Changes

'''Literature''' is literally "acquaintance with letters" as in the first sense given in the [[Oxford English Dictionary]] (from the [[Latin]] ''littera'' meaning "an individual written character ([http://urantia.org/cgi-bin/webglimpse/mfs/usr/local/www/data/papers?link=http://mercy.urantia.org/papers/paper66.html&file=/usr/local/www/data/papers/paper66.html&line=110#mfs alphabet]"). The term has generally come to identify a collection of [[text]]s or works of [[The Arts|art]], which in Western culture are mainly prose, both fiction and non-fiction, [[drama]] and [[poetry]].  In much of, if not all, the world texts can be [[oral]] as well and include such [[genre]]s as epic, legend, [[myth]], ballad, plus other forms of oral poetry, and folktale.

'''Literature''' is literally "acquaintance with letters" as in the first sense given in the [[Oxford English Dictionary]] (from the [[Latin]] ''littera'' meaning "an individual written character ([http://urantia.org/cgi-bin/webglimpse/mfs/usr/local/www/data/papers?link=http://mercy.urantia.org/papers/paper66.html&file=/usr/local/www/data/papers/paper66.html&line=110#mfs alphabet]"). The term has generally come to identify a collection of [[text]]s or works of [[The Arts|art]], which in Western culture are mainly prose, both fiction and non-fiction, [[drama]] and [[poetry]].  In much of, if not all, the world texts can be [[oral]] as well and include such [[genre]]s as epic, legend, [[myth]], ballad, plus other forms of oral poetry, and folktale.

Nations can have literatures, as can corporations, philosophical schools or historical periods. Popular  belief commonly holds that the literature of a nation, for example, comprises the collection of texts which make it a whole nation.  The [[Hebrew Bible]], Persian]] ''[[Shahnama]]'', the Indian ''[[Mahabharata]]'', ''[[Ramayana]]'' and ''[[Thirukural]]'', the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]'', ''[[Beowulf]]'', and the [[Constitution of the United States]], all fall within this definition of a kind of literature.

Nations can have literatures, as can corporations, philosophical schools or historical periods. Popular  belief commonly holds that the literature of a nation, for example, comprises the collection of texts which make it a whole nation.  The [[Hebrew Bible]], Persian ''[[Shahnama]]'', the Indian ''[[Mahabharata]]'', ''[[Ramayana]]'' and ''[[Thirukural]]'', the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]'', ''[[Beowulf]]'', and the [[Constitution of the United States]], all fall within this definition of a kind of literature.

More generally, one can equate a literature with a collection of stories, poems, and plays that revolve around a particular topic. In this case, the stories, poems and plays may or may not have nationalistic implications. The Western [[canon|Canon]] forms one such literature.

More generally, one can equate a literature with a collection of stories, poems, and plays that revolve around a particular topic. In this case, the stories, poems and plays may or may not have nationalistic implications. The Western [[canon|Canon]] forms one such literature.