Literature can be a very complex subject, but does anyone really know what it is? "Literature, in its broadest sense, is everything that has ever been written"(Literature, 1). "But the word literature in its strictest sense, means more than the printed words"(Literature, 1). "Almost every literary work includes four elements: character, plot, theme, and style"(Literature, 3). Characters are the objects or people who are being affected by the story (Literature, 3). The "Plot is the sequence of incidents or events of which a story or play is composed"(Arp, 1711). The foundation of the story is the theme, which gives the general idea of the story (Literature, 3). And last but not least, the style is the way a writer uses words to create literature"(Literature, 3). This was just a brief overview of the elements of literature, but these are not the only things about literature you need to know. Hopefully after reading this paper you, the reader, will have knowledge of some of the ages of literature, the forms of literature, and the difference between commercial and literary fiction.
             To find out the significance of literature today, we must first look at the ages of literary works. Although there is speculation, no one is really sure where the first piece of literature was produced. So for the sake of this paper we will start with the Epic and Lyric Ages. The Epic ages, was when the Greeks first major forms of literature arose (Literature, 7). This age "reached its height with the poems of Homer. Next came the Lyric age that brought us poets like "Sappho, who sang of love, and Pindar, whose odes celebrated Greek victories"(Literature, 7). The Attic Ages came next (Literature, 7). This is the age where "prose and poetry flourished," this is when Plato and Aristotle blessed us with there literary works (Literature, 7). After many years of
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