"That which we call rose by any other name would smell as sweet"

Literature is a very difficult thing to put a label on. Too many it means something inspiring, to others it may mean simply a published work. Then there are unspoken guidelines applied to these definitions. If it is inspiring, to whom is it inspiring and what does it inspire? On the other hand, a published work, work published by a well renowned author, or a book published by a well-known publisher? The possibilities are endless. To me, literature is communication.

Communication can be through many different means. Some use their hand to communicate, sign language, some use writing, or most primitively, speaking. In some circumstances people visiting the Americas in early times communicated with Indians through drawings in the dirt, since visuals were the only thing they seemed to be able to commonly communicate with. In my opinion, communication doesn’t specifically have to be about something very important at all. An example that has previously been brought up was a grocery list. A grocery list can communicate needs, wants, ideas, and even reveal details about a person’s life.

For example if a person has listed; eggs, milk, butter, bread, coffee, sugar, then they may be someone who only needs the basics, who comes to the grocery store mainly to replenish. It may also reveal that they budget, buy the necessary means, and other non-essential items at a better time. This list for example also communicates this person may be a coffee drinker, or a baker, or may enjoy toast, or perhaps like sugar in their coffee. The possibilities for communication are endless. Again, maybe they just wanted coffee, or they needed eggs and milk. Perhaps even they had a recipe in mind and these ingredients were for a new coffee cake they wanted to try out. Even though this list is unpublished and may not be inspiring to anyone, it is communicating to another person, anyone who read it would know what this person wanted or needed.

Inspiration alone does not have to make something literature, songs at one point were poems until somebody put music to them, and even without the music some poems still have that flowing rhythmic, musical quality about them. Literature is not the judgment of what makes writing good or bad, or how knowledgeable a person is, it is the communication of an idea or thought important to one person, or even communication alone.