Introduction to

LITERATU
Prepared by: Lordelyn Y. Pulma
• It’s what people read
• What pleases and teaches by pleases (Horace)
• It’s what people write
• Meaning and moaning
• The spontaneous overflow of power of emotions (Keats)
• The despair of armchairs revealed by their creaking
(Herbert)
//toward a definition of lit
 The
best
in
WORDS the
best
ORDER --Samuel Taylor Coleridge

//toward a definition of lit

•Literature pushes the language to its
limits
•If language is perfect, we would not
be needing literature
//toward a definition of lit
•To connect the personal with the
universal
•To strengthen the self, emotionally,
and psychologically
//how to read and why?
•Reading between the lines: from
reading to critical reading
• Reading what is said, not said, and
even the unsayable
• Text vs. context
//how to read and why?
GROUP ACTIVITY
(video clip)

Define Literature.
Provide some authors.
Provide realizations.
 GROUP
PRESENTATION
Literature is…
APPRECIATION.
 LITERATURE DESCRIBED
• Derived from the Latin word literatura which means writing, from literatus,
learning.
• Covers both oral and written forms of works which manifest expressive or
imaginative quality, nobility of thoughts, timelessness, and lastly,
universality.
• Described as for having an excellent form which the expression of permanent
and universal ideas can be established aesthetically.
• Takes significant human experiences as its main subject.
• Mainly discusses various dimensions of life as well as its miseries and glories.
 LITERATURE DEFINED
• Literature is the collective production of the human mind that
deals with permanent and universal themes ascribed by
creativity and grace of expression. (Webster Comprehensive
Dictionary)
• Literature is defined as writings manifesting excellence of
form which also covers the expression of ideas of permanent
and universal interest produced in a particular language,
country or age. (Webster 9th New Collegiate Dictionary)
 LITERATURE DEFINED
• Literature mainly provides a unique depiction of life which is different
from what science provides. It enables people to have an imaginative
experience the “lived” meanings of a piece of life. (Brooks et.al.)
• Literature is a general term used for poetry, fiction, and drama is
mainly the expression of meaning articulated through form. (Tiempo
et.al.)
• Literature is the artistic reproduction of human experiences in either
poetry or prose.
KEY FEATURES
OF
LITERATURE
 • Literature as a form of
communication
• Literature as an art
• Nobility of thoughts
KEY
• Timelessness
FEATURES OF
LITERATURE • Universality
• Literature having utility