Finding out about our lifes

Literature (from Latin litterae (plural); letter) is the art of written work, and is not confined to published sources (although, under some circumstances, unpublished sources can also be exempt). The word literature literally means "things made from letters" and the pars pro tototerm "letters" is sometimes used to signify "literature," as in the figures of speech "arts and letters" and "man of letters." The four major classifications of literature are poetry, prose, fiction, and non-fiction.

Literature may comprise of texts based on factual information (journalistic or non-fiction), as well as on original imagination, such as polemicalworks as well as autobiography, and reflective essays as well as belles-lettres. Literatures can be divided according to historical periods, genres, and political influences. The concept of genre, which earlier was limited, has now broadened over the centuries. A genre consists of artistic works which fall within a certain central theme, and examples of genre include romance, mystery, crime, fantasy, erotica, and adventure, among others. Important historical periods in English literature include the 17th Century Shakespearean and Elizabethan times, Middle English, Old English, 19th Century Victorian, the Renaissance, the 18th Century Restoration, and 20th Century Modernism. Important political movements that have influenced literature include feminism, post-colonialism, psychoanalysis, post-structuralism, post-modernism, romanticism andMarxism. Literature is also observed in terms of gender, race and nationality, which include Black writing in America, African writing, Indian writing, Dalit writing, women's writing, and so on.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest known literary works. This Babylonian epic poem arises from stories in the Sumerian language. Although the Sumerian stories are older (probably dating to at least 2100 B.C.), it was probably composed around 1900 BC. The epic deals with themes of heroism, friendship, loss, and the quest for eternal life.

Different historical periods are reflected in literature. National and tribal sagas, accounts of the origin of the world and of customs, and myths which sometimes carry moral or spiritual messages predominate in the pre-urban eras. The epics of Homer, dating from the early to middle Iron age, and the great Indian epics of a slightly later period, have more evidence of deliberate literary authorship, surviving like the older myths through oral tradition for long periods before being written down.

As a more urban culture developed, academies provided a means of transmission for speculative and philosophical literature in early civilizations, resulting in the prevalence of literature in Ancient China, Ancient India, Persia and Ancient Greece and Rome. Many works of earlier periods, even in narrative form, had a covert moral or didactic purpose, such as the Sanskrit Panchatantra or the Metamorphoses of Ovid. Drama and satire also developed as urban culture provided a larger public audience, and later readership, for literary production. Lyric poetry (as opposed to epic poetry) was often the speciality of courts and aristocratic circles, particularly in East Asia where songs were collected by the Chinese aristocracy as poems, the most notable being the Shijing or Book of Songs. Over a long period, the poetry of popular pre-literate balladry and song interpenetrated and eventually influenced poetry in the literary medium.

In ancient China, early literature was primarily focused on philosophy, historiography, military science, agriculture, and poetry. China, the origin of modern paper making and woodblock printing, produced one of the world's first print cultures.[1] Much of Chinese literature originates with the Hundred Schools of Thought period that occurred during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 BCE). The most important of these include the Classics of Confucianism, of Daoism, of Mohism, of Legalism, as well as works of military science (e.g. Sun Tzu's The Art of War) and Chinese history (e.g. Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian). Ancient Chinese literature had a heavy emphasis on historiography. The Chinese kept consistent and accurate court records after the year 841 BCE, with the beginning of the Gonghe regency of the Western Zhou Dynasty. An exemplary piece of narrative history of ancient China was the Zuo Zhuan, which was compiled no later than 389 BCE, and attributed to the blind 5th century BCE historian Zuo Qiuming.

In ancient India, literature originated from stories that were originally orally transmitted. Early genres included drama, fables, sutras and epic poetry. Sanskrit literature begins with the Vedas, dating back to 1500–1000 BCE, and continues with the Sanskrit Epics of Iron Age India. The Vedas are among the oldest sacred texts. The Samhitas (vedic collections) date to roughly 1500–1000 BCE, and the "circum-Vedic" texts, as well as the redaction of the Samhitas, date to c. 1000-500 BCE, resulting in a Vedic period, spanning the mid 2nd to mid 1st millennium BCE, or the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age.[2] The period between approximately the 6th to 1st centuries BC saw the composition and redaction of the two most influential Indian epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, with subsequent redaction progressing down to the 4th century AD.

In ancient Greece, the epics of Homer, who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey, and Hesiod, who wrote Works and Days and Theogony, are some of the earliest, and most influential, of Ancient Greek literature. Classical Greek genres included philosophy, poetry, historiography, comedies and dramas. Plato and Aristotle authored philosophical texts that are the foundation of Western philosophy, Sappho and Pindar were influential lyrical poets, and Herodotus and Thucydides were early Greek historians. Although drama was popular in Ancient Greece, of the hundreds of tragedies written and performed during the classical age, only a limited number of plays by three authors still exist: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. The plays of Aristophanes provide the only real examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy, the earliest form of Greek Comedy, and are in fact used to define the genre.[3]

Roman histories and biographies anticipated the extensive mediaeval literature of lives of saints and miraculous chronicles, but the most characteristic form of the Middle Ages was the romance, an adventurous and sometimes magical narrative with strong popular appeal. Controversial, religious, political and instructional literature proliferated during the Renaissance as a result of the invention of printing, while the mediaeval romance developed into a more character-based and psychological form of narrative, the novel, of which early and important examples are the Chinese Monkey and the German Faust books.

In the Age of Reason philosophical tracts and speculations on history and human nature integrated literature with social and political developments. The inevitable reaction was the explosion of Romanticism in the later 18th century which reclaimed the imaginative and fantastical bias of old romances and folk-literature and asserted the primacy of individual experience and emotion. But as the 19th-century went on, European fiction evolved towards realism and naturalism, the meticulous documentation of real life and social trends. Much of the output of naturalism was implicitly polemical, and influenced social and political change, but 20th century fiction and drama moved back towards the subjective, emphasising unconscious motivations and social and environmental pressures on the individual. Writers such as Proust, Eliot, Joyce, Kafka and Pirandello exemplify the trend of documenting internal rather than external realities.

Genre fiction also showed it could question reality in its 20th century forms, in spite of its fixed formulas, through the enquiries of the skeptical detective and the alternative realities of science fiction. The separation of "mainstream" and "genre" forms (including journalism) continued to blur during the period up to our own times. William Burroughs, in his early works, and Hunter S. Thompson expanded documentary reporting into strong subjective statements after the second World War, and post-modern critics have disparaged the idea of objective realism in general.

Early novels in Europe did not count as significant literal perhaps because "mere" prose writing seemed easy and unimportant. It has become clear, however, that prose writing can provide aesthetic pleasure without adhering to poetic forms. Additionally, the freedom authors gain in not having to concern themselves with verse structure translates often into a more complex plot or into one richer in precise detail than one typically finds even in narrative poetry. This freedom also allows an author to experiment with many different literary and presentation styles—including poetry—in the scope of a single novel.

Other prose literature

Philosophical, historical, journalistic, and scientific writings are traditionally ranked as literature. They offer some of the oldest prose writings in existence; novels and prose stories earned the names "fiction" to distinguish them from factual writing or nonfiction, which writers historically have crafted in prose.

Natural science

As advances and specialization have made new scientific research inaccessible to most audiences, the "literary" nature of science writing has become less pronounced over the last two centuries. Now, science appears mostly in journals. Scientific works of Aristotle, Copernicus, and Newton still possess great value, but since the science in them has largely become outdated, they no longer serve for scientific instruction. Yet, they remain too technical to sit well in most programmes of literary study. Outside of "history of science" programmes, students rarely read such works.

Philosophy

Philosophy, too, has become an increasingly academic discipline. More of its practitioners lament this situation than occurs with the sciences; nonetheless most new philosophical work appears in academic journals. Major philosophers through history—Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Augustine, Descartes, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche—have become as canonical as any writers. Some recent philosophy works are argued to merit the title "literature", such as some of the works by Simon Blackburn; but much of it does not, and some areas, such as logic, have become extremely technical to a degree similar to that of mathematics.

Poetry

A poem is a composition written in verse (although verse has been equally used for epic and dramatic fiction). Poems rely heavily on imagery, precise word choice, and metaphor; they may take the form of measures consisting of patterns of stresses (metric feet) or of patterns of different-length syllables (as in classical prosody); and they may or may not utilize rhyme. One cannot readily characterize poetry precisely. Typically though, poetry as a form of literature makes some significant use of the formal properties of the words it uses – the properties of the written or spoken form of the words, independent of their meaning. Meter depends on syllables and on rhythms of speech; rhyme and alliteration depend on the sounds of words.

Arguably, poetry pre-dates other forms of literature. Early examples include the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh (dated from around 2700 B.C.), parts of the Bible, the surviving works of Homer (the Iliad and the Odyssey), and the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. In cultures based primarily on oral traditions the formal characteristics of poetry often have amnemonic function, and important texts: legal, genealogical or moral, for example, may appear first in verse form.

Some poetry uses specific forms. Examples include the haiku, the limerick, and the sonnet. A traditional haiku written in Japanese relate to nature, contain seventeen onji (syllables), distributed over three lines in groups of five, seven, and five, and should also have a kigo, a specific word indicating a season. A limerick has five lines, with a rhyme scheme of AABBA, and line lengths of 3,3,2,2,3 stressed syllables. It traditionally has a less reverent attitude towards nature. Poetry not adhering to a formal poetic structure is called "free verse".

Language and tradition dictate some poetic norms: Persian poetry always rhymes, Greek poetry rarely rhymes, Italian or French poetry often does, English and German poetry can go either way. Perhaps the most paradigmatic style of English poetry, blank verse, as exemplified in works by Shakespeare and Milton, consists of unrhymed iambic pentameters. Some languages prefer longer lines; some shorter ones. Some of these conventions result from the ease of fitting a specific language's vocabulary and grammar into certain structures, rather than into others; for example, some languages contain more rhyming words than others, or typically have longer words. Other structural conventions come about as the result of historical accidents, where many speakers of a language associate good poetry with a verse form preferred by a particular skilled or popular poet.

Works for theatre (see below) traditionally took verse form. This has now become rare outside opera and musicals, although many would argue that the language of drama remains intrinsically poetic.

In recent years, digital poetry has arisen that takes advantage of the artistic, publishing, and synthetic qualities of digital media.

History

A great deal of historical writing ranks as literature, particularly the genre known as creative nonfiction. So can a great deal of journalism, such as literary journalism. However these areas have become extremely large, and often have a primarily utilitarian purpose: to record data or convey immediate information. As a result the writing in these fields often lacks a literary quality, although it often and in its better moments has that quality. Major "literary" historians include Herodotus, Thucydides and Procopius, all of whom count as canonical literary figures.

LITERARY OF WORKS

There are two reasons for reading imaginative literature and two tests for judging it: pleasure and insight. The first and most important test of a story, poem, or play is, “Does it bring enjoyment?” If it doesn’t, we want no more of it. But we must also ask, “Enjoyment to whom?” The best story in the world will bring no enjoyment to a person who doesn’t know how to read it. Many excellent stories bring no enjoyment to us because we are unskilled as readers, or because we haven’t experienced enough, or are lacking in imagination, sympathy, or compassion – because we’re not human enough. Thus, not only do we judge literature, but good literature judges us. We say to a story or poem, “Are you enjoyable? If not, go away.” But a great story or poem says to us, “Can you enjoy me? If not, go away, perfect yourself, then come back and try again.”

The second test for the worth of imaginative literature is, “Does it yield insight? Do we know more, after reading it, about the world we live in, about our fellow human beings, about ourselves?” the paradox of imaginative literature is that, though it deals with imaginary events and imaginary people, it can communicate real truth – not just facts, but essential truths about living, delivered whole to our senses, our emotions, our imaginations, and our minds.

Reading good literature is thus a source of enjoyment and a means of enlarging our experience, extending our sympathies, and deepening our understanding. As such, it is both a means and an end of education, for though we read imaginative literature for enjoyment, we also read it to make ourselves more fully human.

FICTION is the form of any narrative or informative works that deals, in part or in whole, withy information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary that is invented by the author.

Types of Fiction

1. Realistic Fiction

Although untrue, could actually happen. Some events, people, and places may even be real termed “faction”.

2. Non-Realistic Fiction

NRF is that in which the story’s events could not happen in real life, because they are supernatural or involve an alternate form of history of mankind other than that recorded, or need impossible technology.

PLOT

In order to read stories well – to get from them all that they are capable of giving – we need to be aware of the elements the stories are composed of, and the techniques a writer uses to reach the reader. Among the most important of these elements and techniques are plot, character, setting, point of view, symbol, irony, and theme.

Plot is the sequence of incidents or actions in a story. What ever the characters do, or whatever happens to them, constitutes plot.

The most important element in plot is usually conflict. Conflict may be external or internal; it may be physical, intellectual, emotional, or moral. A story may pit a character against the environment, against another person, or against some inner impulses or desires. Many stories have more than one conflict. A story ordinarily ends when its main conflict is resolved, that is, when one side or the other triumphs, and the main character either succeeds or fails. In some stories, however, the conflict is left unresolved, just as conflicts in real life often have no definite conclusions.

A plot may be realistic or fantastic. It may start from an ordinary, everyday situation or from a strange, even supernatural one. All the succeeding events should proceed logically from that initial situation, and all the characters’ actions should be consistent with their personalities. A good plot is governed by an inner logic. It may begin with a far-fetched coincidence, but it will not ordinarily end with one.

CHARACTER

One of the greatest pleasures of reading fiction is getting acquainted with a wider range and variety of people than we could ever know in life. Often characters in fiction seem more interesting than the people we meet in life because we can know them better. Fiction, for two reasons, allows us to see more deeply into the inner nature of a character than we usually can in life. First, fiction places characters in crucial situations, which test them and expose their natures. Second, fiction can take us inside a character’s mind and let us experience inner thoughts and feelings that in life we could only guess at. Of course, fictional characters are imaginary people and have only imaginary existence. Yet, if their author has made them seem believable, they can help us to understand something about real people, including ourselves.

To be believable, characters cannot be either all good or all bad; we know that real people are not like that. To be believable, characters must also be consistent: they must not act one way on one occasion and an entirely different way on another, unless there is a clear reason for the change. Sudden changes of heart for no apparent reason should be no more common in than they are in life.

A writer may present characters (“characterize” them) directly or indirectly. In direct characterization, the writer explicitly tells us what a character is like (for example, stupid, silly, kind). In indirect characterization, the writer shows us what the character does or says or thinks or feels, and lets us draw our own conclusions about what the character is like. Most writer use both forms of characterization. What we are told about a character will have little force unless we are also shown the character in action.

SETTING

Edgar Allan Poe opens “The Fall of the House of Usher,” one of his famous horror stories, with this scene:

During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. I know not how it was – but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.

Clearly, the setting of this story – the time and place of its action – is significant. The author tells us what the day is like (dull, dark, and soundless), what time of year it is (autumn), what time of day it is (evening), and what the surroundings are like (dreary and melancholy). This description is not only gives us a vivid picture of a setting, but it also creates an atmosphere, or emotional climate. It is hard to read about dull dark days in the autumn of the year at evening in a dreary country without feeling a sense of uneasiness and gloom.

In Poe’s story, setting is used to create atmosphere. Setting can also have other functions in fiction. Setting may be a significant element in the plot. In Carl Stephenson’s story “Leiningen Versus the Ants” for example, a vast horde of ravenous ants, native to a South American setting, must be overcome by the main character. Setting can be used to reveal something about character. In “Maria Tepache” the main character’s home is described: “The window had burlap curtains, and Dona Maria explained why she put them up long ago. ‘In a place where there aren’t any curtains on the windows you can’t expect children to turn out well.’ “Details of this setting are used to reflect a woman’s hopes for the future.

IMAGINATION

The act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the sense or never before wholly perceived in reality.

CONNOTATION AND DENOTATION

• Connotation, on the other hand, refers to the associations that are connected to a certain word or the emotional suggestions related to that word. The connotative meanings of a word exist together with the denotative meanings. The connotations for the word snake could include evil or danger.

• Denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word, the "dictionary definition."¨ For example, if you look up the word snake in a dictionary, you will discover that one of its denotative meanings is "any of numerous scaly, legless, sometimes venomous reptiles having a long, tapering, cylindrical body and found in most tropical and temperate regions."

Finding out about our lifes

Kamis, 31 Mei 2012

ENGLISH MATERIALS FOR DOWNLOAD

Selasa, 29 Mei 2012

LITERATURE

Senin, 28 Mei 2012

Cups Island Summer Camp

One day, at October 11, 2009 the groups made a journey as a Summer Camp to the "Cups Island". This journey as a celebration after our English examination on 4th grade. Member of group are Chep, as a manager; Khoiroh as a consumption supplier, Lamsury as a tour guide, and other as a member.

The agenda is 'Red Fish Burning' 'Take a picture' 'Walk on the beach' and 'Relax'.
This togetherness will always be, I though. but some reason is brought our member move to other college. Its make me sad...uhuuuu..uhuuu

SO, When we get together again like this??? Please prepare on the next time... SUCCESS.

Sabtu, 19 Mei 2012

National English Seminar

First topic: Responding To Global Challenges Through Quality English Teachers

Second topic: The Orientation of English Curriculum and Its Implication to the Teaching and Learning English Approaches — Dr Fidesrinur, M. Pd (Lecturer of Kopertis X area Jakarta Depok, Univ.Al-Azhar)

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Finding out about our lifes

Kamis, 31 Mei 2012

ENGLISH MATERIALS FOR DOWNLOAD

Selasa, 29 Mei 2012

LITERATURE

Senin, 28 Mei 2012

Cups Island Summer Camp

One day, at October 11, 2009 the groups made a journey as a Summer Camp to the "Cups Island". This journey as a celebration after our English examination on 4th grade. Member of group are Chep, as a manager; Khoiroh as a consumption supplier, Lamsury as a tour guide, and other as a member.

The agenda is 'Red Fish Burning' 'Take a picture' 'Walk on the beach' and 'Relax'.This togetherness will always be, I though. but some reason is brought our member move to other college. Its make me sad...uhuuuu..uhuuu

SO, When we get together again like this??? Please prepare on the next time... SUCCESS.

Sabtu, 19 Mei 2012

National English Seminar

First topic: Responding To Global Challenges Through Quality English Teachers

Second topic: The Orientation of English Curriculum and Its Implication to the Teaching and Learning English Approaches — Dr Fidesrinur, M. Pd (Lecturer of Kopertis X area Jakarta Depok, Univ.Al-Azhar)

Visitor

Conversation

Blog Archive

Labels

About Me

Info Kita

Member:

The agenda is 'Red Fish Burning' 'Take a picture' 'Walk on the beach' and 'Relax'.
This togetherness will always be, I though. but some reason is brought our member move to other college. Its make me sad...uhuuuu..uhuuu