Literary appreciation is the ability to understand, enjoy and evaluate works of literature.

Literature may be in a form of short stories, novels, plays, essays, poetry. An example of poetry is Anecdote of a jar by Wallace Stevens. Another example is William Butter Yeats,Byzantine. A short story is about the human condition in life. Also it contains elements like plot, setting and characters which a novel and drama have too, the only difference is that novels have a lot of characters which make it lengthy, that help readers understand, visualize and get the main point of the story. An essay is a short piece of expository prose. It may be classified into familiar and formal. A familiar essay shares the writers personal experience while the formal essay explains a theory, reflections or expresses views on literature. Drama really differs to those kinds of literature mentioned earlier because it told through dialogue. Greek literature is the oldest and the most influential literature in the western world. This includes Greek mythology where there are gods, drama happens, triumphs, failures, hopes narrated thousand years ago. This literature is traditionally divided into types: epic, poems, plays, history, philosophical dialogues and treaties, legal speeches and political speeches. Then famous speech writers were Lysias, Isocrates, and Demosthenes. An epic is a poem containing heroic deeds and events to a culture or nation. In classical periods Greek dramas just evolved from the song and dance in the ceremonies honoring Dionysus at Athens. In the fifth century, tragedy was developed by the four greatest tragic dramatists in the history of theatre. Aeschylus who is the father of Greek tragedy, who wrote the trilogy Prometheus bound, Prometheus unbound, Prometheus the fire bringer. Then, theres Sophocles, Aristophanes and Euripides, the most tragic. Sophocles wrote the Antigone. The best known Greek new comedy writer during classical age is Menander. Thucydides made the history of Peloponnesian war. Herodotus is the father of history. There two major lyrical poets: Sappho and Pindar. In the Hellenistic period the chief poets were: Theocritus, Callimachus and Apollonius of Rhodes. One of the most valuable contributions in the Hellenistic period was the translation of the Old Testament into Greek. On Roman age great historians were: Timeous, Polybius. Iliad. The wrath of Achilles and the Trojan War! Everything happened all because of Helen, well a truce or an agreement over Helen was observed by Paris and Menelaus but Aphrodite interrupted in the battle by helping Paris and for that truce were broken. The wrath of Achilles was caused when Agamemnon, the commander in chief of the Trojan took Briseis away from Achilles. When Trojan Besieged the Greeks and when his dearest friend, Patroclus was killed in battle by Hector, ignited the Achilles wrath. Ares, God of war directed Achilles astray. A Bloody Vengeance, a wrong decision of by getting justice in the wrong way of Achilles. Achilles even kept hectors body. After that tragic incident is the start of the Trojan War. The big wooden Horse, the offering of the Greeks, the access to the city. There killings happened and also the death of Achilles, an arrow through his heels. Paris gave the golden apple of Eris. Goddess of discord, to Aphrodite. Then after the abduction of Helen. Paris accepted enmity of the Greeks just to have Helen. Love, power, wisdom, all three must be present for any part of life to have purpose. Paris did not focus on the vanity of the goddess but rather on the gifts. Paris has choices yet he chose to have Helen and accepted the hatred of the Greeks though he knows that will only create chaos between Trojans and Greeks. To be able to overcome such obstacles. A person must have an open mind.

Odyssey, the adventure, quest of the very bright Odysseus. A Greek hero of Ithaca. The quest started after the Trojan War. He was forced to wander for ten years before gods let him return home. First island where they landed they were imprisoned by Polyphemus, a one-eyed giant. Odysseus made a plan by exploiting the stupidity of polyphumus that enabled them to escape. After that adventure, they landed again on an island. Some of Odysseus men suffered and were transformed into pigs because they were tempted by Circe, an enchantress. They stayed on that island for one year. After all the adventures, Odysseus finally made it home. Then all his men disappeared due to the offense they committed against the sun of god. Odysseus overcomes the obstacles and temptations because he is eager to come home and is faithful to Penelope. Odysseus then met Athena in Ithaca and relates to him on what has been going on inside palace. And after that Odysseus finally met his father out the petty chieftains feasting daily in his palace, wasting his properties and also wooing his faithful wife, Penelope. Odysseus arranged a situation wherein all the suitors of Penelope were with him and he was armed on a room together with his son, Telemachus and the goddess Athena. Odysseus ruled Ithaca wisely that even enemies declare their loyalty to him.

Prometheus bound, Aeschylus wrote Prometheus bound with the message human spirit. Although Zeus physically subdues Prometheus, he fails to break his spirit. Prometheus is the forethinker titan, who defied or disobeyed Zeus, king of the gods. Zeus wanted to wipe out the human race so that urged Prometheus to steal ember at Olympus Prometheus has an instinctive or deep feeling for his race. Zeus planned the obstacles to wipe out mankind. That ember ignited or fuelled early humans intelligence. Prometheus stole that ember from Zeus for the sake of mankind. Because of that defiance; Zeus bound Prometheus to a rock to suffer unmercifully without reprieve or postponement of punishment. Hephaestus, the god of fire, Titan Oceanus of Oceanids, the gods with the ever living compassion or sympathy with those who suffer like Prometheus. In the end Zeus sends Prometheus in the very deep crater or abyss.