Introduction

to Literature

What is Literature?
Imaginative

or creative writing,
especially of recognized artistic value.
Expression of life through writings
having excellence of form.

Qualities of Literature
Artistic
Permanent

Timeless
Universal

Force

Importance of Literature
Literature

gives aesthetic pleasure

Enhances imagination
Gives insights to human nature
Arouse deep-seated feelings
Literature increases knowledge

Classification of Literature According

to Form
Prose

written in paragraph form, and

expressed in ordinary language.
Poetry written in meter or verse form.
It utilizes imagery, precise word choice,
and metaphor.

Kinds of Prose

Fiction
Drama meant to be acted on stage.
Essay a short literary composition which is expository in
nature.
Biography/Autobiography
Letters
Diary

Kinds of Prose

Journal a magazine or periodical, especially of a serious or

learned nature.
Travel written account of journeys, tours, etc.
Anecdote a brief narrative about an individual or incident.
Parable/Fable a short tale that usually tells a moral.
Speech a discourse meant to be delivered to an audience.

Kinds of Poetry
Narrative

it tells a story or a sequence

of events.
Lyric it presents a persons reflection
on a subject or an emotional state.
Dramatic it tells a story that is meant
to be acted out

Narrative Poetry
Ballad

it recounts a single incident and it is normally set

to music.
Metrical Romance it tells stories of adventure, love,
and chivalry.
Epic - is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a
serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and
events significant to a culture or nation.

Lyric Poetry
Elegy

it is a lamentation of death or
reflects on human mortality.
Ode it is written in praise of something
or someone.
Song meant to be sung.
Sonnet a fourteen line poem with a
specific rhyme scheme.

Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet

On His Blindness by John Milton
When I consider how my light is spent (a)
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, (b)
And that one talent which is death to hide, (b)
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent (a)
To serve therewith my Maker, and present (a)
My true account, lest he returning chide; (b)
"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?" (b)
I fondly ask; but Patience to prevent (a)
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need (c)
Either man's work or his own gifts; who best (d)
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state (e)
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed (c)
And post o'er land and ocean without rest; (d)
They also serve who only stand and wait." (e)

English (Shakespearean) sonnet

Shakespeare's Sonnet 116
Let me not to the marriage of true minds (a)
Admit impediments, love is not love (b)
Which alters when it alteration finds, (a)
Or bends with the remover to remove. (b)
O no, it is an ever fixd mark (c)
That looks on tempests and is never shaken; (d)
It is the star to every wand'ring bark, (c)
Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken. (d)
Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks (e)
Within his bending sickle's compass come, (f)
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, (e)
But bears it out even to the edge of doom: (f)
If this be error and upon me proved, (g)
I never writ, nor no man ever loved. (g)

Dramatic Poetry
Dramatic

Monologue a speech that a

person makes, either to himself or to
another.
Soliloquy a long speech that a
character, that is alone on the stage,
makes that expresses his or her private
thoughts and feelings.

Major Genres of Literature

Fiction
Poetry
Drama

Fiction
It

is any form of narrative which deals,

in part or in whole, with events that are
not factual, but rather, imaginary and
invented by its author(s).

Kinds of Fiction
Novel

contains about 40,000 words or more.

Novella contains about 17,000 to 40,000 words.
Short story contains anywhere between 1,000 and
20,000 words.
Short short story not much longer than 1,000
words.
Historical fiction comprises prose narratives that
present history in imaginative ways.

Elements of Fiction
Plot
Characters
Point

of view
Setting
Tone
Symbol
Theme

Plot
It

is the rendering and ordering of the

events and actions of a story.
Conflict it is the struggle found in
fiction. It may be internal or exte.rnal

Parts of the Plot

Gustav

Freytag (1816 1895), a German

novelist and playwright, mapped out a
typical plot structure.

Parts of the Plot

Exposition

is
concerned
characters and setting.

Rising

with

introducing

Action is the central part of a story during

which various problems arise, leading up to the

climax.
Climax is the moment of great emotional intensity.

It is also the moment when the outcome of the plot

and the fate of the characters are decided.

Parts of the Plot

Falling

Action brings a release

emotional tension and moves the reader
the resolution of the conflict(s) .
Conclusion
(Dnouement) presents
new/stable situation, and gives a sense
closure.

of
to
a
of

Characters
is

a participant in the story. Though

characters are usually human beings, it
is not always the case.

Types of Character according to role

Protagonist:

The driver of the action of

the story.
Antagonist: The character that stands in
opposition to the protagonist.
Foil: a character that helps by way of
contrast to reveal unique qualities of
another character.

Types of Character according to role

Protagonis
t

Antagonist

Foil

Types of Character according to role

Protagonis
t

Antagonist

Foil

Types of Character according to role

Antihero-

a type of protagonist that

possesses traits that make him or her
the opposite of a traditional hero.

Types of Character according to

complexity
Round

act from varied, often conflicting

motives, impulses, and desires;

psychological complexity.
Dynamic

they

have

- A character that changes during

the course of a story.
Flat one-dimensional characters that behave
and speak in predictable and repetitive ways .

Types of Character according to

complexity
Static

is a character who does not

significantly change during the course of a

story.
Stock

- is a character based on a common

literary or social stereotype that seems to be

pulled out of a stock-room of familiar characters.

Point of View
describes

from
which
character's
perspective the story is perceived.

First-person
Second-person
Third-person limited
- omniscient

Setting
It

is the time, place and social

environment in which a story takes
place.
Local
color - A detailed setting
describing the characteristics of a
particular locality, enabling the reader
to see the setting.

Example of Local Color

Ah

pull oot some crumpled notes fae ma

poakits, and wi touching servility, flatten
them oot oan the coffee table. Wi an air
ay reverence and all due deference tae
Mikeys status as The Man, ah hand
them ower.
Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting.

Tone
is

the attitude toward the subject and

toward the audience implied in a literary
work. Tone may be formal, humorous,
intimate, solemn, playful, ironic, or
many other possible attitudes

Symbol
is

something such as an object, picture,

written word, sound, or particular mark
that represents something else by
association.

Examples of Symbols

The Eyes of Doctor T.

J. Eckleburg

The Green Light

The Valley of Ashes

Theme
is

the broad idea, moral, or message of

a literary work.

Other Literary devices used in

fiction
Flashback an action that interrupts to show
an event that happened at an earlier time.
Foreshadowing - a method used to build
suspense by providing hints of what is to
come.
Deus Ex Machina - is a plot device whereby a
seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly
and abruptly solved usually in an awkward
fashion.

Poetry
It

is written in meter or verse expressing

various emotions and ideas which are
conveyed using various techniques,
such as figures of speech, images, and
repetition.

Repetition
Assonance
Consonance
Alliteration

Assonance
Is

the repetition of vowel sounds

Hear

the mellow wedding bells. Edgar

Allan Poe

Consonance
Is

the repetition of consonant sounds,

but not vowels, as in assonance

All

mammals named Sam are clammy

Alliteration
Is

the repetition of initial consonant sounds in

neighboring words.

Ruin

hath taught me thus to ruminate

That time will come and take my love away,

-Shakespeare, Sonnet 64-

Meter
The

rhythmic pattern produced when

words are arranged so that their
stressed and unstressed syllables fall
into a more or less regular sequence,
resulting in repeated patterns of accent
(called f00t)

Foot
The

basic unit of measurement in a line

of poetry

Anapest
In

a line of poetry, two unstressed

syllables followed by one stressed
syllable forming the pattern for the line
or perhaps for the entire poem

As

I came / to the edge / of the woods

Dactyl
In

poetry, a metrical pattern consisting

of one stressed syllable followed by two
unstressed syllables

Picture

your self in a boat on a river with

Iamb
A

metrical pattern of one unstressed

syllable followed by one stressed
syllable

horse! A horse! My kingdom for a

horse!

Trochee
A

metrical pattern of one stressed

syllable followed by one unstressed
syllable.

Dies irae, dies illa

Solvet saeclum in favilla

Persona
It

is the speaker in the poem whose

thoughts are expressed within the text.

Trouvere at night, grammarian in the morning,

ruefully architecting syllables-but in the afternoon my ivory tower falls.
I take a place in the bus among people returning
to love (domesticated) and the smell of onions
burning
and women reaping the washlines as the Angelus
tolls

Nick Joaquin, Six P.M.

Additional Literary devices

used in Poetry

Apostrophe

Is when an absent person, an abstract

concept, or an important object is directly
addressed.

"Science!

True daughter of Old Time

thou art!" -Edgar Allan Poe
"O eloquent, just, and mighty Death!"
- Sir Walter Raleigh

Additional Literary devices

used in Poetry

Enjambed

The running over of a sentence or thought into the next

couplet or line without a pause at the end of the line; a runon line.

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
-e. e. cummings

Additional Literary devices

used in Poetry
Onomatopoeia

Is a word that imitates the sound it

represents.

Wham",

"Bang", "Woosh"