LITERATURE

LITERATURE
Literature comes from the Latin word “LITERA”
which literally means an acquaintance with
letters, the root definition of literature. It is a
body of literary productions, oral, written or
visual, containing imaginative language that
realistically portrays thoughts, emotions, and
experiences of the human condition.
 LITERATURE
Literature is language in use that provides
insights and intellectual stimulation of the
reader. As one explores literature, he
likewise discovers the beauty of language.
 LITERATURE
Literature is a product of a particular
culture that concretizes man’s array of
values, emotions, actions and ideas. It is
therefore a creation of human experience
that tells about people and their world.
 LITERATURE
Literature is an art that reflects the works of
imagination, aesthetics, and creative writing
which are distinguished for the beauty of
style or expression as in fiction, poetry,
essay, or drama, in distinction from scientific
treatise and works which contain positive
knowledge.
 LITERARY
STANDARDS
Literature, as compared to any other forms
of writing, processes distinct qualities that
separate it from the rest. These includes the
following:
 LITERARY
STANDARDS
1. Universality
Literature appeals to everyone,
regardless of culture, race, sex and time
which are all considered significant.
 LITERARY
STANDARDS
2. Artistry
Literature has an aesthetic appeal and
thus possesses a sense of beauty.
 LITERARY
STANDARDS
3. Intellectual Value
Literature stimulates critical thinking that
enriches mental processes of abstract and
reasoning, making man realize the
fundamental truths of life and its nature.
 LITERARY
STANDARDS
4. Suggestiveness
Literature unravels and invokes man’s
emotional power to define symbolisms,
nuances, implied meanings, images and
messages, giving and evoking visions
above and beyond the plane of ordinary life
and experience.
 LITERARY
STANDARDS
5.Spiritual Value
Literature elevates the spirit and the soul
and thus has the power to motivate and
inspire, drawn from the suggested morals or
lessons of the different literary genres.
 LITERARY
STANDARDS
6. Permanence
Literature endures across time and
draws out the time factor: timelessness,
remaining invariable throughout time.
 LITERARY
STANDARDS
7. Style
Literature presents peculiar way/s on
how man sees life as evidenced by the
formation of his ideas, forms, structures,
and expressions which are marked by their
memorable substance.
 CLASSIFICATION
OF LITERATURE
Literature is classified differently
according to its usage. Some classifications
include:
1. Structure
2. Form
3. Genre
 CLASSIFICATION
OF LITERATURE
1. Structure
Fiction is a literary work of imaginative
narration, either oral or written, fashioned to
entertain and to make the readers think
and, more so, to feel.
 CLASSIFICATION
OF LITERATURE
1. Structure
Non-fiction is a literary work of “real life”
narration or exposition based on history and
facts whose main thrusts is intellectual
appeal to convey facts, theories,
generalizations, or concepts about a
particular topic.
 CLASSIFICATION
OF LITERATURE
2. Form
Prose is a literary work that is spoken or
written within the common flow of language in
sentences and paragraphs which give
information, relate events, express ideas, or
present opinions. It is a literary medium that
corresponds closely to everyday speech
patterns and is used to provide detailed
description of ideas, objects, or situations.
 CLASSIFICATION
OF LITERATURE
2. Form
Poetry is a literary work expressed in
verse, measure, rhythm, sound, and
imaginative language and creates an
emotional response to an experience,
feeling, or fact.
 CLASSIFICATION
OF LITERATURE
3. Genre
Fiction is a narrative in prose that shows an
imaginative recreation and reconstruction of life
that presents human life in two levels: the world
of objective reality dealing with human
apprehension and comprehension categorized
either as novel or short story.
 CLASSIFICATION
OF LITERATURE
3. Genre
Poetry is a patterned form of verbal or
written expression of ideas in concentrated,
imaginative, and rhythmical terms that often
contain the elements of sense, sound, and
structure.
 CLASSIFICATION
OF LITERATURE
3. Genre
Essay is a prose composition in
moderate length that presents a tentative
exploration or evaluation of a subject and
thus explains a viewpoint or anything that
can be said on a particular subject.
 CLASSIFICATION
OF LITERATURE
3. Genre
Drama is a composition in prose form
that presents story told entirely in dialogue
and action, and written with the intention of
its eventual performance before an
audience.
 LITERARY
APPROACHES
The teaching and learning of literature
according to Maramba (1993) can be
approached using any of the following:
 LITERARY
APPROACHES
1. Formalistic or Literary Approach
Literature is viewed intrinsically,
independent of the author, age, or any other
extrinsic factor. The study of the selection is
more or less based on the so-called “literary
elements.”
 LITERARY
APPROACHES
2. Moral or Humanistic Approach
Literature is viewed to discuss man and its
nature. It presents man as essentially rational;
that is endowed with intellect and free will; or
that the piece does not misinterpret the true
nature of man. The approach is close to the
“morality” of literature, to questions of ethical
goodness or badness.
 LITERARY
APPROACHES
3. Historical Approach
Literature is seen both as a reflection and
product of the times and circumstances in which
it was written. It operates on the premise that
the history of a nation has telling effects on its
literature and that the piece can be better
understood and appreciated if one knows the
times surrounding its creation.
 LITERARY
APPROACHES
4. Sociological Approach
Literature is viewed as the expression of
man within a given social situation which is
reduced on discussions on economics, in which
men are somewhat simplistically divided into
haves and haves not, thus passing into the
“proletarian approach” which tends to
underscore the conflict between the two
classes.
 LITERARY
APPROACHES
4. Sociological Approach
The sociological approach stresses on
social “relevance,” social “commitment,”
contemporaneity, and it deems
communication with the reader important.
 LITERARY
APPROACHES
5. Cultural Approach
Literature is seen as one of the
manifestations and vehicles of a nation’s or
race’s culture and tradition. It includes the entire
complex of what goes under “culture” – the
technological, artistic, sociological, ideological
aspects; and considers the literary piece in the
total cultural milieu in which it was born.
 LITERARY
APPROACHES
5. Cultural Approach
The thrust is to make full use of the
reciprocal function between culture and
literature. The approach is one of the richest
ways to arrive at the culture of people and
one of the most pleasurable ways of
appreciating the literature of people.
 LITERARY
APPROACHES
6. Psychological Approach
Literature is viewed as the expression of
“personality,” of “inner drives,” of “neurosis”. It
includes the psychology of creation. It has
resulted in an almost exhausting and exhaustive
“psychological analysis” of characters, of
symbols and images, of recurrent themes, and
others.
 LITERARY
APPROACHES
7. Impressionistic Approach
Literature is viewed to elucidate “reaction-
response” which is considered as something
very personal, relative and fruitful.
Unconditioned by explanations and often taking
the impact of the piece as a whole, it seeks to
see how the piece has communicated.
 IMPORTANCE OF
LITERATURE
Literature represents a language of a
people: culture and tradition. But, literature is
more important than just a historical or cultural
artifact. Literature introduces us to new world’s
of experience. We learn about books and
literature; we enjoy the comedies and tragedies
of poems, stories, and plays; and we may even
grow and evolve through our literary journey
with books.
 IMPORTANCE OF
LITERATURE
Ultimately, we may discover meaning in
literature by looking at what the author says and
how he/she says it. We may interpret the
author’s message. In academic circles, the
decoding of text is often carried out through the
use of literary theory, using a mythological,
sociological, psychological, historical and other
approach.
 IMPORTANCE OF
LITERATURE
Whatever critical paradigm we use to discuss
and analyze literature, there is still an artistic
quality to the works. Literature is important to us
because it speaks to us, it is universal, and it
affects us. Even when it is ugly, literature is
beautiful.
http://classiclit.about.com/od/literaryterms/a/aawh
atislister.htm
 FUNCTIONS/USES
OF LITERATURE
-For Entertainment
-For Self-Expression
-Vehicle for Cultural Transmission
-Recorder of a Nation’s History
-Showcase of National Identity
 ACTIVITY 101

•Present a situation through a role play

that would describe and would prove
two chosen literary standards. (Grp 1
and 2)

•Present a situation that would describe

the use of two chosen literary
approaches in analysing a certain
literary piece.
 LITERARY GENRES
Fiction
Fiction is a narrative in prose that shows an
imaginative recreation an reconstruction of life
and presents human life in two levels – the
world of objective reality made up of human
actions and experiences, and the world
subjective reality dealing with human
apprehension and comprehension. It is
categorized as a novel or short story.
 ELEMENTS OF
FICTION
A. Setting
- is the time and place in which events of a
story occur. It consists of the use of evocative
portrayal of a region’s distinctive ways of
thoughts and behavior or the so-called “local
color” exemplified by the superficial elements of
setting, dialect, and customs.
 ELEMENTS OF
FICTION
B. Characters
- are the representations of human being
in a story. They are the complex
combination of both inner and outer self.
Characterization – is the method used
by the writer to reveal the personality of the
character/s.
 ELEMENTS OF
FICTION
B. Characters
Ways of Revealing Literary Characters:
The characters are revealed according to:
1. Actions of the characters
2. Thoughts of the characters
3. Descriptions of the characters
4. Descriptions of other characters
5. Description of the author
 ELEMENTS OF
FICTION
Kinds of character
According to Principality:
1. Protagonist – is the character with whom the
reader empathizes.
2. Antagonist – is the character that goes against
the main character, usually the protagonist.
 ELEMENTS OF
FICTION
Kinds of character
According to Development:
1. Dynamic – is the character that exhibits
noticeable development.
2. Static – is the character who exhibits no
changes and development.
 ELEMENTS OF
FICTION
Kinds of character
According to Personality:
1. Round – is the character that displays different/
multiple personalities throughout the story.
2. Flat – is the character that reveals conventional
traits, who remains the same throughout the story.
Its characterization does not grow.
 ELEMENTS OF
FICTION
C. Plot – is the sequence of events in the story,
arranged and linked by causality.
Kinds of Plot:
1. Linear Plot – moves with the natural sequence of
events where actions are arranged sequentially.
2. Circular Plot – is a kind of plot where linear
development of the story merges with an
interruption in the chronological order to show an
event that happened in the past.
 ELEMENTS OF
FICTION
C. Plot
The aforecited plots form the skeletal
pattern of closed plots:
Climax
Crisis Denouement
Complication
Ending
Exposition
 PARTS OF A PLOT
1. Exposition
- is the part of the plot that sets the scene by
introducing the situation and settings and
likewise lays out the characters by introducing
their environment, characteristics, pursuit,
purposes, limitations, potentials, and basic
assumptions.
 PARTS OF A PLOT
2. Complication
- is the start of the major conflict or
problem in the plot.
3. Crisis
- is the part that establishes curiosity,
uncertainty, and tension; it requires a
decision.
 PARTS OF A PLOT
4. Climax
- is the peak of the story which leads to
an affirmation, a decision, an action, or even
a realization. This is the point of greatest
emotional intensity, interest, as well as
suspense.
 PARTS OF A PLOT
5. Denouement
- is the finishing of things right after the
climax, and shows the resolution of the plot.
6. Ending
- is the part that brings the story back to
its equilibrium..
 LITERARY DEVICES
1. Flashback
- is the writer’s use of interruption of the
chronological sequence of a story to go
back to related incidents which occurred
prior to the beginning of the story.
 LITERARY DEVICES
2. Foreshadowing
- is the writer’s use of hints or clues to
indicate events that occur later in the
society. The use of this technique both
creates suspense and prepares the reader
for what is to come.
 CONFLICT AS PART
OF THE PLOT
Conflict
- is the opposition of persons or forces in
a story that give rise to the dramatic action
in a literary work. It is the basic tension,
predicament, or challenge that propels a
story’s plot.
 TYPES OF
CONFLICT
1. Person vs. Person
- is a type of conflict where one character in
the story has a problem with one or more of the
other characters.
2. Person vs. Society
- is a type of conflict where a character has a
conflict or problem with some element of society –
the school, the law, the accepted way of doing
things, and so on.
 TYPES OF
CONFLICT
3. Person vs. Self
- is a type of conflict where a character has
trouble deciding what to do in a particular
situation.
4. Person vs. Nature
- is a type of conflict where a character has a
problem with some natural happening: a snowstorm,
an avalanche, the bitter cold, or any elements
common to nature.
 TYPES OF
CONFLICT
5. Person vs. Fate
- is a type of conflict where a character
has to battle what seems to be an
uncontrollable problem. Whenever the
problem seems to be a strange or
unbelievable coincidence, fate can be
considered the cause and effect.
 TYPES OF
POINT OF VIEW
Point of view
- determines the narrator of the story, the
one who tells it from different points of view.
1. First-Person Point of View
- is a character-narrator who tells the story in
the “I” voice, expressing his own views. He is
either a minor or main character that tells the
story in his own words.
 TYPES OF
POINT OF VIEW
2. Third-Person Point of View
- is a narrator that tells the story from an all-
knowing point of view. He sees the mind of all the
characters.
3. Third-Person Limited Point of View
- has a narrator that tells only what he can see or
hear “inside the world” of the story. This narrator is
otherwise known as “camera technique narrator” as
he does not reveal what the characters are thinking
and feeling.
 TYPES OF
POINT OF VIEW
4. Third-Person Central Point of View
- has a narrator that limits to what the central
character thinks, feels, does, and what and whom
the central character observes.
5. Third-Person Editorial Point of View
- has a narrator that comments on the action
by telling the readers its significance or evaluating
the behavior of the characters.
 PRINCIPLES IN STATING
THE THEME OF THE STORY
Theme
- is a significant truth about life and its nature
which takes place in the illustrations of the
actions, preoccupations, and decisions of the
characters.
 PRINCIPLES IN STATING
THE THEME OF THE STORY
1. It reports for all major details of the story.
2. It may be avowed in more than one way.
3. It is stated in complete statements.
4. It asserts a sweeping statement about life.
5. It avoids statements that condense the theme
to some familiar adage, aphorism, dictum,
maxim, saying, or value.
 POETRY
Poetry
- is a patterned form of verbal or written
expression of ideas concentrated, imaginative,
and rhythmical terms that often contain the
elements of sense, sound, and structure. It is
considered as the oldest literary form.
 POETRY
Poetry
- has implied meaning/s which is/are evoked
in the carefully selected words. It is often
considered as the most difficult and most
sophisticated of all literary genres. One of its
distinct characteristics is that it is briefly written
but it suggests many connotations. As compared
to other literary forms, it is more musical.
 ELEMENTS OF
POETRY
A. Sense of the Poem
1. Denotation vs. Connotation
Denotation is the dictionary meaning of the
word while connotation is the suggested or
implied meaning/s associated with the word
beyond its dictionary definition.
 ELEMENTS OF
POETRY
A. Sense of the Poem
2. Imagery - is the use of sensory details or
descriptions that appeal to one or more of the five
senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.
These are otherwise known as “senses of the
mind”.
 ELEMENTS OF
POETRY
A. Sense of the Poem
3. Figurative Language - is a language
used for descriptive effect in order to convey
ideas or emotions which are not literally true but
express some truth beyond the literal level.
 FIGURES OF
SPEECH
Figures of Speech
- are specific devices or a kind of figurative
language that uses words, phrases, and
sentences in a non-literal definition but, rather,
gives meanings in abstractions.
 TYPES OF
FIGURES OF SPEECH
a. Allusion
- is a reference in a work of literature to a
character, a place, or a situation from history,
literature, the Bible, mythology, scientific event,
character or place.
 TYPES OF
FIGURES OF SPEECH
c. Apostrophe
- is an address to an inanimate object, an idea,
or a person who is absent/long dead.
d. Hyperbole
- is an exaggeration used to express strong
emotion, to make a point, or to evoke humor.
e. Irony
- is the contrast or discrepancy between
appearance and reality.
 TYPES OF
FIGURES OF SPEECH
f. Metaphor
- implies comparison instead of a direct
statement and that equates two seemingly unlike
things or ideas.
 TYPES OF
FIGURES OF SPEECH
g. Metonymy
- is the use of one word to stand for a related
term or replacement of word that relates to the
thing or person to be named for the name itself.
i. Onomatopoeia
- is the use of a word/phrase that actually
imitates or suggests the sound of what it
describes.
 TYPES OF
FIGURES OF SPEECH
l. Personification
- is giving human attributes/characteristics to
inanimate objects, an animal, force of nature, or
an idea.
m. Simile
- uses a word or phrase such as “as” or “like”
to compare seemingly unlike things or ideas.
 TYPES OF
FIGURES OF SPEECH
n. Synecdoche
- is the naming of parts to suggest the
whole.
 SOUND OF A
POEM
1. Tone Color - is achieved through
repetition.
a. Repetition of Single Sounds
- Alliteration is the repetition of similar
and accented sounds at the beginning of
words.
 SOUND OF A
POEM
a. Repetition of Single Sounds
- Assonance is the repetition of similar
accented vowel sounds.
- Consonance is the repetition of similar
consonant sound typically within or at the
end of words.
 SOUND OF A
POEM
a. Repetition of Single Sounds
- Rhyme is the repetition of the same
stresses of vowel sounds and any
succeeding sounds in two or more words.
 SOUND OF A
POEM
Types of Rhyme
- Internal Rhyme – rhyme within the line
- Terminal Rhyme – rhyme found at the
end of the line
 SOUND OF A
POEM
Rhyme Scheme
- is the pattern of rhyme form that ends a
stanza or a poem. The rhyme scheme is
designated by the assignment of a different
letter of the alphabet to each new rhyme.
 SOUND OF A
POEM
b. Repetition of Words
c. Repetition of Sequences or Phrases
 SOUND OF A
POEM
2. Rhythm
- is the pattern of beats created by the
arrangement of stressed and unstressed
syllables, which gives musical quality and adds
emphasis to certain words and thus helps
convey the meaning of the poem. The effect is
derived from the sounds employed, the varying
pitches, stresses, volumes, and durations.
 SOUND OF A
POEM
3. Meter
- is a regular recurrence of stressed and
unstressed syllables that give a line of poetry a
more or less predictable rhythm. Its unit of
measure is termed as “foot” which usually
contains an accented syllable and one or two
accented syllables.
 STRUCTURE OF A
POEM
C. Structure of a Poem
- is the manners in which words are
arranged and parts are organized to form a
whole poem.
 TYPES OF POETRY
a. Narrative Poem
- is a poem that tells a story
- epics and ballads
b. Lyric Poem
- is descriptive or expository in nature where
the poet is concerned mainly with presenting a
scene in words, convey sensory richness of his
subject, or the revelation of ideas and emotions.
 TYPES OF POETRY
b. Lyric Poem
- is descriptive or expository in nature where
the poet is concerned mainly with presenting a
scene in words, convey sensory richness of his
subject, or the revelation of ideas and emotions.
- includes odes, elegies, songs, sonnets and
psalms.
 TYPES OF POETRY
c. Dramatic Poem
- is a poem which a story is told through
the verse dialogue of the characters and a
narrator.
-intended to be acted out on stage
 TYPES OF POETRY
Structure also talks about:
Poem Appreciation is achieved not only
when one has comprehended the plain sense or
information communicated by the poem; it is
also achieved if the attitude and feeling
conveyed are captured, together with the larger
meaning of the work, which is only possible
when the tone and symbolic meanings are
discerned.
 TYPES OF POETRY
a. Tone
- is the writer’s attitude towards his
subject, mood and moral view. It is the
feeling that the poem has created the
reader. It is the emotional coloring of the
work which is indicated by the inflection of
the speaker’s voice.
 TYPES OF POETRY
b. Symbol
- is an image that becomes so suggestive that it
takes on much more meaning than its descriptive
value. It urges the reader to look beyond the literal
significance of the poem’s statement of action: the
connotation of the words, repetition, placement, or
other indications of emphasis. It is considered at the
richest and at the same time the most difficult of all
the poetical figures.