Literature is authentic language, written with unusual care, skill, and language awareness. It is useful for teaching culture and civilization, but equally useful for teaching basic elements of language: grammar, vocabulary, rhythms, and registers. Literary skills are also widely used in everyday situations, with sophisticated literary techniques used in such a pervasive medium as advertising. Exercises in grouping words or grammatical categories in literary works, as in a poem, are easily undertaken in the language class and can uncover hidden layers of meaning. Other techniques include removing words or the title or jumbling the order of a poem's lines and asking students to supply the missing parts. Stylistic variation can be examined by using different means of comparing the same thing or person, as in a newspaper article versus a poem. Teachers must consider what kinds of texts to use, the best type of exercise for the medium, the kinds of introductory or comparative materials to use, specific advantages of the genres, and the placement of literature in the language syllabus. Variation in quality and register is desirable in choosing literary texts for the classroom. (MSE)