1
The power of the artistic word
Textbook: pp. 3–13
GoalUnderstand literature as the art of the word and tell the artistic image and the literary kinds apart.
New words
art of the word · so‘z san’atiartistic image · badiiy obrazoral literature · og‘zaki adabiyotwritten literature · yozma adabiyot
Explanation
Literature is the art created through words. Science explains the world with logic and proof, while art shows spiritual truth through feeling. A writer paints a scene from life and fills it with his own thought and emotion; such a living picture is called an artistic image. Literature lives in oral form (folk oral creativity) and in written form. Works fall into three big kinds: lyric (feeling), epic (the telling of events) and dramatic (written to be performed on stage).
Worked examples
Example: “It rained” is plain news; if a poet says “the sky burst into tears”, that is an artistic image.
Example: a short poem about a feeling is lyric; a hero’s adventure told as a story is epic; a text written as stage dialogue is dramatic.
Class activity
Think of a work you like and justify in one sentence whether it is lyric, epic or dramatic.
Practice
1
How does literature differ from science?
Literature shows truth through feeling; science does it through logic and proof.
2
What is an artistic image?
A living picture of life infused with the creator’s thought and feeling.
3
Name the three kinds of literature.
Lyric, epic and dramatic.
4
Why can the word be an “art”?
Because beauty and feeling are created through words, and the image touches the reader’s heart.