The goal of teaching is not merely knowledge acquisition, but also the acquisition of educational values. The aim of this thesis is to point out the possibility of education through literature, that is, literary works. The thesis is divided into three parts. The first two parts discuss the concepts of a literary text and education, whilst the third part connects the two terms with teaching literature. The first part is a brief overview of theoretical considerations of the literary text, as well as of reception theory and theory of interpretation of literary works. The second part is dedicated to education. There is no single definition of education, so this part offers an overview of different definitions of education and their basic propositions. This part also discusses the fundamental tasks of education, with emphasis placed on moral and aesthetic education, since these are most encouraged in literature classes. The third part deals with the importance of education throughout the history of teaching literature. Literature has had an important role in education in all historical periods so the thesis offers an overview of the historical development of education through literature. The works discussed are Plato’s and Aristotle’s contemplations of art and its educational function, as well as contemporary discussions on the potential for education through literature. The last chapter of the thesis deals with an analysis of works which have a pronounced educational component. Literary works from each of the three literary genres were selected as examples: the poem Warning, the fairytale How Potjeh Sought the Truth and the tragedy Antigone.