Literature
are written works collectively, especially those of enduring importance,
exhibiting creative imagination and artistic skill (Funk and Wagnalls).
Literature comes from the Latin word literature meaning writing; literatus
which means learning; and thus is literate for learned. It is both oral
and written work characterized by expressive or imaginative writing, nobility of
thoughts, universality and timeliness. The best way to understand human nature
fully and to know a nation completely is to study literature. Literature
appeals to man’s higher nature and its needs–emotional, spiritual, intellectual
and creative. Like all other forms of art, literature entertains and gives
pleasure; it fires the imagination and arouses noble emotions and it enriches
man by enabling him to reflect on life by filling him new ideas.
The
word literature is derived from the Latin term litera which means letter. It
has been defined differently by various writers. Some loosely interpret
literature as any printed matter written within a book, a magazine or a
pamphlet. Others define literature as
a faithful reproduction of man’s manifold experiences blended into one
harmonious expression.Because literature deals with ideas, thoughts and
emotions of man, literature can be said to be the story of man. Man’s loves,
griefs, thoughts, dreams and aspirations coached in beautiful language is
literature.In order to know the history of a nation’s spirit, one must read its
literature. Hence it is, that to understand the real spirit of a nation, one
must “trace the little rills as they course along down the ages, broadening and
deepening into the great ocean of thought which men of the present source are
presently exploring.”
