Literature
With the development of language, the human imagination has found a way to create and communicate through the written word. A literary work can transport us into a fictional, fantastic new world, describe a fleeting feeling, or simply give us a picture of the past through novels, poems, tragedies, epic works, and other genres. Through literature, communication becomes an art, and it can bridge and bond people and cultures of different languages and backgrounds.
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Featured content, November 21, 2024
13 LGBTQ Writers You Should Read
Doesn’t matter whom you love.
Diagnosing 9 of Charles Dickens’s Most Famous Characters
Dickens had a knack for expertly portraying human diseases.
Where Does the Concept of a “Grim Reaper” Come From?
Harvester of souls since when?
How did Albert Camus die?
How did Albert Camus die?
African American literature
African American literature, body of literature written by Americans of African descent. Beginning in the pre-Revolutionary...
American literature
American literature, the body of written works produced in the English language in the United States. Like other national...
Yiddish literature
Yiddish literature, the body of written works produced in the Yiddish language of Ashkenazic Jewry (central and eastern European...
Icelandic literature
Icelandic literature, body of writings in Icelandic, including those from Old Icelandic (also called Old Norse) through Modern...
Literature Quizzes
Byways of German Literature Quiz
Think you know the major figures of German literature? Goethe, Schiller, Kafka, Sebald? That won’t help you here. Use this...
Literary Awards Quiz
The most prestigious award a writer can receive is the Nobel Prize for Literature. How well do you know the winners of this...
The Play’s the Thing
You’ll have grounds more relative than this quiz to catch your conscience about how much you know of the history of the theatre...
10 British Poets: A Quiz
This quiz will test your knowledge of ten notable poets from Great Britain. Find out how much you know about their lives...
Poets and Poetry of Great Britain Quiz
Whose book The Hunting of the Snark has been called the longest and best-sustained nonsense poem in the English...
Novels and Novelists Quiz
What was Arthur Conan Doyle’s actual profession? Who invented the historical novel? Settle in for this novel-length quiz...
American Writers Quiz
Who wrote Beloved? How about Leaves of Grass? Prepare to test your deepest knowledge of American writers...
Name the Novelist
Every answer in this quiz is the name of a novelist. How many do you know?
Literary Classics Quiz
Who wrote Moll Flanders? Who is the protagonist in Crime and Punishment? Haul your classics down from your...
Charlotte Brontë Quiz
What was Charlotte Brontë’s pseudonym? Which book remained unfinished at the time of Brontë’s death? Take this quiz to find...
Literature Videos
Literature Subcategories
Folk Literature & Fable
Step into the world of folklore, fables, legends, tall tales, and epics, in which heroes are known to undertake arduous journeys and dragons, fairies, and giants abound. Stories such as these circulated long before systems of writing were developed; ballads, folktales, poems, and the like were transmitted exclusively by word of mouth before written languages took over, and they continue to captivate listeners and readers to this day.
Articles
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Jean de La Fontaine
French poet
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vampire
legendary creature
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fable
literature
Fictional Characters
Here you'll find some of your favorite fictional characters from literature, film, television, and the like, whether it's the analytical mastermind Sherlock Holmes and his endearing associate Dr. Watson or the menacing and helmeted Darth Vader, the ill-tempered Donald Duck, or the teenage sleuth Nancy Drew.
Articles
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Don Quixote
fictional character
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Richard III
fictional character
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Hamlet
fictional character
Journalism
Extra, extra! Although the content and style of journalism and the medium through which it is delivered have varied significantly over the years, journalism has always given us a way to keep up with current events, so that we always have our fingers on the pulse.
Articles
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Seymour Hersh
American journalist
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Tim Russert
American journalist
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Edward R. Murrow
American journalist
Libraries & Reference Works
Looking to impress your friends with your expansive knowledge of historical events, philosophical concepts, obscure words, and more? We may be biased, but it seems fair enough to say that reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and textbooks have provided such a service for years (in some cases, hundreds or even thousands of years). You can look for them at your local public library, which likely stores books, manuscripts, journals, CDs, movies, and other sources of information and entertainment.
Articles
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Albrecht von Haller
Swiss biologist
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John James Audubon
American artist
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Athanasius Kircher
German Jesuit priest and scholar
Literatures of the World
Literature knows no geographical bounds; authors can be found in nearly all corners of the globe. Find out more about regional literary styles and forms.
Articles
- Spanish literature
- Irish literature
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New Journalism
American literary movement
Literary Criticism
Everyone's a critic. But not all literary criticism involves judging the quality of a text; it can also focus on interpreting the meaning of a work or evaluating an author's place in literary history.
Articles
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George Bernard Shaw
Irish dramatist and critic
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T.S. Eliot
American-English poet, playwright, and literary critic
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Roland Barthes
French critic
Literary Terms
Want to be able to distinguish your limericks from your haikus and your paeans from your panegyrics? Dive deep into literary terms and forms.
Articles
- nonfictional prose
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tragedy
literature
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sonnet
poetic form
Nonfiction
The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth! Or that's the idea, at least. Nonfiction works center on facts and real events. Although there is some debate about which kinds of literature qualify as nonfiction, the genre typically includes books in the categories of biography, memoir, science, history, self-help, cooking, health and fitness, business, and more.
Articles
- nonfictional prose
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blog
Internet
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essay
literature
Novels & Short Stories
novels and short stories have been enchanting and transporting readers for a great many years. There's a little something for everyone: within these two genres of literature, a wealth of types and styles can be found, including historical, epistolary, romantic, Gothic, and realist works, along with many more.
Articles
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Dracula
novel by Stoker
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The Castle of Otranto
novel by Walpole
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novel
literature
Oratory
speech and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, quoted above, are two iconic examples of successful oratory, as are Elizabeth I's speech to the troops at Tilbury and Winston Churchill's first speech as prime minister to the House of Commons.
Articles
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oratory
rhetoric
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Tecumseh
Shawnee chief
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Quintilian
Roman rhetorician
Plays
; and the stage is where you'll find performances of works by such famed playwrights as Anton Chekhov, Eugene O'Neill, and the Bard himself, among many others.
Articles
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Macbeth
work by Shakespeare
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A Doll’s House
play by Ibsen
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream
work by Shakespeare
Poetry
; sonnets, haikus, nursery rhymes, epics, and more are included.
Articles
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ballade
poetry and song
- light verse
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Beowulf
Old English poem
