Literature
With the development of language, the human imagination has found a way to create and communicate through the written word. A literary work can transport us into a fictional, fantastic new world, describe a fleeting feeling, or simply give us a picture of the past through novels, poems, tragedies, epic works, and other genres. Through literature, communication becomes an art, and it can bridge and bond people and cultures of different languages and backgrounds.
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Featured content, May 26, 2024
Why Do We Say “A Pair of Pants”?
Well, there are more than a pair of answers.
What were Sir Walter Scott’s influences?
What were Sir Walter Scott’s influences?
The Time a Law Clerk Successfully Forged a New Shakespeare Play to Impress His Dad
A law clerk once convinced London that he had discovered dozens of documents written by Shakespeare.
In the Sea-Language: Sailing Terms in Britannica's First Edition
Do you know your “bonnet” from your “shivers”?
biography
Biography, form of literature, commonly considered nonfictional, the subject of which is the life of an individual. One of...
Belgian literature
Belgian literature, the body of written works produced by Belgians and written in Flemish, which is equivalent to the Standard...
African literature
African literature, the body of traditional oral and written literatures in Afro-Asiatic and African languages together with...
Turkish literature
Turkish literature, the body of written works in the Turkish language. The Orhon inscriptions represent some of the earliest...
Literature Quizzes
Poetry Puzzle: Fact or Fiction?
Was the first published African American poet a woman? Were Emily Dickinson’s poems widely published during her lifetime?...
A Study of Poems: Fact or Fiction?
In the poem A Visit from Saint Nicholas, how many reindeer does Santa have? Is Xanadu a real place? What king does...
Lives of Famous Writers: Fact or Fiction?
You may be familiar with J.K. Rowling and Dr. Seuss, but how much do you know of A.A. Milne and Dr. Dolittle? Test your knowledge...
Playing Around: Fact or Fiction?
Is a soliloquy a section of a play in which two characters engage in an extended conversation? From King Lear to...
Getting Into Character: Fact or Fiction?
From Tarzan and Dracula to Sherlock Holmes and Mowgli, test your smarts and read between this line-up of literary characters.
The ABCs of Poetry: Fact or Fiction?
Are prose and poetry the same? Do narrative poems tend to be very short? Test the long and short of your poetic knowledge...
Who Wrote It: Fact or Fiction?
From J.K. Rowling and Oliver Twist to Anita Desai and The Old Man and the Sea, sort through the facts of...
Literary Characters: Fact or Fiction?
Was Harry Potter’s Quidditch broom a Nimbus 2000? From Don Quixote to Frankenstein, grab hold of these...
Book Report: Fact or Fiction?
Was the first novel known to have sold 1,000,000 copies written by an American woman? Test your smarts while sorting through...
Literary Library: Fact or Fiction?
Did the writers of the German Sturm und Drang literary movement disdain emotion? From European literature to epistolary novels,...
Literature Videos
Literature Subcategories
Folk Literature & Fable
Step into the world of folklore, fables, legends, tall tales, and epics, in which heroes are known to undertake arduous journeys and dragons, fairies, and giants abound. Stories such as these circulated long before systems of writing were developed; ballads, folktales, poems, and the like were transmitted exclusively by word of mouth before written languages took over, and they continue to captivate listeners and readers to this day.
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proverb
folk literature
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guslar
Balkan singers
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praise song
African literature
Fictional Characters
Here you'll find some of your favorite fictional characters from literature, film, television, and the like, whether it's the analytical mastermind Sherlock Holmes and his endearing associate Dr. Watson or the menacing and helmeted Darth Vader, the ill-tempered Donald Duck, or the teenage sleuth Nancy Drew.
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Richard III
fictional character
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Hamlet
fictional character
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Thor
fictional character
Journalism
Extra, extra! Although the content and style of journalism and the medium through which it is delivered have varied significantly over the years, journalism has always given us a way to keep up with current events, so that we always have our fingers on the pulse.
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Amy Goodman
American journalist, columnist, and author
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Barbara Walters
American journalist
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Walter Cronkite
American journalist
Libraries & Reference Works
Looking to impress your friends with your expansive knowledge of historical events, philosophical concepts, obscure words, and more? We may be biased, but it seems fair enough to say that reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and textbooks have provided such a service for years (in some cases, hundreds or even thousands of years). You can look for them at your local public library, which likely stores books, manuscripts, journals, CDs, movies, and other sources of information and entertainment.
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Paracelsus
German-Swiss physician
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Georgius Agricola
German scholar and scientist
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Benjamin Spock
American pediatrician
Literatures of the World
Literature knows no geographical bounds; authors can be found in nearly all corners of the globe. Find out more about regional literary styles and forms.
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- Irish literature
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New Journalism
American literary movement
- Latin American literature
Literary Criticism
Everyone's a critic. But not all literary criticism involves judging the quality of a text; it can also focus on interpreting the meaning of a work or evaluating an author's place in literary history.
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Helen Archibald Clarke and Charlotte Endymion Porter
American writers
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Samuel Taylor Coleridge
British poet and critic
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Northrop Frye
Canadian literary critic
Literary Terms
Want to be able to distinguish your limericks from your haikus and your paeans from your panegyrics? Dive deep into literary terms and forms.
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novel
literature
- nonfictional prose
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tragedy
literature
Nonfiction
The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth! Or that's the idea, at least. Nonfiction works center on facts and real events. Although there is some debate about which kinds of literature qualify as nonfiction, the genre typically includes books in the categories of biography, memoir, science, history, self-help, cooking, health and fitness, business, and more.
Articles
Novels & Short Stories
novels and short stories have been enchanting and transporting readers for a great many years. There's a little something for everyone: within these two genres of literature, a wealth of types and styles can be found, including historical, epistolary, romantic, Gothic, and realist works, along with many more.
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The War of the Worlds
novel by Wells
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The Fall of the House of Usher
story by Poe
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The Catcher in the Rye
novel by Salinger
Oratory
speech and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, quoted above, are two iconic examples of successful oratory, as are Elizabeth I's speech to the troops at Tilbury and Winston Churchill's first speech as prime minister to the House of Commons.
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St. Augustine
Christian bishop and theologian
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St. Ambrose
bishop of Milan
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Isocrates
Greek orator and rhetorician
Plays
; and the stage is where you'll find performances of works by such famed playwrights as Anton Chekhov, Eugene O'Neill, and the Bard himself, among many others.
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream
work by Shakespeare
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The Cherry Orchard
play by Chekhov
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Death of a Salesman
play by Miller
Poetry
; sonnets, haikus, nursery rhymes, epics, and more are included.
Articles
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metre
prosody
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sonnet
poetic form
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The Waste Land
poem by Eliot