Introduction to Literature

Meeting II

Ayu Pardede, M.A

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 Outline

• The Meaning of Literature

• The Aspects of Literature
• Characteristics of Literature
• The Object in Studying Literature
• The Importance of Literature
• Summary

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The Meaning of Literature

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The Meaning of Literature

Literature is something
expressed in the form of
written work.
It is an art which expresses
man’s souls, thoughts, feelings,
emotions, etc.

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 The Aspects of Literature (1)
The Shell and the Book.
A child and a man were one day walking on the
seashore when the child found a little shell and held it
to his ear. Suddenly he heard sounds, — strange, low,
melodious sounds, as if the shell were remembering
and repeating to itself the murmurs of its ocean home.
The child’s face filled with wonder as he listened. Here
in the little shell, apparently, was a voice from another
world,

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The Aspects of Literature (2)
and he listened with delight to its mystery and
music. Then came the man, explaining that the
child heard nothing strange; that the pearly curves
of the shell simply caught a multitude of sounds too
faint for human ears, and filled the glimmering
hollows with the murmur of innumerable echoes. It
was not a new world, but only the unnoticed
harmony of the old that had aroused the child’s
wonder.

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 The Aspects of Literature (5)
• By understanding this story, it can be understood that
literature itself has two aspects:
– Enjoyment and appreciation
– Analysis and Description
• To discover a new world, to enjoy a song, to understand
a story, we need to analyze it

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Characteristics of Literature

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Characteristics of Literature (1)

Artistic
All art is the expression of life
It is the reflection of some truth and beauty which
are in the world, but which remain unnoticed until
brought to our attention by some sensitive human soul.

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Characteristics of Literature (2)

Suggestive
 Literature is appeals to our emotions and imagination

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Characteristics of Literature (3)
Permanent
It is past, present and future.
It is eternal.
It makes a mark on the world that can never be
erased, never be forgotten and never be escaped
from.
What one writes and what one reads is etched
forever into the world and remains even the one no
longer exists.

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The Object in Studying
Literature

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The Object in Studying Literature (1)

Aside from the pleasure of reading, of entering in to a

new world and having our imagination quickened, the
study of literature has one definite object, and that is to
How? men.
know
We must search deeper than his history.
History records one’s deeds, one’s outward acts
largely

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The Object in Studying Literature (2)
Example: Anglo-Saxons

By History: we learn that By Literature: we know not

they were sea rovers, only what they did, but
pirates, explorers, great what they thought and
eaters and drinkers; and felt, how they looked on
we know something of life and death; what they
their hovels and habits, loved, what they feared,
and the lands which they and what they reverenced
harried and plundered. in God and man.
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The Importance of Literature

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 The Importance of Literature (1)
Literature serves a gateway to learning of the past and
expanding our knowledge and understanding of the
It preserves the values of people; the values of love, faith,
world.
duty, friendship, truth, choice and freedom. It guides us to
learn, understand and appreciate other cultures and
belief.

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Summary

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 Summary (1)
the written
the expression
record of man’s
of life in words
spirit, thoughts,
of truth and
emotions,
beauty.
aspirations.
Literature

artistic,
preserves the
to know man; suggestive,
value of people
the soul of man permanent.
rather than his
actions
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 Summary (2)

“Literature is a way to say, I was here, this is what I

thought, this is what I perceived, this is my signature, this is
my name”

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The End

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