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[[Image:Narnia books.jpg|right|thumb|230px|The Chronicles of Narnia]]
[[Image:Narnia books.jpg|right|thumb|230px|The Chronicles of Narnia]]
'''Literature''' consists of writings whose value lies in the beauty of form or emotional effect. <ref>The Concise Oxford Dictionary</ref> Traditionally, this encompasses such diverse forms of expression as [[novel]]s, [[poetry]], and others. [[Literary criticism]] is usually itself considered a form of literature.
'''Literature''' consists of writings whose value lies in the beauty of form or emotional effect.” <ref>The Concise Oxford Dictionary</ref> Traditionally, this encompasses such diverse forms of expression as [[novel]]s, [[poetry]], and others. [[Literary criticism]] is usually itself considered a form of literature.
While [[epic poetry]] is a form of artistic expression, it is generally considered that literature began with the recording of such epics, rather than their oral recitation. In ancient [[Mesopotamia]], the development of [[ideograph|ideographic]] glyphs allowed the recording of the [[Epic of Gilgamesh]] in the city of Akkadia for an Assyrian king in the seventh century B.C., arguably the first piece of literature that we possess today. It was preceded by multiple other items of literature that we know of, such as the [[Egypt|Egyptian]] [[Book of the Dead]], but while Egyptologists believe this to have been recorded as early as the eighteenth century B.C., extant copies date from 250 B.C.<ref>Diamond, Jared. ''Guns, Germs, and Steel.'' New York: Norton, 2005.</ref>
<blockquote>
''The art of literature is not reducible to the words on the page; they are there because of the craft of writing. As an art, literature is the organization of words to give pleasure; through them it elevates and transforms experience; through them it functions in society as a continuing symbolic criticism of values.'' [http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/essays/literature.htm The Art of Literature] Encyclopædia Britannica.
</blockquote>
The content of literature is as limitless as the desire of human beings to communicate. Literary criticism is usually itself considered a form of literature.
While [[epic poetry]] is a form of artistic expression, it is generally considered that literature began with the recording of such epics, rather than their oral recitation. In ancient [[Mesopotamia]], the development of [[ideograph|ideographic]] glyphs allowed the recording of the [[Epic of Gilgamesh]] in the city of Akkadia for an Assyrian king in the seventh century B.C., arguably the first piece of literature that we possess today. It was preceded by multiple other items of literature that we know of, such as the [[Egypt|Egyptian]] [[Book of the Dead]], but while Egyptologists believe this to have been recorded as early as the eighteenth century B.C., extant copies date from 250 B.C.<ref>Diamond, Jared. ''Guns, Germs, and Steel.'' New York: Norton, 2005.</ref>
== Poetry Sample ==
''We call it a grain of sand''
''but it calls itself neither grain nor sand.''
''It does just fine without a name,''
''whether general, particular,''
''permanent, passing, ''
''incorrect or apt.''
Wislawa Szymborska, from "View with a Grain of Sand". [http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~slav411/1.htm Poetry Samples]
== A novel criticism ==
About Anna Karenina.
''Anna Karenina was published in serial form from 1873-1877. It created a great stir in society; reports from the time claim that everyone in Russian Society was discussing the book and waiting eagerly for the next installment to appear. The critical reaction was mostly positive and, like the novel itself, passionate. It was published on the heels of (Leon)Tolstoy's great opus, War and Peace (1863-1869) and solidified his reputation as one of Russia's most important 19th-century writers. This was quite a feat, given that his contemporaries included Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Gogol and Lermontov.''... Although the critical reaction to Anna Karenina was favorable and the public was shaken by the strength of both the story and Tolstoy's prose, Tolstoy himself was dissatisfied with the novel... [http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/karenina/about.html About Anna Karenina] Literature ClassicNotes™
== See also ==
== See also ==
[[Image:Copista.jpg|right|200px]]
*[[Spanish Golden Age]]
*[[Liberal Arts college]]
*[[World History Lecture One]]
*[[Poetry]]
*[[Poetry]]