. Temporarily they get to be in another world where they could suddenly forget about their worries and other dealings that they currently have.

Literature expands our life because it shows us how rich our world is, how filled of potential we are, and how keen the drama of our life is. Our own life is a drama itself.

Reading literature makes us experience life and teach us how to become human. It helps us understand the value of our existence and of others. Through this, it can help us understand better our past, lead us at present, and empower us in the future.

Being adept to reading literature helps widen our vocabulary and expand our reading comprehension. This could lead us to have better communication skills which may eventually lead us to good writing skills.

Lastly, literature offers relief from our pent-up of emotions – catharsis, a literary concept which is the “process of releasing strong emotions through a particular activity such writing or theatre” (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/catharsis).

A. Generally, there are 2 major genres of literature in terms of structure: Prose and Poetry. Let’s get to know more of these.

1. Prose Prose is generally divided into two sub-genres: Fiction and Nonfiction. Fiction pertains to literary narratives that portray imaginary people caught in imaginary situations. Prose consists of writing that do not really follow nor observe any particular formal structures, unlike poetry. Prosaic writing simply says something without necessarily trying to say it in a beautiful way or using beautiful words (https://www.studymode.com/essays/TwoMajor-Types-Of-Literature-1947353.html).

Its etymology comes from the Latin word fictio that means “to invent or make-up.”

Nonfiction on the other hand pertains to literary narratives that relate or refer to actual facts and factual information. Common examples under this are memoirs, biographies, personal essays.

The Basic Types of Prose 1. Novel- a long narrative divided into chapters involving many characters, having events taken from true-to-life stories and spanning a long period of time 2. Short story- a short narrative involving one or more characters with one plot, and one single impression 3. Play- a narrative presented on a stage, divided into acts and each act has many scenes 4. Legend- a fictitious narrative usually about origins of living and non-living things 5. Fable- fictitious narrative that has animal characters that speak and act like humans, it also teaches a lesson 6. Anecdote- a brief entertaining narrative, chiefly personal or biographical, that gives a lesson to the reader 7. Essay- may be formal or informal and expresses the viewpoint or opinion of the author about a particular problem or event 8. Oration- formal treatment of a subject intended to be spoken in public, it may appeal to the intellect, will or emotion of the audience 9. Biography- Story about the life of a person

Elements of Prose 1. Plot - sequence of events or actions in the story 2. Setting - the milieu or location and the time of the story 3. Character - are the persons about whom the story is told 4. Characterization - shows how a character behaves in a certain situation.

5. Point of view- the narrator of the story or the standpoint where the story is presented 6. Conflict - clash or contradiction which upsets the emotions and moves the story 7. Theme - the underlying idea; truth about life in the story

2. Poetry/Non-Prose

A poem is a composition written in verse which usually takes patterns of measurements such as stress, syllables, rhyme and rely heavily on figurative language, imagery, symbols, rhetorical devices etc. Its etymology comes from the Greek word “poiesis” which means making or creating.

Types of Poetry 1. Narrative Poetry- tells a story 1.1. Epic- a long narrative poem divided into distinct parts and episode bound together by a common relationship to a great hero, action, and time 1.2. Metrical Romance - a long rambling love story in verse during the middle ages 1.3. Ballad- a short narrative poem intended to be sung 2. Lyric Poetry - expresses personal thoughts and feelings of its author 2.1. Ode- extended poem, usually complicated in meter and stanza form, it expresses enthusiasm and lofty praise for a person or thing 2.2. Elegy- Poem of lamentation, the author’s personal grief for loss of a loved one or a loss affecting the public as a whole

2.3. Song- a short lyric poem intended to be sung 2.4. Sonnet- distinguished by its form: 14 iambic pentameter lines which produces single effect 2.5. Haiku- Japanese type of poetry now written in 3 lines with 5 syllables on the first 7 on the second and 5 on the last line 3. Dramatic Poetry- portrays life and character through action in powerful emotionpacked lines such as those in Shakespeare’s plays 3.1. Comedy - aims to amuse the audience and ends happily 3.2. Tragedy - the chief character undergoes a morally significant struggle which ends disastrously 3.3. Farce - exaggerated comedy based broadly on humorous situations 3.4. Melodrama - a play with sensational actions, a sentimental love story, extravagant emotions, and mostly happy endings 3.5. Dramatic Monologue- one character speaks throughout, but the presence, actions and words of other characters are implies.

B. In addition, literature can also be classified according to its content: Fiction and NonFiction

1.Fiction Fiction may either be prose (paragraph/narrative form) or non-prose (poetry). Simply, this literature is made-up or not based entirely on real persons or events. Most of the mentioned genres/sub-genres of literature above are examples of fiction.

2. Non-Fiction Non-fiction, in contrast to the former, is a type of literature that is based on real events and people. This doesn't mean, however, that non-fiction are not creatively written.

They are, too, but without the embellishment or exaggeration commonly found in fiction; hence, non-fiction are creatively written literature about real persons and events.

Common examples of non-fiction are the following: 2.1. Biography

2.2. Autobiography 2.3. Essay 2.4. Journal

Sometimes, the line separating fiction from non-fiction is a bit hard to identify as some non-fiction may have been subjectively written or some made-up parts are added in a real even. You might be familiar with the movie Titanic -- the events such as the creation of the ship, its maiden voyage, and the shipwreck all happened in reality; however, the love story between Jack and Rose were added to give a twist or another angle other than that of the sinking of the ship. Over time, this has somehow made way to another sub-genre of literature -- historical fiction.

Finally, as students of literature, it is quite important for you to know and distinguish the difference between these genres. The reason goes beyond merely knowing them .

Identifying the genre of a particular reading actually helps you in preparing to read it and setting your expectations of it. Knowing that what you are about to read, for example, is a short story helps makes you expect that a problem will be presented just a little bit after the characters have been introduced to you, and that the resolution to just problem will be given towards the end. Whereas, if you are reading an essay, chances are, you will be able to find the main point of the writer at the very first paragraph.