Dimaano, Allyssa Marie D.

Grade 11 – STEM A

ASSIGNMENT IN 21ST CENTURY LITERATURE

1. What is prose?
Prose is a form of language that has no formal metrical structure. It applies a natural flow of speech,
and ordinary grammatical structure, rather than rhythmic structure, such as in the case of traditional
poetry. Normal everyday speech is spoken in prose, and most people think and write in prose form.
2. What is a short story?
A short story is a brief work of fiction, usually written in prose and running 1,600 to 20,000 words
in length. The literary roots of the short story can be found in oral storytelling traditions, such as
anecdotes, fables, fairy tales, and parables
3. What are the elements of a short story?
In analyzing a short story, there are six elements that the reader should look for in the story. All
stories begin with a seed of an idea. From that point, the author then should plan his story around these
elements: Setting, Conflict, Character, Plot, Theme, Point of view. Each of these aspects should be
expected in the story. Not all stories will have the same importance placed on each element.
4. What is literary criticism?
Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature.
Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion
of literature's goals and methods.
5. Give five literary lenses with their definitions.

a. Socio-cultural lenses examine literature from historical, political or gender-based viewpoints.

b. New Criticism holds that all works of literature, regardless of their social context, share
intrinsic traits that establish unity and define quality.
c. A psychoanalytic lens places the author on center stage, and analyzes literature with a view to
his or her personality and desires.
d. Post-structuralist critical theory developed alongside literary Modernism and Post-Modernism.
e. A feminist critic sees cultural and economic disabilities in a "patriarchal" society that have
hindered or prevented women from realizing their creative possibilities and women's cultural
identification as a merely negative object, or "Other," to man as the defining and dominating
"Subject."