Story and Cognition:Remarks on Functions of Literature in the View of Cognitive Poetics

Being a kind of poetics rather than an analytical methodology taken from cognitive linguistics,cognitive poetics investigates such general issue as the functions of literature,which characterizes it as being a poetics.Taking literature as a special form of cognition and communication with its special influence upon the development of human cognitive ability,cognitive poetics tries to make contribution to the investigation into the relation between literature and human cognition and communication.In the investigation cognitive poetics especially focuses on the genre of story,and brings forth the idea that story is a basic cognitive ability and this ability helps us to understand the world.This cognition-based idea helps to some extent promote literature and its studies by taking literature as ways of discovery,creation and increase of knowledge.Meanwhile with its development cognitive poetics may contribute more and more to the field of literature and human cognition.