Literature

Literature has been part of our lives for thousands of years and to this day we still can’t put our finger on what the exact definition of literature is. Many have tried, writers, scholars, experts, and all kinds of people. Literature has different forms, characteristics, and utilities, it is a form of art that varies with the different cultures and the time it has been created in.

Literature can have different forms and shapes, such as written, oral, or poetry. Nowadays the most frequent form is written, and the work will go through the publishing process to be distributed and shared with the world. The writer will work hard to refine their work and make sure their message will be understood. Writing is not the only way to create literature. Before writing was even invented people would use their voice and tell stories orally and it would be transmitted from generation to generation. Sound elements could also be added to make the story richer. The fact that it is not laid on paper changes the story a little bit every time it is told, which can be considered good or bad. Some cultures consider written stories dead since they cannot change or evolves. Poetry is a form of literature that mixes oral and written. It is first written down, but everything in it is made to sound beautiful when said out loud. The placement of the sentences, the punctuation, the rhythm, the sound, and rimes in the words. The different forms of literature are what make it so fluid.

Literature has so many uses, the main ones would be to entertain, to teach lessons, and to share emotions. We all know it, humans like the be entertained, it helps pass time and can often make us feel better. It is so amusing that for only a small amount of time we can be in someone else’s shoes. I think that the most entertaining kind is the riddle novel, all the fun is in finding the solution before the main character does. We can also learn from works of literature. Stories can either give a positive or negative example so readers can choose to follow or not the same path as the characters did. Just like the little red riding hood who talked and trusted a stranger or Belle in The Beauty and the Beast, who likes the beast for who he really is rather than his appearance. It is often stories meant for children that have obvious lessons in them. Works of literature also make the reader feel very strong emotions to encourage them to flip the pages or hear the end of the story. Some genres have emotions “attached” to them like horror that scares the reader or drama that will make the reader sad. These are just a few of the different uses of literature.

Literature changes with time and societies. The different topics change with events that societies experience, natural evolution, and time. Just a few years ago it would have been impossible to find a beautiful love story between two women and just a few decades ago it would have been almost impossible to even find mention of two women loving each other in literature. And to this day it is still not possible in some countries. With the same idea, new genres appear all the time. For example, science fiction was born in the nineteenth century with Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. Ways to share literature and its accessibility changed over time as well. First, it was solely oral, after that, writing was invented, then we saw the invention of printing, and today, with the Internet there are only so many possibilities to share works of literature. These are examples of how this beautiful form of art has evolved over the years.

We have not been able to set in stone the exact definition of literature only because it’s an ever-changing art. It has different forms, utilities and has changed in so many ways throughout history. Literature will certainly continue to grow and evolve into something much more beautiful than it is today.