definition la literature

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 littérature

nom féminin

(latin litteratura, de littera, lettre)

• 1.  Ensemble des œuvres écrites auxquelles on reconnaît une finalité esthétique.
• 2.  Ces œuvres, considérées du point de vue du pays, de l'époque, du milieu où elles s'inscrivent, du genre auquel elles appartiennent : La littérature française du XVII e  s.
• 3.  Ensemble des connaissances et des études qui se rapportent à ces œuvres et à leurs auteurs : Cours de littérature.
• 4.  Activité, métier de l'écrivain, de l'homme de lettres.
• 5.  Ensemble des ouvrages, des articles de journaux, etc., consacrés à quelqu'un, à un sujet : Cette affaire a suscité une abondante littérature.
• 6.   Familier. Correspondance épistolaire abondante, verbeuse, délayée : Qu'est-ce qu'il t'envoie comme littérature !

Expressions avec littérature

C'est de la littérature,, littérature d'idées,, littérature orale,, citations avec littérature.

• Louis Aragon (Paris 1897-Paris 1982) La critique devrait, en matière de littérature, être une sorte de pédagogie de l'enthousiasme. J'abats mon jeu , Éditeurs français réunis
• Marcel Arland (Varennes-sur-Amance 1899-Saint-Sauveur-sur-École, Seine-et-Marne, 1986) Académie française, 1968 Je ne conçois pas de littérature sans éthique. La Route obscure , Gallimard
• Honoré de Balzac (Tours 1799-Paris 1850) Le vrai littéraire ne saurait être le vrai de la nature. Le Cabinet des antiques , Préface
• Louis, vicomte de Bonald (château du Monna, près de Millau, 1754-château du Monna, près de Millau, 1840) Académie française, 1816 La littérature est l'expression de la société, comme la parole est l'expression de l'homme. Pensées sur divers sujets
• Georg Brandes (Copenhague 1842-Copenhague 1927) Le fait qu'une littérature ne mette rien en discussion signifie qu'elle est en train de perdre toute signification. Principaux courants de la littérature du XIX e  siècle
• André Breton (Tinchebray, Orne, 1896-Paris 1966) Dites-vous bien que la littérature est un des plus tristes chemins qui mènent à tout. Manifeste du surréalisme , Pauvert
• Jalmari Finne (1874-1938) Notre littérature est comme une poule, elle pond sans cesse. Et les ufs se ressemblent terriblement. Jeune Finlande
• André Gide (Paris 1869-Paris 1951) J'ai écrit, et je suis prêt à récrire encore ceci qui me paraît d'une évidente vérité : C'est avec les beaux sentiments qu'on fait de la mauvaise littérature. Je n'ai jamais dit, ni pensé, qu'on ne faisait de la bonne littérature qu'avec les mauvais sentiments. Journal , Gallimard
• Jean Giraudoux (Bellac 1882-Paris 1944) Le plagiat est la base de toutes les littératures, excepté de la première, qui d'ailleurs est inconnue. Siegfried , I, 6, Robineau , Grasset
• Louis Poirier , dit Julien Gracq (Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, Maine-et-Loire, 1910-Angers 2007) Quand on légifère dans la littérature, il faut avoir au moins la courtoisie et la prudence de dire aux œuvres Après vous Lettrines , José Corti
• Georges Charles, dit Joris-Karl Huysmans (Paris 1848-Paris 1907) Au fond, en littérature, on arrive, comme dans l'armée, à l'ancienneté ; le principal est de débuter. Lettre , 2 mars 1901
• Franz Kafka (Prague 1883-sanatorium de Kierling, près de Vienne, 1924) Tout ce qui n'est pas littérature m'ennuie, et je le hais. Journal , 21 août 1913 Alles, was nicht Literatur ist, langweilt mich und ich hasse es. Tagebücher
• Stéphane Mallarmé (Paris 1842-Valvins, Seine-et-Marne, 1898) La littérature, d'accord avec la faim, consiste à supprimer le monsieur qui reste en l'écrivant […]. La Musique et les lettres , Gallimard
• Stéphane Mallarmé (Paris 1842-Valvins, Seine-et-Marne, 1898) - Oui, que la Littérature existe et, si l'on veut, seule, à l'exclusion de tout. La Musique et les lettres , Gallimard

Commentaire Chaque citation des Pensées porte en référence un numéro. Celui-ci est le numéro que porte dans l'édition Brunschvicg - laquelle demeure aujourd'hui la plus généralement répandue - le fragment d'où la citation est tirée.

• Charles-Louis Philippe (Cérilly, Allier, 1874-Paris 1909) Toutes les crises morales de la littérature sont les crises morales de la bourgeoisie. In Littérature contemporaine , par G. Le Cardonnel et Ch. Velay Mercure de France
• Ezra Loomis Pound (Hailey, Idaho, 1885-Venise 1972) La grande littérature est simplement du langage chargé de sens au plus haut degré possible. Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree. How to Read , I, 4
• Nathalie Sarraute (Ivanovo, Russie, 1900-Paris 1999) La poésie, dans une œuvre, c'est ce qui fait apparaître l'invisible. Tel quel , n° 9
• Jean-Paul Sartre (Paris 1905-Paris 1980) Le monde peut fort bien se passer de la littérature. Mais il peut se passer de l'homme encore mieux. Situations II , Gallimard
• Anne Louise Germaine Necker , baronne de Staël-Holstein, dite Mme de Staël (Paris 1766-Paris 1817) Le bon goût en littérature est, à quelques égards, comme l'ordre sous le despotisme, il importe d'examiner à quel prix on l'achète. De l'Allemagne
• Paul Valéry (Sète 1871-Paris 1945) Il faut n'appeler Science que l'ensemble des recettes qui réussissent toujours . Tout le reste est littérature. Moralités , Gallimard
• Paul Verlaine (Metz 1844-Paris 1896) Que ton vers soit la bonne aventure Éparse au vent crispé du matin Qui va fleurant la menthe et le thym Et tout le reste est littérature. Jadis et naguère , Art poétique , Messein
• Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (Dublin 1854-Paris 1900) La différence entre littérature et journalisme, c'est que le journalisme est illisible et que la littérature n'est pas lue. The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable, and literature is not read. The Critic as an Artist

Mots proches

À CONSULTER ÉGALEMENT DANS L'ENCYCLOPÉDIE

Émile Chartier, dit Alain . Philosophe français...

Sainte-Beuve .

Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve . Écrivain et critique littéraire français...

À DÉCOUVRIR DANS L'ENCYCLOPÉDIE

• architecture. [DOSSIER] .
• Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant .
• Cléopâtre .
• Code civil.
• Copernic . Nicolas Copernic .
• daim . [FAUNE]
• géologie. [DOSSIER] .
• hernie de la paroi abdominale . [MÉDECINE]
• Poe . Edgar Allan Poe .
• réduction . [MÉDECINE]
• révolution russe de 1905 .
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• Seldjoukides .

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Termes, abréviations et symboles, littérature, page numérisée, histoire du mot, voisinage alphabétique, historique de consultation, littérature.

• litote, n. f.
• litre [I], n. m.
• litre [II], n. f.
• litron, n. m.
• littéraire, adj.
• littérairement, adv.
• littéral, -ale, adj.
• littéralement, adv.
• littéralité, n. f.
• littérateur, n. m.
• littérature, n. f.
• littoral, -ale, adj. et n.
• littorine, n. f.
• lituanien, -enne, adj.
• liturgie, n. f.
• liturgique, adj.
• liturgiste, n. m.
• lituus, n. m. [7 e  édition]
• liure, n. f.
• livarot, n. m.
• Francophonie (BDLP) [1]

ORTHOGRAPHE

• litterature, n. f. [1 re  édition]
• litterature, n. f. [2 e  édition]
• littérature, n. f. [3 e  édition]
• littérature, n. f. [4 e  édition]
• littérature, n. f. [5 e  édition]
• littérature, n. f. [6 e  édition]
• littérature, n. f. [7 e  édition]
• littérature, n. f. [8 e  édition]

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• Oregon State University - College of Liberal Arts - What is Literature? || Definition and Examples
• Humanities LibreTexts - What is Literature?
• PressbooksOER - Introduction to Literature
• Pressbooks Create - The Worry Free Writer - Literature
• Table Of Contents

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, historical period, genre , and subject matter.

For historical treatment of various literatures within geographical regions, see such articles as African literature ; African theater ; Oceanic literature ; Western literature ; Central Asian arts ; South Asian arts ; and Southeast Asian arts . Some literatures are treated separately by language, by nation, or by special subject (e.g., Arabic literature , Celtic literature , Latin literature , French literature , Japanese literature , and biblical literature ).

Definitions of the word literature tend to be circular. The 11th edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary considers literature to be “writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest.” The 19th-century critic Walter Pater referred to “the matter of imaginative or artistic literature” as a “transcript, not of mere fact, but of fact in its infinitely varied forms.” But such definitions assume that the reader already knows what literature is. 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.

But already it is necessary to qualify these statements. To use the word writing when describing literature is itself misleading, for one may speak of “oral literature” or “the literature of preliterate peoples.” The art of literature is not reducible to the words on the page; they are there solely because of the craft of writing. As an art, literature might be described as the organization of words to give pleasure. Yet through words literature elevates and transforms experience beyond “mere” pleasure. Literature also functions more broadly in society as a means of both criticizing and affirming cultural values.

The scope of literature

Literature is a form of human expression. But not everything expressed in words—even when organized and written down—is counted as literature. 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.

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. Most theories of literary criticism base themselves on an analysis of poetry , because the aesthetic problems of literature are there presented in their simplest and purest form. Poetry that fails as literature is not called poetry at all but verse . Many novels —certainly all the world’s great novels—are literature, but there are thousands that are not so considered. Most great dramas are considered literature (although the Chinese , possessors of one of the world’s greatest dramatic traditions, consider their plays, with few exceptions, to possess no literary merit whatsoever).

The Greeks thought of history as one of the seven arts, inspired by a goddess, the muse Clio. All of the world’s classic surveys of history can stand as noble examples of the art of literature, but most historical works and studies today are not written primarily with literary excellence in mind, though they may possess it, as it were, by accident.

The essay was once written deliberately as a piece of literature: its subject matter was of comparatively minor importance. Today most essays are written as expository, informative journalism , although there are still essayists in the great tradition who think of themselves as artists. Now, as in the past, some of the greatest essayists are critics of literature, drama , and the arts.

Some personal documents ( autobiographies , diaries , memoirs , and letters ) rank among the world’s greatest literature. Some examples of this biographical literature were written with posterity in mind, others with no thought of their being read by anyone but the writer. Some are in a highly polished literary style; others, couched in a privately evolved language, win their standing as literature because of their cogency, insight, depth, and scope.

Many works of philosophy are classed as literature. The Dialogues of Plato (4th century bc ) are written with great narrative skill and in the finest prose; the Meditations of the 2nd-century Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius are a collection of apparently random thoughts, and the Greek in which they are written is eccentric . Yet both are classed as literature, while the speculations of other philosophers, ancient and modern, are not. Certain scientific works endure as literature long after their scientific content has become outdated. This is particularly true of books of natural history, where the element of personal observation is of special importance. An excellent example is Gilbert White’s Natural History and Antiquities of Selbourne (1789).

Oratory , the art of persuasion, was long considered a great literary art. The oratory of Native Americans, 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. Abraham Lincoln ’s Gettysburg Address is known to every American schoolchild. 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. The test in individual cases would seem to be one of enduring satisfaction and, of course, truth. Indeed, it becomes more and more difficult to categorize literature, for in modern civilization words are everywhere. Humans are subject to a continuous flood of communication . Most of it is fugitive, but here and there—in high-level journalism, in television, in the cinema, in commercial fiction, in westerns and detective stories, and in plain, expository prose—some writing, almost by accident, achieves an aesthetic satisfaction, a depth and relevance that entitle it to stand with other examples of the art of literature.

Accueil > Dictionnaire > Définitions du mot « littérature »

Littérature

Dernière mise à jour le 31 mars 2024 - - Nous soutenir

Définitions de « littérature »

Littérature - nom commun.

Corpus des œuvres écrites ou orales caractérisant une nation, une période ou un genre, marqué par des préoccupations esthétiques et un raffinement langagier.

L’anglais paie le prix fort de son hégémonie. Car le « globish » disgracieux que l’on ânonne d’un bout à l’autre de notre monde globalisé n’a rien à voir avec la langue abondante, élégante et infiniment plastique qui a fait les riches heures de la littérature d’expression anglaise […]. — Élie Barnavie, « L’Anglais

Ensemble d'ouvrages spécialisés traitant d'un sujet particulier.

Ajoutez que dès les premiers pas, on risque de perdre pied dans la littérature myrmécophile. Elle est aussi abondante que la littérature apicole […]. — Maurice Maeterlinck, La Vie des Fourmis

(Péjoratif) Discours ou écrit long et peu substantiel, souvent complexe et confus.

Que ton vers soit la bonne aventureÉparse au vent crispé du matinQui va fleurant la menthe et le thym…Et tout le reste est littérature . — Verlaine, Art Poétique

Expressions liées

• Cours, professeur de littérature
• Doctrines, tendances de la littérature

"Ils mangent et boivent, font ripaille, remuent leurs membres, embrassent les filles, sonnent les cloches, s’emplissent de bruit : rudes bacchanales où l’homme se débride, et qui sont la consécration de la vie naturelle : les puritains ne s’y sont pas trompés." - Hippolyte Taine - Histoire de la littérature anglaise

• Histoire et littérature
• Langue et littérature
• Littérature ancienne, médiévale
• Littérature de gare, de masse
• Littérature médicale, scientifique

... on s'est souvent demandé pourquoi les mythes, et plus généralement la littérature orale , font un si fréquent usage de la duplication, triplication ou quadruplication d'une même séquence. — Lévi-Strauss, Anthropologie structurale

• Théorie de la littérature

Étymologie de « littérature »

Usage du mot « littérature », évolution historique de l’usage du mot « littérature » depuis 1800, fréquence d'apparition du mot « littérature » dans le journal le monde depuis 1945.

Source : Gallicagram. Créé par Benjamin Azoulay et Benoît de Courson, Gallicagram représente graphiquement l’évolution au cours du temps de la fréquence d’apparition d’un ou plusieurs syntagmes dans les corpus numérisés de Gallica et de beaucoup d’autres bibliothèques.

Synonymes de « littérature »

• linguistique

Citations contenant le mot « littérature »

Le vrai littéraire ne saurait être le vrai de la nature. Honoré de Balzac — Le Cabinet des antiques, Préface

Il suffit d'ouvrir un manuel de littérature grecque ou latine pour constater que les belles époques littéraires sont d'un demi-siècle alors que les littérature s dites de décadence durent six cent ans. Julien Benda — La France Byzantine

Toutes les crises morales de la littérature sont les crises morales de la bourgeoisie. Charles-Louis Philippe — In Littérature contemporaine, par G. Le Cardonnel et Ch. Velay Mercure de France

Le cinéma se nourrit de littérature , et la littérature se nourrit de tout, notamment de cinéma. Martin Page — Evene.fr - Septembre 2005

Le monde peut fort bien se passer de la littérature . Mais il peut se passer de l'homme encore mieux. Jean-Paul Sartre — Situations II, Gallimard

La littérature est l'expression de la société, comme la parole est l'expression de l'homme. Louis, vicomte de Bonald — Pensées sur divers sujets

Les lois de l'espace scénique sont différentes de celles de la littérature , mais l'enjeu reste toujours de faire passer le plus possible de littérature sur l'espace scénique. Ricardo Prieto

Il y a tout d'abord la littérature de la connaissance, et secondement, la littérature de la puissance. La fonction de la première est d'enseigner ; la fonction de la seconde est d'émouvoir. Thomas de Quincey — Essais sur les poètes : Pope

Sources et ressources complémentaires

• Définitions du TLFi
• Définitions du Dictionnaire de l’Académie française, huitième édition (1932-1935)
• Définitions de l'Encyclopédie (1re édition - 1751)
• Définitions du Littré (1872-1877)
• Définitions du Wiktionnaire
• Synonymes de littérature sur lebonsynonyme.fr
• Citations du mot « littérature » (57)

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Source : Google Books Ngram Viewer, application linguistique permettant d’observer l’évolution au fil du temps du nombre d'occurrences d’un ou de plusieurs mots dans les textes publiés.

littérature

Définition de littérature ​​​ votre navigateur ne prend pas en charge audio. nom féminin, synonymes de littérature nom féminin.

lettres , belles-lettres ( vieux )

Combinaisons

Mots qui s'emploient fréquemment avec littérature, verbe + littérature, littérature + adjectif, littérature + verbe, phrases avec le mot littérature, dictionnaire universel de furetière (1690), définition ancienne de litterature s. f..

L‘histoire n’est pas seulement faite de grands événements. Elle est aussi faite de grands discours, de phrases qui ont marqué des générations et...

La Classe du Littéraire

Explications de textes, biographies d'auteurs, méthodologie, grammaire … Tout pour le Bac de Français et les études littéraires.

Comment définir la littérature ?

Lorsque l’on étudie la littérature, pour la dissertation du bac de français , ou dans le cadre d’études de lettres, il est important de réfléchir à sa définition. Dans cet article, je vais vous expliquer l’histoire du mot et vous donner les clés pour définir la littérature en son sens moderne.

D’abord, un peu d’histoire :

Le mot « littérature » est un mot complexe, dont le sens a changé au fil des époques pour aboutir au mot polysémique et sujet à débats que nous connaissons. 

Origines du mot :

En latin,  littera, litterae  permettait de désigner les textes produits et conservés grâce à l’écrit. Ensuite, ce sens de « ensemble des textes  » s’est maintenu jusqu’au XVIIe siècle. On le retrouve parfois appliqué à certains secteurs spécifiques, comme lorsque l’on parle de « la littérature juridique » ou de « la littérature sur tel sujet ». 

Ce qui se rapprochait le plus alors de ce que l’on appelle maintenant « littérature », c’est la notion de «  Lettres  ». Elle était divisée en « Lettres saintes » pour les textes religieux, « Lettres savantes » pour les textes scientifiques et « Belles-Lettres » pour les textes littéraires.

Le classement des textes était différent de celui que nous connaissons aujourd’hui ; aussi, l’Histoire faisait-elle partie des « Belles-Lettres » au même titre que la poésie et l’éloquence. Le roman n’existait pas encore en tant que genre et oscillait entre poésie et histoire dans les premiers classements.

Évolution du sens :

Au XVIIIe siècle, après 1750, le mot commence à prendre son acception moderne . On peut le voir avec le titre de certaines publications de cette époque, par exemple :  De la littérature considérée dans ses rapports avec les institutions , Mme de Staël, 1800. Ici, « littérature » est à entendre en son sens moderne.

Pour bien percevoir cette évolution, il est intéressant de comparer les définitions de dictionnaires anciens. Le dictionnaire de l’académie française propose sur son site de constater l’évolution d’une définition au fil de ses éditions. Regardez ici la différence entre la 1ère édition de 1694 et la 5e édition .

Enfin, c’est au XIXe siècle que la littérature affirme pleinement son sens actuel . Notamment grâce aux nombreuses réflexions et théories sur l’art et sur le roman qui se développent sous l’influence des  réalistes  et  naturalistes .

Au XXe siècle, des auteurs comme Michel Butor ou encore Nathalie Saraute mettent en cause la littérature, en particulier ses aspects “narratifs” et “engagés”. C’est ici que nait le «  nouveau roman  ».

Mais alors, la littérature, c’est quoi ?

Cette question ne cesse de faire débat et d’alimenter théories et critiques. Le dictionnaire « Le Robert » la définit comme suit : « Les œuvres écrites, dans la mesure où elles portent la marque de préoccupations esthétiques ; connaissances, activités qui s’y rapportent. » 

Pour en donner une première ébauche de définition qu’il conviendra de nuancer, on peut donc dire que : la littérature rassemble l’ensemble des productions écrites qui prêtent une attention particulière à leurs qualités esthétiques .

Ainsi, un mode d’emploi est bien une production écrite, mais il ne revendique aucune prétention esthétique, donc ce n’est pas de la littérature.

Pistes d’approfondissement :

Cependant, il est un peu plus complexe de vraiment définir la littérature. Certains la lient directement à la perception qu’en a la société .

Par exemple : personne ne reconnait un mode d’emploi comme étant de la littérature, donc un mode d’emploi n’est pas littéraire. Cependant, si suffisamment de critiques et/ou professeur considéraient ce mode d’emploi comme littéraire, il pourrait prétendre au titre de texte littéraire.

Ainsi, le célèbre critique Roland Barthes affirme-t-il que : «  la littérature, c’est ce qui s’enseigne sous ce nom  ». On comprend bien ici que le temps, l’enseignement et les institutions jouent un rôle décisif pour qu’un ouvrage puisse prétendre à l’étiquette de « littérature ».

Quelles sont les caractéristiques d’un texte littéraire ?

Pour essayer de définir la littérature de manière plus précise, on peut donc utiliser plusieurs critères : 

• La littérature a une composante sociale nécessaire. En effet, un texte doit être lu par d’autres personnes que son auteur pour pouvoir être considéré comme littéraire.
• La littérature varie nécessairement selon les époques, en fonction des moyens techniques, des goûts et des modes. En effet, la littérature n’est pas la même avant et après l’invention de l’imprimerie, de même que le goût du public change quand le peuple apprend à lire.
• La littérature se construit par l’intermédiaire des débats sur sa définition et sur l’art en général. En effet, les auteurs la font évoluer pour s’approcher au maximum de la définition qu’ils en ont. Cela explique en partie l’apparition régulière de nouveaux genres littéraires.
• La littérature implique un travail de la forme . En effet, une œuvre littéraire peut avoir une visée argumentative ou informative, mais elle accompagne toujours cette visée par une attention particulière au style et à la forme.
• La littérature s’adresse à tous , à toutes les époques. Ce caractère aléatoire lui confère une universalité qui lui est propre. Même si l’auteur écrit plutôt pour les personnes qui vivent à son époque, il est souvent lu longtemps après sa mort.

Conclusion :

La littérature est un terme vivant et par conséquent difficile à définir . Sa définition a varié à travers les siècles : la littérature a d’abord désigné l’ensemble des textes écrits , puis s’est restreinte au sens de textes ayant une visée esthétique .

Mais sa définition fait encore débat et n’est pas fixée. On peut cependant retenir que la littérature désigne un texte qui cherche à remporter l’adhésion du lecteur (qu’il ressente ce que l’auteur veut faire ressentir, ou qu’il rejoigne sa thèse, ou qu’il apprenne ce qu’il veut lui apprendre) en portant une attention toute particulière au style et à la forme .

Article similaire : Comment analyser un texte en français ?

Quelques citations à méditer :

“La littérature ne change ni l’homme ni la société. Pour autant, l’absence de littérature rendrait l’homme encore plus infréquentable.” Tahar Ben Jellou n

“Ce sont les critiques qui font la littérature.” Jacques Chardonn e

“En littérature, le plus sûr moyen d’avoir raison, c’est d’être mort.” Victor Hugo

“La littérature ne permet pas de marcher, mais elle permet de respirer.” Roland Barthes

“La littérature est parfaitement inutile : sa seule utilité est qu’elle aide à vivre.” Claude Roy

Sources : Le dictionnaire du littéraire, Paul Aron, Denis Saint-Jacques, Alain Viala ; Site Magister ; Site Wikipedia

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Defining literature.

Defining literature is always difficult.  There are several overlapping definitions.  Some concentrate of where the words are–as our discussion is when it questions whether something can be literature if it’s oral.  This gets at only part of the question.  Other definitions get at what literature feels like to the audience/reader.  Other definitions focus on the differences between literature and everyday use of language.  By using a combination of approaches (being flexible) we can arrive at a definition.

I’m including a long quote from Jonathan Culler’s wonderful little book Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction .  Culler teaches at Cornell.  If any of you are serious about English as a major, you should probably read this book.  The reason I mention this is that Culler makes literary theory understandable and he cuts through a lot of the current trends in criticism–that’s saying a lot, if you’ve seen some of the strange things to come out of our field of study lately.  I wish I had read a book like this before tackling those English classes! Anyway, I’m not going to say much else about this–he goes from pages 18-41 trying to define this strange thing we call literature.

See what you can say about Culler’s take on defining literature.  You could respond to it for some discussion postings.

Remember that epic poems like The Odyssey and The Iliad were initially oral–they were only written down much later.  They are in our canon.  The origins of poetry are oral rather than written.

Note that Culler’s book is published by Oxford UP, so it’s going to have single quotes where there should be double–and other British usages like single – instead of the– for quick shifts in thought.  You should continue using Standard American English and MLA format.

The Definition of Literature

What sort of question?

We find ourselves back at the key question, ‘What is literature?’, which will not go away. But what sort of question is it? If a 5-year-old is asking, it’s easy. ‘Literature’, you answer, ‘is stories, poems, and plays.’ But if the questioner is a literary theorist, it’s harder to know how to take the query. It might be a question about the general nature of this object, literature, which both of you already know well. What sort of object or activity is it? What does it do? What purposes does it serve? Thus understood, ‘What is literature?’ asks not for a definition but for an analysis, even an argument about why one might concern oneself with literature at all.

But ‘What is literature?’ might also be a question about distinguishing characteristics of the works known as literature: what distinguishes them from non-literary works? What differentiates literature from other human activities or pastimes? Now people might ask this question because they were wondering how to decide which books are literature and which are not, but it is more likely that they already have an idea what counts as literature and want to know something else: are there any essential, distinguishing features that literary works share?

This is a difficult question. Theorists have wrestled with it, but without notable success. The reasons are not far to seek: works of literature come in all shapes and sizes and most of them seem to have more in common with works that aren’t usually called literature than they do with some other works recognized as literature. Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, for instance, more closely resembles an autobiography than it does a sonnet, and a poem by Robert Burns – ‘My love is like a red, red rose’ -resembles a folk-song more than it does Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Are there qualities shared by poems, plays, and novels that distinguish them from, say, songs, transcriptions of conversations, and autobiographies?

Historical Variations

Even a bit of historical perspective makes this question more complex. For twenty-five centuries people have written works that we call literature today, but the modern sense of literature is scarcely two centuries old. Prior to 1800 literature and analogous terms in other European languages meant writings’ or “book knowledge.” Even today, a scientist who says ‘the literature on evolution is immense’ means not that many poems and novels treat the topic but that much has been written about it. And works that today are studied as literature in English or Latin classes in schools and universities were once treated not as a special kind of writing but as fine examples of the use of language and rhetoric. They were instances of a larger category of exemplary practices of writing and thinking, which included speeches, sermons, history, and philosophy. Students were not asked to interpret them, as we now interpret literary works, seeking to explain what they are ‘really about’. On the contrary, students memorized them, studied their grammar, identified their rhetorical figures and their structures or procedures of argument. A work such as Virgil’s Aeneid, which today g is studied as literature, was treated very differently in schools prior to 1850.

The modern Western sense of literature as imaginative writing can be traced to the German Romantic theorists of the late eighteenth century and, if we want a particular source, to a book published in 1800 by a French Baroness, Madame de Staël’s On Literature Considered in its Relations with Social Institutions. But even if we restrict ourselves to the last two centuries, the category of literature becomes slippery:

would works which today count as literature—say poems that seem snippets of ordinary conversation, without rhyme or discernible metre -have qualified as literature for Madame de Staël? And once we begin to think about non-European cultures, the question of what counts as literature becomes increasingly difficult. It is tempting to give it up and conclude that literature is whatever a given society treats as literature—a set of texts that arbiters [tastemakers, critics] recognize as belonging to literature.

I hope this helps!

• Defining Literature. Authored by : Joshua Dickinson; quote from Jonathan Culler. Provided by : Jefferson Community College. Located at : http://www.sunyjefferson.edu . Project : American Lit 1. License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

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What is Literature? || Definition & Examples

"what is literature": a literary guide for english students and teachers.

View the full series: The Oregon State Guide to English Literary Terms

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What is Literature? Transcript (English and Spanish Subtitles Available in Video; Click HERE for Spanish Transcript)

By Evan Gottlieb & Paige Thomas

3 January 2022

The question of what makes something literary is an enduring one, and I don’t expect that we’ll answer it fully in this short video. Instead, I want to show you a few different ways that literary critics approach this question and then offer a short summary of the 3 big factors that we must consider when we ask the question ourselves.

Let’s begin by making a distinction between “Literature with a capital L” and “literature with a small l.”

“Literature with a small l” designates any written text: we can talk about “the literature” on any given subject without much difficulty.

“Literature with a capital L”, by contrast, designates a much smaller set of texts – a subset of all the texts that have been written.

what_is_literature_little_l.png

So what makes a text literary or what makes a text “Literature with a capital L”?

Let’s start with the word itself.  “Literature” comes from Latin, and it originally meant “the use of letters” or “writing.” But when the word entered the Romance languages that derived from Latin, it took on the additional meaning of “knowledge acquired from reading or studying books.” So we might use this definition to understand “Literature with a Capital L” as writing that gives us knowledge--writing that should be studied.

But this begs the further question: what books or texts are worth studying or close reading ?

For some critics, answering this question is a matter of establishing canonicity.  A work of literature becomes “canonical” when cultural institutions like schools or universities or prize committees classify it as a work of lasting artistic or cultural merit.

The canon, however, has proved problematic as a measure of what “Literature with a capital L” is because the gatekeepers of the Western canon have traditionally been White and male. It was only in the closing decades of the twentieth century that the canon of Literature was opened to a greater inclusion of diverse authors.

And here’s another problem with that definition: if inclusion in the canon were our only definition of Literature, then there could be no such thing as contemporary Literature, which, of course, has not yet stood the test of time.

And here’s an even bigger problem: not every book that receives good reviews or a wins a prize turns out to be of lasting value in the eyes of later readers.

On the other hand, a novel like Herman Melville’s Moby-Di ck, which was NOT received well by critics or readers when it was first published in 1851, has since gone on to become a mainstay of the American literary canon.

moby_dick_with_quote.png

As you can see, canonicity is obviously a problematic index of literariness.

So… what’s the alternative?  Well, we could just go with a descriptive definition: “if you love it, then it’s Literature!”

But that’s a little too subjective.  For example, no matter how much you may love a certain book from your childhood (I love The Very Hungry Caterpillar ) that doesn’t automatically make it literary, no matter how many times you’ve re-read it.

Furthermore, the very idea that we should have an emotional attachment to the books we read has its own history that cannot be detached from the rise of the middle class and its politics of telling people how to behave.

Ok, so “literature with a capital L” cannot always by defined by its inclusion in the canon or the fact that it has been well-received so…what is it then? Well, for other critics, what makes something Literature would seem to be qualities within the text itself.

According to the critic Derek Attridge, there are three qualities that define modern Western Literature:

1. a quality of invention or inventiveness in the text itself;

2.  the reader’s sense that what they are reading is singular. In other words, the unique vision of the writer herself.

3. a sense of ‘otherness’ that pushes the reader to see the world around them in a new way

Notice that nowhere in this three-part definition is there any limitation on the content of Literature. Instead, we call something Literature when it affects the reader at the level of style and construction rather than substance.

In other words, Literature can be about anything!

what_is_literature_caterpillar.png

The idea that a truly literary text can change a reader is of course older than this modern definition. In the English tradition, poetry was preferred over novels because it was thought to create mature and sympathetic reader-citizens.

Likewise, in the Victorian era, it was argued that reading so-called “great” works of literature was the best way for readers to realize their full spiritual potentials in an increasingly secular world.

But these never tell us precisely what “the best” is.  To make matters worse, as I mentioned already, “the best” in these older definitions was often determined by White men in positions of cultural and economic power.

So we are still faced with the question of whether there is something inherent in a text that makes it literary.

Some critics have suggested that a sense of irony – or, more broadly, a sense that there is more than one meaning to a given set of words – is essential to “Literature with a capital L.”

Reading for irony means reading slowly or at least attentively.  It demands a certain attention to the complexity of the language on the page, whether that language is objectively difficult or not.

In a similar vein, other critics have claimed that the overall effect of a literary text should be one of “defamiliarization,” meaning that the text asks or even forces readers to see the world differently than they did before reading it.

Along these lines, literary theorist Roland Barthes maintained that there were two kinds of texts: the text of pleasure, which we can align with everyday Literature with a small l” and the text of jouissance , (yes, I said jouissance) which we can align with Literature. Jouissance makes more demands on the reader and raises feelings of strangeness and wonder that surpass the everyday and even border on the painful or disorienting.

Barthes’ definition straddles the line between objectivity and subjectivity. Literature differs from the mass of writing by offering more and different kinds of experiences than the ordinary, non-literary text.

Literature for Barthes is thus neither entirely in the eye of the beholder, nor something that can be reduced to set of repeatable, purely intrinsic characteristics.

This negative definition has its own problems, though. If the literary text is always supposed to be innovative and unconventional, then genre fiction, which IS conventional, can never be literary.

So it seems that whatever hard and fast definition we attempt to apply to Literature, we find that we run up against inevitable exceptions to the rules.

As we examine the many problematic ways that people have defined literature, one thing does become clear. In each of the above examples, what counts as Literature depends upon three interrelated factors: the world, the text, and the critic or reader.

You see, when we encounter a literary text, we usually do so through a field of expectations that includes what we’ve heard about the text or author in question [the world], the way the text is presented to us [the text], and how receptive we as readers are to the text’s demands [the reader].

With this in mind, let’s return to where we started. There is probably still something to be said in favor of the “test of time” theory of Literature.

After all, only a small percentage of what is published today will continue to be read 10, 20, or even 100 years from now; and while the mechanisms that determine the longevity of a text are hardly neutral, one can still hope that individual readers have at least some power to decide what will stay in print and develop broader cultural relevance.

The only way to experience what Literature is, then, is to keep reading: as long as there are avid readers, there will be literary texts – past, present, and future – that challenge, excite, and inspire us.

Want to cite this?

MLA Citation: Gottlieb, Evan and Paige Thomas. "What is Literature?" Oregon State Guide to English Literary Terms, 3 Jan. 2022, Oregon State University, https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/what-literature-definition-examples. Accessed [insert date].

Interested in more video lessons? View the full series:

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What Literature Can Teach Us

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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 Literature?

Simply put, literature represents the culture and tradition of a language or a people. The concept is difficult to precisely define, though many have tried; it's clear that the accepted definition of literature is constantly changing and evolving.

For many, the word literature suggests a higher art form; merely putting words on a page doesn't necessarily equate to creating literature. A canon is the accepted body of works for a given author. Some works of literature are considered canonical, that is, culturally representative of a particular genre (poetry, prose, or drama).

Literary Fiction vs. Genre Fiction

Some definitions also separate literary fiction from so-called "genre fiction," which includes types such as mystery, science fiction, western, romance, thriller, and horror. Think mass-market paperback.

Genre fiction typically does not have as much character development as literary fiction and is read for entertainment, escapism, and plot, whereas literary fiction explores themes common to the human condition and uses symbolism and other literary devices to convey the author's viewpoint on his or her chosen themes. Literary fiction involves getting into the minds of the characters (or at least the protagonist) and experiencing their relationships with others. The protagonist typically comes to a realization or changes in some way during the course of a literary novel.

(The difference in type does not mean that literary writers are better than genre fiction writers, just that they operate differently.)

Why Is Literature Important?

Works of literature, at their best, provide a kind of blueprint of human society. From the writings of ancient civilizations such as Egypt and China to Greek philosophy and poetry, from the epics of Homer to the plays of William Shakespeare, from Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte to Maya Angelou , works of literature give insight and context to all the world's societies. In this way, literature is more than just a historical or cultural artifact; it can serve as an introduction to a new world of experience.

But what we consider to be literature can vary from one generation to the next. For instance, Herman Melville's 1851 novel " Moby Dick "   was considered a failure by contemporary reviewers. However, it has since been recognized as a masterpiece and is frequently cited as one of the best works of Western literature for its thematic complexity and use of symbolism. By reading "Moby Dick" in the present day, we can gain a fuller understanding of literary traditions in Melville's time. 

Debating Literature 

Ultimately, we may discover meaning in literature by looking at what the author writes or says and how he or she says it. We may interpret and debate an author's message by examining the words he or she chooses in a given novel or work or observing which character or voice serves as the connection to the reader.

In academia, this decoding of the text is often carried out through the use of  literary theory using a mythological, sociological, psychological, historical, or other approaches to better understand the context and depth of a work.

Whatever critical paradigm we use to discuss and analyze it, literature is important to us because it speaks to us, it is universal, and it affects us on a deeply personal level. 

School Skills

Students who study literature and read for pleasure have a higher vocabulary, better reading comprehension, and better communication skills, such as writing ability. Communication skills affect people in every area of their lives, from navigating interpersonal relationships to participating in meetings in the workplace to drafting intraoffice memos or reports.

When students analyze literature, they learn to identify cause and effect and are applying critical thinking skills. Without realizing it, they examine the characters psychologically or sociologically. They identify the characters' motivations for their actions and see through those actions to any ulterior motives.

When planning an essay on a work of literature, students use problem-solving skills to come up with a thesis and follow through on compiling their paper. It takes research skills to dig up evidence for their thesis from the text and scholarly criticism, and it takes organizational skills to present their argument in a coherent, cohesive manner.

Empathy and Other Emotions

Some studies say that people who read literature have more empathy for others, as literature puts the reader into another person's shoes. Having empathy for others leads people to socialize more effectively, solve conflicts peacefully, collaborate better in the workplace, behave morally, and possibly even become involved in making their community a better place.

Other studies note a correlation between readers and empathy but do not find causation . Either way, studies back the need for strong English programs in schools, especially as people spend more and more time looking at screens rather than books.

Along with empathy for others, readers can feel a greater connection to humanity and less isolated. Students who read literature can find solace as they realize that others have gone through the same things that they are experiencing or have experienced. This can be a catharsis and relief to them if they feel burdened or alone in their troubles.

Quotes About Literature

Here are some quotes about literature from literature giants themselves.

• Robert Louis Stevenson : "The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean; not to affect your reader, but to affect him precisely as you wish."
• Jane Austen, "Northanger Abbey" : "The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid."
• William Shakespeare, "Henry VI" : “I’ll call for pen and ink and write my mind.”
• A List of Every Nobel Prize Winner in English Literature
• Are Literature and Fiction the Same?
• Literature Quotes and Sayings
• Stylistics and Elements of Style in Literature
• What Is the Canon in Literature?
• Every Character in Moby Dick
• Literature Definitions: What Makes a Book a Classic?
• 5 Classic Novels Everyone Should Read
• literary present (verbs)
• What's the Difference Between Classical and Classic Literature?
• The Basic Characteristics of Effective Writing
• How to Identify the Theme in a Literary Work
• Why We Don't Read
• 5 Novel Setting Maps for Classic American Literature
• Notable Authors of the 19th Century
• 'Pride and Prejudice' Quotes Explained

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Definition of literature

Examples of literature in a sentence.

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'literature.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin litteratura writing, grammar, learning, from litteratus

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 4

Phrases Containing literature

• gray literature

Articles Related to literature

Famous Novels, Last Lines

Needless to say, spoiler alert.

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Taking the temperature of a literary genre.

Trending: 'Literature' As Bob Dylan...

Trending: 'Literature' As Bob Dylan Sees It

We know how the Nobel Prize committee defines literature, but how does the dictionary?

Dictionary Entries Near literature

literature search

Cite this Entry

“Literature.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literature. Accessed 1 Jul. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of literature, more from merriam-webster on literature.

Nglish: Translation of literature for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of literature for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about literature

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Definition of literature noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• English/American/French literature
• children's literature
• great works of literature
• For most people, the desire to study literature begins with a love of reading.
• write/​publish literature/​poetry/​fiction/​a book/​a story/​a poem/​a novel/​a review/​an autobiography
• become a writer/​novelist/​playwright
• find/​have a publisher/​an agent
• have a new book out
• edit/​revise/​proofread a book/​text/​manuscript
• dedicate a book/​poem to…
• construct/​create/​weave/​weave something into a complex narrative
• advance/​drive the plot
• introduce/​present the protagonist/​a character
• describe/​depict/​portray a character (as…)/(somebody as) a hero/​villain
• create an exciting/​a tense atmosphere
• build/​heighten the suspense/​tension
• evoke/​capture the pathos of the situation
• convey emotion/​an idea/​an impression/​a sense of…
• engage the reader
• seize/​capture/​grip the (reader’s) imagination
• arouse/​elicit emotion/​sympathy (in the reader)
• lack imagination/​emotion/​structure/​rhythm
• use/​employ language/​imagery/​humour/ (US English) humor/​an image/​a symbol/​a metaphor/​a device
• use/​adopt/​develop a style/​technique
• be rich in/​be full of symbolism
• evoke images of…/a sense of…/a feeling of…
• create/​achieve an effect
• maintain/​lighten the tone
• introduce/​develop an idea/​a theme
• inspire a novel/​a poet/​somebody’s work/​somebody’s imagination
• read an author/​somebody’s work/​fiction/​poetry/​a text/​a poem/​a novel/​a chapter/​a passage
• review a book/​a novel/​somebody’s work
• give something/​get/​have/​receive a good/​bad review
• be hailed (as)/be recognized as a masterpiece
• quote a(n) phrase/​line/​stanza/​passage/​author
• provoke/​spark discussion/​criticism
• study/​interpret/​understand a text/​passage
• translate somebody’s work/​a text/​a passage/​a novel/​a poem
• contemporary

Questions about grammar and vocabulary?

Find the answers with Practical English Usage online, your indispensable guide to problems in English.

• sales literature
• literature on something a review of the scientific literature on the topic
• I've read all the available literature on keeping rabbits.
• literature about something I picked up some literature about pensions.
• Chapter 1 reviews the literature and discusses the main types of sources available.
• literature about
• literature concerning
• literature on
• pronunciation

Other results

Nearby words.

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Meaning of literature in English

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literature noun [U] ( WRITING )

• He's very knowledgeable about German literature.
• I had a brilliant English teacher who fired me with enthusiasm for literature at an early age .
• She's studying for an MA in French literature.
• Classic literature never goes out of print .
• The festival will encompass everything from music , theater and ballet to literature, cinema and the visual arts .
• action hero
• alliterative
• alternative history
• fictionality
• fictionally
• non-canonical
• non-character
• non-literary
• non-metrical
• sympathetically
• tartan noir

literature noun [U] ( SPECIALIST TEXTS )

• advance notice
• advance warning
• advertisement
• aide-mémoire
• push notification
• the gory details idiom
• the real deal

literature noun [U] ( INFORMATION )

• information Can I get some information on college courses?
• details Please send me details of your self-defense classes.
• directions Just follow the directions on the label.
• instructions Have you read the instructions all the way through?
• directions We had to stop and ask for directions.
• guidelines The government has issued new guidelines on health and safety at work.
• adverse publicity
• cross-selling
• customer relationship management
• demographics
• differentiator
• opinion mining
• trade dress
• unadvertised

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

literature | Intermediate English

Literature | business english, examples of literature, collocations with literature.

These are words often used in combination with literature .

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Translations of literature

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a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Fakes and forgeries (Things that are not what they seem to be)

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Literary English

What is Literature? Definition of Literature | English Literature

What is literature.

What is Literature? The word ‘ Literature’   is a modified form of a Latin word ( lit erra, litteratura or litteratus)  that means ‘ writing formed with letters’ . Let us look at what is literature in definition.

Literature can be any written work, but it especially is an artistic or intellectual work of writing. It is one of the Fine Arts, like Painting, Dance, Music, etc which provides aesthetic pleasure to the readers. It differs from other written works by only its one additional trait: that is aesthetic beauty. If a written work lacks aesthetic beauty and serves only utilitarian purpose it is not literature. The entire genre like poetry, drama, or prose is a blend of intellectual work and aesthetic beauty of that work. When there is no any aesthetic beauty in any written work that is not literature.

Definition of Literature according to different Writers

  Throughout the history of Literature, many of the great writers have defined it and expressed its meaning in their own way. Here are the few famous definitions by timeless celebrated authors.

Virginia Woolf : “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 of humanity receives its expression.”

Salman Rushdie : “Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the heart.”

Henry James : “It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.”

S. 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. It does not copy it but moulds it to its purpose. The nineteenth century, as we know it, is largely an invention of Balzac.”

K. Chesterton : “Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.”

M. Forster : “What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote.”

These definitions of literature by great writers present different aspects of it, and shows that in how many ways it can be effective.

Aristotle’s role in Literature

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist. World know him as one of the great intellectuals in history. His contributions are numerous in almost every aspect of science; his contributions in literature are also notable. Aristotle was a student of Plato, but his point of view was differed from that of Plato’s. Aristotle almost wrote 200 treatises and many other things including all fields of science and philosophy. From those works, at least 80% has not survived in proper form. There are roughly 30 writings consisting of lecture notes and rough copies of scripts. Some ancient scholars, particularly the last head of the Lyceum, Andronicus of Rhodes edited the manuscript left. He did all the work of arranging, editing, and publishing the writings of Aristotle. Because of the large number of abbreviations, the writings were difficult to read, even for other philosophers,

The most widely known work of Aristotle in English Literature is his book named  The Poetics . In his book, he mostly gives responses to Plato’s ideas of poetry and talks about different genres of poetry. He has touched all the genres of poetry like comedy, tragic, epic, etc. The part of his work that dealt with comedic poetry is lost and the one about tragedy is available. The poetic genre of tragedy is the most developed among his works. (2)

Horace’s contributions

  Horace was a Roman poet.  The Art of Poetry  is his book in which he points out the factors for writing good poetry and drama. Horace’s approach to poetry is from a practical standpoint. He takes it as a craft instead of taking the theoretical approach of Plato or Aristotle. ( 3 ) Horace wrote only one important critical document in verse, that is,  Epistle to the Pisos,  later named  Ars Poetica  by Quintilian. It is another  Poetics  in Latin and brings to Horace the same reputation as to Aristotle in Greek. He followed Aristotle in his works.

Literature: A depiction of Society

It might sound strange that  what is literature’s  relation with a society could be. However, literature is an integral part of any society and has a profound effect on ways and thinking of people of that society. Actually, society is the only subject matter of literature. It literally shapes a society and its beliefs. Students, who study literature, grow up to be the future of a country. Hence, it has an impact on a society and it moulds it.

  Literature literally does the depiction of society; therefore, we call it ‘ mirror of   society’ . Writers use it effectively to point out the ill aspects of society that improve them. They also use it to highlight the positive aspects of a society to promote more goodwill in society.

The  essays  in literature often call out on the problems in a country and suggest solutions for it. Producers make  Films  and write  Novels  to touch subjects like morals, mental illnesses, patriotism, etc. Through such writings, they relate all matters to society. Other genre can also present the picture of society. We should keep in mind that the picture illustrated by literature is not always true. Writers can present it to change the society in their own ways.

The effects on 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 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. According to him, poetry should be censored from adults and children for fear of lasting detrimental consequences,” (Leitch & McGowan). He further explains it by saying, “Children have no ability to know what emotions should be tempered and which should be expressed as certain expressed emotions can have lasting consequences later in life”. He says, “Strong emotions of every kind must be avoided, in fear of them spiralling out of control and creating irreparable damage” (Leitch & McGowan). However, he did not agree with the type of poetry and wanted that to be changed.

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”. ( 5 ) He was of the view that it is not necessary that poetry will arouse negative feelings.

Therefore, the relation of literature with society is of utter importance. It might have a few negative impacts, through guided studying which we can avoid. Overall, it is the best way of passing information to the next generation and integral to learning.

Background to English Literature

• What is English Literature?
• History of English Literature
• Various Types of Literature
• What is Literary English?

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