DEFINITIONS OF 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, either oral, written or visual, containing imaginative language that
realistically portrays thoughts, emotions, and experiences of the human condition.

Literature is language in use that provides insights and intellectual stimulation to

the reader. As one explores literature, he likewise discovers the beauty of language.

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 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.

FUNCTIONS OF LITERATURE:
1. Entertainment
2. Understanding of one’s self and others
3. Cultivation of wisdom and worldview
4. Cultural Transmission

LITERARY STANDARDS

Literature, as compared to any other forms of writing, possesses distinct qualities

that separate it from the rest. These include:

1. University
Literature appeals to everyone, regardless of culture, race, sex, and time
which is all considered significant.

2. Artistry
Literature has an aesthetic appeal and thus possesses a sense of beauty.

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.

4. Suggestiveness
 Literature unravels and conjures man’s emotional power to define
symbolisms, nuances, implied meaning, images and messages, giving and evoking
visions above and beyond the place of ordinary life and experience.

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.

6. Permanence
Literature endures across time and draws out the time factor: timeliness,
occurring at a particular time, and timelessness, remaining invariable throughout
time.

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.

LITERARY TYPES

Literature is generally divided into two types : prose and poetry.

PROSE

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 descriptions of ideas, objects, or situations.
Prose may be classified as fiction or nonfiction.

FICTION
Fiction is a narrative in prose that shows an imaginative recreation and
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 of subjective reality dealing
with human apprehension and comprehension. Fiction is categorized either as novel or
short story.

Fiction is a manipulated story which is not presented as objectively as possible. It

is therefore, unrealistic, thus readers are transported to a make-believe world. It
resembles the world for readers are assumed to see real-life characters that play roles in
situations and places almost similar to circumstances and environment.

TYPES OF FICTIONAL PROSE:

NOVEL is a fictional prose narrative of significant length divided into chapters.

 SHORT STORY is a work of prose fiction that is much shorter than a novel
(rarely more than forty pages) and focused more tightly on a single event
involving few characters.

LEGEND is a story about a heroic figure derived from oral tradition and based
partly on fact and partly on fiction. It explains origins of places and things.

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.
.
ESSAY is a piece of prose of various length dealing with a subject briefly and
from a personal point of view. It presents a tentative exploration or evaluation of
a subject and thus explains a viewpoint or anything that can be said on a
particular subject.

ANECDOTE is an interesting story told to make a point; may be humorous or

serious; often a biographical incident.

MYTH is a story about the origins of a culture’s beliefs and practices, or of

supernatural phenomena, usually derived from oral tradition and set in an
imagined supernatural past.

PARABLE is a short narrative that illustrates a moral or religious lesson; uses

everyday situations.

FABLE is a story with animals as characters that illustrates a moral (usually a

short, simple lesson.

NONFICTION

Non-Fiction is a literary work of “real life” narration or exposition based on history and
facts whose main thrust is intellectual appeal to convey facts, theories, generations, or
concepts about a particular topic.

TYPES OF NONFICTION PROSE

BIOGRAPHY is an account of someone’s life, written by another person.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY is a story of a person’s life as written by that person.

JOURNAL is a form of autobiographical writing including a day-by-day chronicle

of events, usually a personal and intimate record of events and thoughts kept by
an individual.

ORATION is a formal speech intended to inspire some action. Carefully prepared

and delivered in an impassioned manner, the oration carries its greatest power in
its emotional appeal.
 DIARY is a specialized journal that is a day-by-day chronicle of events, usually a
personal and intimate record of events and thought kept by an individual.

POETRY

Poetry is a literary work expressed in verse, measure, rhythm, sound, and

imaginative language and crates an emotional response to an experience, feeling, or
fact.
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.

TYPES OF POETRY:

LYRIC POETRY is poetry that describes the thoughts and emotions of a single speaker
or writer.

TYPES OF LYRIC POETRY:

ODE is a long lyric poem in stanzas of varied metrical patterns; often a serious
poem on a dignified theme; formal, lofty language and admiration for the subject;
generally celebrates a subject of public interest and involves the performance of
a group of people; sung in honor of gods or heroes in Greek and Roman
literature.

ELEGY is a formal poem that laments the death of a friend or public figure, or,
occasionally, a meditation on death itself.

SONNET is a 14-line stanza, usually in iambic pentameter, following a specific

rhyme scheme.

SONG is poetry specifically melodious and intended to be sung.

PSALM is poetry that praises God.

IDYLL is poetry describing the life of the shepherd in pastoral, bucolic, idealistic
terms.

NARRATIVE POETRY is a poetry that tells a story.

TYPES OF NARRATIVE POEMS:

EPIC is a lengthy narrative that describes the deeds of a heroic figure, often of
national or cultural importance, in elevated language
BALLAD is traditionally, a folk song telling a story or legend in simple language,
often with a refrain.
 METRICAL ROMANCEis poetry about improbable events involving knights on a
quest for a magic sword and aided by characters like fairies and trolls.

METRICAL TALE is a relatively long poem which tells a completely developed

story in verse

DRAMATIC POETRY is a poetry where a story is told through the verse dialogue of the
characters and a narrator.

TYPES OF DRAMATIC POEMS:

TRAGEDY is a serious play that ends unhappily for the protagonist.

COMEDY is a type of play normally having a happy ending and emphasizing

human limitation, rather than human greatness.

TRAGICOMEDY is a play that mixes elements of tragedy and comedy.

SOLILIQUY is a speech, often in verse, by a lone character.

MELODRAMA is poetry that contains sensational incidents and emphasizes plot

over characters; conflicts are often "crude (virtuous protagonist versus villainous
antagonist); resolutions are emotionally satisfying and "happy" (good winning out
over evil); issues are oversimplified.

FARCE is a form of high-energy comedy that plays on confusions and

deceptions between characters and features a convoluted and fast-paced plot.

DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE is a poem that contains words that a fictional or

historical character speaks to a particular audience.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 1: OPEN-ENDED DISCUSSIONS (Rubric for Assessment found

on this workbook page )

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. How can literature be relevant to modern times?

2.Which literary genre do you find most interesting and appealing?
3. How can literature make human experiences more meaningful and inspiring?
LITERARY ELEMENTS:

Elements of Fiction

A. Setting is the time and place in which the 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.

B. Characters are the representations of a 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.
Ways of Revealing Literary Characters

The characters are revealed according to:

1. Actions of the characters

2. Thoughts of the characters described by the author
3. Physical appearance of the characters
4. Speech of the characters

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.

According to Development:

1. Dynamic is the character that exhibits noticeable development.

2. Static is the character who exhibits no changes and development.

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.
C. Plot is the sequence of events in the story, arranged and linked by causality.

Kinds of Plot
1. Linear Ploy 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.

3. En Medias Res is a kind of plot where the story commences in the middle part of
the action.

Collectively, the three types of plot are otherwise termed as closed plots because they
normally follow the pyramid pattern of development. The aforecited plots form the
skeletal pattern of closed plots:

Climax
Crisis Denouement
Complicatio Ending
Exposition n

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.

2. Complication is the start of the major conflict or problem in the plot.

3. Crisis is the part that established curiosity, uncertainty, and tension; it requires
a decision.

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.

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.

2. Foreshadowing is the writer’s use of hints or clues to indicate events that will occur
later in the story. 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.

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.

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.

D. Point of View determines the narrator of the story, the one who tell it from different
points of view.

Types of Point of View

1. First-Person Point of View is a character-narrator who tell 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.

2. Third-Person Omniscient 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.
 4. Third-Person Central Point of View has a narrator that limits narration 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.

E. 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.

ELEMENTS OF POETRY

1. SPEAKER AND TONE

Speaker. The speaker refers to the narrative voice of the poem. An author can
use the first person “I” to speak in the poem. He can also use the invented “I” to
narrate a poem. This is a persona—it is an imaginary voice. The persona or voice
of a poem can be first person “I”, second person “you”, the third person “he or
she”, or the public person (large audience, like society).

Tone. The tone of the poem refers to author’s attitude toward the subject and
readers. Tone can be informal or formal, serious or humorous, sad or happy.
Tone can be identified by the way in which an author uses diction, syntax,
rhyme, meter, and so forth

2. DICTION refers to word choice. Words have more than a denotative definition
(literal). They have connotations, associations that emerge from our cultural use,
from their placement in context. These are the suggestions of the words. Both
denotations and connotations are important in a poem

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.

3. 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.”

4. STRUCTURE is element of poetry that includes rhyme, rhythm and meter.

 a. Rhyme is the repetition of the same stressed vowed sounds and any
succeeding sounds in two or more words.

I think that I shall never see

A poem as lovely as a tree.
- Trees
b. 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.

c. 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 unaccented
syllables.

Table of Metrical Feet

Name of Foot Pattern of Accent

Iambic Unaccented, Accented
Trochaic Accented, Unaccented
Anapestic Unaccented, Unaccented, Accented
Dactylic Accented, Unaccented, Unaccented
Spondaic Accented, Accented

5. THEME. This is one of the most important aspects of a poem. The purpose of the
theme is to make an important point about the topic. For instance, if the subject is
about “love”, the theme of the poem might be that “love is doesn’t last forever.”

6. 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 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. Reference to a historical figure, another literary work, work of
art, or a quote from a famous person. Its purpose is to add meaning to the
poem.

I imagine myself thus,

my fearless navigator, as you scribe:
Antonio Pigafetta annotating
 the progress of our journey inside
the Trinidad, the sturdy galleon
of our newfangled love.
- Ralph Semino Galan, “You Name”

b. Simile uses a word or phrase such as “as” or “like” to compare seemingly

unlike things or ideas.

His lips as soft as rose petals

Softly dry my tear drenched face
Melting the cold spell I cast upon myself.
- Judi Anro Dizon, “The One I Love”
c. Antithesis is a disparity of words or ideas.
It is virtually a sea but dry like a heart
That has forgotten companssion.
- Mike Maniquiz, “Lahar On My Mind”

d. Apostrophe is an address to an inanimate object, an idea, or a person

who is absent/long dead.

For what were you before the birth of the daystar,

O my soul where were you in that deep and darkest night?
- Leonides Benesa,
“Fragments: The Deserts of God”

e. Hyperbole is use of exaggeration for emphasis. It is not to be taken

literally.
He almost died laughing.
It is old as the hills.
He drinks like a fish.

f. Irony is a contrast or discrepancy between appearance and reality.

Neither is man aware of the unkind

flight of time; for, though it gives him life,
it is dragging him nearer his grave.
- Juan de Atayde, “The Man”

g. Litotes is a deliberate sarcasm used to affirm by negating its opposite.

Even in his plain dress,

I find him not at all displeasing.
- Anonymous

h. Metaphor implies comparison instead of a direct statement and that

equates two seemingly unlike things or ideas.

Forgive these words that love impart,

And pleading, bare the poet’s breast;
 And if a rose with thorns thou art,
Yet on my breast that rose may rest.
- Fernando Maramag, “Rural Maid”

i. 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.

To say that the crown will have an heir

Is to assume a new life, a new beginning
(the crown substitutes for the word majesty, king, queen, and the like)
- Anonymous

j. Onomatopoeia is the use of a word/phrase that actually imitates or

suggests the sound of what it describes.

And early evening, like croaking

of the frogs, evoking memories lost.
- Ralph Semino Galan, “Cartanella”

k. Oxymoron is putting together two opposite ideas in one statement. A

form of parody where two contradictory terms are combined to make a
phrase.
Honest thief, coloured fire, darkly lit..

It is futile to ask for guidance or direction

in this unmappable landscape, the history
and scene of our unending sacrifice.
- Francis M. Santos, “Strum and Drug”

l. Paradox is a phrase or statement that seems to be impossible or

contradictory but is nevertheless true, literally or figuratively. A statement
that appears to be self-contradictory, but is actually true. Use when you
want to stimulate the reader to think about the meaning.

The child is the father of the man.

Your children are not your children.

m. Personification is giving human attributes/characteristics to inanimate

objects, an animal, force of nature, or an idea.

Sunflowers pushed
Out of the shadows
Betrayed into tracking
The sun.
- Ramon T. Torrevillas, “Assylum Flowers”

n. Synecdoche is the naming of parts to suggest the whole.

Respect is due for snowy hair
Life they lived is beyond compare
(snowy hair pertains to elder people)
- Anonymous