What is Literature?

What is “literature?” What do we look for when we read?

Any language-based product of the human imagination—written works as well as oral works—may be called literature.

Sacred writings such as the Hebrew Bible, Navajo coyote stories, or the Rigveda; scientific and philosophical works such as Darwin’s On the Origin of Species or Plato’s Apology of Socrates; ancient epic poems or modern films such as Homer’s Odyssey or Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane; histories, diaries, and novels from Moby-Dick to Harry Potter—all of these and much more might be considered literature. 

How does one approach such an enormous subject?

It often helps to break down something complicated into simpler parts. To understand how an engine works, studying the separate systems (e.g. cooling, fuel, electrical) would probably be helpful. 

Fortunately for us, literature can be broken down in many ways. On this site, we will break down literature into distinct categories, called genres, into its basic building blocks, called elements, and into different eras, called literary periods.

Click to read more about these systems and learn to think like a reader.