Literature | Definition, Characteristics, Genres, Types, & Facts

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data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/literature">literature</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/art/literature">Introduction</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref51284"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature#ref51284">The scope of literature</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51285"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literary-composition">Literary composition</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51286" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literary-composition#ref51286">Critical theories</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref51287"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literary-composition#ref51287">Western</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref51288"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literary-composition#ref51288">Eastern</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51289"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literary-composition#ref51289">Broad and narrow conceptions of poetry</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51290" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literary-composition#ref51290">Literary language</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref51291"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literary-composition#ref51291">Ambiguity</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref51292"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literary-composition#ref51292">Translation</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51293" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Craftsmanship">Craftsmanship</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref51294"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Craftsmanship#ref51294">Prosody</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref51295"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Craftsmanship#ref51295">Structure</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51296"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Craftsmanship#ref51296">Content of literature</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51297"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Craftsmanship#ref51297">The word as symbol</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51298"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Themes-and-their-sources">Themes and their sources</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51299"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Themes-and-their-sources#ref51299">The writer’s personal involvement</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51300" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Themes-and-their-sources#ref51300">Relation of form to content</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref51301"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Themes-and-their-sources#ref51301">Style</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref51302"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Themes-and-their-sources#ref51302">Objective-subjective expression</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51303"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literature-and-its-audience">Literature and its audience</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51304"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literature-and-its-audience#ref51304">Folk and elite literatures</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51305"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literature-and-its-audience#ref51305">Modern popular literature</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51306"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literature-and-its-audience#ref51306">Literature and its environment</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51307"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literature-and-its-audience#ref51307">Social and economic conditions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51308"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literature-and-its-audience#ref51308">National and group literature</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51309"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literature-and-its-audience#ref51309">The writer’s position in society</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51310"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literature-and-the-other-arts">Literature and the other arts</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51311"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literature-and-the-other-arts#ref51311">Literature as a collection of genres</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51312"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literature-and-the-other-arts#ref51312">Epic</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51313"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literature-and-the-other-arts#ref51313">Lyric poetry</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51314"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literature-and-the-other-arts#ref51314">Satire</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51315"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literature-and-the-other-arts#ref51315">Prose fiction</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51316"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literature-and-the-other-arts#ref51316">Drama</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref51317"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Literature-and-the-other-arts#ref51317">Future developments</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref51318"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Writings-on-literature">Writings on literature</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51319"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Writings-on-literature#ref51319">Scholarly research</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51320"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/literature/Writings-on-literature#ref51320">Literary criticism</a></li></ul></div></li></ul> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/literature/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/literature">Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a class="section-header link-gray-900 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mb-10 mx-10" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/literature/images-videos">Videos</a> <div class="slider js-slider position-relative 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They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2024-11-18T00:00:00CST" >Nov 18, 2024</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/literature/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 ai-ask-button btn border-2 module-spacing btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="js-qf-module qf-module px-40 px-sm-20 py-15 mx-auto module-spacing font-14 bg-gray-50 rounded"> <div class="facts-list mt-10"> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Key People: </dt> <dd><a href="/biography/Laura-literary-subject" topicid="332346">Laura</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Mr-W-H" topicid="641393">Mr. W.H.</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Virginia-Woolf" topicid="647786">Virginia Woolf</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Samuel-Taylor-Coleridge" topicid="125261">Samuel Taylor Coleridge</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Matthew-Arnold" topicid="35785">Matthew Arnold</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Related Topics: </dt> <dd><a href="/art/English-literature" topicid="188217">English literature</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/French-literature" topicid="219228">French literature</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/African-literature" topicid="8275">African literature</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/novel" topicid="421071">novel</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/American-literature" topicid="19939">American literature</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/literature"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref505892"></span>literature</strong>, 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 <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="aesthetic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aesthetic" data-type="MW">aesthetic</a> excellence of their execution. Literature may be classified according to a variety of systems, including <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/language" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">language</a>, national origin, historical period, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/genre-literature" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">genre</a>, and subject matter.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">For historical treatment of various literatures within geographical regions, <em>see</em> such articles as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/African-literature" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">African literature</a>; <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/African-theatre-art" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">African theater</a>; <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Oceanic-literature" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Oceanic literature</a>; <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Western-literature" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Western literature</a>; <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Central-Asian-arts" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Central Asian arts</a>; <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/South-Asian-arts/Literature#ref65160" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">South Asian arts</a>; and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Southeast-Asian-arts/Literature#ref29464" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Southeast Asian arts</a>. Some literatures are treated separately by language, by nation, or by special subject (e.g., <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Arabic-literature" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Arabic literature</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Celtic-literature" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Celtic literature</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Latin-literature" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Latin literature</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/French-literature" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">French literature</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Japanese-literature" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Japanese literature</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/biblical-literature" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">biblical literature</a>).</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Definitions of the word <em>literature</em> tend to be circular. The 11th edition of <em>Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary</em> considers literature to be “writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest.” The 19th-century critic <span id="ref524625"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walter-Pater" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Walter Pater</a> 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. <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="Deriving" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/Deriving" data-type="EB">Deriving</a> from the Latin <em>littera</em>, “a letter of the alphabet,” literature is first and foremost humankind’s entire body of writing; after that it is the body of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/writing" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">writing</a> belonging to a given language or people; then it is individual pieces of writing.</p><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="221881" data-asm-type="video"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="video" video-id="188833"><a data-id="188833" class="gtm-assembly-link d-flex justify-content-center" style="--aspect-ratio: 16/9" href="/video/Clinton-Terrell-discovery-solitary-confinement-stint-UC/-221881"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/33/188833-138-6EE1D8A3/Clinton-Terrell-discovery-solitary-confinement-stint-UC.jpg?w=800&h=450&c=crop" alt="Hear Clinton Terrell share his experience of going from solitary confinement to UC Berkeley" loading="lazy"><script type="application/json"> { "sources": [ { "file" : "//content.jwplatform.com/manifests/dyqgZESM.m3u8" } ], "image": "https://cdn.britannica.com/33/188833-138-6EE1D8A3/Clinton-Terrell-discovery-solitary-confinement-stint-UC.jpg" ,"tracks": [ { "file" : "//assets-jpcust.jwpsrv.com/tracks/Hii3wghN", "label": "English" } ] ,"adfile": "//content.jwplatform.com/manifests/UVWWhzfF.m3u8" } </script><div class="btn btn-xl btn-white btn-circle position-absolute shadow" style="top: 50%; transform: translateY(-50%)"><em class="material-icons" data-icon="play_arrow"></em></div></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><span class="md-assembly-title font-weight-bold mr-5 d-inline font-sans-serif md-video-caption" video-control="188833">Hear Clinton Terrell share his experience of going from solitary confinement to UC Berkeley</span><span>Learn how an encounter with Shakespeare's <em>Julius Caesar</em> during an 18-month solitary confinement started Clinton Terrell on a path from prison to the University of California, Berkeley.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div><a class="font-14 mt-10 d-inline-block" href="/art/literature/images-videos">See all videos for this article</a></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">But already it is necessary to qualify these statements. To use the word <em>writing</em> 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. <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="Yet" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/Yet" data-type="EB">Yet</a> 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.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="md-signature"><a href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</a></span> <span class="marker h2"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref51284"> <h2 class="h1">The scope of literature</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">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 <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="attain" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/attain" data-type="EB">attain</a> it. On the contrary, a scientific exposition might be of great literary value and a pedestrian poem of none at all.</p><a class="link-module shadow-sm d-block qa-quiz-module" href="/quiz/literary-hodgepodge" data-link-module-iframe-link=""> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/93/176293-131-AB7B7801/Alfred-Tennyson-Books-Byron-Reading-Literacy-Poetry.jpg" alt="Books. Lord Alfred Tennyson. Lord Byron. Poetry. Reading. Literacy. Library. Antique. A stack of four antique leather bound books." class="rounded-sm mr-15" width="70" /> <div class="line-clamp clamp-5"> <div class="module-title bg-green">Britannica Quiz</div> <div class="font-weight-semi-bold mt-5">Literary Hodgepodge</div> </div> </a><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The purest (or, at least, the most intense) literary form is the <span id="ref665987"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/lyric" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">lyric</a> poem, and after it comes elegiac, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/epic" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">epic</a>, dramatic, narrative, and expository verse. Most theories of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/literary-criticism" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">literary criticism</a> base themselves on an analysis of <span id="ref505894"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/poetry" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">poetry</a>, 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 <span id="ref505895"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/verse" class="md-crosslink ">verse</a>. Many <span id="ref666001"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/novel" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">novels</a>—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 <span id="ref665997"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Chinese-literature" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Chinese</a>, possessors of one of the world’s greatest dramatic traditions, consider their plays, with few exceptions, to possess no literary merit whatsoever).</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The <span id="ref665981"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Ancient-Greek-literature" class="md-crosslink ">Greeks</a> thought of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/history" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">history</a> 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.</p><div class="module-spacing"> <DIV class="marketing-INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION marketing-content" data-marketing-id="INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION"><style> .student-promo-banner-wrapper { container-type: inline-size; margin-bottom: 15px; } @container (min-width: 475px) { .student-promo-banner { flex-direction: row; } .student-promo-banner-img-wrapper { margin-bottom: 0; margin-right: 10px; justify-content: flex-start; } .student-promo-banner-text-wrapper { text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; } .student-promo-banner-button-wrapper { margin-right: 0; } }</style> <div class="student-promo-banner-wrapper"> <div class="student-promo-banner d-flex flex-column align-items-center bg-blue rounded p-20"> <div class="student-promo-banner-img-wrapper mb-20 mr-0 d-flex justify-content-center"> <img class="rounded" style="max-width: 100px; min-width: 80px" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/marketing/BlueThistle.webp" /> </div> <div class="student-promo-banner-text-wrapper ml-0 mb-10 text-center text-white"> <div class="h2 mb-10">Get Unlimited Access</div> <div class="h4 font-weight-semi-bold">Try Britannica Premium for free and discover more.</div> </div> <div class="student-promo-banner-button-wrapper d-flex justify-content-center align-items-center ml-auto mr-auto"> <a class="btn btn-m btn-orange" href="https://premium.britannica.com/premium-membership/?utm_source=premium&utm_medium=inline-cta&utm_campaign=black-friday-2024">Subscribe</a> </div> </div> </div> </DIV></div><span class="marker MOD7 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD8 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The <span id="ref505899"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/essay" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">essay</a> 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 <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/journalism" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">journalism</a>, 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, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/theatre-art" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">drama</a>, and the arts.</p><span class="marker MOD8 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD9 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Some personal documents (<span id="ref505900"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/autobiography-literature" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">autobiographies</a>, <span id="ref505901"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/diary-literature" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">diaries</a>, <span id="ref505902"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/memoir-historical-genre" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">memoirs</a>, and <span id="ref505903"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/letter-literature" class="md-crosslink ">letters</a>) rank among the world’s greatest literature. Some examples of this <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/biography-narrative-genre" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">biographical literature</a> were written with <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="posterity" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/posterity" data-type="MW">posterity</a> 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.</p><span class="marker MOD9 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD10 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Many works of <span id="ref505904"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">philosophy</a> are classed as literature. The <em>Dialogues</em> of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Plato" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Plato</a> (4th century <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span>) are written with great narrative skill and in the finest prose; the <em>Meditations</em> of the 2nd-century Roman emperor <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marcus-Aurelius-Roman-emperor" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Marcus Aurelius</a> are a collection of apparently random thoughts, and the Greek in which they are written is <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="eccentric" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eccentric" data-type="MW">eccentric</a>. 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 <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gilbert-White-English-naturalist-and-clergyman" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Gilbert White’s</a> <em>Natural History and Antiquities of Selbourne</em> (1789).</p><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD10 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD11 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><span id="ref505905"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/oratory-rhetoric" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Oratory</a>, the art of persuasion, was long considered a great literary art. The oratory of Native Americans, for instance, is famous, while in Classical Greece, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Polymnia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Polymnia</a> was the muse sacred to poetry and oratory. Rome’s great orator <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cicero" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Cicero</a> was to have a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="decisive" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/decisive" data-type="EB">decisive</a> influence on the development of English prose style. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abraham-Lincoln" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Abraham Lincoln</a>’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Gettysburg-Address" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Gettysburg Address</a> 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 <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/fiction-literature" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">fiction</a>, or <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/motion-picture" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">cinema</a> 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 <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/communication" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">communication</a>. Most of it is fugitive, but here and there—in <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="high-level" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/high-level" data-type="EB">high-level</a> 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.</p><span class="marker MOD11 mod-inline"></span> </section><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":7,"pageId":343579,"pageLength":1119,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"A","adLeg":"A","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"PAGINATED","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Literature | Definition, Characteristics, Genres, Types, & Facts | Britannica