Literature
as an oral or written work, has a variety of
functions for the audience. The main functions
include recreational function, educational, aesthetic,
moral, and religious.
Literature has recreational function
because it can give entertainment that
make the readers or audiences relax. Then, educational
function means literature also can educate the readers. Aesthetically, literature can give
a beauty itself. Beside giving a beauty, literature also can provide
moral values or the values of the good life, and it’s called
moral function. And the last is religious
function that gives religious values
can be imitated. But
Jakob Sumardjo (1984:
14) said that
if a piece of work is very attractive, but it contains a misleading experience of human life, the work does not deserve
to be called literature. Thus, to
be able to feel the usefulness of literature
in our lives, we should
know how the
right way to appreciate and know well about it.
Literature
has some definitions. Robert Frost stated that literature is sometimes defined
as anything written. Beside that, we can also say that literature defined as
the work of an art, which brings about universal ideals and interest.
Literature can be classified into any writing and verbal works of art. It has a
sense of entertaining display and provides pleasure. It may consist of text
based on factual information and fiction.
There
are three genres of literature. Poetry, prose, and drama.
Poetry is an arrangement of words
containing meaning and express ideas, experiences, or emotion with imaginative
language. The characteristic of poetry is using sounds of words and the rhymes
of phrases. It has some elements, such as rhyme, rhytm, figurative language,
symbolysm, subject matter, theme, and imagery.
Prose is a form of language which
applies ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than
rhythmic structure. It consists of those written within the common flow of
conversation in sentence and paragraphs. The forms of prose are biography,
essay, novel, short story, etc.
Prose
has six elements, and there are theme, setting, plot, character, conflict, and
point of view. Theme is the idea about the story. Setting is about place and
time. Plot is arrangement of events in the story. Character can be good
(protagonist) and bad (antagonist). Conflict is the problem in the story. And
point of view is how the author tells the story, as the first person or the
third person.
Drama is the theatrical dialogue
performed presented on stage, is divided into acts and has many scenes. It has
some features, such as staging directions, moral value, a list of characters,
and it is written to be performed. The types of drama are comedy, musical,
tragedy, opera, etc.
The
elements of drama are almost same with fiction prose. There are theme, setting,
plot, character, conflict, point of view, moral value, dialogue, and drama
design.
All
of literary work is always related to backgrounds, author, readers, other
literature, and an entity in itself.
Literary
appreciation is to analyze, criticize and understand literature. It is the
ability to study, understand and appreciate the famous or noteworthy literature
works. It refers to the evaluation of works of imaginative literature as an
intellectual or academic exercise. In this process the reader interprets,
evaluates or classifies a literary work with a view to determining the
artistic.
Literary appreciation can be done gradually.
The first stage is to know and enjoy. At this stage, we are dealing with a
masterpiece. Then we take an action such as read, see or watch, and listen to a
literary work. The second stage is appreciated. At this stage we feel the
benefits or value of literary works that have been enjoyed. This benefits
relate to the usability of itself. For example, give pleasure, amusement,
satisfaction, and expand the mind and outlook on life. The next stage is
understanding. At this stage, we take action researching and analyzing the
elements that build works of literature, both elements of intrinsic and
extrinsic elements. By doing it, we can conclude the literary work wether good
or not and useful or not for people. The fourth stage is full and total
comprehension. At this stage, we make a further analysis of the previous stage,
then make the interpretation of literary works and make the argument based on
the analysis that had been done in the previous stage. The last is the
application or implementation stage. All the values, ideas, insights absorbed
at earlier stages properly internalized, so that people can realize the
literary values attitudes and behavior in daily.
In appreciating literary work, we
get a lot of benefits that can improve our language skills, increase the
cultural knowledge, develop creativity and sense, and also support the formation of characters.
References:
Sumardjo, Jakob. 1984. Memahami Kesusastraan. Bandung:
Penerbit Alumni.
http://www.anneahira.com/pengertian-sastra.html
(accessed on March 23,
2014)
