What Is Literature

She had barely uttered the word

And I was gone with the wind

Attired in the costly clothing of my colonial master

Enduring the  ruthless pains of my mothers past

Clad in nothing but heavy, clanky chains, relentless fear and hunger

My tears quenching my thirst every now and again

A baton, my only form of reinforcement

Entertainment, the rhythmic whipping of my sisters

My brothers being torn hardheartedly by the guard dogs

If only the words could escape their lips

Just to feel the sting of the cut to the flesh, almost to the bone wounds

To feel the branding of the whip

That Sic Solomon arrogantly held.

For you see

I was born into slavery

In Black River, Louisiana

‘And life with Massa Kilpatrick

Were some of the worst days

Was ever seed in the world

You tink I lie

I got the scars on my old body to show to this day

I even seed them put the men and women in the stock

With they hands screwed down through holes in the board

And they feets tied together'

And they naked behinds to the world’

And then I heard her say

You are on the right track Mark

Literature does allow for freedom of thought and expression

It is indeed an exploration of the works of history, culture and different periods,

making provision for imagination and creative writing

allowing you to travel through ages and periods

with the magic of figurative language and literary devices

And then I sat on the sunset

My thoughts entertaining the queen

If I failed to win this bet

To me she’ll be so mean.

Very good Judea

I like the rhythm of your last piece,

a perfect demonstration of rhyming couplets in poetry

a very artistic form of literature.

So then class

Having said all this,

What then is literature?

Yes Lily

I can see you bubbling

Lets hear you

Researchers have admitted...

Researchers?

oh i see we're delving deep

Researchers you say Lily?

Tell me more my child

Oh yes Teacher

haven't you read at all?

Moore et al, Bleich etc.

Need i say more?

Seems like I need to do some research

Go on my Dear.

There is no one way to define literature

But…

I think it is a rather complex, sophisticated way of putting words into sound, rhyme and rhythm

But teacher!

What about the novels?

They don’t have any rhythm

Teacher may I continue?

As I was saying Judea

TO BE CONTINUED>>>……