READING FOR LITERARY PURPOSE

A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR READING

YOUR IDEA
IS GROUNDBREAKING

YOUR OPINION MATTERS.

 OVERVIEW

When you read a novel or a poem, or when you watch a

movie or a TV comedy, or when you listen to a song, you
are experiencing the literary purpose. When you tell a
joke or write a love poem, you are using the literary
purpose. The literary purpose is used to entertain and
to give aesthetic pleasure. The focus of the literary
purpose is on the words themselves and on a
conscious and deliberate arrangement of the
words to produce a pleasing or enriching effect.
 Cont’d.

A writer often expresses a worldview when using the

literary purpose. The writer might comment on human
nature or behavior. The reader gains insight to the
human condition by understanding the writer's ideas.
When used as a secondary purpose, the literary purpose
enhances the primary purpose through figurative or
poetic or playful language and often a sense of human
struggle.
 Cont’d.

Literary writing is usually fictional, and it makes use of

figurative or symbolic language. When literary purpose is
the primary purpose, the writing should be fictional. As a
secondary purpose, literary writing can be found in
combination with the expressive or persuasive purpose.
Because literary writing is figurative, it is seldom found in
combination with referential writing, which is literal.
 KINDS OF LITERARY WRITING

 novels, short stories, poems

 plays and musicals
 movie and TV scripts
 parodies and satire
 memoirs and thoughtful essays
 FEATURES & CHARACTERISTICS

 Focus is on the conscious, deliberate use and arrangement of

words.
 Purpose: to entertain; to give aesthetic pleasure

Main Characteristics:

 usually fiction that displays a sense of reality

 tension or conflict
 artistic unity (a main idea is conveyed)
 figurative language (similes, metaphors, irony, symbolism,
analogy)
 Cont’d.

Minor Characteristics:

 first-person or third-person pronouns (usually)

 Style: informal/colloquial/vulgar
 Cont’d.
When You Use the Literary Purpose to Write

 Think about what you want to say. Pay attention to the words you
choose.
 Play with language to produce pleasure or emotional release for
the reader.
 Use figurative language.
 Use sensory appeals.
 Include some sort of problem or tension, along with a resolution of
that problem.
 Try to give some essential meaning or idea to the reader.
 EXAMPLE
      She waited on the porch, swinging slowly to and fro, as the
western sky melted from orange to gray to black. She heard the
whine of the truck tires out on the highway and, farther, the
lonesome song of the Sunset Limited, whisking people away to
exotic places like Houston or beyond. A teasing breeze swept over
her, coaxing her auburn hair across her face, and as she pushed
the hair away, her finger burned with the tear that had pooled in
her eye. Soon the lid could hold no more, and the tear blazed a trail
down her lightly powdered face. He said he would be there an hour
before, and still he did not come. Had he been in a wreck, or had
he, like all the others before, only played with her trusting heart?
 Cont’d.
When You Analyze the Literary Purpose in Another's Writing
 Identify the purpose you are analyzing, in this case literary writing.
 Directly identify the characteristics (at least three) of the literary
purpose used by the writer, such as a sense of reality in a work of
fiction, a problem or tension, artistic unity that lends a central
idea, figurative or playful language.
 Give an example of each characteristic you identify. Tie the
example directly to the characteristic.
 Provide a summative conclusion that the presence of the
characteristics demonstrates the use of the purpose.
 EXAMPLE OF ANALYSIS OF
THE PARAGRAPH ABOVE

The writer uses the literary purpose to present a fictional slice-of-life

scene. One key characteristic of literary writing, a sense of reality, is
evident in the writer's use of common images that reflect everyday life,
such as the character swinging on the porch and listening to the sound
of traffic out on the highway. Another characteristic of literary writing
appears as the writer introduces a problem, the fact that the character
is waiting for some person to appear; the tardiness of the person
produces sadness and doubt in the character. The writer has also used
another key characteristic, figurative language, in suggesting that the
sky is melting, that a breeze is teasing her, and that her tear is blazing
a trail. The presence of these various characteristics demonstrates the
writer's effective use of the literary purpose.
 NOTES ON THIS ANALYSIS:

 First sentence: identifies the purpose.

 Second sentence: identifies a characteristic of literary
writing and includes a related example.
 Third sentence: identifies another characteristic of
literary writing and includes a related example.
 Fourth sentence: identifies a third characteristic of
literary writing and includes a related example.
 Fifth sentence: gives a summative conclusion and
concise evaluation
 LITERARY DEVICES
There are certain literary devices that we use
often in my writing because they are simple and
seem to make it flow.

We never bothered to intentionally use them

when we wrote in the past, but now we find that
they just add that extra something.
 Cont’d.
A literary device has to do with the sound,
repetition, meaning, and description of words or
phrases.

Used wisely, these devices can really enhance

your work and create a deeper level of meaning
that readers will enjoy decoding. Try some of
these in your next poem or story.
 1 ALLITERATION
This is one of the easiest go-to devices to use.
Alliteration involves the quick repetition of the
first letters, and therefore the first sounds, of
words.
 EXAMPLES
 The white witch wanted to write a new
spell.
 New aunt Anita aimed to avoid annoying
her tired sister.
2 PERSONIFICATION

Giving inanimate objects and other

phenomena human traits.
 EXAMPLE

 The leaves danced in the wind,

twirling round and round before
bowing out and resting on the cold
ground.
 3 SIMILE

Comparing two unrelated things to

creating new understanding and
meaning. They are marked by the use of
"like," "as,"or "such as."
 EXAMPLES

 She ran like the wind.

 His eyes were as blue as the sky.
 4 FORESHADOWING

Words, phrases, or events that hint or

suggest to the reader what's going to
happen in the story.
 EXAMPLE

Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"

foreshadows the narrator's actions from the
start of the story: I can't say how the idea
first entered my brain, but once it was there,
it haunted me day and night. There wasn't
any reason for it. I liked the old man.
 5 SATIRE

Using humor, wit, or sarcasm to expose

human vice or folly.
 EXAMPLES
 In television, the creators of South Park
have built their success on satire.
 My favorite example is Jonathan Swift's "A
Modest Proposal.“
 Fray Butod
 6 SYMBOLISM

Using objects or action to mean something

more than what appears on the surface.
 EXAMPLES
 The dawn of a new day often is used to
symbolize a new beginning.
 The albatross in in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's
"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" symbolizes a
burden: Ah ! well a-day ! what evil looks / Had I
from old and young ! / Instead of the cross, the
Albatross / About my neck was hung
 7 FLASHBACK

A flashback is a transition in a story to an

earlier time, that interrupts the normal
chronological order of events.
 Cont’d.

A flashback in a movie might show what

happened when a character was younger.
Flashbacks are often used for comedic
effect, to prove or contradict something in
the present.
 EXAMPLE
Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel
Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant
afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. At
that time Macondo was a village of twenty adobe houses,
built on the bank of a river of clear water that ran along a
bed of polished stones, which were white and enormous,
like prehistoric eggs. The world was so recent that many
things lacked names, and in order to indicate them it was
necessary to point.
 8 DEUS EX MACHINA
Only a deus ex machina could resolve the novel's
thorny crisis.

The New Latin term "deus ex machina" is a

translation of a Greek phrase and means literally
"a god from a machine.”
 Cont’d.
"Machine," in this case, refers to the crane
that held a god over the stage in ancient Greek
and Roman drama.
Perhaps the most famous superhero to be
labeled a deus ex is Superman himself, as his
writers had a tendency to inflate his powers over
the years to constantly trump his previous
successes.
 Cont’d.
Kryptonite, Superman's only weakness, then
became a sort of "reverse" deus ex machina,
which would be called in whenever the writer
wanted to explore a conflict which he didn't want
Superman to resolve in one punch.
9 IRONY OR SARCASM
Irony (from Ancient Greek εἰρωνεία eirōneía,
meaning 'dissimulation, feigned ignorance'), in its
broadest sense, is a rhetorical device, literary
technique, or event in which what appears, on the
surface, to be the case, differs radically from what
is actually the case.
 Cont’d.
Irony is a storytelling tool used to create a
contrast between how things seem and how they
really are beneath the surface.

The term comes from the Latin word ironia,

which means “feigned ignorance.”
 Cont’d.

The three main types used in literature are

dramatic, situational, and verbal, as
mentioned above.
 1 DRAMATIC IRONY
Dramatic irony occurs when readers are
informed of significant information that key
characters are unaware of — basically,
where we know what will happen before
they do.
 Cont’d.

Tension rises between the point of

revelation (when the reader first receives
the secret insight) and recognition (when
the characters are finally brought into the
loop).
 Cont’d.

Remember:

When readers know something the

characters don’t.
2 SITUATIONAL IRONY
When the truth contradicts an
expected outcome, it's situational irony —
also known as “the irony of events.” Again,
just to clarify, irony is not the same as
"coincidence" and "bad luck."
 Cont’d.

If you buy a new car and then accidentally

drive it into a tree, that is both coincidence
and bad luck. However, if a professional
stunt driver crashes into a tree on their way
home from receiving a “best driver” award,
that is situationally ironic.
 Cont’d.

In this way, Harry being a Horcrux is

actually a double case of situational irony.
Harry believes he must die in order to
vanquish his enemy, whereas Voldemort
thinks he is killing Harry, but he’s actually
killing himself.
 3 VERBAL IRONY

The third and final major type of irony is

verbal irony, in which the intended meaning
of a statement is the opposite of what is
said.
 Cont’d.

Sound similar to sarcasm? Well, they’re not

exactly the same:

Sarcasm is almost always used with the

intent to denigrate someone or something,
while irony isn’t necessarily.
 Cont’d.

However, some would argue that sarcasm is

simply one type of verbal irony, along with
“overstatement” and “understatement”
— which we’ll quickly cover right now.
1
0 UNDERSTATEMENT

As you might expect, ironic understatement

creates contrast by undermining the
impact of something, though the thing
itself will be rather substantial or serious.
1
1 OVERSTATEMENT

On the other hand, ironic overstatement

makes something small sound like a
much bigger deal, in order to
emphasize how minor it actually is.
 LITERATURE
A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING AND ITS
VARIATIONS
 OVERVIEW

Literature comes from the Latin word

“LITERA” which literally means an
acquaintance with letters, the root definition
of it.
 Cont’d.

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 treatises and works which contain
positive knowledge.
 ELEMENTS OF FICTION

The Elements of
Fiction. Plot, Setting, Character, Conflict,
Symbol, and Point of View are the main
elements which fiction writers use to develop
a story and its Theme.
 1 SETTING

Time and place, which includes the physical

environment of a story besides place. It may
involve the time of the story- the hour, year,
or century.
 2 CHARACTERS

Is another aspect which makes a story

memorable. This important component of
fiction refers to the persons inhibiting the
story, and makes it come alive for the reader.
 TYPES OF CHARACTERS

 Protagonist. The hero or heroine

 Antagonist. The villain or the bad guys
TYPES OF CHARACTERS

• Flat Character
STATIC
TYPES OF CHARACTERS

• Round Character
DYNAMIC
 3 PLOT

The sequence of events from the opening to

the closing scene. It involves three phases:
 Cont’d.

1. Exposition- the opening portion that provides

background information that the readers need to
understand the events that follow.
2. Conflict (Complication)-where he/she clashes or
struggles with another force in the story.
 Cont’d.

3. Climax- the moment of greatest tension

from which the outcome of the story depends.
4. Resolution/Denouement- how the story
ends.
Cont’d.
 4 POINT OF VIEW

This refers to the vantage point or the

perspective from which the story is told.
 FIRST PERSON

A narrator who uses I and may either

be actively involved or is just a minor
character in the events of the story.
 THIRD PERSON

 Omniscient point of view- which sees

everything and enters the minds of the
characters.
 Third person limited- which uses the
perspective of only one character and sees
everything through him/her.
 Objective point of view- which does not
enter the mind of any character but describes
 SCENIC POINT OF VIEW

Tells us what people say and how

they look but leaves us to infer their
thoughts and feelings.
 5 THEME

This is the general meaning or insight that

the story reveals.

This is what makes a story rich and rewarding

as it has a fertile ground for varied
interpretations.
 MOTIF

The appeal to emotion of the text.

 6 CONFLICT

 Man vs. Himself

 Man vs. Man
 Man vs. Nature
 Man vs. God
 Man vs. Society
 Man vs. Animals
 FICTION

 From the Latin fictio, which means a

shaping, a counterfeiting.
 Is a name for stories not entirely factual,
but at least partially shaped, made up, or
imagined.
TYPES OF FICTION
 NOVEL

• a book-length story in prose,

differs from the short story
not only in length.
• It can focus on many
characters and has room to
examine their actions and
motivations in greater detail
and depth.
• Many settings and subplots
 SHORT STORY

• It has the richness and

conciseness of an excellent
lyric poem.
• is a brief prose narrative that
can usually be read in one
sitting.
 DRAMA

• is a narrative prose intended

to be played on stage.
 PARABLE

is a short narrative that is at

least in part allegorical and that
illustrates a moral or spiritual
lesson.
 LEGEND

is a story that reflects that

people’s identity or cultural
values, generally with more
historical and less emphasis on
the supernatural.
 MYTH

is a fictional tale, originally with

religious significance that
explains the action of gods or
heroes, the causes of natural
phenomena or both.
 FAIRY TALE

is a story featuring folkloric

characters such as fairies,
goblins, elves, trolls, giants and
etc. The stories often involve
royalty and have a happy
ending.
 TALE

Is a story usually short, that

sets forth strange and
wonderful events in more or
less bare summary, without
detailed character-drawing.
 FABLES

Are stories which use animals

to convey a moral or message,
sometimes stated at the end
and sometimes implied.
 NON-FICTION

It represents truth and accuracy regarding

information, events, or people.
TYPES OF NON-
FICTION
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY

The biography of oneself narrated by oneself.

Autobiographical works can take many forms, from the
intimate writings made during life that were not
necessarily intended for publication (including letters,
diaries, journals, memoirs, and reminiscences) to a formal
book-length autobiography
 BIOGRAPHY

A biography is a description of a real person's life,

including factual details as well as stories from the
person's life.
The vast majority of biography examples are written
about people who are or were famous, such as politicians,
actors, athletes, and so on.
 ESSAY

An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the

author's own argument — but the definition is vague,
overlapping with those of a paper, an article, a pamphlet,
and a short story. Essays have traditionally been sub-
classified as formal and informal.
 REACTION PAPER

A reaction paper is a type of written assignment, which

requires personal opinion and conclusions on a given
article or abstract. Unlike a summary, a reaction paper
should contain your own thoughts on the problem,
discussed in the original text.
 REFLECTION PAPER

A reflection paper is your chance to add your thoughts

and analysis to what you have read and experienced. A
reflection paper is meant to illustrate your understanding
of the material and how it affects your ideas and possible
practice in future.
 DIARY

A record of events, transactions, or observations kept

daily or at frequent intervals : journal especially : a daily
record of personal activities, reflections, or feelings.
POETRY
 Cont’d.

Poetry is language written with a rhythm,

figurative language, imagery, sound devices
and emotionally charged language.
 Kinds
of Poems
Kinds of Poems
It often have all the elements of short stories,
including characters, conflict, and plot.
(Epic, Metrical Tale, Ballad)

NARRATIVE
Kinds of Poems
It is a highly musical verse that expresses the
observation and feelings of a single speaker.
(Sonnet, Elegy, Ode, Song)

LYRIC
Literature
Genres
 Literature
Genres
 composition in verse or prose
presenting a story in pantomime or
dialogue

DRAMA
 Literature
Genres
relies on imagery,
figurative language and
sounds

POETRY
 Literature
Genres
describes imaginary events
and people.

PROSE (Fiction)
 Literature
Genres
writing that is based on
facts, real events, and real
people

PROSE (Non)
THANK YOU