21st Century Literature

Quarter 1- Module 2
(Part 1: Week 5-6)

The Literary Genres: Poetry and

Fiction
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Literary Genres: Poetry and Fiction

Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3
Objectives -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3
Discussion of Topic 1: Poetry ------------------------------------------------------------ 4
Performance Task #1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10
Rubrics for PT# 1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10
Discussion of Topic 2: Fiction ----------------------------------------------------------- 11
Performance Task #2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 19
Written Work (Quiz, Test 1) ---------------------------------------------------------------- 23
References --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25

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 THE LITERARY GENRES: POETRY AND FICTION

INTRODUCTION
Module 2 will focus on the discussion of literary genres. This module is divided
into three parts. This part of the module will be divided into two topics: poetry and
fiction

OBJECTIVES:
TOPIC 1: POETRY
At the end of this topic, you are expected to:
1. Define what poetry is;
2. Identify the different aspects of poetry; and,
3. Compose an original poem.
TOPIC 2: FICTION
At the end of this topic, you are expected to:
1. Define what fiction is;
2. Describe the three major forms of fiction;
3. Familiarize with the elements of fiction;
4. Identify the literary devices and techniques used by fiction writers; and,
5. Write an analysis for a given short story.

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 TOPIC 1: POETRY

Literary Genre

 It refers to the category of literary composition.

 It may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or even (as in the

case of fiction) length. The distinctions between genres and categories are
flexible and loosely defined, often with subgroups.

POETRY
 It is derived from the Greek term “poesis” which means “to create” or “to make”.

 It is a form of literature represented by its highly controlled manner of choosing and

arranging language with the use of regulating devices such as sound and
rhythm to aesthetically convey meaning. (Baronda, 2016)

 Poetry is used by most writers to share their life’s experiences. Thus, it could also
mean as an experience pack in a capsule form.

 A poem’s form is its appearance. Poems are composed of lines and these lines
are grouped into stanzas. Most poetic works utilize few words and they are mainly
arranged in lines and in stanzas.

 The structure also varies depending on the style used by a writer as such, a haiku,
a ballad and a sonnet have peculiar framework.

ELEMENTS OF POETRY

1. Sound Devices – some poems used the technique of sound

Rhythm- is the pattern of beats or stress in a poem.

Rhyme
 It is the repetition of the same or similar sounds, usually in stressed syllables
at the end of lines or within a line.

 It can be internal rhyme (within the line) or end rhyme (at the end of a
line).

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 Example:
The Bridegroom’s doors are open wide,
And I am next of kin,
The guests are met, the feast is set;
May’st hear the merry din.

 In this example, met and set show internal rhyme while kin and din show end
rhyme.

Other Sound Devices

1. Alliteration- is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.

Example: Full fathom five thy father lies. (repetition of “f” at the beginning)

2. Onomatopoeia- words that are used to represent a particular sound.

Example:
Swish, swash swish, swash! There goes the little feet of Dick along
the floody dirt. (swish, swash)

3. Repetition- the repeating of a particular sound devise to create an effect.

For emphasis, a poet may repeat words or lines within the poem.

Example: Bend me then, O Lord,

Bend me if You can. (repetition of “Bend me”)

2. Imagery
 Poets use words that appeal to the five senses: such as sight, sound, touch, taste
and smell.

Example:
A damsel with dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.

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(The images shown in the poem is about a girl playing a stringed instrument and that she
is singing a song about a mountain in a foreign, remote land.)

Figures of Speech
 These are special kinds of imagery which create pictures by making
comparisons.

The following are some of the types:

1. Simile - it is a comparison making use of words as or like.

Example:
The stream was like a silver ribbon over the green plains.
Mary had a little lamb its fleece as white as snow.

2. Metaphor - it is a direct comparison between two unlike things.

Example:
Love is a battle field.
God is a DJ, life is a dance floor and love is a rhythm.

3. Personification - it is giving human attributes to inanimate objects.

Example:
I long have a quarrel set with Time because he robbed me.
Lightning danced across the sky.

4. Allusion – in using this literary device, the writer refers to a significant

person, place, thing, idea in culture, history, literature, or politics briefly and
indirectly.

Example:
There is no “Open Sesame” to learning.
(reference to Arabian Literature)
I didn’t have any bus fare, but fortunately some good Samaritan
helped me out! (reference to Bible story “The Good Samaritan”)

5. Apostrophe - with this literary device, the writer addresses someone

or something that is not present in his work.
Example:
Milton! Thou shouldst be living at this hour.

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 ( address a dead person Milton)
Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are.
(addresses the little star)

 Furthermore, poems also convey meanings in different ways. Thus, a poem is

composed of a few words but it may have a variety of meanings depending on its
reader’s interpretation.

3 CATEGORIES OF POETRY

1. DRAMATIC POETRY
 This category of poetry exhibits dialogue and characterization which are known to
be elements of drama

TYPES:

1. Monologue – it specifically a speech delivered by an individual in a dramatic

performance. (assumed that the individual is talking to someone)

2. Soliloquy – it is a monologue used to develop the character of the speaker by providing

information through revelation of the characters’ personal thoughts and emotions.
(assumed that the individual is talking to himself)

2. LYRIC POETRY
 This category of poetry discloses a poet’s feelings and emotions and can be
perceived to be subjective and personal.

 A traditional poetry that is characterized by brevity, emotional intensity and musical

quality. This is known for its melodic quality since it was first recited with the
accompaniment of a lyre.

TYPES:

1. Simple Lyric – includes pastorals that describe scenes and objects of nature; it is
usually recited with or without melody

2. Songs – emotional verses sung during special occasions; performed by a vocalist; it

is meant to be sung

3. Odes – it is a kind of poem usually praising something

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4. Sonnets – commonly composed of 14 lines (Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets in his
lifetime)

5. Elegy – mainly laments the death of a person or group of individuals

6. Haiku – it is a specific type of Japanese poem which has 17 syllables divided into three
lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. It is typically written on the subject of nature.

3. NARRATIVE POETRY
 It is a category of poem that is non-dramatic in which the prime goal of the author
is to narrate a story.

TYPES:

1. Epic – a long poem typically derived from oral tradition, narrating the deeds and
adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of a nation

2. Metrical tales – a narrative poem presented in verse that relates to real or imaginary
events in simple straightforward language from a wide range of subjects, characters and
life experiences. It does not usually have a happy ending

3. Metrical Romance – it is otherwise known as romantic poetry. It usually has a happy

ending

4. Ballad – is a kind of narrative poem which can be adapted for recitation or singing

Let us compare this two poems:

Man of Earth A Textula
Amador T. Daguio Frank Rivera
Pliant is the bamboo; Merong himala, hindi totoong wala
I am a man of earth; Ituro ma’y mali, alam nati’y tama
They say that from the bamboo Kahit walang sagot itong panalangin Hindi tumitigil
We had our first birth. ang ating paghiling.

Am I of the body, Walang nagturo na tayo’y makibaka

Or of the green leaf? Ngunit sulirani’y ating binabata Kahit may
Do I have to whisper pangakong lagging napapako Sa anumang init,
My every sin and grief? handa ring mapaso.

If the wind passes by, Sa ating puso’y may awit ng pag-asa

Must I stoop and try Kahit titik nito’y hindi makabisa
To measure fully Ang katotohana’y lalaging totoo Basta
My flexibility? maniwalang mayroong milagro.

I might have been the bamboo,

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But I will be a man.
Bend me then, O Lord,
Bend me if you can.

Comparison:
 The poem “Man of Earth” was written by Amador T. Daguio in 1932. This poem has
a varied rhythm. It is composed of four stanzas, each one with five to seven syllables.
The poem contains end rhymes. The poem contains an allusion to a Philippine
creation myth that tells that the first man and woman came from a bamboo. The
speaker is aware of his own pagan heritage. The poem uses apostrophe. The
speaker addresses a spiritual being he calls “Lord” in the last two lines of the fourth
stanza.

 The poem “A Textula” poem is a piece of lyric poetry. It is composed of three stanzas,
and each stanza has four lines. It has a regular meter; each line consists of twelve
syllables. The poem uses what is called in Tagalog poetry as “tugmang karaniwan,”
wherein the last word of each line has the same sound. Except the last two lines of
the first stanza, the rest of the poem uses “tugmang patinig,” wherein the last words
of the lines have the same vowel sound. Textula is poetry written and read on mobile
phones. It was popularized by Frank Rivera known as “makata sa cell phone”.

 Both Amador T. Daguio’s and Frank Rivera’s poems are lyric poetry, and they show
traditional elements. Both poems use end rhymes.

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PERFORMANCE TASK #1
Compose your own poem. Your poem should have 3 stanzas. Each stanzas should
have four lines. The lines of your poem should have end rhymes and each line
should have at least 10-12 syllables. You choose ONE from the following themes.
You will develop your poem based on your chosen theme. (For printed mode, you
write your poem in a short bond paper)

a. love d. country
b. freedom e. pain/suffering/mental health
c. family f. technology/mobile gaming

Criteria Excellent (5-4 pts.) Average (3-2 pts.) Poor (1 pt.)

Organization (5 pts.)
The poem goes The poem somewhat The poem does not
perfectly together. goes together but go together. The
There is unity needs more poem’s lines and
between lines and cohesiveness. The stanzas sway from
stanzas which poem’s lines and the topic
connect with the stanzas sometimes
topic. sway from the topic.
Use of elements of The poem uses The poem uses The poem does not
poetry (5 pts.) sound devices and sound devices and use sound devices
imagery all imagery in some parts and imagery.
throughout the poem. of the poem.
Rhythms (5 pts.) The poem uses The poem somewhat The poem does not
rhythm throughout uses rhythm. It use rhythm and does
which benefit the follows the prescribed not follow the
poetic tone. It follows number of lines in prescribed number of
the prescribed some parts of the lines.
number of syllables poem.
Creativity (5 pts.) The poem uses 3 or The poem uses 1 to 2 The poem does not
more figurative figurative language use any figurative
language language.

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 TOPIC 2: FICTION
FICTION
 It generally includes works which are purely products of the writer’s imagination.

 All its characters and events are just perceived to be real but they do not exist in
real life. (Baronda, 2016)

3 Major Forms of Fiction

1. Short Story
 It is a short fiction that can be read in one sitting, has few characters and singular
complication.
2. Novella
 This is shorter version of a novel. It is longer than a short story but shorter than a
novel.
3. Novel
 It is a long prose narrative that deals with human experience through a relative
sequence of events--that is known to be complex.

Elements of Fiction (Literary Elements)

1. SETTING
 This element includes the place and the time of the actions that happen in a story.

 The time may be in previous years or decades, in the present period, or even
some time in the future.
2. CHARACTERS
 It refers to the persons or any entity involved in the circumstances and actions in
a story.
Types:
1. Protagonist - it is the principal or lead character; commonly referred to as the hero.
2. Antagonist – known as the villain; the role is mainly to oppose or to challenge the
main character
3. Static/Flat Character- it a character who remains the same from beginning to end of
the story.

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4. Dynamic Character - this character goes through significant changes in
personality, behavior and perspective as the story develops.
5. Round character - known as complex and multidimensional. It is a character that
people can relate the most. This character also appears lifelike.
6. Antihero-a character who does not exhibit the stereotypical qualities inherent to a hero.
7. Foil-refers to a character used to stand in contrast to another character.

3. PLOT
 It refers to the series of events that take place in a story.

 The plot is composed of several elements such as: exposition, rising action,
climax, falling action, and the denouement or resolution.
Exposition
 It is the part where the setting and characters of the story are introduced.
Rising Action
 It is the part where the conflict of the story is introduced.
Conflict
 It is the highest point of the story.
 It is where the confrontations and unraveling of truths happen.
Falling Action
 In this part, the conflicts are already coming into end.
 The realizations of the characters about the events are gradually reached.
Resolution
 It is the end of the story.
 It can be a happy or sad ending.
 It can also be open-ended.

4. POINT OF VIEW (POV)

 It refers to the vantage point as to the story unfolds. It mainly relates as to the
way the story is told or narrated.

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Types:
Participant Narrator/ First Person
 Usually marked by the use of “I” and the narrator is mainly part of the story or is
perceived as one of the characters.
 This narrator establishes an intimate and close connection with the readers since
the delivery of the story seems to be more personal.
Second Person
 Emphasizes “You” perspective in which a person or an entity is being directly
addressed.
Non-participant Narrator/third Person
 This narrator is seemingly not part of the story. Specifically, the omniscient point-
of-view has access to the minds of the characters and knows the entirely of the
circumstances in the story. Thus, a story is told based on what the narrator sees
and observes.

5. CONFLICT
 It refers to the opposing forces that may set forth the problems, issues, and the
challenges that a character needs to face or deal with. Examples are:
man vs. man man vs. nature
man vs. himself man vs. society/culture

6. SYMBOLS

 An object which is used to represent ideas aside from its literal meaning. Example
a dove for peace, a crown for authority and power.
7. THEME
 The significant truth about life which a story attempts to communicate to its readers
or simply the lesson that the readers learned from the story.

LITERARY TECHNIQUES
 Refer to specific methods writers employ in their works to convey messages.

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1. Anaphora or epanaphora-
It refers to the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a sentence to create an
artistic or heightened effect.
It adds rhythm to a particular line or paragraph, making it easier to memorize. It is also
used for emphasis and stir emotions among the audience.
Example:
Hamlet (An Excerpt)
by William Shakespeare
‘Tis a fault to heaven,
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature
To reason most absurd…
(Hamlet by Shakespeare, Act 1 Scene 2)

Explanation:
The line above was delivered by Claudius while talking to Hamlet. Claudius was trying
to convince his nephew to end his mourning for his father, emphasizing that it is “fault”
against heaven, the dead, and nature to do so since death is inevitable.

2. Antihero
 It is a fictional character who does not possess the traits of a hero such as pride
and valor. Often, antiheroes re portrayed as foolish and usually find themselves in
mischief.
Example:
Don Quixote (An Excerpt by Miguel Cervantes)
One of those, however, that stood near him, fancying he was mocking them, lifted up a long staff
he had in his hand and smote him such a blow with it that Sancho dropped helpless to the ground.
Don Quixote, seeing him so roughly handled, attacked the man who had struck him lance in hand,
but so many thrust themselves between them that he could not avenge him. Far from it, finding
a shower of stones rained upon him, and crossbows and muskets unnumbered levelled at him,
he wheeled Rocinante round and, as his best gallop could take him, fled from the midst of them,
commending himself to God with all his heart to deliver him out of this peril, in dread every step
of some ball coming in his back and coming out at his breast, and every minute drawing his breath
to see whether it had gone from him.

Explanation:
The passage above shows that Don Quixote, despite considering himself as a knight-
errant, is a coward. Instead of helping his squire Sancho from the mob, he fled to save
himself.

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3. Cliff-hanger
 It is a literary technique used by the author to arouse curiosity among readers by
ending a chapter or story abruptly. Most of the time, the characters are confronted
with a difficult or an unsettling situation.

 Instead of providing a resolution, the author would end it. Furthermore, this
technique is often found in serialized works. Writers utilize cliff-hangers in their
works to keep the readers focused and interested as to what will happen next.
Example:
Divergent (an Excerpt) by Veronica Roth
I turn the gun in my hands and press it into Tobias’s palm. He pushes the barrel into my forehead.
My tears have stopped and the air feels cold as it touches my cheeks. I reach out and rest my
hand on his chest so I can feel his heartbeat. At least his heartbeat is still him. The bullet clicks
into the chamber. Maybe it will be easy to let him shoot me as it was in the fear landscape, as it
is in my dreams. Maybe it will be just a bang, and the lights will lift, and I will find myself in another
world. I stand still and wait.

Explanation:
The main character Tris Prior was in an intense situation as Tobias, under a simulation,
was about to shoot her. However, the author did not divulge whether Tobias did it or not
until the next chapter.

4. Juxtaposition
It is a technique authors’ use in their works to compare two different things, or two
contrasting ideas to be able to emphasize their differences, such as good and evil, life
and death, truth and lies, among others. This technique is also used to develop a
character, resolve a conflict, or clarify various concepts.
Example:
The Cask of Amontillado (An Excerpt)
Edgar Allan Poe
It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that
[Montresor] encountered my friend [Fortunato]. He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he
had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a tightfitting parti-striped dress, and
his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells. I was so pleased to see him that I thought
I should never have done wringing his hand… At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared
another less spacious. It walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead,
in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. Three sides of this interior crypt were still
ornamented in this manner. From the fourth the bones had been thrown down, and lay
promiscuously upon the earth, forming at one point a mound of some size. Within the wall thus

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exposed by the displacing of the bones, we perceived a still interior recess, in depth about four
feet, in width three, in height six or seven…

Explanation:
Edgar Allan Poe used juxtaposition in “The Cask of Amontillado.” In the first paragraph,
the carnival season, including Fortunato’s motley, symbolizes life and merrymaking.
Meanwhile, the catacombs and bones symbolize what would become of Fortunato.

5. Foreshadowing
 It refers to lines or dialogues in a story which give the reader an idea of what is
about to happen without spoiling or explicitly stating the plot’s entirety.

 When writers use this technique, especially in mystery or thriller novels, they
provide “red herrings” (misleading or false clues) to divert the reader’s
expectations.
Example:
The Iliad (An Excerpt) by Homer
Then Thetis spake unto him, hedding tears the while: “Doomed then to a speedy death, my child,
shalt thou be, that thou spakes thus; for straightway after Hector is thine own death ready at
hand.”

Explanation:
Achilles was devastated upon learning about Patroclus’ death in the hands of
Hector. He wished to avenge his fallen comrade, but his mother, Thetis, warned him of
his impending death should he kill Hector in battle.

6. Catharsis
 It is derived from the Greek word katharsis, which means “purification” or
“purgation” or “Purgation.” It refers to the emotional release or cleansing of the
characters, or audience or readers, from strong emotions usually brought by
learning of the truth or when confronted with difficult situations.

 ‘This technique is commonly found in tragedies, such as Shakespeare’s Romeo

and Juliet and Sophocles’ Oedipus the King.

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Example:

Oedipus the King (An Excerpt)

by Sophocles

Second Messenger:
(…) Guided his footsteps; with a terrible shriek,
As though one beckoned him, he crashed against
The folding doors, and from their staples forced
The wrenched bolts and hurled himself within.
Then we beheld the woman hanging there,
A running noose entwined about her neck.
But when he saw her, with a maddened roar
He loosed the cord; and when her wretched corpse
Lay stretched on earth, what followed-- O ‘twas dread!
He tore the golden brooches that upheld
Her queenly robes, upraised them high and smote
Full on his eye-balls, uttering words like these:
“No more shall ye behold such sights of woe,
Deeds I have suffered and myself have wrought;
Henceforward quenched in darkness shall ye see
Those ye should ne’er have seen; now blind to those
Who, when I saw, I vainly yearned to know.”

Explanation:
The excerpt above pertains to the scene where it was revealed that Oedipus married his
mother Jocasta and killed his father Laius. Upon learning of the truth, Jocasta committed
suicide while Oedipus thrust his mother’s golden brooches into his eyes, thus causing
him to become blind.

7. Stream of Consciousness, sometimes referred to as interior monologue

 It is a literary technique that is usually associated with Modern writers. The plot is
developed based on the character’ reminiscence or recollection of events and
thought fragments. Instead of using dialogues to show the characters’ reaction or
emotion, writers make use of stream of consciousness to show each character’s
complex nature.

 More so, readers are taken into the depths of the characters’ mind and witness
how these characters process their thoughts when faced with a particular situation
or emotion.

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Example:
Mrs. Dalloway (An Excerpt) by Virginia Woolf
Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself…
For Lucy had her work cut out for her. The doors would be taken off their hinges; Rumpelmayer’s
men were coming. And then, thought Clarissa Dalloway, what a morning—fresh as if issued to
children on a beach. What a lark! What a plunge! For so it had always seemed to her, when,
with a little squeak of the hinges, which she could hear now, she had burst open the French
windows and plunged at Bourton into the open air. How fresh, how calm, stiller than this of course,
the air was in the early morning; like the flap of a wave; the kiss of a wave; chill and sharp and
yet (for a girl of eighteen as she then was) solemn, feeling as she did, standing there at the open
window, that something awful was about to happen; looking at the flowers, at the trees with the
smoke winding off them and the rocks rising, falling; standing and looking until Peter Walsh said,
“Musing among the vegetables?”—was that it?—“I prefer men to cauliflowers”—was that it?

Explanation:
From the passage above, we see how Mrs. Dalloway’s thoughts wandered from present
to past. All these came into her head while she was on her way to buy flowers.

8. Hamartia or tragic flaw

 It is a technique commonly found in Greek tragedies. It refers to the tragic hero’s
error in judgment, which leads to his or her downfall. Most of the time, this error is
committed unknowingly, such in the case of Oedipus when he killed his father
Laius and married his mother Jocasta.

 It is used to have the audience identify themselves with the protagonist (that he or
she has weaknesses too) and to provoke pity because of the miserable turn of
events he or she went through. Additionally, it is used to impart a moral objective
among readers or audience to improve or change for the better so as to avoid the
tragedy that has befallen the protagonist.
Example:
Medea (An Excerpt)
by Euripides
An easy answer had I to this swell
Of speech, but Zeus our father knoweth well,
All I for thee have wrought, and thou for me.
So let it rest. This thing was not to be,
That thou shouldst live a merry life, my bed
Forgotten and my heart uncomforted,
Thou nor thy princess: nor the king that planned
Thy marriage drive Medea from his land,
And suffer not. Call me what thing thou please,

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 Tigress or Skylla from the Tuscan seas:
My claws have gripped thine heart, and all things shine.

Explanation:
Medea’s hamartia or tragic flaw was her excessive love for Jason, who left her and their
children to marry Creon’s daughter, Glauce. This led Medea to cast her revenge to
Glauce, poisoning her, and to kill their children as she knew greatly it would hurt Jason.

PERFORMANCE TASK # 2
Read the story below and answer the given questions.
THE SMALL KEY
Paz M. Latorena

It was very warm. The sun, up above a sky that was blue and tremendous and beckoning
to birds ever on the wing, shone bright as if determined to scorch everything under heaven, even
the low, square nipa house that stood in an unashamed relief against the gray-green haze of
grass and leaves.
It was lonely dwelling located far from its neighbors, which were huddled close to one
another as if for mutual comfort. It was flanked on both sides by tall, slender bamboo tree which
rustled plaintively under a gentle wind.
On the porch a woman past her early twenties stood regarding the scene before her with
eyes made incurious by its familiarity. All around her the land stretched endlessly, it seemed, and
vanished into the distance. There were dark, newly plowed furrows where in due time timorous
seedling would give rise to sturdy stalks and golden grain, to a rippling yellow sea in the wind and
sun during harvest time. Promise of plenty and reward for hard toil! With a sigh of discontent,
however, the woman turned and entered a small dining room where a man sat over a belated a
midday meal.
Pedro Buhay, a prosperous farmer, looked up from his plate and smiled at his wife as she
stood framed by the doorway, the sunlight glinting on her dark hair, which was drawn back, without
relenting wave, from a rather prominent and austere brow.
“Where are the shirts I ironed yesterday?” she asked as she approached the table.
“In my trunk, I think,” he answered.
“Some of them need darning,” and observing the empty plate, she added, “do you want
some more rice?”
“No,” hastily, “I am in a hurry to get back. We must finish plowing the south field today
because tomorrow is Sunday.”

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 Pedro pushed the chair back and stood up. Soledad began to pile the dirty dishes one on
top of the other.
“Here is the key to my trunk.” From the pocket of his khaki coat he pulled a string of non-
descript red which held together a big shiny key and another small, rather rusty looking one.
With deliberate care he untied the knot and, detaching the big key, dropped the small one
back into his pocket. She watched him fixedly as he did this. The smile left her face and a strange
look came into her eyes as she took the big key from him without a word. Together they left the
dining room.
Out of the porch he put an arm around her shoulders and peered into her shadowed face.
“You look pale and tired,” he remarked softly. “What have you been doing all morning?”
“Nothing,” she said listlessly. “But the heat gives me a headache.”
“Then lie down and try to sleep while I am gone.” For a moment they looked deep into
each other’s eyes.
“It is really warm,” he continued. “I think I will take off my coat.”
He removed the garment absent mindedly and handed it to her. The stairs creaked under
his weight as he went down.
“Choleng,” he turned his head as he opened the gate, “I shall pass by Tia Maria’s house
and tell her to come. I may not return before dark.”
Soledad nodded. Her eyes followed her husband down the road, noting the fine set of his
head and shoulders, the case of his stride. A strange ache rose in her throat.
She looked at the coat he had handed to her. It exuded a faint smell of his favorite cigars,
one of which he invariably smoked, after the day’s work, on his way home from the fields.
Mechanically, she began to fold the garment.
As she was doing so, s small object fell from the floor with a dull, metallic sound. Soledad
stooped down to pick it up. It was the small key! She stared at it in her palm as if she had never
seen it before. Her mouth was tightly drawn and for a while she looked almost old.
She passed into the small bedroom and tossed the coat carelessly on the back of a chair.
She opened the window and the early afternoon sunshine flooded in. On a mat spread on the
bamboo floor were some newly washed garments.
She began to fold them one by one in feverish haste, as if seeking in the task of the
moment in refuge from painful thoughts. But her eyes moved restlessly around the room until they
rested almost furtively on a small trunk that was half concealed by a rolled mat in a dark corner.
It was a small old trunk, without anything on the outside that might arouse one’s curiosity.
But it held the things she had come to hate with unreasoning violence, the things that were
causing her so much unnecessary anguish and pain and threatened to destroy all that was most
beautiful between her and her husband!

20
 Soledad came across a torn garment. She threaded a needle, but after a few uneven
stitches she pricked her finger and a crimson drop stained the whitegarment. Then she saw she
had been mending on the wrong side.
“What is the matter with me?” she asked herself aloud as she pulled the thread with
nervous and impatient fingers.
What did it matter if her husband chose to keep the clothes of his first wife?
“She is dead anyhow. She is dead,” she repeated to herself over and over again.
The sound of her own voice calmed her. She tried to thread the needle once more. But
she could not, not for the tears had come unbidden and completely blinded her.
“My God,” she cried with a sob, “make me forget Indo’s face as he put the small key back
into his pocket.”
She brushed her tears with the sleeves of her camisa and abruptly stood up. The heat
was stifling, and the silence in the house was beginning to be unendurable.
She looked out of the window. She wondered what was keeping Tia Maria. Perhaps Pedro
had forgotten to pass by her house in his hurry. She could picture him out there in the south field
gazing far and wide at the newly plowed land with no thought in his mind but of work, work. For
to the people of the barrio whose patron saint, San Isidro Labrador, smiled on them with benign
eyes from his crude altar in the little chapel up the hill, this season was a prolonged hour during
which they were blind and dead to everything but the demands of the land.
During the next half hour Soledad wandered in and out of the rooms in effort to seek
escape from her own thoughts and to fight down an overpowering impulse. If Tia Maria would
only come and talk to her to divert her thoughts to other channels!
But the expression on her husband’s face as he put the small key back into his pocket
kept torturing her like a nightmare, goading beyond endurance. Then, with all resistance to the
impulse gone, she was kneeling before the small trunk. With the long drawn breath she inserted
the small key. There was an unpleasant metallic sound, for the key had not been used for a long
time and it was rusty.
That evening Pedro Buhay hurried home with the usual cigar dangling from his mouth,
pleased with himself and the tenants because the work in the south field had been finished. Tia
Maria met him at the gate and told him that Soledad was in bed with a fever.
“I shall go to town and bring Doctor Santos,” he decided, his cool hand on his wife’s brow.
Soledad opened her eyes. “Don’t, Indo,” she begged with a vague terror in her eyes which
he took for anxiety for him because the town was pretty far and the road was dark and deserted
by that hour of the night. “I shall be alright tomorrow.”
Pedro returned an hour later, very tired and very worried. The doctor was not at home but
his wife had promised to give him Pedro’s message as soon as he came in.
Tia Maria decide to remain for the night. But it was Pedro who stayed up to watch the sick
woman. He was puzzled and worried – more than he cared to admit it. It was true that Soledad

21
did not looked very well early that afternoon. Yet, he thought, the fever was rather sudden. He
was afraid it might be a symptom of a serious illness.
Soledad was restless the whole night. She tossed from one side to another, but toward
morning she fell into some sort of troubled sleep. Pedro then lay down to snatch a few winks.
He woke up to find the soft morning sunshine streaming through the half-open window.
He got up without making any noise. His wife was still asleep and now breathing evenly. A sudden
rush of tenderness came over him at the sight of her – so slight, so frail.
Tia Maria was nowhere to be seen, but that did not bother him, for it was Sunday and the
work in the south field was finished. However, he missed the pleasant aroma which came from
the kitchen every time he had awakened early in the morning.
The kitchen was neat but cheerless, and an immediate search for wood brought no results.
So shouldering an ax, Pedro descended the rickety stairs that led to the backyard.
The morning was clear and the breeze soft and cool. Pedro took in a deep breath of air. It
was good – it smelt of trees, of the rice fields, of the land he loved.
He found a pile of logs under the young mango tree near the house and began to chop.
He swung the ax with rapid clean sweeps, enjoying the feel of the smooth wooden handle in his
palms.
As he stopped for a while to mop his brow, his eyes caught the remnants of a smudge that
had been built in the backyard.
“Ah!” he muttered to himself. “She swept the yard yesterday after I left her. That, coupled
with the heat, must have given her a headache and then the fever.”
The morning breeze stirred the ashes and a piece of white cloth fluttered into view.
Pedro dropped his ax. It was a half-burn panuelo. Somebody had been burning clothes.
He examined the slightly ruined garment closely. A puzzled expression came into his eyes. First
it was doubt groping for truth, then amazement, and finally agonized incredulity passed across
his face. He almost ran back to the house. In three strides he was upstairs. He found his coat
hanging from the back of a chair.
Cautiously he entered the room. The heavy breathing of his wife told him that she was still
asleep. As he stood by the small trunk, a vague distaste to open it assailed to him. Surely he must
be mistaken. She could not have done it, she could not have been that… that foolish.
Resolutely he opened the trunk. It was empty.
It was nearly noon when the doctor arrived. He felt Soledad’s pulse and asked question
which she answered in monosyllables. Pedro stood by listening to the whole procedure with an
inscrutable expression on his face. He had the same expression when the doctor told him that
nothing was really wrong with his wife although she seemed to be worried about something. The
physician merely prescribed a day of complete rest.
Pedro lingered on the porch after the doctor left. He was trying not to be angry with his
wife. He hoped it would be just an interlude that could be recalled without bitterness. She would
explain sooner or later, she would be repentant, perhaps he would even listen and eventually

22
forgive her, for she was young and he loved her. But somehow he knew that this incident would
always remain a shadow in their lives.

Answer the following questions: (For those under the printed mode, write your
answer on a short bond paper.
1. Describe the setting of the story. (5 pts.)
2. Who are the characters in the story? Describe the roles these characters played in the
story. Classify them into what type of characters do they belong. Justify your
classification. (10 pts.)
3. Trace the story with the use of the parts of the plot: (10 pts.)
Exposition:
Rising Action:
Climax
Falling Action:
Resolution:

4. What is the theme of the story? What lesson could be learned from the story? (5pts.)

WRITTEN WORK
QUIZ
Test 1: Identify what is being described in the following statements. Write your
answers on the space provided before the number.

_____________________________1. It is a Greek term which means “to create” or “to

make”.
_____________________________2. It refers to the repetition of consonant sounds at
the beginning of words.
_____________________________3. This type of dramatic poetry refers to a speech
delivered by an individual in a dramatic performance.

_____________________________4. This type of lyric poetry is written to usually praise

something.

_____________________________5. It is a kind of narrative poem that can be adapted

for recitation or singing.

23
_____________________________6. The author of “ATextula”.
____________________________7. This category of poetry exhibits dialogue and
characteristics which are known elements of drama.
____________________________8. This figure of speech refers to giving human
attribute to inanimate objects

____________________________9. It is a type of narrative poem that do not usually

have a happy ending.
____________________________10. It refers to the category of literary composition.

____________________________11. This element of fiction includes the place and time

where and when the story happened.
____________________________12. It generally includes works which are purely
products of the writer’s imagination.
____________________________13. In this part of the plot, the conflict is introduced.
____________________________14. This point of view uses the “I” perspective and the
narrator is part of the story or is one of the characters.
____________________________15. This literary technique refers to the repetition of
word or phrase at the beginning of a sentence to create an artistic or heightened effect.

____________________________16. This literary technique is used by the author to

arouse curiosity among readers by ending the chapter or story abruptly.

____________________________17. This type of character is known to be complex,

multidimensional and lifelike.
____________________________18. It is a short fiction that can be read in just one
sitting.
____________________________19. These refers to specific methods writers employ
in their works to convey messages.

____________________________20. This literary technique is used by others to

compare two different things or two contrasting ideas to be able to emphasize their
differences.

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References

Baronda, Andrew john C. 2016. 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the

World. Manila, Philippines. JFS Publishing Services

Cabanilla, Josefina Q. 1991, Third Year Phoenix English for Secondary Schools.

927 Quezon Avenue, Quezon City. Phoenix Publishing House, Inc.

Gorgon, Eugenia R. et. al. 2007. English Expressways Textbook for Third Year. G.

Araneta Avenue, Quezon City. SD Publications, Inc.

Lindamichellebaron. 1999. Rhythm & Dues. 5th edition. Garden City, NY. Harlin

Jacque Publications/Linda Dudley

Maramot, Gloria C. et.al. 2005. Synergy 2 Worktext in English. Purok 6,Bagong

Pook, Lipa City. Eferza Acaemic Publications

Valmoria, Emilia E. and Capitol Institute for Research and Extension(CINREX)

1997. Handbook for Speech and Expression. Gusa Highway, Cagayan de

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