NAME: SHEENA MAY D.

ORO
COURSE & YEAR: BEED III
ACTIVITY NO.: WORLD LITERATURE
SUBJECT: LIT 2

Kindly do a research about the following topics:

1.What is Literature?
Literature, a body of written works. The name has traditionally been applied to
those imaginative works of poetry and prose distinguished by the intentions of their
authors and the perceived aesthetic excellence of their execution. Literature may be
classified according to a variety of systems, including language, national origin,
historical period, genre, and subject matter.
2. What are the different kinds of Literature?
There are five main forms of Literature: Poetry, Prose, Drama, Non-Fiction, and
Media.
Poetry- This is often considered the oldest form of literature. Before writing was
invented, oral stories were commonly put into some sort of poetic form to make them
easier to remember and recite. Poetry today is usually written down but is still
sometimes performed. A lot of people think of rhymes and counting syllables and lines
when they think of poetry, and some poems certainly follow strict forms. But other types
of poetry are so free-form that they lack any rhymes or common patterns. There are
even kinds of poetry that cross genre lines, such as prose poetry. In general, though, a
text is a poem when it has some sort of meter or rhythm, and when it focuses on the
way the syllables, words, and phrases sound when put together. Poems are heavy in
imagery and metaphor and are often made up of fragments and phrases rather than
complete, grammatically correct sentences. And poetry is nearly always written in
stanzas and lines, creating a unique look on the page. Poetry, as experienced in the
classroom, is usually one of three types. There are the shorter, more modern poems,
spanning anything from a few lines to a few pages. Often these are collected in books of
poems by a single author or by a variety of writers. Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven,” is
one of the most commonly taught poems of this type. Then there are the classical,
formulaic poems of Shakespeare’s time, such as the blank verse and the sonnet. And
finally, there are the ancient, epic poems transcribed from oral stories. These long,
complex poems resemble novels, such as Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey.
Prose- Once you know what poetry is, it’s easy to define prose. Prose can be defined
as any kind of written text that isn’t poetry (which means drama, discussed below, is
technically a type of prose). The most typical varieties of prose are novels and short
stories, while other types include letters, diaries, journals, and non-fiction (also
discussed below). Prose is written in complete sentences and organized in paragraphs.
Instead of focusing on sound, which is what poetry does, prose tends to focus on plot
and characters. Prose is the type of literature read most often taught in English
classrooms. Any novel or short story falls into this category, from Jane
Eyre to Twilight and from “A Sound of Thunder” to “The Crucible.” Like poetry, prose is
broken down into a large number of other sub-genres. Some of these genres revolve
around the structure of the text, such as novellas, biographies, and memoirs, and others
are based on the subject matter, like romances, fantasies, and mysteries.
Drama- Any text meant to be performed rather than read can be considered drama
(unless it’s a poem meant to be performed, of course). In layman’s terms, dramas are
usually called plays. When written down the bulk of a drama is dialogue, with periodic
stage directions such as “he looks away angrily.” Of all the genres of literature
discussed in this article, drama is the one given the least time in most classrooms. And
often when drama is taught, it’s only read the same way you might read a novel. Since
dramas are meant to be acted out in front of an audience, it’s hard to fully appreciate
them when looking only at pages of text. Students respond best to dramas, and grasp
their mechanics more fully when exposed to film or theater versions or encouraged to
read aloud or act out scenes during class. The dramas most commonly taught in
classrooms are definitely those written by the bard. Shakespeare’s plays are
challenging, but rewarding when approached with a little effort and a critical mindset.
Popular choices from his repertoire include Hamlet, Taming of the Shrew, and Romeo
and Juliet, among others. Older Greek plays are also taught fairly often, especially
Sophocles’ Antigone. And any good drama unit should include more modern plays for
comparison, such as Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.
Non-Fiction- Poetry and drama both belong to the broader category of fiction—texts
that feature events and characters that have been made up. Then there is non-fiction, a
vast category that is a type of prose and includes many different sub-genres. Non-fiction
can be creative, such as the personal essay, or factual, such as the scientific paper.
Sometimes the purpose of non-fiction is to tell a story (hence the autobiography), but
most of the time the purpose is to pass on information and educate the reader about
certain facts, ideas, and/or issues. Some genres of non-fiction include histories,
textbooks, travel books, newspapers, self-help books, and literary criticism. A full list of
non-fiction types would be at least as long as this entire article. But the varieties most
often used in the classroom are textbooks, literary criticism, and essays of various sorts.
Most of what students practice writing in the classroom is the non-fiction essay, from
factual to personal to persuasive. And non-fiction is often used to support and expand
students’ understanding of fiction texts—after reading Hamlet students might read
critical articles about the play and historical information about the time period and/or the
life of Shakespeare.
Media- The newest type of literature that has been defined as a distinct genre is media.
This categorization was created to encompass the many new and important kinds of
texts in our society today, such as movies and films, websites, commercials, billboards,
and radio programs. Any work that doesn’t exist primarily as a written text can probably
be considered media, particularly if it relies on recently developed technologies. Media
literature can serve a wide variety of purposes—among other things it can educate,
entertain, advertise, and/or persuade. More and more educators are coming to
recognize the importance of teaching media in the classroom. Students are likely to be
exposed to far more of this type of literature than anything else throughout their lives, so
it makes sense to teach them how to be critical and active consumers of media. Internet
literacy is a growing field, for example, since the skills required to understand and use
online information differ in important ways from the skills required to analyze printed
information. Teaching media literacy is also a great way for educators to help students
become participants in their own culture, through lessons on creating their own websites
or home movies or commercials.
3. What are the Elements of Short Story?
Character- Characters are the people who are involved in the story. Characters
can be major or minor, and static or dynamic.
Setting- The setting of a story gives us important information such as: 1) When
the story is taking place, 2) Where the story is taking place, and 3) What environment
the story is occurring in. It sets the mood and helps us guess what might happen in the
story.
Point of View- This refers to who tells the story, and how they tell it. The
narrator can tell the story from the third-person point of view, meaning that they can tell
us what the characters think and do, but they are not part of the story. Third-person
narrators use the pronouns he, she or it. If the narrator is telling the story from a first-
person point of view, then they are part of the story and are telling it the way that they
see it. First-person narrators use the pronoun I.
Plot- The order of events that make up a story. The plot usually begins with an
exposition, which introduces us to the characters and background information of the
story. Next comes the rising action, which involves complications that lead to conflicts
between characters. After the rising action we reach the climax, which is a turning point
in the story. After the climax there is a falling action which leads to the resolution of the
conflict.
Theme- The central meaning or idea of the story; the moral lesson the story is
trying to teach. It is a message that gives an opinion about life, humanity or society.
Examples of theme include: love, friendship, good vs. evil, the importance of family,
crime is bad, etc.
4. What are Elements of Poetry?
Images - the mental pictures the poet creates through language
Diction - the selection of specific words
Form - the arrangement of words, lines, verses, rhymes, and other features.
Cadence - A rhythmic change in the inflection of sounds from words being
spoken. Sometimes referred to the flow of words.
Couplet - two lines of verse that rhyme at the end and are thought as one unit
Meter - A rhythm that continuously repeats a single basic pattern.
 Rhyme - Words that end with similar sounds. Usually at the end of a line of the
poem.
Rhyming - Two lines of a poem together with the same rhythm
Rhythm - A pattern created with sounds: hard - soft, long - short, bouncy, quiet -
loud, weak - strong.
Stanza - A part of a poem with similar rhythm and rhyme that will usually repeat
later in the poem.
Verse - A line of a poem, or a group of lines within a long poem.
5. Different kind of Figure of Speech
 A. Metaphor
Many common figures of speech are metaphors. That is, they use words in a manner
other than their literal meaning. However, metaphors use figurative language to make
comparisons between unrelated things or ideas. The “peak of her career,” for example,
is a metaphor, since a career is not a literal mountain with a peak, but the metaphor
represents the idea of arriving at the highest point of one’s career.
B. Idiom
An idiom is a common phrase with a figurative meaning. Idioms are different from other
figures of speech in that their figurative meanings are mostly known within a particular
language, culture, or group of people. In fact, the English language alone has about
25,000 idioms. Some examples include “it’s raining cats and dogs” when it is raining
hard, or “break a leg” when wishing someone good luck.
C. Proverb
A proverb is a short, commonplace saying that is universally understood in today’s
language and used to express general truths. “Don’t cry over spilt milk” is a popular
example. Most proverbs employ metaphors (e.g. the proverb about milk isn’t literally
about milk).
D. Simile
A simile is a very common figure of speech that uses the words “like” and “as” to
compare two things that are not related by definition. For example, “he is as tall as a
mountain,” doesn’t mean he was actually 1,000 feet tall, it just means he was really tall.
E. Oxymoron
An oxymoron is when you use two words together that have contradictory meanings.
Some common examples include small crowd, definitely possible, old news, little giant,
and so on.
F. Metonym
A metonym is a word or phrase that is used to represent something related to bigger
meaning. For example, fleets are sometimes described as being “thirty sails strong,”
meaning thirty (curiously, this metonym survives in some places, even when the ships in
question are not sail-powered!) Similarly, the crew on board those ships may be
described as “hands” rather than people.
G. Irony
Irony is when a word or phrase’s literal meaning is the opposite of its figurative
meaning. Many times (but not always), irony is expressed with sarcasm (see Related
Terms). For example, maybe you eat a really bad cookie, and then say “Wow, that was
the best cookie I ever had”—of course, what you really mean is that it’s the worst cookie
you ever had, but being ironic actually emphasizes just how bad it was!

REFERENCES:
https://www.britannica.com/art/literature

https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-of-the-different-genres-of-literature#:~:text=There%20are
%20five%20main%20forms,Non%2DFiction%2C%20and%20Media.

http://studentweb.cortland.edu/Janna.Fiermonte/Final%20Project/Elements.html

https://www.brighthubeducation.com/homework-help-literature/100292-the-five-main-genres-of-
literature/#:~:text=Categorizing%20Literature%20Genres,-%5Bcaption%20id%3D%22&text=The%20five
%20genres%20of%20literature,both%20drama%20and%20non-fiction.

http://www.homeofbob.com/literature/genre/poetry/elements

https://literaryterms.net/figures-of-speech/