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.