Abstract:
Literature is a reflection of the numerous colours that layout in society. We all
know that literature mirrors society. What happens in a society is reflected in
literary works in one form or another. The literal meaning of literature is the art
of written work in different forms, such as, poetry, plays, stories, prose, fiction
etc. It may also consist of texts based on information as well as imagination.
Literature is not confined to fiction and does not simply tell stories or poems for
some sort of entertainment. It dwells deep inside the minds of people, brings the
society on paper, turns the tables towards the follies and shines that are found
around in every society and talks about the important aspects that help a man to
grow and live in the society. There have been many areas that are covered and
voiced in literature that portray the essential aspects that were never talked out
candidly. Percy Bysshe Shelley in his masterpiece A Defence of Poetry has said
that poets are -the unacknowledged legislators of mankind.I- (Shelly, A
Defence of Poetry).The function of a legislator is to lay down the law, a settled
course of action that men may follow. All literary works show us various
aspects of the society from politics, economics, education and culture, via
various genres of literature from time to time. Literature is considered to be the
criticism of life because it mirrors the society, people and the time in which it is
produced. Conventionally, literature holds a mirror to life. Corroborating this
idea of connection of society and literature, Hippolyte Taine, a French critic
gives a scientific approach to the study of literature through his theory of race,
milieu and moment.
