Literature

For thousands of years, literature has inspired human souls. They have educated us about a myriad of topics, and they have stirred up our creativity. From the Epic of Gilgamesh to modern books, we witness the power of literature on a daily basis. Ever since I was a child, I read books regularly. Now, I’m almost thirty-five years old, and I still read books all of the time. It is essential to study legendary writers when they have been involved in progressive change, many of them have focused on expressing many truths, and some have lived inspirational lives. One of the great books that I have read recently was the Official Guide to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture book. It had an overview of history, its graphics were amazing, and it focused on the truth that African American culture is very beautiful. Also, if anyone wants to read great literature, he or she should read stories from Maya Angelou. She was a legendary writer who eloquently described life among black Americans and life in general. She represented an gracious soul who was always willing to help out the younger generation. Maya Angelou was a heroic civil rights leader who was a close friend of both Malcolm X and Dr. King . He even travel into Africa to work with Malcolm X in helping form connections with African human beings. Now, she is with the ancestors, but her power eternally shines through forever and ever.


There are tons of concepts in writing. These themes are so important to know because literature is never monolithic. It is part of the way in which stories are formed or devised. Symbolism in literature is when a symbol is used to represent something. It can be simplistic or complicated. Symbolism can be used to create meaning and emotion in a story. Writers use metaphors and allegories to help create symbolism in literary works. A metaphor used words like or as near them. An allegory is an extended allegory. An allegory can be an entire story, poem, or book with symbolism that deals with a literary piece. Alliteration is a term to outline a literary device that when a series of words begin with a consonant sound. Foreshadowing is a literary device in which a writer dives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story. It can appear at the beginning of story, a chapter, and it helps the reader develop expectations about upcoming events. Giving non-human entities human characteristics is called personification. It is used to enhance meaning in poems and in other forms of literature.

Onomatopoeia is a poetic structure of words to show how something sounds. One example of onomatopoeia is a poem about a stream written in a way to initiate the sound of a stream. Literature can use a paraphrase or restating a statement in different words than the original text (while keeping the meaning and sense of the original source the same). Poetry is made up of stanzas or it can be one stanza. A  pentameter is a meter that means the iamb is repeated five times. So iambic pentameter is a line of poetry with five iambs. People can draw a row of five short lines on a piece of paper to create iambs. One iamb is one unstressed syllable and one stressed.  The term euphemism refers to polite, indirect expressions that replace words and phrases considered harsh and impolite, or which suggest something unpleasant. A soliloquy is a super important monologue given by a character in a play who is alone on the stage. Think Hamlet's "To Be or Not To Be" speech.

When anyone studies or reads literature, excitement comes about. You can engage in new worlds or increase insights about the various issues of life. Literature motivates the soul because writing is part of the greatness of human expression. Religious books like the Torah and the New Testament, cuisine books, magazines, and other forms of prose are common place. With the Internet, digitized literature is more popular than ever. Today, we live in a new time. Likewise, we take the time to analyze prose and appreciate its sacrosanct value.

Some good news is that Sister Tera Hunter, who is Princeton University professor, won two book awards from the American Historical Association. These awards are the Joan Kelly Memorial Prize in women’s history and/or feminist theory as well as the Littleton-Griswold Prize in U.S. law and society from the American Historical Association. She wrote a book on the history of slavery in America. I congratulate her.


By Timothy