STUDIES IN ENGLISH LITERATURE. DEFINITIONS. I. LITERATURE AND ITS DEPARTMENTS. 1. Literature (Lat. literatura, from litera, a letter), in its most general import, is the collective body of literary productions preserved in writing; but, in its specific sense, it includes only those writings that come within the sphere of rhetoric, or the literary art. I. The definition excludes from the category of literature all 2. Classification by Form.-As regards the form of expression, literary productions are divided into two classesprose and verse (poetry). |