LITERATURE IN ELT

Literature is any writing which has the power to move the reader’s heart or to stir her or his emotion. There are two kinds of literature:

1.      Literature of power

Literature that has the power to move the hearts (To teach, to entertain, and to change move).

2.      Literature of knowledge

Literature that appeals to the intellect and reasoning of the reader rather than her or his emotion, heart and imagination. Literature of power feeds our hearts and literature of knowledge feeds our minds/intellects.

PROSE

Prose is the form of written language that is not organized according to the formal patterns of verse. It is ordinary language that people use in writing such as poetry, stories, editorials, books, etc. The word prose is derived from the Latin word 'prosa' meaning straightforward.

Prose comes in two types of text - narrative and expository. Narrative text is fiction reading material defined as "something that is narrated such as a story. Expository text is non-fiction reading material such as Description, Analysis, Classification, etc.

1.      The elements of fiction:

a.      Plot: the arrangement of ideas and/or incidents that make up a story

       Exposition – the beginning section in which the author provides the necessary background information, set the scene, establishes the situation, and dates the action, introduces the characters, the conflict, or the potential for conflict.

       Complication - (the rising action) shows the underlying conflict, the development and intensity of it.

       Crisis – the moment at which the plot reaches its point of greatest emotional intensity; it is the turning point of the plot, directly precipitating its resolution.

       Falling Action – the subsided tension and the movement of the plot toward its appointed conclusion, after reaching the crisis.

       Resolution/Denouement – the outcomes of the conflict and establishes some new equilibrium or stability (however tentative or temporary).

b.       Character: any individual in a literary work

       Major character – characters are vital to the development and resolution of the conflict. It plays a large role in the story.

       Minor character - Often provides support and illuminates the protagonist.

       Protagonist - The central person in a story, and is often referred to as the story’s main character. He or she is faced with a conflict that must be resolved.

       Antagonist - A character or force that opposes the protagonist.

       Round character – anyone who has a complex personality; He or she is often portrayed as a conflicted and contradictory person.

       Flat character – the opposite of round character. This literary personality is notable for one kind of personality trait or characteristic.

       Static character – someone who does not change over time; his or her personality does not transform or evolve.

       Dynamic character – a person who change over time, usually as a result of resolving a central conflict or facing a major crisis.

c.       Setting: the place or location of the action.  The setting provides the historical and cultural context for characters. It often can symbolize the emotional state of characters.

d.      Point of view: Pertains to who tells the story and how it is told. The point of view of a story can sometimes indirectly establish the author's intentions.

·         Narrator - The person telling the story who may or may not be a character in the story.

·         First-person - Narrator participates in action but sometimes has limited knowledge/vision.

·         Second person - Narrator addresses the reader directly as though she is part of the story. (i.e. “You walk into your bedroom.  You see clutter everywhere and…”)

·         Third Person (Objective) – Narrator is unnamed/unidentified (a detached observer). Does not assume character's perspective and is not a character in the story. The narrator reports on events and lets the reader supply the meaning.

·         Omniscient – All-knowing narrator (multiple perspectives). The narrator knows what each character is thinking and feeling, not just what they are doing throughout the story.  This type of narrator usually jumps around within the text, following one character for a few pages or chapters, and then switching to another character for a few pages, chapters, etc. Omniscient narrators also sometimes step out of a particular character’s mind to evaluate him or her in some meaningful way.

e.       Theme – the controlling idea of meaning of a work of art.

f.       Symbol – literally, something that stands for something else.

g.      Allegory – A type of narrative that attempts to reinforce its thesis by making its characters (and sometimes represent specific abstract ideas or qualities).

h.      Style – The author’s characteristic manner of expression

i.        Diction – word choice that both conveys and emphasizes the meaning or theme of a poem through distinctions in sound, look, rhythm, syllable, letters, and definition  

j.        Tone – the implied attitude towards the subject of the poem. Is it hopeful, pessimistic, dreary, worried? A poet conveys tone by combining all of the elements listed above to create a precise impression on the reader.

k.      Figurative language – the use of words to express meaning beyond the literal meaning of the words themselves, like Metaphor, Simile, Hyperbole, & Personification.

POETRY

Poetry is language sung, chanted, spoken, or written according to some pattern of recurrence that emphasizes the relationships between words on the basis of sound as well as sense. This pattern is almost always a rhythm or meter, which may be supplemented by rhyme or alliteration or both.

            Poem is a piece of writing, arranged in patterns of lines and of sounds, expressing in imaginative language some deep thought, feeling, or human experience (Proctor, 1981).

a.      Types of poetic forms

§  Formula Poems – a poem in which every line is begun in the same way or a particular kind of word in every line is inserted.

§  Free-Form Poems – poems in which words are chosen to describe something and put together to express a thought or tell a story, without concern for rhyme or other arrangements.

§  Syllable and Word-Count Poems – poems that provide a certain structure consisting certain syllable or words. These include; Haiku, Tanka, Cinquain, and Diamante.

§  Rhyme Verse Forms – form of poems that utilize both rhyme and rhythm as their poetic devices. These include; Limeric and Clerihews

§   Model Poems – poems that are modeled on poems composed by adult/renown poets. These include; Apologies, Invitations, Prayers from the Ark, If I were in Charge the world.

b.      Poetic devices

§  Rhyme – repetition of sounds as they are heard in a stanza and consists of the last stressed vowel and of all the speech sounds following that vowel (Abrams, 1981). Types of rhymes are: End rhyme, Internal rhyme, Perfect rhyme, Approximate/half rhyme, Masculine rhyme, Feminine rhyme, Visual rhyme.

Rhyme Scheme is the pattern in which the rhymed line-endings are arranged in a poem or stanza

§   Rhythm – recognizable though variable pattern in the beat of the stresses of sounds.

§  Alliteration – repetition of the same initial consonant sound in consecutive words or in words in close proximity to one another. Tongue twisters are type of alliteration in which every word in the twister begins with the same letter.

§  Onomatopoeia – device in which poets use sound words (e.g. animal, machine, people sounds) to make their writing more sensory and more vivid.

§  Repetition – repetition of words and phrases is another device writers use to structure their writing as well as to add interest.

§  Comparison – comparison of images, feelings, and actions to other things is frequently utilized by poets to describe something. It includes simile, metaphor, metonymy, personification, apostrophe, animism, and juxtaposition.

  

c.       Stanza forms

Stanzas are a series of lines grouped together and separated by an empty line from other stanzas. They are the equivalent of a paragraph in an essay. One way to identify a stanza is to count the number of lines. The forms include:

• Couplet (2 lines)
• Triplet or Tercet (3 lines)
• Quatrain (4 lines)
• Quintet (5 lines)
• Sestet (6 lines)  
• Septet (7 lines)
• Octava or Octet ( 8 lines)
• Sonnet (14 lines)

Kinds of poetic feet

§  Iambic – 1 unaccented followed by 1 accented ( v / )

§  Trochaic – 1 accented followed by 1 unaccented ( / v )

§  Dactylic – 1 accented followed by 2 unaccented ( / v v )

§  Anapestic – 2 unaccented followed by 1 accented ( v v / )

§  Spondaic – 2 accented ( / / )

Meter – The systematic regularity in rhythm; this systematic rhythm (or sound pattern) is usually identified by examining the type of "foot" and the number of feet. Names of lines:

§  1 foot – Monometer

§  2 feet – Dimeter

§  3 feet – Trimeter

§  4 feet – Tetrameter

§  5 feet – Pentameter

§  6 feet – Hexameter

§  7 feet – Heptameter

§  8 feet - Octameter

c.       Style – simply means a writer’s characteristic way of using language. It cover such concepts as diction, imagery, and syntax.

d.      Poetic diction – the choice of words and figures in poetry. The term is more often used to refer that specialized language which is peculiar to poetry in that. It employs words and figures, not normally found in common speech and prose.

e.       Meaning of words

§  Denotation – straightforward dictionary meaning of a word.

§  Connotation – the range of further associations that a word or phrase suggests in addition to its denotation.

§  Allusion – brief, indirect or passing reference to some event, person, place, or artistic work, the nature and relevance which is not explained by the writer, but relies on the reader’s familiarity with what is mentioned.

§  Parody – mocking imitation of the style of the literary work or works, ridiculing the stylistic habits of an author or school by exaggerated mimicry

§  Repetition (see #6 )

§  Ambiguity – the use of a word or phrase in such a way as to give it two or more competing meaning.

§  Pun – an ambiguous statement that is intended to be humorous.

§  Paradox – a statement that is true in some sense, even though at first it appears self-contradictory and absurd.

§  Irony – refers to a contrast or discrepancy between appearance and reality.

v  Imagery (Figure of speech)

§  Simile – direct comparison between two things using words ‘like’ or ‘as’.

e.g. A teacher with a hundred students is as busy as a bee.

§  Metaphor – an analogy or comparison between two different things, without the words ‘like’ and ‘as’.

e.g. John is a rising star.

§  Personification – giving human qualities to a thing or an abstraction.

e.g. The fox spoke in a soft, inviting voice.

§  Hyperbole – an exaggeration or overstatement.

e.g. I am so hungry; I could eat a horse.

§  Onomatopoeia – the use of words whose sounds suggest their meaning or sense.

e.g. Hiss went the snake

§  Oxymoron – the use of words together as a unit but that are opposite in meaning.

e.g. James Brown was called a little giant.

§  Apostrophe – a limited form of personification and occurs when a poet one of his characters addresses a speech to a person, animal, idea, or object.

e.g. To you, my purse, and to non other wigh

        Complayne I for ye be my lady dere

§  Synecdoche – using a part of thing to suggest the entire or whole thing.

e.g. She wept with waking eyes. Obviously, the woman is awake, not just her ‘waking eyes’

§  Animism – giving things to inanimate objects

e.g. O my luve is like a red red rose

that’s newly sprung in June

O my luve is like the melodie

That’s sweetly played in tune

§  Metonymy – replacing what is actually meant with something associated with an object or idea.

e.g. The poet’s pen….gives to airy nothing; a local habitation and a name. As if it were the pen that did something; actually it is the poet.

§  Juxtaposition – an overt comparison between two items without any inferences drawn. These two items are placed side by side.

e.g. Richard Cory, one calm summer night,

went home and put a bullet through his head.

The calm, warm weather is juxtaposed with the cold, irrational action to prod us into pondering possible reasons for Richard Cory’s death.

DRAMA

Drama is a display of emotions, a representation of relationships and the portrayal of the different phases of human life. It sketches different personalities and represents a wide variety of emotions through the different characters it portrays.

The Elements of Drama

v  Theme: The theme of a drama refers to the central idea of the play. It can either be clearly stated through dialog or action or can be inferred after watching the entire performance.

v  Plot: The order of events occurring in a play is referred to as the plot of the drama. It is the basic storyline that is narrated through a play. The entertainment one derives from a play depends largely on the sequence of events that occur in the story. The logical connection between the events and the characters, which enact the story form an integral part of the plot of drama.

v  Characters: The characters that form a part of the story are interwoven with the plot of the drama. Each character in a play has a personality of its own and has a distinct set of principles and beliefs. Actors who play various roles in a drama have the very important responsibility of bringing the characters to life.

v  Dialog: The story of any play is taken forward by means of the dialog. The story is narrated to the audiences through the dialog written by the playwright. The success of a drama depends hugely on the contents of the dialog and the quality of dialog delivery by the actors of the play.

v  Music: This element of drama comprises the melody in the use of sounds and rhythm in dialogs as well as melodious compositions, which form a part of many plays. The background score, the songs and the sound effects that are used in a play make up the musical element of drama. Music composers and lyricists sit together to create music that can go well with the theme of the play.