Coaching

for Success
Learning the art of giving effective feedback

Johnnie J. Lim
Why study literature ?
Studying literature enables one to
better understand social situations,
history, one's own emotions, and
various cultural practices. It also
makes one more empathetic.
We learn about history we didn't
experience, customs we are not familiar
with or that lead to what we do and
perform now, hear voices of men, women,
children, dragons, elves, slaves, aliens,
and other characters in order to spark
imagination.
We learn to think outside the literal box
by reading. It forces your mind to
picture places and experiences and
activates our gestault thinking, which is
crucial next to just spitting back
information.
Two Major Divisions of Literature

Oral Literature
Written Literature
Oral literature or folk literature operates in
the sphere of the spoken (oral) word
as literature operates in the domain of the
written word. A broad conceptualization
refers to it as literature characterized
by oral transmission and the absence of
any fixed form.
Oral literature is a broad term which may
include ritual texts, curative chants, epic
poems, musical genres, folk tales,creation
tales, songs, myths, spells, legends,
proverbs, riddles, tongue-twisters, word
games, recitations, life histories or
historical narratives.
Written literature is the form of human
expression through writing. That is to
say, it is a literature which is expressed
or conveyed through written forms.
Unlike oral literature, this kind of
 literature began with the invention
of writing.
Examples of written literature:
1.Fiction 2.Nonfiction 3.Manuscripts.
4.Poetry. 5.Contribution to collective
works. 6.Compilations of data or other
literary subject matter. 7.Dissertations
8.Theses.
Genre means a type of art,
literature, or music characterized
by a specific form, content, and 
style. Literature has four main
genres: poetry, drama, fiction,
and non-fiction.
1. Fiction has three categories that
are, realistic, non-realistic, and
semi-fiction. Usually, fiction work is
not real and therefore, authors can
use complex figurative language to
touch readers’ imaginations.
Unlike poetry, it is more structured,
follows proper grammatical pattern, and
correct mechanics. A fictional work may
incorporate fantastical and imaginary
ideas from everyday life. It comprises
some important elements such as plot,
exposition,  foreshadowing,  rising action, 
climax, falling action, and resolution.
Popular examples of literary fiction
include Charles Dickens’ A Tale of
Two Cities, Jane Austen’s Pride and
Prejudice, and Harper Lee’s To Kill a
Mockingbird.
2. Non-fiction is a vast category that
also has sub-genres; it could be
creative like a personal essay, or
factual, like a scientific paper. It may
also use figurative language, however,
not unlike poetry, or fiction has.
Sometimes, non-fiction may tell
a story, like an autobiography,
or sometimes it may convey
information to readers.
Other examples of non-fiction
include biographies, diaries,
memoirs, journals, fantasies,
mysteries, and romances. 
3. Drama is a form of text that is
performed in front of an audience. It
is also called a play. Its written text
contains dialogues, and stage
directions. This genre has further 
categories such as comedy, tragedy,
and tragicomedy.
William Shakespeare is known as the father of
English drama. His well-known plays include 
Romeo & Juliet, and Hamlet. Greek
playwrights were the pioneers in this field,
such as Sophocles’ masterpiece Oedipus
Rex, and Antigone, while modern dramas
include Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller.
4. Poetry is a form of text that follows a meter
 and rhythm, with each line and syllable. It is
further subdivided into different genres, such
an epic poem, narrative, romantic, dramatic,
and lyric. Dramatic poetry includes melodrama, 
tragedy, and comedy, while other poems
includes ode, sonnet, elegy, ballad, song, and
epic.
Popular examples of epic poems include 
paradise Lost, by John Milton, The Iliad 
and The Odyssey, by Homer.  Examples
of romantic poems include Red Red Rose,
by Robert Burns. All these poetic forms
share specific features, such as they do
not follow paragraphs or sentences; they
use stanzas and lines instead.
Writers of fiction use seven elements
to tell their stories:

Character, Plot, Setting. Point-of-view ,

Style, Theme and Literary Devices.
Thank you for viewing.