What makes a piece of writing considered literature?

Literature is generally considered writing that has lasting artistic, cultural, or intellectual value beyond its immediate practical purpose. It tends to demonstrate craft in language use, depth of meaning, and the ability to illuminate human experience in ways that resonate across time and different audiences. Works considered literature often reward close reading, revealing layers of meaning, complexity of character, or insight into the human condition. However, the boundary is not fixed. What counts as literature shifts with culture and time. Works once dismissed as popular entertainment, like Shakespeare's plays or Dickens's serialized novels, are now canonical. Scholars, critics, educators, and readers all play a role in deciding what earns the label, making it partly a social and institutional judgment as much as an aesthetic one.