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Definition of Litereture

Literature, defined by Carlyle "as an 'apocalypse of nature,' a revealing of the 'open secret,' a 'continuous revelation' of the God-like in the terrestrial and common, which ever endures there, and is brought out now in this dialect, now in that, with various degrees of clearness ... there being touches of it (i. e. the God-like) in the dark stormful indignation of a Byron, nay, in the withered mockery of a French sceptic, his mockery of the false, a love and worship of the true ... how much more in the sphere harmony of a Shakespeare, the cathedral music of a Milton; something of it too in those humble, genuine, lark-notes of a Burns, skylark starting from the humble furrow far overhead into the blue depths, and singing to us so genuinely there."
- Wikipedia

Lit"er*a*ture (l&ibreve;t"&etilde;r*&adot;*t&usl;r; 135), n. [F. littérature, L. litteratura, literatura, learning, grammar, writing, fr. littera, litera, letter. See Letter.] 1. Learning; acquaintance with letters or books.

2. The collective body of literary productions, embracing the entire results of knowledge and fancy preserved in writing; also, the whole body of literary productions or writings upon a given subject, or in reference to a particular science or branch of knowledge, or of a given country or period; as, the literature of Biblical criticism; the literature of chemistry.

3. The class of writings distinguished for beauty of style or expression, as poetry, essays, or history, in distinction from scientific treatises and works which contain positive knowledge; belles-lettres.

4. The occupation, profession, or business of doing literary work. Lamb.

Syn. -- Science; learning; erudition; belles-lettres. See Science. -- Literature, Learning, Erudition. Literature, in its widest sense, embraces all compositions in writing or print which preserve the results of observation, thought, or fancy; but those upon the positive sciences (mathematics, etc.) are usually excluded. It is often confined, however, to belles-lettres, or works of taste and sentiment, as poetry, eloquence, history, etc., excluding abstract discussions and mere erudition. A man of literature (in this narrowest sense) is one who is versed in belles-lettres; a man of learning excels in what is taught in the schools, and has a wide extent of knowledge, especially in respect to the past; a man of erudition is one who is skilled in the more recondite branches of learned inquiry.

The origin of all positive science and philosophy, as well as of all literature and art, in the forms in which they exist in civilized Europe, must be traced to the Greeks.
Sir G. C. Lewis.

Learning thy talent is, but mine is sense.
Prior.

Some gentlemen, abounding in their university erudition, fill their sermons with philosophical terms.
Swift.

- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

  • the body of written work
  • the collected stories of a nation, people group or culture
- The Nuttall Encyclopedia

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