Introduction to

Literature
What is literature
for you?
Literature is life.
Group Activity (25pts.)

What are the elements

of literature?
Forms of Literature
1. ORAL
- Urban Legends, Urban myths, urban tale – consists of fictional
stories, often presented as true with macabre or humorous elements
rooted in local popular culture.
- Spoken word – performance art that focuses on the aesthetics of
word play such as intonation and voice inflection.
- Folk Speech – a dialect or style of speaking, unique to people living
within a geographic area. (Ex. Riddle / Proverbs)
- Ballad – a poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas.
2. Written
- any body of written works considered
to be an art form deemed to have
artistic or intellectual value; deploying
language in ways that differ from
ordinary usage.
What makes a literary
work a masterpiece?
A masterpiece contains
the literary standards.
Group Activity: What are the Literary Standards?

Direction:
With the literary standard assigned to your group, think of a
sample Philippine Literary Masterpiece that you have
currently taken up. Pick a particular part wherein the literary
standard is quite evident. For 10points, discuss the literary
standard and present the part of your chosen masterpiece
without telling the title in the class(1min.). The group that
can guess the exact title will earn 1 point.
The Literary Standards
How are literary
works classified?
General types of Literature
PROSE & POETRY
 Types of Prose
FICTION,NON-FICTION and
CREATIVE NON-FICTION
 TYPES OF PROSE
1. Fiction
-novel, short story, play/drama
2. Non-Fiction
- essay, biography
3. Creative non-fiction
- memoir, auto-biography, diary, personal
letters
 Types of Poetry
1. Narrative- a poetry that tells a story of an
event. It has a plot from beginning, middle and
end.
2. Lyric- formal type of poetry which expresses
personal emotions or feelings typically spoken
in the first person.
Ancient lyric poetries were accompanied by
lyers.
3. Dramatic- any drama written in verse.
sample: Shakespeare’s dramatic poetry
 Types of Narrative Poetry
1. Epic – a very lengthy poem that involves extraordinary
doings of men and women that deals with gods or superhuman
forces
2. Ballad- arranged in quatrains with the rhyme scheme
ABAB. It also tells a story.
3. Metrical Romance – a poetry that deals with emotions
or phase of life. This always has a happy ending whether love is
involved or not.
4. Metrical Tale- a narrative poem that relates to real or
imaginary events in simple straightforward language. Subjects
are of wide range.
 Types of Lyric Poetry
1. Ode- a poem addressed to a particular
subject; meant to be sung.
2. Elegy – a poem of serious reflection;
typically a lament for the dead.
3. Sonnet-poem of 14 lines. In English typically
having 10 syllables per line
4. Song - a short poem or other set of words
set to music
 Types of Dramatic Poetry
1. Dramatic Monologue- a poem in
the form of speech by an imagined person.
2. The Soliloquy- an act of speaking
one’s thought aloud by oneself
3. Character Sketch- a poem for
theatrical portrayal that emphasizes the
person’s personality and behavior.