LITERATURE - Characters & incidents – wholly or partly

• Greek litera (letter) imaginary

• Total of creative, imaginative, durable writings belonging ▪ Non-fiction
to a given language or people of the past & present - Composed of works of narrative prose dealing
• Faithfully expresses & reproduces life in an artistic manner with or offering opinions or conjectures upon facts
by focusing on the significant human experience and reality
• “All the best that has been thought or said in this world.” - Primary purpose is to disseminate information or
– Matthew Arnold (English poet) express an idea in a direct manner
• Writings which expression & form, in connection with • Poetry
ideas of permanent and universal interest, are - Unit of thought expressed in a verse & a group of
characteristic or essential features, as poetry, romance, thoughts expressed in a stanza
history, biography, essays, etc. - Presents regular rhythm (rhyme & meter)
- Appeals more to our emotions & passions
ABOUT VS. OF o Types of poetry:
• Knowledge about literature ▪ Narrative
o Accumulating facts about: - Tells a story following a sequence of events
- Literary contexts ▪ Lyric
- Dates - Expresses the emotions & feelings of a poet
- Authors - Has the form & quality of a song
- Titles of texts ▪ Dramatic
- Names of conventions - Presents in dialogue or pantomime a story
- Literary terms involving conflicts or contrasts of character
• Knowledge of literature - Intended to be acted on the stage
o Better expressed in terms of pleasure & enjoyment
rather than of accumulation of facts, however valuable KINDS OF FICTION
those facts may sometimes be • Short story
- A prose narrative of limited length, usually shorter than a
QUESTIONS IN LITERATURE CLASSES novel
• Low-order questions • Novel
- retrieve factual information, literal meanings, or the - A fictitious prose narrative of considerable length &
basic propositions or content of a text complexity
• High-order questions • Fable
- involve learner’s own responses, inferences, knowledge, - A short tale conveying a moral or a principle of behavior,
& experience of the world often with animals or inanimate objects as characters
• Open questions • Legend
- open to exploration & probing investigation - A non-historical or unverifiable story handed down by
• Closed questions tradition from earlier times & popularly accepted as
- require above all an accurate, information-based historical
response • Parable
*closed, low-order questions focus on the factual content - A short allegorical story designed to convey some truth,
of a text; open, high-order questions focus on the religious principle, or moral lesson
imaginative or symbolic content of a text or the content of • Mythology
meaning which it generates - A body of myths that belong to a particular people or
culture & tell about their ancestors, heroes, gods, &
GENERAL DIVISIONS OF LITERATURE
other supernatural beings & history
• Prose
• Fairy tale
- Unit of thought expressed in a sentence & a group of
- A prose narrative with supernatural & magical events in
thoughts expressed in a paragraph
which there is always a happy ending
- Does not consider use of rhythm
- Appeals more to our reason & intellect
o Types of prose:
▪ Fiction
- Composed of works of imaginative narration in
prose form
KINDS OF NON-FICTION • Elegy
• History - A mournful, melancholy, or plaintive poem, especially a
- A recorded narrative of past events as relating to a funeral song or a lament for the dead
particular people, country, period, person, etc.
KINDS OF DRAMATIC POETRY
• Diary
• Comedy
- A daily record of the writer’s own experiences, activities,
- A dramatic poem of light & humorous character with a
observations, attitudes, and feelings
happy/cheerful ending; the central motif is the triumph
• Letters
over adverse circumstance, resulting in a successful or
- Written or printed communication usually sent by mail
happy conclusion
• Essay
• Tragedy
- A short, analytic, descriptive or interpretative piece of
- A dramatic composition dealing with a serious/somber
literary/journalistic prose dealing with a specific theme
theme, typically that of a noble person whose character
• Biography
is flawed by a single weakness, as pride, envy, etc., which
- A written account of another person’s life
causes him to break a divine law or moral precept &
• Autobiography
which leads inevitably to his downfall or destruction
- An account of a person’s life written by himself
• Travelogue WHY WE STUDY LITERATURE
- A lecture or piece of writing describing travels, usually • To benefit from the insights o others
illustrated by photographs, exhibited items, etc. • To open our minds to ambiguities of meaning
• To explore other culture & beliefs
KINDS OF NARRATIVE POETRY
• To appreciate why individuals are the way they are
• Epic
• To expand our grasp of the machinations of history
- A majestic poem centered upon a hero, in which a series
of great achievements or events is narrated continuously • To exercise our brains
& at length in elevated style • To teach us to see individual bias
• Ballad • To encourage us to question “accepted” knowledge
- A simple narrative poem of popular origin or traditional • To help us see ourselves as others do
style that tells a story in a number of short regular • To appreciate the contributions it made to history
stanzas • To see the tragedy
• Metric tale • To further our mastery of language
- Relates real or imaginary events about ordinary people • To explore ethical complexities
• Metrical romance • To recognize language devices & appreciate their
- Centered on adventure which often shows the ideal emotional power
virtues & the fight between good & evil • To see the admirable in everyday life
• To learn better ways to behave
KINDS OF LYRIC POETRY • To know we are not alone
• Simple lyric • To refine our judgement
- Includes all those lyric poems which do not properly
• To develop empathy for those who are unlike us
belong to any other types of lyric poetry
• To expand our vocabularies
• Sonnet
• To learn to support our points of view & trust our own
- Lyric poem of fourteen lines with formal rhyme scheme
interpretations
o Shakespearean/ English sonnet
- Divided into 3 quatrains & a couplet & has a rhyme
scheme of ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG
o Petrarchan/ Italian sonnet
- Consists of an octave & a sestet & has a rhyme
scheme of ABBAABBA, CDECDE or CDCDCD
• Song
- A short metrical composition intended or adapted for
singing; has a particular melodious quality
• Ode
- A lyric poem typically of elaborate/ irregular metrical
form & expressive of exalted or enthusiastic emotion