Literature is the best criticism of life

Literature is commonly defined as a “reflection of life”, which best suits the above topic. In above aphorism the word "reflection” covers all aspects of life ranging from thoughts to actions, from history to science, and theology from commoners to conquerors. A comprehensive view of literature includes every written record.

There is a restricted sense of literature employed for the types of writing which attract humans’ aesthetics, beauty in form and universality in tone. According to this sense, literature can be defined as “ the collection of subjective writings designed in an artistic manner which can provide aesthetic satisfaction, having topics of general human interest.”

Most people go for literature for pleasure but actually, it is rare that any piece of literature is free from any learning.

Many restless souls find their way into literature to bring some peace to their souls. They communicate their ideas with common people by using the channel of literature. This is only because of the compelling aesthetic nature of literature which attracts people from all classes of society.

Literature depicts the life of common people in contemporary society. There is a huge collection of writings which provides the social conditions of that time. For example, if anyone wants to learn about the European society of the 17 century, one must read Don Quixote by Cervantes is the best description of that time. Dramas of Shakespeare, poems of Spencer, translation of Caxton and the English Bible of Uryclif and his pamphlets can best describe the course of the Renaissance in Europe than any history written on the subject. Dramas of Euripides and Sophocles are good examples of Greek society.

A piece of literature is the off-shoot writer’s personality and the writer is the product of his age. In this way, literature provides us best criticism of life.