Overview
Literature in the humanities encompasses a wide range of written forms—including poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction—that explore human experience, imagination, and cultural values. Literature connects us to different historical moments, worldviews, and emotional truths, making it a cornerstone of the humanities.
Key Literary Categories
- Poetry: Language arranged for aesthetic and rhythmic qualities. Explores emotion, beauty, and abstraction.
- Drama: Written for performance. Often deals with conflict, morality, or social dynamics through dialogue and staging.
- Fiction: Imaginative prose works including short stories, novellas, and novels. Explores themes of identity, justice, love, and society.
- Nonfiction: Essays, memoirs, speeches, and philosophical texts grounded in real events or arguments.
Major Periods in Literary History
- Classical: Works from Greece and Rome, including Homer, Sophocles, Virgil, and Plato.
- Medieval: Religious, epic, and allegorical literature like Beowulf and The Divine Comedy.
- Renaissance: Celebrated humanism and individuality; notable authors include Shakespeare, Cervantes, and Montaigne.
- 17th–18th Century: Satire, rationalism, and early novels. Think Swift, Pope, and Voltaire.
- 19th Century: Romanticism, Realism, and early Modernism (e.g., Dickens, Dostoevsky, Whitman).
- 20th Century to Present: Modernism, Postmodernism, and global voices such as Woolf, Achebe, Morrison, and Márquez.
Quick Tip
When studying literature in the humanities, focus on how the text reflects its historical context and explores universal themes like freedom, mortality, identity, and love.