Didacticism is a term that refers to a particular philosophy in art. It highlights the idea that art itself should express some kind of meaningful life instruction. The main goal of didactic art is not to entertain, but to teach the audience a moral lesson.

Examples of didacticism can be found in much children's literature, as well as religious literature, parables, fables, anecdotes and sermons. The didactic can also be found in a great deal of classic literature.


Since about the modern period, didactic literature (and art) has gotten a bad reputation for being too direct and “preachy” in its attempt to instruct its readers toward a certain moral belief.

For this reason, the word didactic is used for literary texts that are laden with overly-informative or depressingly realistic subject matter. These stories tend to eschew the more elegant and pleasing details that would make the work seem to artistic (think about the Puritanical approach to literature). The didactic, then, has become a disparaging term referring to the forms of literature that are pretentiously dull, sermonizing, or erudite.

This view is a narrow one, however, and it should be noted that there are certainly great examples of literary works that manage to balance entertainment and artful deliver with the didactic message. Rather than being simply a form of art or entertainment, as the aesthetes (champions of “Art for Art’s Sake”) might desire, sound didacticism in literature attempts to offer something more.

Many critics argue that didacticism reduces literature to an instrument of dull moral instruction; nevertheless, didactic literature, done well, can entertain while also encouraging readers to reflect on their own actions and beliefs as well as the evils and immoralities around them.

Examples:

Fables: As Laura C Lambdin writes in A Companion to Old and Middle English Literature, "a fable, simply put, is a short didactic narrative that serves to exemplify the morality of specific human behaviors and characteristics." Thus, fables themselves are for all intents and purposes, didacticism itself. The most common type of didactic fable, and the one contemporary readers are still most familiar with, is the beast fable. The beast fable is usually a short story or poem in which animals talk and act like humans would. In this kind of fable, human failures, weaknesses, and behaviors are depicted anthropomorphically, which allows the human reader to witness his or her own human failings in a non-threatening, and hopefully revelatory way. Examples of excellent fables that employ the didactic technique include: “The Lion and the Shepherd” and “The Fox and the Cat” by Aesop.

Morality Plays: The best examples of early didactic literature are the morality plays of medieval Europe. These plays use allegorical characters to teach moral lessons. The most common themes portrayed by those characters are the good and bad human qualities told through the lens of the Seven Deadly Sins. These include lust or chastity, greed or generosity, wrath or leniency, and gluttony or parsimony. Another theme is that of repentance and redemption for fallen individuals. Historically, morality plays were a transition from Christian mystery plays to secular Renaissance drama. Examples of excellent morality plays that employ the didactic technique include: The anonymously written The Somonyng of Everyman(Middle English),  Condemnation des banquets (1507, French), and The Castle of Perseverance (c. 1425, Middle English).

Literature: Besides entertainment and pleasure, didactic literature should suggest something that would improve the morality of the audience. Although literary critics have denounced didactic literature for its tediousness, it may still influence moral and ethical improvements in its readers, but especially in the characters. Examples of excellent narrative fiction that employ the didactic technique include: A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1851-2) by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678) by John Bunyan.