Trace back the origin of literature 2. Providing examples, Discuss the importance of literature 3. Demonstrate your understanding of literature 4. Briefly ,highlight the forms of oral literature

Trace back the origin of literature

2. Providing examples, Discuss the importance of literature

3. Demonstrate your  understanding of literature

4. Briefly ,highlight the forms of oral literature

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1.         Literature, is the artistic expression of thought, which is replete with feelings and imagination. It is usually expressed in such an nontechnical form as to make it intelligible and give aesthetic pleasure and relief to the mind of common man. Most generically, is anybody of written works? More restrictively, literature refers to writing considered to be an art form or any single writing deemed to have artistic or intellectual value, often due to deploying language in ways that differ from ordinary usage (Ross 1996).

The origin of literature comes from Latin root literature litteratura (derived itself from littera: letter or handwriting) was used to refer to all written accounts. The concept has changed meaning over time to include texts that are spoken or sung (oral literature), and non-written verbal art forms. Developments in print technology have allowed an ever-growing distribution and proliferation of written works, culminating in electronic literature.

Literature is classified according to whether it is fiction or non-fiction, and whether it is poetry or prose. It can be further distinguished according to major forms such as the novel, short story or drama; and works are often categorized according to historical periods or their adherence to certain aesthetic features or expectations (genre). to decipher facts through things like characters' actions and words or the authors' style of writing and the intent behind the words. The plot is for more than just entertainment purposes; within it lies information about economics, psychology, science, religions, politics, cultures, and social depth. Studying and analyzing literature becomes very important in terms of learning about human history. Literature provides insight about how society has evolved and about the societal norms during each of the different periods all throughout history. For instance, postmodern authors argue that history and fiction both constitute systems of signification by which we make sense of the past. It is asserted that both of these are "discourses, human constructs, signifying systems, and both derive their major claim to truth from that identity. Literature provides views of life, which is crucial in obtaining truth and in understanding human life throughout history and its periods. Specifically, it explores the possibilities of living in terms of certain values under given social and historical circumstances (Ross 1996).

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 cor the Metamorphoses of Ovid. Drama and satire also developed as urban culture provided a       public audience, and later readership, for literary production. Lyric poetry (as opposed to epic poetry) was often the specialist of courts and aristocratic circles, particularly in East Asia where songs were collected by the Chinese aristocracy as poems, the most notable being the 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. (Ross 1996).

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  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, emphasizing 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. (Ross 1996).

            So the origin of literature traced back to the human activities done for so long time  thus people work while they were sung as the result the emergency of literature hence the song were used to inspired them into work. The developments of language hence make literature grow and the discovering of machine makes writers start to write many books.

2.         Literature is very important today because it enable the people to know the history of a nation's spirit; people must read its literature. To understand the real spirit of a nation, one must trace the little rills as they course along down the ages, broadening and deepening into the great ocean of thought which men at the present source are presently exploring. it also enable to express of one's feelings according to him, may be through love, sorrow, happiness, hatred, anger, contempt or revenge (Goody, 2006).

The following are the importance of literature,

             Literature is one way for us to hear the voices of the past and work with the present. it is the way for the present  to connect to the possible future. we learn about history we didn't experience. the customs we are not familiar with or that read to what we do now, it unlocks the culture of the time period, and in a way can give wisdom to the modern society about life, allow us to interprete our own life and emotions and we find ways to relate to the story so we in turn can reflect.

Literature is the most invisible with the five senses and the most visible with feelings, Literature is always realistic, it is about life. it is life when we get involved in it even it is legendary, unbelievable, and whatever it talks about, it is life because it is created and produced by people from their life.

Literature not only describes reality but also adds to it. Literary works are portrayals of the thinking patterns and social norms prevalent in society. They are a depiction of the different facets of common man's life. Classical literary works serve as a food for thought and encourage imagination and creativity. Exposing oneself to good literary works is equivalent to providing one with the finest of educational opportunities. On the other hand, the lack of exposure to good literature is equal to depriving oneself from the opportunity to grow.

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 can console the society when in trouble; Literature can be used as means for giving hope and relief to people when the society is in trouble. For example, Poems sung during the war can act as  very good  way of consoling the society they may restore the lost hope in people’s mind. In the like manner novels, plays and short stories can give people hope when there is despair. Everyday incidents look like incident found in literary works. So, readers who have ever read such works  are likely to transfer that experience to reality.

Literature as a product of human culture has its own functions. Literature has two functions. The first is literature of power. Literature of power means that the function of literature as power is to move the heart and mind of the readers. The second is literature of knowledge. Literature of knowledge has function to teach. It means that literature gives particular values, messages, and themes to the readers.

Literature is a reflection of humanity and a way for us to understand each other. By listening to the voice of another person we can begin to figure out how that individual thinks. I believe that literature is important because of its purpose and in a society, which is becoming increasing detached from human interaction, novels create a conversation.

Literature has great function in developing human’s feelings, ideas, and interests. Generally, the functions of literature are as follows: the first function is literature gives knowledge of those particularities with which science and philosophy are not concerned. The second function is that literature makes the human perceive what human see, imagine what human already know conceptually or practically. The final function of literature is that literature relieve human—either writers or readers—from the pressure of emotions.

Literature also functions to contribute values of human lives. In education program, literature may give significant contribution for students’ development and knowledge. The contribution of literature in education covers intrinsic values and extrinsic values. The intrinsic values are the reward of a lifetime of wide reading recognizable in the truly literate person while the intrinsic values facilitate the development of language skills and knowledge.

Therefore, Literature is the mirror of the society in which it produced. Always the mirror produce the image of a person or an object put inform of it. So it is argued that literature exposes the society as it shows good and bad things as honesty as the mirror does. In other words literatures make people see some people have challenged this definition. Unlike the mirror literature propose solutions to the problems found in the society. Solutions to the problems facing the society are conveyed in literary in literary works. Messages are determined by what characters say or do.

3.         Literature is the work of arts which reflect social reality which use language to express human feelings it can be written or oral. Always literature is imaginative work of art that use language to reflect social reality  (Ross,1996)

The following are the types of literature which are:

Written literature is the work of art that uses written words to express feeling and follow under the genres example poetry, drama, short stories and novels. These can be explained as follows:

Novels are the non fiction that uses many characters to express feeling and thought of characters and also written in chapters (Ross, 1996).

Play is the work of art that written to be performing at the stage hence the presence of audience of audience that see what happen to the stage.

Drama is the performance in the stage after the work has been written so the audience sees what exist in the stage.

Short story typically takes a form of brief  fiction work usually written in prose, its length is typically range from 16000 to 20000 words, short story normally focus on single subject or theme. (Holman,1972)

Oral literature is the work of art that uses the word of mouth to express the reality of the society and handled down from one generation to another. Example is the folktales, legends, anecdote, sayings and myth. Myth a story by which are particular culture or society explains why things are way they are. For example a myth can tell how and why death came to earth.

Folktale is the one that handled from one person to another hence the children can listen from their elders. (Meyer,1997)

Legends these are stories that believed to be true and they show how the things happen the way they are. They are understood about the facts they have taken to be things that actually happened and are treated as beliefs. (Meyer,1997)

Riddles are statement that needs two sides. One of the side must ask question and another should answer such question.

Also there are genres of oral literature that are anecdote, lullabies, songs, epic and Myth that all of them are conveyed from  one person to another.

Therefore the above are the types of Literature that trace back about expressing of feeling and through from one person to another hence  oral literature start first before written literature being discovered. The invention of written literature due to the development of machine make many writers start to write the books.

4.         Oral literature is a broad term which may include ritual texts, curative chants, epic poems, Oral literature, the standard forms (or genres) of literature found in societies without writing. The term oral literature is also used to describe the tradition in written civilizations in which certain genre s are transmitted by word of mouth or are confined to the so-called folk (i.e. those who are “unlettered,” or do not use writing. Musical genres, folk tales, creation tales, songs, myths, spells, legends, proverbs, riddles, tongue-twisters, word games, recitations, life histories or historical narratives. Most simply, oral literature refers to any form of verbal art which is transmitted orally or delivered by word of mouth. (Finnegan, 1974).

                The following are the forms of oral literature as follows

Legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions perceived or believed both by teller and listeners to have taken place within human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. Legend, for its active and passive participants, includes no happenings that are outside the realm of "possibility," but may include miracles. Legends may be transformed over time, in order to keep them fresh, vital, and realistic. (Finnegan, 1974)

Folktale teristically anonymous, timeless, and placeless tale circulated orally among a people. Examples of folktale in Sentence West African folktales that continue to be passed from generation to generation through storytelling ( Holman,1972).

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French chanson balladée or ballade, which were originally "danced songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of the British Isles from the later medieval period until the 19th century.( Finnegan, 2012)

Riddles question or statement intentionally phrased so as to require ingenuity in ascertaining its answer or meaning (Walter 1982).

A proverb (from Latin: proverbium) is a simple, concrete, traditional saying that expresses a truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic language. Collectively, they form a genre of folklore (Holman,1972).

Anecdote, a short amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person.

Epic a long poem, typically one derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the past history of a nation. (Finnegan, 2012).

Myth additional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining a natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.

Lullabies are the songs that sung to soothe children or babies.

            Therefore, above are the forms of oral literature that passed from one person to another by using the world of mouth hence oral literature can be stored through head, tape records also so this make easy for the preservation.( Granger,1986)

                                  

                                                      REFERENCES

Meyer, J (1997). "What is Literature? A Definition Based on Prototypes". Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

Finnegan, R (1974). "How Oral Is Oral Literature?". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

Ross, T (1996). "The Emergence of "Literature": Making and Reading the English Canon in the Eighteenth Century.USA: Learning publishing house.

Goody, Jack (2006). "From Oral to Written: An Anthropological Breakthrough in Storytelling". In Franco Moretti. The Novel, Volume 1: History, Geography, and Culture. Princeton.

Holman, C. (1972) A Handbook to Literature. Indianapolis: Odyssey Press,. Call Number:

Granger, E(1986) Index to Poetry. New York: Columbia University Press. Call Number.

Finnegan, (2012), Oral Literature in Africa. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers