文学是以语言为手段塑造形象来反映社会生活、表达作者思想感情的一种艺术。起源于人类的生产劳动。最早出现的是口头文学，一般是与音乐联结为可以演唱的抒情诗歌。最早形成书面文学的有中国的《诗经》、印度的《罗摩衍那》和古希腊的《伊利昂纪》等。欧洲传统文学理论分类法将文学分为诗、散文、戏剧三大类。中国先秦时期将以文字写成的作品都统称为文学，魏晋以后才逐渐将文学作品单独列出。现代通常将文学分为诗歌、小说、散文、戏剧四大类别。(Literature is an art that uses language as a means to shape images to reflect social life and express the author's thoughts and feelings. It was originated in human's productive labor. The one emerged earliest is the oral literature, which is generally a singable lyric poetry in association with music. The earliest form of written literature includes China's The Book of Songs, India's Ramayana, ancient Greek's Iliad of Homer and so on. The traditional European literature theory classification method divides literature into three categories: poetry, prose and drama. In the pre-Qin period of China, all works written in characters are collectively referred to as literature, after Wei and Jin Dynasties literary works are gradually separately listed. In modern times, literature is usually divided into four categories: poetry, novel, prose, drama.)