Literature
With the development of language, the human imagination has found a way to create and communicate through the written word. A literary work can transport us into a fictional, fantastic new world, describe a fleeting feeling, or simply give us a picture of the past through novels, poems, tragedies, epic works, and other genres. Through literature, communication becomes an art, and it can bridge and bond people and cultures of different languages and backgrounds.
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Featured content, April 11, 2025
Why Do We Say “A Pair of Pants”?
Well, there are more than a pair of answers.
9 Obscure Literary Terms
Know your eye rhymes.
What jobs did Sir Walter Scott have?
What jobs did Sir Walter Scott have?
5 Good Books That Inspired Bad Deeds
Words gone wild.
Persian literature
Persian literature, body of writings in New Persian (also called Modern Persian), the form of the Persian language written...
Japanese literature
Japanese literature, the body of written works produced by Japanese authors in Japanese or, in its earliest beginnings, at...
African American literature
African American literature, body of literature written by Americans of African descent. Beginning in the pre-Revolutionary...
American literature
American literature, the body of written works produced in the English language in the United States. Like other national...
Literature Quizzes
Poe’s Scary Stories Quiz
What word does the bird speak in “The Raven”? What story comes to life in “The Fall of the House of Usher”? Test your knowledge...
Nancy Drew and the Case of the Online Quiz
What was Nancy Drew’s first mystery? What other teen detectives did Nancy collaborate with? Test your knowledge of Nancy...
Quick Quiz: Wuthering Heights
Love, loss, drama, and the strict social conventions of the 19th century—how much do you really know about Wuthering...
Fictional Worlds Quiz
Whether you’re interested in Wonderland or Westeros, there comes a time when we all want to escape our reality for another....
The Eugene O'Neill Universe Quiz
What was Eugene O’Neill’s only comedy? Which of his plays is set entirely in a bar? Eugene O’Neill fans, look out: this quiz...
49 Questions from Britannica’s Most Popular Literature Quizzes
Literature is a broad term that—among Britannica’s quizzes, at least—can include everything from American novels...
Ultimate Vocabulary Test: Part One
You may be smarter than a fifth grader…but what about an eleventh grader? Press “start” on this quiz to find out how many...
Can You Tell Which of These Things Were Named After People?
Which snack is named after a clergyman? Which nut is named after a politician? Find out if you can tell which words derive...
How We Write Quiz
Whether it’s Shakespeare or Stephen King, you probably know a lot about your favourite writer. But what about how writing...
Quiz: The Writing of John le Carré
Tinker, tailor, soldier…quiz? See how much you know about the prolific career of John le Carré right here.
Literature Videos
Literature Subcategories
Folk Literature & Fable
Step into the world of folklore, fables, legends, tall tales, and epics, in which heroes are known to undertake arduous journeys and dragons, fairies, and giants abound. Stories such as these circulated long before systems of writing were developed; ballads, folktales, poems, and the like were transmitted exclusively by word of mouth before written languages took over, and they continue to captivate listeners and readers to this day.
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proverb
folk literature
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guslar
Balkan singers
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praise song
African literature
Fictional Characters
Here you'll find some of your favorite fictional characters from literature, film, television, and the like, whether it's the analytical mastermind Sherlock Holmes and his endearing associate Dr. Watson or the menacing and helmeted Darth Vader, the ill-tempered Donald Duck, or the teenage sleuth Nancy Drew.
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Sherlock Holmes
fictional character
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Batman
fictional character
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the Avengers
fictional superhero team
Journalism
Extra, extra! Although the content and style of journalism and the medium through which it is delivered have varied significantly over the years, journalism has always given us a way to keep up with current events, so that we always have our fingers on the pulse.
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Hunter S. Thompson
American journalist
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Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
Swedish journalists and authors
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Dorothy Thompson
American journalist and writer
Libraries & Reference Works
Looking to impress your friends with your expansive knowledge of historical events, philosophical concepts, obscure words, and more? We may be biased, but it seems fair enough to say that reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and textbooks have provided such a service for years (in some cases, hundreds or even thousands of years). You can look for them at your local public library, which likely stores books, manuscripts, journals, CDs, movies, and other sources of information and entertainment.
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Newberry Library
library, Chicago, Illinois, United States
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James D. Dana
American geologist and mineralogist
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Claude Bernard
French scientist
Literatures of the World
Literature knows no geographical bounds; authors can be found in nearly all corners of the globe. Find out more about regional literary styles and forms.
Articles
Literary Criticism
Everyone's a critic. But not all literary criticism involves judging the quality of a text; it can also focus on interpreting the meaning of a work or evaluating an author's place in literary history.
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Edward Said
American professor and literary critic
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Harold Bloom
American literary critic and author
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Charles Baudelaire
French author
Literary Terms
Want to be able to distinguish your limericks from your haikus and your paeans from your panegyrics? Dive deep into literary terms and forms.
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novel
literature
- nonfictional prose
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tragedy
literature
Nonfiction
The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth! Or that's the idea, at least. Nonfiction works center on facts and real events. Although there is some debate about which kinds of literature qualify as nonfiction, the genre typically includes books in the categories of biography, memoir, science, history, self-help, cooking, health and fitness, business, and more.
Articles
- journalism
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The Feminine Mystique
work by Friedan
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The Diary of a Young Girl
work by Frank
Novels & Short Stories
novels and short stories have been enchanting and transporting readers for a great many years. There's a little something for everyone: within these two genres of literature, a wealth of types and styles can be found, including historical, epistolary, romantic, Gothic, and realist works, along with many more.
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The Hunchback of Notre Dame
novel by Hugo
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A Farewell to Arms
novel by Hemingway
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Emma
novel by Austen
Oratory
speech and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, quoted above, are two iconic examples of successful oratory, as are Elizabeth I's speech to the troops at Tilbury and Winston Churchill's first speech as prime minister to the House of Commons.
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Patrick Henry
American statesman
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Meister Eckhart
German theologian and mystic
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Winston Churchill
prime minister of United Kingdom
Plays
; and the stage is where you'll find performances of works by such famed playwrights as Anton Chekhov, Eugene O'Neill, and the Bard himself, among many others.
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Pygmalion
play by Shaw
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A Raisin in the Sun
play by Hansberry
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Our Town
play by Wilder
Poetry
; sonnets, haikus, nursery rhymes, epics, and more are included.
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metre
prosody
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sonnet
poetic form
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The Waste Land
poem by Eliot
