What is literature?

We may define Literature generally as anybody of written works that is written

and produced in any country, language or age for a specific purpose such as
information, education or entertainment to the reader, which can be fictional
or non-fictional in nature.

Literary importance
 Literature improves your command of language
 It teaches you about the life, cultures and experiences of people in other parts
of the world.
 It gives you information about other parts of the world . 
 It entertains you and provides useful occupation in your free time.
 It makes you a wiser and more experienced person by forcing you to judge,
sympathize with, or criticize the characters you read about.
 It helps you compare your own experiences with the experiences of
 other people.
 It gives information which may be useful in other subjects,

Literary genre/kinds 

1/fiction: fictional literature is based on the writer’s imagination rather than reality.
Generally, its main concern is with Drama (Plays), Fiction (stories), and Poetry
(Poems), Novels, Songs, and oral literature.
• A short story is a short fictional prose narrative built on a plot that includes the basic
situation, complications, climax, and resolution.
• A Novel is a long fictional story that uses all the elements of storytelling, namely,
plot, character, setting, theme, and point of view.
• Oral or traditional literature has some form of stories often told by word of mouth
from generation to generation such as folk tales, legends, and myths which have now
been written down as stories for us to read.

2/ non-fiction: is factual writing or written work that is gives facts that can be proved
as it provides real places, events, characters, times or reality rather than imaginary
things. It includes biography, autobiography, essay, narrative nonfiction, nonfictional,
speech, magazines, newspapers, cooking books….etc

ELEMENTS OF FICTION (THE STORY)

 Author: the writer of any written work of art or fiction

 Setting: the place and time in which the story takes place.
 Plot: a series of related events that tells us ‘what happens’ in a story
 Themes: refers to the controlling, main idea or central insight in the novel or short
story.
 Characters: persons or animals involved in a story
 Style: refers to the way the novel or short story is written
 Language

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 I- Literary devices and terms

Refers to the typical structures (tools) used by writers in their works to transfer his or
her message(s) in a simple manner to his or her readers

Function of Literary Devices

- Employed by the writers to give meanings and a logical framework to their works
through language.  

- They also allow the readers to compare a work of one writer to that of the other to
determine its worth.

- They not only beautify the piece of literature but also give deeper meanings to it,

- They help motivating readers’ imagination to visualize the characters and scenes
more clearly.

I-Kinds of Literary Devices

a- Literary Elements 

b- Literary Techniques.

A- Literary Elements  Provide structure to the literature. and are extensively

employed by writers to develop a literary piece..

- Point of view: the literary strategy by which an author presents the events of a
narrative from the perspective of a particular person-which may be the narrator or may
be a fictional character.

There are three basic points of view often used in narratives: omniscient, third-person
limited/objective, and first-person.

1- In the first-person (limited) point of view, the narrator is a part of a story.

He speaks as “I” or “We” Ex: I went home

2- The second-person point of view: Usually for instructions. Uses “you” from
“your” perspective.

3- The third-person, usually the narrator isn’t involved, tells other’s stories. Lots
of She, He, or character names in the story.

The third person omniscient (unlimited) point of view is the point of view of a
(all-knowing) being who has created a fictional world and who can tell us everything
that is going on in the minds of all the characters. (Omni=All, scient= knowing)

The third person (limited) point of view Narrator is limited to one character. Tells
thoughts and feelings of one character.
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The third person (objective) point of view provides no insight to a character's
thinking or emotion. The narrator does not reveal any character’s thoughts or feelings.

-Setting: It refers to the time and place (environment) in which a story takes place.

-Character: A person or an animal or figure represented in a literary work.

 Round characters are complex and multidimensional, like real people.

 Flat characters are one dimensional and superficial; they can be described in a
single sentence.
 A Dynamic Character changes as a result of the events of the story.
 A Static Character changes very little or not at all through the literary work.
 A Stock characters are predictable stereotypes of people.
 A character’s motivation is any force (i.e.: love, fear, jealousy) that drives the
character to behave in a particular way.

- Characterisation is the way a writer reveals the personality of a character.

 Protagonist: central or main character in the story.

 Antagonist: force that opposes the central character.
 Major characters are those who are central to the main plot and story conflicts.
 Minor characters are there to support the major characters but have less
influence on the story.

-Theme:  Theme is the general idea or insight about life that a work of literature
reveals.

-Plot:  Plot is the map of a story. It is the sequence of events that happen in a story. It
has five basic points:
1. Exposition (beginning): the start of the story, the situation before the action
starts
2. Rising Action: the series of conflicts and crisis in the story that lead to the
climax. It is when something starts to happen.
3. Climax (middle): the turning point, the most intense moment—either mentally or
in action
4. Falling Action: all of the action which follows the climax
5. Resolution (End) is the conclusion of the action when everything comes
together

-Conflict is a struggle between opposing characters or opposing forces. There are

four general types of conflict in literature:
 Character versus Character is the conflict of one person against another person.
Ex: Two girls compete for the same role in the school play,
A ninja warrior fights a rival clan to avenge his master's death.
 Character versus Nature is the conflict a person encounters with the forces of
nature.( animals, the elements, or other natural forces.)
Ex: A castaway washes up on an island and must learn to survive with the
available resources.
A ship captain pursues a great white whale through stormy seas.

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 Character versus Society is the conflict of a person/people and the views of
society.( traditions, institutions, or laws.)
Ex: A student takes his fight against the school dress code all the way to the
Supreme Court.
A group of students protest in front of a university known for its unfair and
racially motivated admission practices.
 Character versus Self is internal conflict. It is those conflicts an individual has with
his conscience.
Ex: A young man goes through hard times after losing his father in a car
accident.
An Olympic athlete pushes his performance to the limit despite his physical
disability

B-Literary Techniques: are used to produce a specific effect on the reader.

-Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds generally at the beginning of words,

or, within neighboring words in a sentence.
Ex: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Wide-eyed and wondering while we wait for others to waken.

-Allusion is a reference to a statement, a person, a place, or an event from literature,

the arts, history, religion, mythology, politics, sports or science.

Ex: “Don’t act like a Romeo in front of her.” – “Romeo” is a reference to

Shakespeare’s Romeo, a passionate lover of Juliet, in “Romeo and Juliet”.
“Hey! Guess who the new Newton of our school is?” – “Newton”, means a genius
student, alludes to a famous scientist Isaac Newton.

-Connotation (‫ )مفهوم‬is a meaning, association, or emotion suggested by a word, in

addition to its dictionary definition, or denotation.

Ex: “There’s no place like home.” – While home may refer to the actual building

someone lives in, connotatively, it most often refers to family, comfort, and
security.
“He’s such a dog.” – In this sense, the word dog connotes shamelessness, or
ugliness.
“That woman is a dove at heart.” – Here, the dove implies peace or gentility.

-Dialogue is conversation between two or more characters.

-Dialect is the way of speaking that is specific toa certain geographical area or a
certain group of people.

Ex:
Walter: “Reckon I have. Almost died first year I come to school and et them pecans —
folks say he pizened ’em and put ’em over on the school side of the fence.”

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-Flashback is an interruption in the present action of a plot to show events that
happened at an earlier time. Flashback is when the story returns It or goes back in
time to a past event. It is used to tell a past story. It can be the memory of a single
character or the narrator.
Ex: The Coran is a good source of flashback examples. A flashback has been used
when Joseph, governor of Egypt, sees his brothers after several years. Joseph
“remembered his dreams” about his brothers, and how they threw him in the well in the
past.

-Foreshadowing is the use of clues or hints to suggest events that will occur later in
the plot. It is when you are given hints or clues about something that will happen
in the future of the story.
Ex: The evening was still. Suddenly, a cool breeze started blowing and made a windy
night. (Foreshadows thunderstorm)
In the middle of the night, the father hears the back door opening. He rushes to
check on his kids, but a masked intruder is blocking the way with a knife.
(Foreshadows threat)

-Imagery Language that appeals to the senses.

Ex:
- It was dark and dim in the forest.
The words “dark” and “dim” are visual images.
- The girl ran her hands on a soft satin fabric.
The idea of “soft” in this example appeals to our sense of touch, or tactile sense.

-Irony is the contrast between expectation and reality

-Dramatic Irony occurs when the audience or reader knows something a character
does not know.

-Mood and Atmosphere are used interchangeably to refer to the “emotional feeling
the reader receives from the literature. It might be scary, happy, sad, romantic,
nostalgic, or exciting.

-Motifs provide a recurrent feeling, images, message or criterion throughout a piece of

literature

-Repetition is when a word, phrase of line is repeated within the text in close
proximity.

-symbol is a person, a place, a thing, or an event that has meaning in itself and tands
for something beyond itself as well.

-Tone is the attitude a writer/author takes towards his or her subject, characters and
audience.
Ex:
Father: “We are going on a vacation.”
Son: “That’s great!!!”
– The tone of son’s response is very cheerful.

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-Figurative Language “Whenever you describe something by comparing it with
something else, you are using figurative language.” Types of figurative language
include:
• Metaphor refers to one thing as if it were another unlike thing without the use of
like, as, resembles, or than.
Ex: My brother was boiling mad. (This implies he was too angry.)
The assignment was a breeze. (This implies that the assignment was not difficult.)
Her voice is music to his ears. (This implies that her voice makes him feel happy)

• Simile directly compare two unlike things using an explicit word such as like, as,
resembles, or than
Ex: Our soldiers are as brave as lions.
He is as funny as a monkey.

• Personification is a figure of speech in which a thing – an idea or an animal – is

given human attributes..
Ex: The flowers danced in the gentle breeze.
The fire swallowed the entire forest.

-Hyperbole is an exaggerated statement. It is used to emphasize a point

Ex:
- She’s said so on several million occasions; It must’ve weighed a ton; I am dying
of shame; I'm starving to death.
- She is as heavy as an elephant! (not a simile bcz comparing her to an elephant
is an exaggeration); I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.

-Onomatopoeia is the use of words that imitate or suggest their meaning.

Ex:
Buzz!; Coarackle!

II-Literary terms help the reader identify the author’s style of presentation.

-Autobiography is a person’s account of his or her own life or part of it. It is a story
about a person’s life written by that person

-Biography is an account of a person’s life or of part of it, written or told by another

person. It is a story about a person’s life written by another person.

-Fiction is a prose account that is made up rather than true.

-Footnotes are typically numbered in a literary piece found at the bottom of the page
and identified by the same number as in the text.

-Nonfiction is prose writing that deals with real people, things, events and
places. It is a true story.

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-Parenthetical documentation is when you give credit (in a document) to someone
whose words or ideas you have copied.

-Plagiarism is copying another person’s idea without giving them credit.