MODULE 2

LITERARY ARTS

OVERVIEW

Do you like reading poems? Or how about short stories? Or are you fascinated by
stage plays? These are also examples of arts. Humans expresses emotions in a lot of
ways, be it in visual arts or through literary arts.These expressions of human emotions
developed in a lot of ways to cater the needs of its audience.
In this module another art form will be introduced to you. You will learn different forms
of literature; you might have encountered one or two. It will be discussed to you for
you to acquire the needed knowledge about literary arts. All thr oughout the module
set of activities are provided to assess and evaluate your learnings.
You will be learning three literary arts forms in this module namely: (1) Short story, (2)
Poetry, (3) Drama. With the guidance of your instructor you will be able toexplore and
evaluate your knowledge acquisition.
Learning Outcomes

At the end of the module students are expected to:

1. Identify the elements of each form of Literary Arts,
2. Perform a spoken poetry

KEY TERMS

Elements a part or aspect of something abstract, especially one that is essential or

characteristic
Propaganda information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote
or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.
Therapeutic having a good effect on the body or mind; contributing to a sense of
wellbeing
Appeal the quality of being attractive or interesting.
Value the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or
usefulness of something.

READ! READ! READ! And Understand!

Because there is a need for us humans to express our emotions, we saw opportunities
in doing so with the help of art. Literature is one of ways of expressing our emotion
that deals with arts. It let us show our emotions through presentations of symbols in a
lot of forms such as short story, poetry, and drama. These forms will be discussed in
this module in hope that you will acquire knowledge in appreciating and engaging
yourselves in this art form.

CLASSIFICATION OF LITERATURE

Literature is classified into two these are escape and interpretative literature.
Escape deals for entertainment purposes and this helps us in killing time in a very
agreeable manner. In other words, escape literature is made for us to temporarily
forget our troubles. While on the other hand, interpretative literature, enables us to
understand our troubles (Ariola, 2014).

USES OF LITERATURE

1. To impart moral values. The purpose of literature is to present moral values

for the reader to understand and appreciate; the moral values may be directly
or indirectly stated (Ariola, 2014).
2. As propaganda this kind of literature is found not only history books and
advertising and marketing books but also in some books describing one’s
personal success and achievements in life (Ariola, 2014(.
3. To provide therapeutic help. Literature can be regarded as a sophisticated
and modern elaboration of the idea of catharsis – an emotional relief
experienced by the reader that helps him recover from a pent-up emotion
(Ariola, 2014).

General Elements of Literature

According to Sanchez et al. (2002), not all written works can be considered literature.
To understand a good literary work, we should know first the important elements of
literature. It is undeniable that the medium of literature is language, and language is
composed of words that are combined into sentences to express ideas, emotions, or
desires. Writers, therefore, should be careful in their choice of words and expressions
of their emotions and ideas.
An aspiring writer should bear these objectives in mind:

1. To strive in raising the level of the reader’s humanity and

2. To make his readers think and achieve an educated perspective.

The important elements of literature are:

1. Emotional appeal
2. Intellectual appeal
3. Humanistic value
Emotional appeal is attained when the reader is emotionally moved or touched by any
literal work.
In Intellectual appeal, best example is Dr. Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo. Both were instrumentals in exposing the ills of the society of its period.
It reminds the reader of what he can do to better his condition.

Specific Elements of Literature

Just like any other art forms literary arts has its foundations and structures that makes
it outstanding. Literary Arts has its specific Elements are they are as follows:

Elements of the Short Story

1. Plot regarded as the skeleton or blueprint of the story. The series of such events
starts from exposition (beginning of story), moves on to complication (action grows
stronger) to the turning point of the story (climax), and finally to the resolution which
leads to denouement and ending (Bascara, 2000) 2. Characters refers to people
or animals that take part in the events in a story
3. Point of View refers to the way the story is told.
4. Setting could be a locale or place where the event or action took place; or a
feeling that invites meaning.
5. Theme refers to the message communicated by the story.
6. Irony is a contrast among what seems and what is and could be. According to
Bascara (2004)
• Dramatic – a contrast between what the fictional character says, and
what the audience or reader knows in the same words.
• Situational – a contrast between expectation and result; intention and
outcome; illusion (appearance) and reality
• Verbal –- a contrast between what is said and what is meant; what is
said is the opposite of what is intended; often vehicle of sarcasm,
sadness, or affection
7. Symbolism refers to something that is more than what is.
Example is a sword symbolizes war; a rose or a bouquet of flower is for love.
8. Style implies control of material through the precise use of literary and figurative
languages. It may also refer to the total out of the short story, taking all other
elements carrying character, plot, theme, and setting) into consideration.
One of the most famous examples of a short story is “The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar
Allan Poe. If you really are familiar with the story, it contains all the elements of a short
story.
For your reference and more information, you can visit the link provided below.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/sanjacinto-
englishcomp2kscope/chapter/readinga-short-story/

Elements of Poetry

Poetry is a genre in literature that imaginatively and figuratively expresses man’s

thoughts and feelings, usually in verse form. Its theme is generally personal—love,
death, frustration, hatred, faith in God and man, human sufferings, culture, and
traditions, etc. Its elements are (Ariola, 2014).

1. Language it may be denotative (actual meaning); connotative (implied

meaning); poetic (language that considers diction, vocabulary, and level ---
simple or conventional); and figurative (most often using simile and metaphor)
2. Tone refers to the atmosphere, feeling, attitude, stance, or the way the poet
looks at his subject or the world. Such feeling or atmosphere is reflected.
3. Imagery is the representation of sense experience or the total sensory
suggestion of poetry. What you see in your mind is the mental duplication of
sense impression. Images may be visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, or bodily.
4. Sounds are characterized either as unpleasant (full, open vowel sounds) or
unpleasant (short, abrupt, vowel sounds which are irritating)
5. Rhythm and Meter is related to the “beats of our hearts” and the “flow of air
from our lungs”.
• Rhythm is the regular and irregular patterns of stressed and unstressed
syllables, metrical a d rhetorical stress.
• Meter is the arrangement of accents so that they occur at approximately
equal intervals of time. A metered language is a verse. Having the same
final sound of words at the end of lines indicates an end rhyme. Free
verse is when a poet does not adhere to rhyme and meter, most poets
nowadays are using free verse.
6. Thought or meaning refers to the experience the poem expresses (What it
feels like to…)
7. Shape of the poem refers to the pattern of arrangement of the words on the
page (Abuan, 2002). Most poems consist of lines grouped into stanzas. Each
stanza has its distinct features of thought similar to a paragraph.
 8. Speaker according to Abuan (2000), all poems have a speaker, the voice that
talks to the readers. In some poems, the speaker identifies himself as “I” and
“me” while in others the speaker remains in the background.

Robert Frost is known for writing good poems and one of his well-known poems
is “The Road not Taken”. Take time to go through the poem and try to check f
all elements are present in the poem.

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet
knowing how way leads on to way I
doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I
took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Elements of Drama
Drama is presentation made up of words, sounds, and actions of characters. Dramas
must be performed or acted out by the characters on stage, film, radio, television, or
outdoors. There are two aspects of drama these are dramas as script a dialogue
read by the person representing the characters. And the second one is the drama as
a play is a script coming to life, involving the director’s interpretation of script and
performance/portrayals by the characters. Drama may be tragedy or comedy.
Below are the elements of drama:

1. Plot this is the soul of the drama. Overall structure of the play concerned with
what happens in the story.
2. Characters/dramatic personae are make-believe persons, either
protagonist or antagonists and whose personalities are carefully brought out
by their appearances, speech, actions, and what other characters say of them.
3. Conflict in drama we find a struggle, clash of wills, and conflicts.
4. Irony arises from a recognition of discrepancy between the expected and
actual the apparent and real.
5. Theme or idea refers to the dramatic situation that may be taken from the
Bible, myth, legend, history, or anything familiar to the audience.
6. Climax this is the part which is considered as the turning point of the story.
Intense emotions are accumulated in this section of a literary art.
7. Music and spectacle are a theatre convention in which is a part of the total
appeal of the drama. Both show the relationship of script, actor, audience,
author producer, society, genre, stage, and other elements of drama.
8. Costumes and make-up this is very important for drama because characters
are well portrayed when the actor is in his best appearance. Costumes should
be well suited and must be comfortable, so the actors don’t need to worry
about wardrobe malfunctions.
Make up takes time in drama, actors must be preparing for their make-ups
ahead of time. In the area where it happens everything and everyone must have
its own place Materials and tools must be sharpened, cleaned and everything
that is running out must be replaced.
9. Dialogue is important I drama because these are the conversation between
and among the people in the drama.
10. Setting, scenery, and lighting in drama the setting must appear authentic
in all aspects from the backdrop, props, and furniture. The scenery must
appear plain and it’s the imagination of the audience that will complete the
picture.
Daytime or nighttime? This is one of the questions when drama is concerned.
Lighting comes in play; proper lighting will give realistic effect to the whole
production of the drama.
The scene is given much importance. If the scene needs to be bright,
mysterious? Gay? Stage lighting is always electrical, and only the assigned and
responsible persons should touch the equipment. Real fire, open flame or
lanterns is never used on the stage.
Importance of Reading Literary Works

Literary works of art like poetry, short stories, novels, essays, and plays are worth
reading because they do not only entertain or give pleasure but also, we learn moral
values that can improve our lives. Reading literary can help us acquire knowledge and
information on man’s progress and achievement.
All throughout the decade great dramas were produced by famous writers and one
example of a drama is written by Shakespeare “Much Ado About Nothing”. This play
is a romantic comedy play.

REFERENCES

Mariano, A.M., (2014), Introduction to Art Appreciation A Textbook in Humanities

Second Edition
Caslib, B., Garing, D., Casaul, J. Art Appreciation (2018), Rex Printing Company

Ariola, M., Introduction to Art Appreciation (2008), C&E Publishing Inc.

https://www.rcboe.org/cms/lib/GA01903614/Centricity/Domain/5069/the%20element
s%20of%20drama.pdf https://courses.lumenlearning.com/sanjacinto-
englishcomp2kscope/chapter/readinga-short-story/
https://www.literacyideas.com/elements-of-poetry