Definition of Literature

Amellia Putri 2011040330

Indita Fitria 2011040080
Savira Anjani 2011040166
Winantuningtiyas Ratri Pramesti 2011040192

A life needs a reference, without a reference maybe life in this world will not be orderly. We can
learn a reference through a book, or get it through direct explanations from experts. In life, there
are many activities that require references, for example regarding education and other fields
because they are considered to have lasting advantages or benefits. So we need literature as a
container in which there are references in which all sources can be used as sources of
information and references for future life.

Literature broadly is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings
specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent
centuries, the definition has expanded to include oral literature, much of which has been
transcribed. Literature is a method of recording, preserving, and transmitting knowledge and
entertainment, and can also have a social, psychological, spiritual, or political role.

What Is Literature?
The word literature is derived from the Latin term “litera” which means “letter”. It has been
defined differently by various writers.
 Klarer (2004:1) says that in most cases, “literature is referred to as the entirety of written
expression, with the restriction that not every written document can be categorized as
literature in the more exact sense of the word”.
 McFadden (1978:56) “I should say, then, that literature is a canon which consists of those
works in language by which a community defines itself through the course of its history. It
includes works primarily artistic and also those whose aesthetic qualities are only
secondary. The self-defining activity of the community is conducted in the light of the works,
as its members have come to read them (or concretize them)”.
 Moody (1987) "Literature springs from our inborn love of telling a story, of arranging words
in pleasing patterns, of expressing in words some special aspects of our human
experience".
Definitions of literature have varied over time. In Western Europe, prior to the 18th century,
literature denoted all books and writing literature can be seen as returning to older, more
inclusive notions, so that cultural studies, for instance, include, in addition to canonical works,
popular and minority genres. The word is also used in reference non-written works: to "oral
literature" and "the literature of preliterate culture".

A value judgment definition of literature considers it as consisting solely of high quality writing
that forms part of the belles-lettres ("fine writing") tradition. An example of this in the (1910–11)
Encyclopedia Britannica that classified literature as "the best expression of the best thought
reduced to writing".

What Types of Literature?

There are 3 types of literature, where each part has a different use;
1. Poetry
Poetry has traditionally been distinguished from prose by its greater use of the aesthetic
qualities of language, including musical devices such as assonance, alliteration, rhyme, and
rhythm, and by being set in lines and verses rather than paragraphs, and more recently its
use of other typographical elements. This distinction is complicated by various hybrid forms
such as sound poetry, concrete poetry and prose poem, and more generally by the fact that
prose possesses rhythm. Abram Lipsky refers to it as an "open secret" that "prose is not
distinguished from poetry by lack of rhythm".

Prior to the 19th century, poetry was commonly understood to be something set in metrical
lines: "any kind of subject consisting of Rhythm or Verses".Possibly as a result of Aristotle's
influence (his Poetics), "poetry" before the 19th century was usually less a technical
designation for verse than a normative category of fictive or rhetorical art. As a form it may
pre-date literacy, with the earliest works being composed within and sustained by an oral
tradition, hence it constitutes the earliest example of literature.

2. Prose
As noted above, prose generally makes far less use of the aesthetic qualities of language
than poetry. However, developments in modern literature, including free verse and prose
poetry have tended to blur the differences, and American poet T.S. Eliot suggested that
while: "the distinction between verse and prose is clear, the distinction between poetry and
prose is obscure". There are verse novels, a type of narrative poetry in which a novel-length
 narrative is told through the medium of poetry rather than prose. Eugene Onegin (1831) by
Alexander Pushkin is the most famous example.On the historical development of prose,
Richard Graff notes that "[In the case of ancient Greece] recent scholarship has
emphasized the fact that formal prose was a comparatively late development, an
"invention" properly associated with the classical period".

Latin was a major influence on the development of prose in many European countries.
Especially important was the great Roman orator Cicero. It was the lingua franca among
literate Europeans until quite recent times, and the great works of Descartes (1596 – 1650),
Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626), and Baruch Spinoza (1632 – 1677) were published in Latin.
Among the last important books written primarily in Latin prose were the works of
Swedenborg (d. 1772), Linnaeus (d. 1778), Euler (d. 1783), Gauss (d. 1855), and Isaac
Newton (d. 1727). Example of prose is novel, novella, short story, graphic novel, electronic
literature andthan nonfiction.

3. Drama
Drama is literature intended for performance. The form is combined with music and dance
in opera and musical theatre (see libretto). A play is a written dramatic work by a playwright
that is intended for performance in a theatre; it comprises chiefly dialogue between
characters. A closet drama, by contrast, is written to be read rather than to be performed;
the meaning of which can be realized fully on the page. Nearly all drama took verse form
until comparatively recently.

The earliest form of which there exists substantial knowledge is Greek drama. This
developed as a performance associated with religious and civic festivals, typically enacting
or developing upon well-known historical, or mythological themes. In the twentieth century
scripts written for non-stage media have been added to this form, including radio, television
and film.

Literature is an expression that is written and developed through writing so that it can be
enjoyed and studied by many people, and also an idea that uses a good and neat order of
language, words and structures, so that it can attract a lot of interest in reading. We can find a
lot of literature, both fiction and non-fiction. for example, novels, history books, and other
educational books. And there are 3 types of literature poetry, prose and drama.
References:
1. Massari, rohaili. Horison Mohd Sidek. 2014. Introduction To Literature ECL3143. Bandar
Baru Nilai : USIM Publisher.
2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literature
3. http://febtimahanibatubara.blogspot.com/2016/10/definition-of-literature-based-on-
expert.html?m=1