Literature
Overview
Literature is the art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....

 of written works, and is not bound to published sources (although, under circumstances unpublished sources can be exempt). The word literature literally means "acquaintance with letters" and the pars pro toto
Pars pro toto
Pars pro toto is Latin for "a part for the whole" where the name of a portion of an object or concept represents the entire object or context....

term "letters" is sometimes used to signify "literature," as in the figures of speech
Figure of speech
A figure of speech is the use of a word or words diverging from its usual meaning. It can also be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words in it, as in idiom, metaphor, simile,...

 "arts
ARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....

 and letters" and "man of letters." The two major classifications of literature are poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

 and prose
Prose
Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...

.

"Literature" is differentiated from popular and ephemeral classes of writing.
Quotations

La literatura es una batalla silenciosa en la que uno ha de ganar, o de perder; palmo a palmo, un territorio quo no es suyo con armas que no le pertenecen. :(Literature is a silent battle in which everyone has to win or lose, a territory that is not yours, not with weapons that belong to him.) :Juan José Millás

When people cannot write good literature it is perhaps natural that they should lay down rules how good literature should be written.

George Saintsbury, A Last Vintage, p. 172 Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895).

A beautiful literature springs from the depth and fullness of intellectual and moral life, from an energy of thought and feeling, to which nothing, as we believe, ministers so largely as enlightened religion.

William Ellery Channing, p. 385.

God be thanked for books! they are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages. Books are the true levelers. They give to all who will faithfully use them the society, the spiritual presence, of the best and greatest of our race,

William Ellery Channing, p. 385.

Be less concerned about the number of books you read, and more about the good use you make of them. The best of books is the Bible.

Christian Scriver, p. 386.

The great standard of literature as to purity and exactness of style is the Bible.

Hugh Blair, p. 386.

Thou mayest as well expect to grow stronger by always eating, as wiser by always reading.

Thomas Fuller, p. 386.

It is right for you, young men, to enrich yourselves with the spoils of all pure literature; but he who would make a favorite of a bad book, simply because it contains a few beautiful passages, might as well caress the hand of an assassin because of the jewelry which sparkles on his fingers.

Joseph Parker, p. 386.

 
x
OK