1.

Meaning of literature
Literature-A Latin word “litera” which means letter. This is a body of literary productions,
either oral, written or visual containing imaginative language that realistically portrays
thoughts, emotions and experiences of the human condition.

Literature in my opinion is a way to communicate through the written word.

It can be fiction or non-fiction, and can take the form of a novel, a novella, a
short story, a newspaper article, a pamphlet, a play, a textbook, campaign
literature...

Through literature people can share ideas, give advice, give the reader a
glimpse of a certain period in history, or give a peek into the mind and
thoughts of various personality types.

Literature is a way to explore other lifestyles and points of view. Whether

the time and place are real or imaginary, current or in the past or future, I
can go somewhere and be someone not possible in real life. The appeal to
me is that I can be someone else for a little while, and better understand
myself after.

Types of literature

Poetry: A main literary genre is poetry. All poems share specific

characteristics. For example, poetry is written in lines and stanzas instead of
sentences and paragraphs. Some poems follow strict rules as to the number
and length of lines and stanzas, whereas many poems are much more free-
flowing.

Fiction: Poetry, however, is not the only genre that can utilize
figurative language. Similarly, fiction, which is any work written in prose that
is not real, can also use elaborate figurative language. However, fiction is
much more structured than poetry. It must be written in sentences and
paragraphs with all the proper punctuation and grammar, which makes it
prose. Usually, fiction is broken up into chapters, as well.

Nonfiction: A third broad literary genre is nonfiction. If fiction is fake,

then nonfiction is the opposite: it comes from real life. Works of nonfiction are all
based in real-world experiences. When you read the newspaper, you are reading
nonfiction. Other examples include journals, diaries, biographies, autobiographies,
and essays.
2. One Thousand and One Nights
One thousand and one night is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales
compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in
English as the Arabian Nights, from the first English-language edition (c.
1706 – c. 1721), which rendered the title as The Arabian Nights'
Entertainment.

The work was collected over many centuries by various authors, translators,
and scholars across West, Central, and South Asia and North Africa. Some
tales themselves trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic,
Persian, Indian, Greek, Jewish and Turkish folklore and literature. In
particular, many tales were originally folk stories from the Abbasid and
Mamluk eras, while others, especially the frame story, are most probably
drawn from the Pahlavi Persian work Hezar Afsan lit. A Thousand Tales),
which in turn relied partly on Indian elements.

History of the Nights is extremely complex and modern scholars have made
many attempts to untangle the story of how the collection as it currently
exists came about. Robert Irwin summarizes their findings:

In the 1880s and 1890s a lot of work was done on the Nights by Zotenberg
and others, in the course of which a consensus view of the history of the
text emerged. Most scholars agreed that the Nights was a composite work
and that the earliest tales in it came from India and Persia. At some time,
probably in the early 8th century, these tales were translated into Arabic
under the title Alf Layla, or 'The Thousand Nights'. This collection then
formed the basis of The Thousand and One Nights. The original core of
stories was quite small. Then, in Iraq in the 9th or 10th century, this original
core had Arab stories added to it among them some tales about the Caliph
Harun al-Rashid. Also, perhaps from the 10th century onwards, previously
independent sagas and story cycles were added to the compilation then,
from the 13th century onwards, a further layer of stories was added in Syria
and Egypt, many of these showing a preoccupation with magic or low life. In
the early modern period yet more stories were added to the Egyptian
collections so as to swell the bulk of the text sufficiently to bring its length
up to the full 1,001 nights of storytelling promised by the book's title.
 3. Geoffrey Chaucer
Poet Geoffrey Chaucer was born circa 1340 in London, England.
In 1357 he became a public servant to Countess Elizabeth of
Ulster and continued in that capacity with the British court
throughout his lifetime. The Canterbury Tales became his best
known and most acclaimed work.
Major WORK
Geoffrey Chaucer written work or written period is divided into three parts.
1: French period
2: Italian Period
3: English period.

French period or French Literature (1359-72)

That was the French period & Chaucer shared much with contemporary French poetry of
the time but also departed from that poetry in important ways. Chaucer extensive
reading of Italian poet such as Boethius also influenced his own work.
The major work of this period is.
1:The Remount of the Rose (a lengthy poem)
2:”Death of Blanche” The Duchesse better known as Book of the Duchesse”
3:During this time Chaucer translated the “Roman de la Rosa “ a French poem
written during the 1200C

Italian Period (1372-1385)

Journey to Italy in 1372 now widely considered to be Chaucer’s Italian period of

Literature., Which lasted from 1372 to 1385.The trip introduced him to the work of
contemporary Italian writers such as Dante, Petrarch 7 Boccaccio. At the end of the
period, Chaucer wrote his longest poem .His famous work of Italian literature is
1: Trious & Crecide (a poem)
2: The House of Fame (a poem in octosyllabic couplets)
3: The Legend Of Good Women great skill of & freedom is expressing heroic
couplet narrated tales of eight virtuous women of antiquity, remarkable of chastity
sincerity & devotion to love.
English period of Literature (1385-1400)
During the final period of Chaucer literary career, sometime referred to as the
English period. In the English literature Chaucer tells the stories of a group
disparate, travelers on a journey, often sharp and funny was more innovative. The
best work of Chaucer life is English literature in “The Canterbury Tales” this book
is the masterpiece belong to Chaucer work. Chauser could finish 20 and only left 4
in an incomplete state.
4. Eastern Literature vs.
Western
  Western authors often take a lot of time to describe characters’ feelings

 It is easy to understand the characters’ perceptions in western novels

 Plots in eastern novels often features characters working as a team

Beginning in the Age of Discovery, western culture and eastern culture began to blend
with each other. Western culture has seriously influenced eastern culture, as can be seen
in literature, clothing, and entertainment. Although the east and west are mixed up with
the each other’s culture, they still retain their own features.

Emotions of characters

In the western novels, authors often take a lot of time to describe characters’ feelings. It
is easy to understand characters’ perceptions. The author directly tells the readers how
the character feels. Compared to eastern novels, writing styles are totally different. In
eastern novels it’s not so explicit. Instead, they explain the characters’ emotions by
describing reactions of an outsider. Therefore, readers often need to re-read pages to
find hints as to the motivations of the characters.

Dialogue

The strongest feature of eastern novels is definitely dialogue. Authors put a lot of implied
ideas in the dialog. For eastern culture, it’s unusual for people to show off their feelings,
so it’s also the same in writing. Writers won’t directly state how the characters feel, so
they do it in the dialog. Digging into their talking, the dialog can show the character
more vividly. In contrast, western books often use more inner monologue. Authors make
lots of similes to describe the characters’ inner world. As a result, readers find that
characters in the western novels are more vivid.

Story structure

Not only are writing methods different between East and West, but so are the plots.
Western novels often focus on one character, but eastern novels often make characters
rely on teamwork. Therefore, the number of characters in the eastern novels are
numerous; most of the time the main character is not someone who shows up in the first
chapter. This isn’t to say that western novels have no teamwork, but western writers
often use one character as the viewpoint for the whole story.

Also, unlike eastern novels, western novels are set around characters as they are
working to achieve their dreams; in eastern novels, on the other hand, characters are
intended to make a world a better place. They want social justice. This can be traced
back to history; most eastern countries were authoritarian regimes until World War, so
writers had more ideas about going against the government. Seeing the success of
western democracy, these authors, and their audiences, wanted to follow a similar path.

These are just a few differences between eastern and western novels. Due to these
cultures becoming dramatically close, both types of writing are getting more and more
similar. Some eastern novels which are written in a western novel format are more
popular than the old novels. And, unfortunately, eastern novels are losing their own
features to cater to this new market.
  William Shakespeare: What are
the seven ages of man?
In Act II, Scene 7 of William Shakespeare's "As You like It," the jaded, cynical,
and melancholy Jaques outlines what he sees as the seven ages of man,
opening with these famous lines:
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

He continues, then, to expound on the seven ages of man. They

are
1. The infant, mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.

2. The whining school-boy, with his satchel and shining morning face,
creeping like a snail unwillingly to school.

3. The lover, sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad made to his
mistress' eyebrow.

4. The soldier, full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, jealous in
honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, seeking the bubble reputation
even in the cannon's mouth.
(Pard refers to the leopard; the soldier's beard is being compared to a
leopard's whiskers.)

5. The justice, in fair round belly with good capon lin'd, with eyes severe
and beard of formal cut, full of wise saws and modern instances.
(A capon is a fattened chicken prepared as a delicacy, and lin'd here
means more like "stuffed." Proverbially, a capon refers to a bribe. Wise
saws refers to old sayings, and modern instances are trite sayings.)

6. The lean and slipper'd pantaloon, with spectacles on nose and

pouch on side, his youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide for his
shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, turning again toward childish
treble, pipes and whistles in his sound.
(A pantaloon is a foolish old man.)
7. Last scene of all that ends this strange eventful history, is second
childishness and mere oblivion; sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste,
sans everything.
(Here, mere means "complete." Second childishness and mere oblivion
is a fancy way of saying "old age and death.")

ANALYSIS OF POEM: WILFRED

OVEN 1914
Owen presents us with the theme of the destructive nature of war in 1914.
He regards it as halting the progress of civilization, either tearing it up or
forcing it to retreat (‘Art’s ensigns’ ‘furled’). The theme of sacrifice is also
introduced in the last line of the sonnet: ‘the need’ of ‘blood for seed.’