Literature Through the Ages and It's Psychological Effect

Literature reflects the individual and the society in which he lives. Various genres of literature can be written directly, in which the author states the theme and proves it – as in as essay – or it can be written indirectly, in which the author never states the theme but implies it in different ways. The poet, for example, creates a concrete picture to imply a more complex and abstract idea. With strategically placed rhyme – words the sound alike, meter – varying stressed rhythm, and stanza – major division; the poet packs a plethora of meaning into his brief writing, therefore making poetry the most economical genre. The tools that create the implied meaning include simile – an explicit comparison suck as "she is like a doll," and metaphor – an implicit comparison such as "she is a rose," in which "she" is the tenor – unknown, and "rose" is the vehicle – known. The main idea is the tenor and because the tenor and the vehicle have shared qualities you can make conclusions about the tenor. Personifications – giving abstractions and objects human characteristics – like "Mother Nature" and "Father Time," and symbols – things that represent something else – are often used as well to relay meaning and purpose in poetry and in all forms of literature.

Stories – the basis of literature – are a set of circumstances that imply a theme, and there are many different types of stories – all with their own purpose. The two basic types of written literature are short stories – contain one incident, are simplistic, and novels – long stories that are more complex and developed. These forms are advantageous because you can create your own heroes from your own experiences with your imagination. The other type of literature is visual art, such as drama – which has real people and depends primarily on dialogue, opera – which is music based, and film – semblance of reality. The advantage of this form of literature is that it is easy to follow and visual, but the disadvantage is... [continues]

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