Introduction to Literature aligns to an introductory college-level literary analysis course.
The course engages students in close readings and critical analyses of the literary genres of the epic, poetry, drama, and prose, including novels, short stories, and essays.
Traditional literary studies distinguish between the artistic object, or primary source, and its scholarly treatment in a critical text, or secondary source.
Primary sources denote the traditional objects of analysis in literary criticism, including texts from all literary genres, such as fiction, poetry, or drama.
Literary Studies is the study of written works of the imagination, of which poetry, drama and narrative fiction constitute today the most familiar types or genres.
Most students and teachers of literature, however, see it as a more complex matter.