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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