THE EVOLUTION OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: TIME LINE FROM ORAL TRADITION TO MODERN NOVEL - Essay Example

The storyteller was originally a seer or teacher who guided the souls of his listeners through the world of mystery. The development of children’s literature began in the later half of the 18th century. The late development may be attributed to the social and economic factors. Before the development of the children’s literature, children were considered as young adults and literature related to their particular needs and understanding was not considered necessary. Secondly before the invention of printing press book making was considered too expensive and making a book other than for the purpose of instruction was not considered wise.

So entertainment books for children were simply out of question. Lastly with the spread of education and the rise of literacy level there emerged a large number of writers who found a huge and economically stable market for the growth of children’s literature. For better understanding of the evolution of children’s literature, it would be pertinent to divide it into different eras. The web page of Mary E Brown (updated in 2000) divides the history into following parts: The ancient world consisted of the period when children were not considered important for developing their literature.

Nevertheless oral tradition was very common and children did gain a lot of benefit out of it. Adults narrated the stories to young children who enjoyed them and made them their own. There were different topics that were of particular interest for the children. Whereas adults enjoyed love stories, children enjoyed adventure stories with a villain, usually a monster destroyed by the hero. For this reason epics of Homer, Illiad, the Trojan War and the Odyssey were greatly admired by the children.

One of the earliest known stories of the Gaelic and British Celts is the epic Táin Bó Chuailgné, the "Raiding of the Cattle of Cooley", in which the hero, Cuchulainn, performed his