What is Literature?

1. Written works with artistic value

2. Body of written works
3. Writing on subjects.
4. Body of music
5. Printed information
6. Production of Literary works

The word literature is derived from the Latin term literal which means letter

Others define as a faithful reproduction of man’s manifold experiences blended into one harmonious
expression

Literature’s nature

 Language
 Aesthetics
 Fictional
 True
 Expressive
 Affective

Assonance – a repetition of vowel sounds within words or syllables

Alliteration – the use of the same beginning constant sound in a line or verse

1. Oral Literature

a. Riddles (bugtong) – battle of wits among participants

b. Proverbs (salawikain) – wise sayings

c. Tanaga - expresses insights and lessons on life

2. Folk Songs

It is a form of folk lyric which expresses the hopes and aspirations, the people's lifestyles, as well as their
loved ones. These are often repetitive and sonorous, didactic and naïve.

3. Folk Tales

a. Myths – explain how the world was created, how certain animals possess certain characteristics, why
some places have waterfalls, volcanoes, mountains, flora or fauna
b. Legends – explain the origin of things. “Why the Pineapple Has Eyes” “The Legend of Maria Makiling”

c. Fables – used animal characters

d. Fantastic stories – deal with underworld characters such as “tiyanak”,“aswang”, “kapre”, etc.

4. Epics - These are “narratives of sustained length based on oral tradition revolving around supernatural
events or heroic deeds”.

Literary Forms

1. Religious Literature

a. Pasyon – long narrative poem about the passion and death of Christ.

b. Senakulo – dramatization of the pasyon.

2. Secular (non-religious) Literature

a. Awit - colorful tales of chivalry made for singing and chanting.Eg. Ibong Adarna

b. Korido – metrical tale. Eg. Florante at Laura

c. Prose Narratives – written to prescribe proper decorum.

The Wedding dance was written by Amador Daguio

Simple Sentences with subject and predicate With Direct Object: Jeremy caught a fish.

The grade-8 students love literature subject.

With an Adverb: Ms. Manuel discusses the lesson intelligently. Question: Did Mr. Jimmy discuss the
lesson yesterday?

Negative Sentence: Mr. Don does not talk. Some people do not have clean water to drink.

Assertive Sentence: I come. We do have access to all the clean water we want.

With Indirect Object: Give her the fish. He gave the pirate a chance.

Pronouns are words that replace nouns: I, me, she, we, they, who, that, yours, his, her, etc,

Verbal phrases are verbal’s and any of the verb form's modifiers, objects, or complements. The three
types of verbal phrases are participial, gerund, and infinitive phrases
A gerund is a verbal that ends in ing and functions as a noun

An infinitive is a to + verb verbal that functions as a noun, adjective, or adverb

Infinitive – is a verb form that usually begins with to.

- It is used as a noun, adjective, or an adverb.

Noun – often used as the subject or after the verb as direct object or predicate nominative.

direct object – answers What? After verb

predicate nominative – after linking verb, use=sign

Adverb – tells about the verb, answers Why? How? Where? When? To what extent?

Is at the front with a comma or can be put at the front with a comma if it’s at the end.

Adjective – describes noun (direct object or predicate nominative), answers Which one?

A participle is a verbal used as an adjective and it often ends in ing (present) ed (past)