Literature influences us and makes us understand the every walk of life. Narratives, in particular, inspire empathy and give people a new perspective on their lives and the lives of others.

Some of the values were earnestness, respectability, utilitarianism, and a strong emphasis on duty. Major ideas of this period of literature included the glorification of war, expansion of empires, industrialism, economic prosperity, and reform.

The study of literature is important because it, at its most basic, improves reading skills. The study of literature also helps students see the world – people, places, things, events – through different eyes and by way of a different viewpoint.

Literature allows a person to step back in time and learn about life on Earth from the ones who walked before us. We can gather a better understanding of culture and have a greater appreciation of them. We learn through the ways history is recorded, in the forms of manuscripts and through speech itself.

Literature has changed by the way readers perceive the tone and mood. Personal opinion and preference have impacted books over time.

Literature enhances the adequacy of our ethical reflection and leads to more accepting, tolerant viewpoints as a consequence of readers being faced with an infinite range of characters, cultures and crises that they may not otherwise come into contact with.

Each literary world is a representation of the real world in some sense (even if some are fantastical and mythic, while others may have a very deep correspondence and verisimilitude to our own social worlds) and leads us to build ideas about the individuals and society within it.

“The study of Literary Mindscapes is to question, nurture and provoke exploration of one’s identity and context.”

The Literary World was a weekly American magazine founded in February 1847 by Osgood and Company in New York City. It closed in 1853 following a fire. In October 1848, Duyckinck and his brother George Long Duyckinck purchased the magazine and became both its publishers and its editors.

ENG 12 – Extension 1: Worlds of Upheaval They analyse how texts represent the predicaments, aspirations, motivations and ideas of individuals and groups in periods of upheaval and reflect on the potential of texts to activate change in attitudes, perspectives and social circumstances.

Literary means concerned with or connected with the writing, study, or appreciation of literature. Her literary criticism focuses on the way great literature suggests ideas.

Literary Genres

• Drama. Stories composed in verse or prose, usually for theatrical performance, where conflicts and emotion are expressed through dialogue and action.
• Fable.
• Fairy Tale.
• Fantasy.
• Fiction.
• Fiction in Verse.
• Folklore.
• Historical Fiction.

Elements of Literature

• Allegory. The characters are representative of some larger humanistic trait and attempt to convey some larger lesson or meaning in life.
• Allusion. A reference to something in history, culture or literature (especially historical).
• Antagonist.
• Characterization.
• Climax.
• Conflict.
• Connotation.
• Crisis.

Literature, however, can be said to be the mirror of life, because it reflects and comments on aspects of things people encounter in their daily lives. Literature acts as a form of expression for each individual author. Some books mirror society and allow us to better understand the world we live in.