Group 1 – Literary Prose and Drama Stylistics

Abstract
1. Review of Prose and Drama Genres (VILLAPANDO, ROLYN)
Nonfictional prose. Prose that is a true story or factual account of events or information is
nonfiction. Textbooks, newspaper articles, and instruction manuals all fall into this
category. Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl, composed entirely of journal excerpts,
recounts the young teen’s experience of hiding with her family in Nazi-occupied
Netherlands during World War II.

Fictional prose. A literary work of fiction. This is the most popular type of literary prose,
used in novels and short stories, and generally has characters, plot, setting, and dialogue.
I.E. Romea and Juliet and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Heroic prose. A literary work that is either written down or preserved through oral
tradition, but is meant to be recited. Heroic prose is usually a legend or fable. The twelfth-
century Irish tales revolving around the mythical warrior Finn McCool are an example of
heroic prose.

Prose poetry. Poetry written in prose form. This literary hybrid can sometimes have
rhythmic and rhyming patterns. French poet Charles Baudelaire wrote prose poems,
including “Be Drunk” which starts off: “And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the
green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room.”

Comedies are narratives with the intent of making the audience laugh. A Midsummer
Night’s Dream is a comedic drama about a turbulent marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta
and the hi-jinx that ensues with them and 4 young actors.

Tragedies Just like the name suggests, tragedies were indeed tragic. The subjects they
dealt with were dark, like war and death, and protagonists were always burdened with a
tragic flaw that kept them from their happy ending. Ex. Icarus and Daedalus

Farce, this type of drama is similar to a comedy but aims at entertaining through highly
exaggerated and improbable situations. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is
made up of dozens of characters with their own unique and sometimes extravagant
stories, leaving the “plot” to be lost to some readers and audiences.

Melodrama, this type of drama is meant to appeal to the audience’s emotions. The story is
meant to be passionate and sensational, with characters portrayed using stereotypes and
one-dimensional personalities. Ex. Shrek and All That Heaven Allows by Douglas Sirk.

Musical Drama, this a form of drama where music, especially singing or dancing, is used
along with dialogue and acting to tell the story. Ex. Ms. Saigon and Les Miserables

2. Survey of Prose Authors/ Dramatists and their Unique Styles (MALOBO,

ENGIEL & VERTUCIO, KIM ALLAN
*William Shakespeare -Highly stylized, Shakespeare wrote in iambic pentameter -- a
 type of unrhymed meter that contains 10 syllables in each phrase, with each
unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
-The verse form he uses is blank verse. It contains no rhyme, but each line has no an
internal rhythm with a regular rhythmic pattern. The pattern most favored by
Shakespeare is iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is defined as a ten-syllable line
with the accent on every other, beginning with the second one.

*The prose style of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth books, especially The Lord of the
Rings, is remarkably varied. Commentators have noted that Tolkien selected linguistic
registers to suit different peoples, such as simple and modern for Hobbits and more
archaic for Dwarves, Elves, and Riders of Rohan.

*George Orwell's style is very direct and somewhat journalistic. He never employs
allusions or utilizes extended metaphors. However, he never includes unnecessary
imagery and fluffed up, flowery descriptions. He describes settings and characters
well, but with language that is as direct and concise as possible.

* Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) His early works emphasised realism and

naturalism, as well as social issues such as the differences between the poor and the
rich. Elements of gothic fiction, romanticism, and satire can be found in his writings.
*Mark Twain's writing style is characterised by humour, strong narrative and
evocative descriptions, as well as a brilliant control of vernacular speech.

Mark Twain was a humorist, journalist and novelist who became famous
internationally for his distinctive style of travel and fictional narratives.

*Edgar Allan Poe was a 19th-century American poet and short fiction writer. The
tragedies and struggles Poe faced during his early life combined with the influence of
Romantic literature brought about a style of Gothic writing that was unique to Poe.

*Jane Austen's (1775–1817) distinctive literary style relies on a combination of

parody, burlesque, irony, free indirect speech and a degree of realism. She uses
parody and burlesque for comic effect and to critique the portrayal of women in 18th-
century sentimental and Gothic novels.

3. Review of Critical Literary Views and Theories (ADAME, JERUBEN)

What is Literary Criticism?
-Is essentially an opinion, supported by evidence, relating to theme, style, setting or
historical or political context.

What is Critical Literary Theory?

-Is a tool that helps you find meaning in stories, poems and plays.

Formalism Theory or New Criticism -This approach views each piece of literature as
a unique form of human knowledge that needs to be examined on its own terms.
-Contained within the work itself are all the elements necessary for understanding it.
 Reader-Response Theory -This approach views “literature” not as an artifact upon a
printed page but as a transaction between the text and individual reader. It regards
reading, like writing, as a creative process. This theory holds that there is no
objective, outside meaning in any text.

Psychological Theory -Based on the theories of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, this
criticism centers on the psychology of the characters and analyzes character
motivation, behavior and actions. If you can figure out the protagonist’s
psychology, then you can use that to interpret the text.

New Historicism Analysis Theory -Here, you research the historical time period and
discuss the work within its historical context. This theory seeks to understand a
literary work by investigating the social, cultural, and intellectual context that
produced it—a context that necessarily includes the artist’s biography and milieu.

4. Characteristics of Prose and Dramas (REYES, KIM LUAN)

What is the characteristics of drama? A drama is a piece of writing, which is
artistically presented with dialogues. A drama is attractive, impactful and real as it
presents characters along with a natural and credible aspects. It is very similar to a
short story as it also comprises characters, plot, setting as well as symbolism.
a. Characters and Characterization
A person in a literary work; people and animals who are involved in a conflict
in a story. The methods a writer uses to develop the personality of the
character.
b. Setting and Conflict
The location and time frame in which action of a narrative takes place.
Conflict is a literary device characterized by a struggle between two opposing
forces. Conflict provides crucial tension in any story and is used to drive the
narrative forward.
c. Point of View (SULAYAO, CHARLOTTE)
is the writer's way of deciding who is telling the story to whom. Establishing a
clear point of view is important because it dictates how your reader interprets
characters, events, and other important details. There are three kinds of point
of view: first person, second person, and third person.
d. Plot
is generally understood to refer to the abstract storyline of a narrative; that is,
to the sequence of elemental, chronologically ordered events which create the
'inner core' of a narrative. Narrative discourse, by contrast, encompasses the
manner or means by which that plot is narrated.
e. Theme
is the central, deeper meaning of a written work, and is often subject to the
reader's perception and interpretation. It allows for literature to remain
meaningful, "living" works that can be revisited and analyzed in perpetuity.
f. Prose and Dramatic Techniques (SALVADOR, CHRISTY)
Literary techniques are used in literature for a variety of purposes. Certain literary
 techniques are used to increase the dramatic tension in a novel or short story. This
can be done by placing the characters in time-sensitive situations, diverting
the reader's attention or appealing directly to the reader's emotion to elicit
sympathy for the main character.

a. Cliff-hanger
The cliff-hanger was popularized with serialized fiction and occurs when
characters are left in precipitous situations, or have a revelation, as an episode
of the serial ends.

b. Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing, also referred to as Chekhov's gun or formal patterning, is a
literary technique in which a reference is made to something that will play an
important role in future events of the story. , including himself to a point,
was aware of, one that involved abandonment, patricide, and incest. .

c. Pathos
Pathos is a literary technique in which the author directly appeals to the
emotion and imagination of the reader to elicit sympathy for a character in the
story or the writer's perspective.

d. Plot Twist
A plot twist occurs when a sudden, unexpected change happens that has a
direct impact on the outcome of the story. A plot twist can occur during any
portion of the narrative, but it also frequently happens as a surprise ending.

f. Red Herring
A red herring is a literary technique in which the reader's attention is drawn to
insignificant details in order to divert attention from what is actually occurring
in the plot. The red herring is commonly used in mystery fiction and can lead
to a plot twist at the end of the work of literature.

g. Flashbacking
A flashback is a way of presenting events that happened prior to the current
action taking place. Flashbacks are a popular literary technique for writers to
use when starting a story in medias res (in the middle of things), to add drama
or suspense, or to fill the reader in on important information.

g. The Written Drama/ Script

•a pre-existing knowledge structure involving event sequences.
• story that has been written for actors to perform, with the term 'play' relating
to a theatrical performance. People who write them are called Playwrights, and
sometimes the physical scripts might be called manuscripts, while some
historical scripts are called folios due to their format
5. Prose and Dramatic Meaning (PERALTA, JERICA MAE & MANUEL,
MELODY)
Prose and Dramatic Meaning
-In writing, prose is a style used that does not follow a structure of rhyming or
meter. Rather, prose follows a grammatical structure using words to compose
phrases that are arranged into sentences and paragraphs.
- It is the most common form of writing, used in both fiction and non-fiction.
Prose comes from the Latin “prosa oratio,” meaning “straightforward.”
Examples of Prose are textbooks, lectures, novels, short stories, fairy tales,
newspaper articles, and essays.

The purposes of prose:

1.Convey an idea
2.Deliver information
3.Tells a story

Prose and dramatic meaning

-Drama is simply the precise way of creating fiction that can be represented in
a play or a mime or even a ballet performance. Here the writer intentionally
uses dialogue and conflict to convey a particular story to an audience. Like
Prose, it is direct a more intentional, but has a more structural format as it
comes in Acts and scenes. Acts and scenes are the headings a playwright
employs to guide the readers/viewing audience on exactly what is happening
at each stage of the play
The purposes of drama:
1.expressing the need for social change
2.communicating a universal theme
3.recreating and interpreting information
4.ideas
5.emotions.

6. Stylistic Analysis of Prose (CABRERA, RD & SOQUENA, NICOLE JOY

What is Prose?
According to the Oxford Dictionary, a written or spoken language in its ordinary form,
without metrical structure.

There are several things to consider when in a Stylistic Analysis of a Prose

Focus What is this passage about? Is it about a decision a character takes, a revelation that
he / she comes to, or an event and what that reveals? Or does it reveal a person’s
circumstances and character? Or something else?

Tone Is the attitude of the narrator significant? What is the narrator’s attitude to his / her
subject? What is the tone of the passage?

Point of View From whose point of view is the passage told? Does this change in the course
of the passage? Is there a shift in perspective? If so, what effects are gained from this change?
Central Character Is there a central character? What do we learn about him / her? How do
we learn this – through other’s comments, through description, through interior monologue?
What? Is there anything significant about his / her relationship to us / the other characters in
the passage? How do we feel about him / her?

Chronology Is the passage narrated chronologically, or does it look forwards or backwards at

any point? In either case, why is this done? What does it achieve? Is time significant?

Structure How is the passage structured? Does it fall into several sections, or is it one
unbroken piece of writing? What effect does its structure have? On what rationale is its
structure based e.g. different stages of a journey, a progression of thought, something else?

Description / Language What part does description play? Does it provide setting, add to
atmosphere, tell us about the characters, or what? How are diction or images used, and what
effect do they create? Comment on images and diction that enhance or create meaning.

Beginning / Ending Is there anything striking about either or both of these?

Punctuation Is there anything unusual about punctuation, sentence length, complexity? Pay
particular attention to BIG punctuation marks like !, ? or ….

How are we being invited to read this passage? With empathy, experiencing the thoughts and
feelings of the character or narrator? Critically, with judgment? With curiosity? Something
else?