Unit 1

What Is Literature?
 Contents
1. What Is Literature, and Why Do We
Study It?
2. Types of Literature: The Genres
3. The Nature of Literature
1. What Is Literature, and Why do we study
it?
 Read What Is Literature, and Why Do We Study It? on pp.1-
2 individually.

 Write down your answers to the following questions in

note form.
1. What Is Literature?
2. Why Do We Study It?

 Compare your answers in pairs.

 Report your answers to the whole class

 Suggested answers:
What Is Literature?
Literature means compositions that
- tell stories
- dramatize situations
- express emotions
- analyze and advocate ideas
(Introduction to Literature, 2021, p.1)
 Suggested answers:
Why do we need literature?
- Open doors for us
- Stretch our minds
- Develop our imagination
- Increase our understanding
- Deepen our power of sympathy
- See beauty in the world
- Link us with the cultural, philosophical, and religious world
- Enable us to recognize human dreams and struggles
- Help us develop mature sensibility and compassion
- Exercise our emotions
- Encourage us to assist creative and talented people
- Shape our goals and values
- Develop perspectives on events locally and globally
- Make us human
(Introduction to Literature, 2021, p.2)
2. Types of Literature: The Genres
Literature may be classified into four categories, or genres:
1. Prose fiction
2. Poetry
3. Drama
4. Nonfiction prose.
Groupwork
 Get into three groups of three.
 Read the four genres of literature on pp. 2-4
- Group 1: (1) Prose fiction
- Group 2: (2) Poetry
- Group 3: (3) Drama and (4) Nonfiction prose
 The representative of each group presents the main ideas
to the whole class.
Types of Literature

Literature

Prose
Nonfiction
fiction/Narrative Poetry Drama
prose
fiction
(1) Prose fiction/Narrative fiction
 Myth /mɪθ/ noun : an ancient story about natural events
and facts

 Parable /ˈpær.ə.bl/noun : a short simple story which

teaches or explains an idea, especially a moral or religious
idea

 Romance /rə ʊ ˈmæn ts/ , /ˈrəʊ.mæn ts/ noun : a story

about love

 Novel /ˈnɒv. ə l/(UK) /ˈnɑː.v ə l/(US) : a long printed

story about imaginary characters and events
(2) Poetry
 sonnet /ˈsɒn.ɪt/: a poem that has 14 lines and a particular
pattern of rhyme

 ballad /ˈbæl.əd/: a song or poem that tells a story, or (in popular

music) a slow love song

 blank ˈ verse (u.n.) a type of poetry that does not rhyme,

usually with ten syllables in each line

 couplet /ˈkʌp.lət/: two lines of poetry next to each other,

especially ones which rhyme

 epigram /ˈep.ɪ.græm/: a short saying or poem which expresses

an idea in a clever, funny way
 hymn /hɪm/: a song of praise that Christians sing to God

 limerick /ˈlɪm. ə r.ɪk/: a humorous poem with five lines

 ode /əʊd/ /oʊd/: a poem expressing the writer's thoughts

and feelings about a particular person or subject, usually
written to that person or subject

 quatrain /ˈkwɒt.reɪn/: a group of four lines in a poem

 lyric /ˈlɪr.ɪk/: a short poem which expresses the personal

thoughts and feelings of the person who wrote it
 triplet /ˈtrɪp.lət/: a group of three lines of poetry

 haiku /ˈhaɪ.kuː/ noun [ C ] plural haiku: a short

Japanese poem in 17 syllables
(3) Drama
 drama /ˈdrɑː.mə/: a play in a theatre or on television
or radio, or plays and acting generally
(4) Nonfiction Prose
 News report
 Feature article (an article about a film)
 Essay
 Textbook
 Historical and biographical works
 Editorial /ˌed.ɪˈtɔː.ri. ə l/: an article in a newspaper
which expresses the editor's opinion on a subject of
particular interest at the present time
3. The Nature of Literature
Language

Elements of
Literature
The Elements of Literature
 Literature is Language (Ven. Sopheakdey)
 Literature is Aesthetic (Sokhim)
 Literature is Fictional (Rothcheakta & Raksa)
 Literature is True (Dina & Sokheng)
 Literature is Expressive (Vathana & Sopheaktra)
 Literature is Affective (Sochantik)
Groupwork
 Get into three groups of three.
 Read the elements of literature on pp. 5-16
- Group 1: Literature is Language and Literature is
Aesthetic
- Group 2: Literature is Fictional and Literature is True

- Group 3: Literature is Expressive and Literature is

Affective
 The representative of each group presents the main ideas
to the whole class orally.
Literature is Language
 Oral and written language

 Expressive and emotional qualities.

 Connotation (meaning that attaches to words in

addition to their explicit references)
Literature Is Aesthetic
 Pleasure: music, patterns of colour, dance.

 Form: event, plot

Literature Is Fictional
There are two ways:

1. The writer's imagination: short stories and novels

2. The context of the real: autobiographies, true crime

narratives
Literature Is True
 Literature speaks about the real world.

 Literature conveys the reality of human experience.

 The writer's imagination could become a reality.

Literature Is Expressive
 Literature is an expression of the individuals who write
it.

 Their personalities, emotions, and beliefs are closely

connected in their works.
Literature Is Affective
 Literature creates an emotional response in the reader.

 The author makes the reader feel what the author has
felt.

 The author puts the reader in the shoes of the

character.
Homework
 Read 'Reading Fiction' on pp.17-38.