the history of literature follows closely the development of civilization. when defined exclusively as written work, ancient egyptian literature, along with sumerian literature, are considered the world's oldest literatures. the primary genres of the literature of ancient egypt—didactic texts, hymns and prayers, and tales—were written almost entirely in verse; while use of poetic devices is clearly recognizable, the prosody of the verse is unknown. most sumerian literature is apparently poetry, as it is written in left-justified lines, and could contain line-based organization such as the couplet or the stanza,