According to Serrano and Ames:

Literature regardless of the language in which it is written expresses the Filipino soul, national traditions, customs and cultural values which are so ingrained in a people that no super imposition of foreign cultural patterns can completely eradicate them.

Filipino

According to Websters Dictionary

Literature covers all the writings of a particular country, time, kind, etc. especially those valued for excellence of form and expression.

The word literature is derived from the Latin word littera, which means letters. It also means anything written or printed. In usage, however, it means those writings in prose and verse which deal with themes or permanent value and universal interest and are usually characterized by creativeness and imagination, by grace of expression and great emotional effect.

According to Meyer in his book The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature

Literature does not lend itself to a single tidy definition, because the making of it over the centuries has been as complex, unwieldy, and natural as LIFE itself.

1. Is literature anything that is written, from ancient prayers to graffiti? 2. Does it include songs and stories that were not written down until many years after they were recited? 3. Does literature include scripts from Seinfeld? 4. Is literature only that which has permanent value and continues to move people? 5. Must literature be true or beautiful or moral? 6. Should it be socially useful?

Two general kinds of literature: Noncreative literature is written record of facts. Examples: news stories, feature articles, source books most textbooks, dictionaries and encyclopedia Creative literature is the product of the writers imagination, originality, creative skills and intellectual inventiveness. Style is a revelation of the writer as an artist through his or her distinctive craftsmanship. It is also achieved through the use of words artistically, imaginatively and creatively to interpret life.

Tell whether the following writing is CREATIVE or NONCREATIVE

1. A history textbook 2. Joy in Poetry 3. An editorial 4. World Almanac 5. Lifestyle section 6. An Anthology of Chinese Literature 7. Plays for Reading 8. The Origin of the Banana Plant 9. China, The Rainbow Land: A History 10. The Cries of Birds and other Poems

Some view points on Literature include the following: 1. We can get the meaning of a piece of literature by having lived it because literature is a product of and about life. 2. Life illumines literature just as literature illumines life. 3. Literary forms (which refers to a writers way of saying things exist because writers have fashioned them to serve their needs. 4. The distinguishing marks of literature are humanization and vivid concretization and some objectives that would describe it are imaginative, creative , interpretative and selective.

The importance or relevance of literature: 1. Materials progress and political power of may vanish; the spirit of nationalism may wane; but the glories of literature withstand the forces of decay and decline. 2. Literature is eternally burning flame, exuding light that renders significance to civilization. 3. In literature, likewise, there is conserved a heritage which gives meaning to the peoples ideals. It moulds the mind of a people by preserving the experience of the past in a cohesive and beautiful manner. 4. Literature mirrors the depths of a culture and manifests the truly creative genius of the race. 5. Literature, though seeming to hide timidly between the covers of a book, has frequently generated ideas that have had a tremendous effect. It has exhibited the potency of an explosive in its capacity for upsetting the social order.

6. Literature helps us grow both personally and intellectually. 7. It helps us to connect ourselves to the cultural context of which we are a part. 8. It helps us develop mature sensibility and compassion for the condition of all living things, human, animal and vegetable. 9. Literature is one of the things that shape our lives; it makes us human. 10.It encourages us to assist creative talented people who are in need.

Nature of literature 1. Literature is couched in literary language which abounds in ambiguities, homonyms, grammatical gender. 2. It is permeated with historical accidents, memories and associations. 3. It is highly commutative. 4. It conveys the tone and attitude of the speaker or writer. 5. It does not merely state and express what it says. 6. It also wants to influence the attitude of the reader, persuade him and ultimately change him.

Literary types or forms of genres Genre is a grouping of literary works based upon outer form and also upon the inner form. 1. PROSE FICTION OR NARRATIVE FICTION 2. POETRY 3. DRAMAS AND PLAYS

Classification and Definition of Literary Types

I.

Narrative poetry tells a story which is imaginative and rhythmical language.

A. Epic is a long, narrative poem divided into distinct relationship to some great hero, action or time. Epics are essentially single poems od exceeding dignity and power.

Two kinds of epic: 1. Folk or popular epic (Beowulf) does not have a known author but evolved gradually from the peoples ancient traditions. 2. Literary epics have distinct authorship