CREATIVE NON-FICTION

Grade Level: Grade 12

SLA01: Understanding the Literary Conventions that Govern the Different Genres
Subject Code: HUMSS 04
Subject Title: Creative Nonfiction

I. Let’s get started!

Take a good look at this picture of a valley. What are your thoughts on the picture?
What feelings does it invite? List down all the possible feelings experiences that the picture tries
to convey to the audience.

Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/adventure-calm-clouds-dawn-414171/

A. Learning Competency
 Analyze the theme and techniques used in a particular text (Q1LC1)
 Create samples of the different literary elements based on one’s experience (e.g.
metaphor to describe an emotion) (Q1LC2)
 Analyze factual/nonfictional elements (Plot, Characters, Characterization, Point of View,
Angle, Setting and Atmosphere, Symbols and Symbolisms, Irony, Figures of speech,
Dialogue, Scene, Other elements and Devices) in the texts (Q1LC3)

B. Learning Outcomes
1. Recall the elements of the basic literary genres
2. Create sample literary output based on the lesson
3. Analyze literary text using the different literary techniques and elements
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II. Comparing Notes!

A. STATION 1

Literature, most generically, is any body of written works. More restrictively, literature is writing
considered to be an art form, or any single writing deemed to have artistic or intellectual value, often
due to deploying language in ways that differ from ordinary usage.

Literature is divided into two major categories; the prose and the poetry.

Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language—such as
phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre—to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the
prosaic ostensible meaning. It is made up of lines and stanzas.

Poetry has a long history, dating back to the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. Early poems evolved
from folk songs such as the Chinese Shijing, or from a need to retell oral epics, as with the Sanskrit
Vedas, Zoroastrian Gathas, and the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Ancient attempts to define
poetry, such as Aristotle's Poetics, focused on the uses of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and comedy.
Later attempts concentrated on features such as repetition, verse form and rhyme, and emphasized the
aesthetics that distinguish poetry from more objectively informative, prosaic forms of writing.

According to Laurence Perrine in his classic book Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry
(1997) “poetry might be defined as a kind of language that says more and says it more intensely than
does ordinary language.” In other words, poetry uses a “heightened language”. To achieve this, the poet
uses “imagery” by employing figurative language. Imagery is one of the most important elements of
poetry.

STRUCTURE and POETRY

An important method of analyzing a poem is to look at the stanza structure or style of a poem.
Generally speaking, structure has to do with the overall organization of lines and/or the
conventional patterns of sound.

STANZAS: Stanzas are a series of lines grouped together and separated by an empty line from other
stanzas. They are the equivalent of a paragraph in an essay. One way to identify a stanza is to
count the number of lines. Thus:

 Couplet (2 lines)
 Tercet (3 lines)
 Quatrain (4 lines)
 Cinquain (5 lines)
 Sestet (6 lines) (sometimes it's called a sexain)
 Septet (7 lines)
 Octave (8 lines)

FORM: A poem may or may not have a specific number of lines, rhyme scheme and/or metrical pattern,
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Grade Level: Grade 12
but it can still be labeled according to its form or style. Here are the three most common types of
poems according to form:

1. Lyric Poetry - It is any poem with one speaker (not necessarily the poet) who
expresses strong thoughts and feelings. Most poems, especially modern ones, are lyric
poems.

2. Narrative Poem: It is a poem that tells a story; its structure resembles the plot line of a
story [i.e. the introduction of conflict and characters, rising action, climax and the
denouement].
3. Descriptive Poem: It is a poem that describes the world that surrounds the speaker. It
uses elaborate imagery and adjectives. While emotional, it is more "outward-focused"
than lyric poetry, which is more personal and introspective.

In a sense, almost all poems, whether they have consistent patterns of sound and/or structure, or are
free verse, are in one of the three categories above. Or, of course, they may be a combination of 2 or 3
of the above styles! Here are some more types of poems that are subtypes of the three styles above:

Ode: It is usually a lyric poem of moderate length, with a serious subject, an elevated style, and
an elaborate stanza pattern.

Elegy: It is a lyric poem that mourns the dead. [It's not to be confused with a eulogy.] It has no set
metric or stanzaic pattern, but it usually begins by reminiscing about the dead person, then
laments the reason for the death, and then resolves the grief by concluding that death leads to
immortality. It often uses "apostrophe" (calling out to the dead person) as a literary technique. It
can have a formal style, and sound similar to an ode

Sonnet: It is a lyric poem consisting of 14 lines and, in the English version, is usually written in
iambic pentameter. There are two basic kinds of sonnets: the Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnet and
the Shakespearean (or Elizabethan/English) sonnet. The Italian/Petrarchan sonnet is named after
Petrarch, an Italian Renaissance poet. The Petrarchan sonnet consists of an octave (eight lines)
and a sestet (six lines). The Shakespearean sonnet consists of three quatrains (four lines each)
and a concluding couplet (two lines). The Petrarchan sonnet tends to divide the thought into two
parts (argument and conclusion); the Shakespearean, into four (the final couplet is the summary).

Ballad: It is a narrative poem that has a musical rhythm and can be sung. A ballad is usually
organized into quatrains or cinquains, has a simple rhythm structure, and tells the tales of
ordinary people.

Epic: It is a long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a legendary or historical
hero.
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Grade Level: Grade 12
Qualities of an Epic Poem:

 narrative poem of great scope; dealing with the founding of a nation or some other heroic
theme requires a dignified theme requires an organic unity requires orderly progress of the
action always has a heroic figure or figures involves supernatural forces

 written in deliberately ceremonial style

Other types of poems include:

Haiku: It has an unrhymed verse form having three lines (a tercet) and usually 5,7,5 syllables,
respectively. It's usually considered a lyric poem.

Limerick: It has a very structured poem, usually humorous & composed of five lines (a cinquain),
in an aabba rhyming pattern; beat must be anapestic (weak, weak, strong) with 3 feet in lines 1,
2, & 5 and 2 feet in lines 3 & 4. It's usually a narrative poem based upon a short and often ribald
anecdote.

Source: http://learn.lexiconic.net/elementsofpoetry.htm

Poetry, fiction and drama share one common characteristic; and that is the usage of figurative
languages in its construction. Below are some examples of figurative languages that might be useful in
making a creative literary piece.

IMAGERY:

Imagery, in a literary text, is an author's use of vivid and descriptive language to add depth to
their work. It appeals to human senses to deepen the reader's understanding of the work.

Kinds of imagery

 Visual imagery- images that convey to the sense of sight

 Auditory imagery- images that convey to the sense of hearing
 Olfactory imagery- images that convey to the sense of smell
 Gustatory imagery- images that convey to the sense of taste
 Tactile imagery- images that convey to the sense of touch

FIGURES OF SPEECH:

Figures of speech also plays a great role in the construction of poetry. It enables the writer to weave
words into beautiful sentences that entails its connotative and denotative meaning. Few of these figures
of speech are mentioned below.

 Simile- a figure of speech that compares two unlike things that share common characteristics
with the use of “as” or “like’
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Grade Level: Grade 12
Ex: She is as pretty as the stars in the evening sky.
 Metaphor- still a figure of speech that deals with comparison yet it is called as direct comparison
since it compares two unlike things without the help of “as” or “like”
Ex: Your necklace is a constellation of stars against your skin.
 Personification- a figure of speech that gives human abilities to something nonhuman, abstract
or inexistent entities
Ex: The murmuring of the rain as it falls on the roof early morning, makes me want to
stay in bed all day.
 Irony- a statement that expresses meaning by using language that normally signifies the
opposite
Ex: Your silence makes me deaf
 Hyperbole- statements that are exaggerated and tends to be unrealistic
Ex: The students are squeezing their brains to answer the teacher’s provoking question.
 Metonymy- the substitution of a word to its closely related term
Ex: Let me give you a hand.
 Synecdoche- the substitution of a whole to its parts or the parts to its whole
Ex: My Dad gave me new wheels as a graduation present.
 Paradox- a statement that contradicts itself
Ex: I am a Liar.

READER’S CORNER

Station 1

Below is a poem about an underground river in Palawan, which has become popular- and iconic-
tourist attraction in recent years. Pick out the different figurative languages that entails evocative details
while reading the text. What do you think do the images symbolize?

MOONSET AT CENTRAL PARK STATION OF ST. PAUL SUBTERRANEAN RIVER NATIONAL PARK

John Iremil E. Teodoro

This morning,
After the faint scent
Of sea grasses
Awakened me
I followed
The setting moon
In the reef flats
In front of my
Bamboo cottage.
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Grade Level: Grade 12
I nearly stepped on
A parrotfish
That was caught
By the low tide.
It was as big
As my slipper.
I poked
Its slimy body’
And returned it
To the sea.
In its excitement
It forgot to
Thank me.

It didn’t even bother

To look back-
It swam quickly
Away from me.
It dived
Towards the direction
Of the horizon
Where the moon
Was hiding.

Perhaps in my next visit

That parrotfish
Will surprise me
With a greeting.
It shall brag to me
About its scales
Painted by
The setting moon
Source: Mortilla, et. Al., 5-6

Activity 1
Answer the following questions briefly.
1. Who is the persona in the poem? Describe him/her.
2. One example of sensory imagery in the poem is the parrotfish. What do you think is the
significance of the image to the overall message?
3. Give other examples of sensory imagery used in the text.
4. What is the poem saying about the significant human experience?
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Grade Level: Grade 12
B. STATION 2

On the other hand, prose is another written or oral form composed of sentences and paragraph. It is a
form of language that exhibits a natural flow of speech and grammatical structure rather than
a rhythmic structure as in traditional poetry, where the common unit of verse is based
on meter or rhyme. Fiction and drama are common examples of this genre.

Fiction is a story derived from the imagination of the writer. It is not strictly based from history
or real events.

Fiction is expressed in different forms. One form of fiction is the short story is a narration of
events which has a simple plot and a few characters. It is composed of several elements for it to be
constructed. Below are the different elements of short story.

ELEMENTS OF FICTION/CREATIVE NONFICTION

I. Plot
Plot is the author’s arrangement of events in the story. It has a beginning, middle and an end. More
specifically, the plot follows the Freytag pyramid:

Narrative Stages
The narrative stages or stages of the plot are as follows:
• Exposition: The start of the story, the situation before the action starts

• Rising Action: The series of conflicts and crisis in the story that lead to the climax

• Climax / Turning Point: The most intense moment – either mentally or in action – the reader
wonders what will happen next; will the conflict be resolved or not?

• Falling Action: The events and complications begin to resolve themselves. (The events between
the climax and the resolution)

• Denouement (Resolution): The conclusion, the untangling of events in the story

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Grade Level: Grade 12
Types of Plot
Events in a story can be presented in a variety of orders:
• The chronological order: some stories begin with what happens first, following the regular
time development of events to end.

• Some stories begin at the end then lead up to why and how things developed as they did.

• Some stories begin in the middle of things.

Flashback
This is a technique in which the author interrupts the plot of the story to tell an incident
of an earlier time (goes back in time; like giving the reader a memory).
Foreshadowing
This is a writers’ technique in which the author provides clues or hints as to what is
going to happen later in the story.
Conflict
Conflict is the struggle between two forces in a story. The plot revolves around this
conflict.
Types of Conflict
• Physical Conflict: Between a character and nature or the physical world.

• Social Conflict: Between characters or between the character and his or her society.

• Internal Conflict (Psychological Conflict): Between different attitudes of beliefs in the

character’s mind.

II. Setting
The setting is the place and time of the story. It also includes the circumstances of the story, like
the weather conditions, the social class, etc.
III. Characters
The people (or animals, things, etc. presented as people) in a literary work
TYPES OF CHARACTERS
Characters can be classified in different ways:
 Major and minor characters
 Round and Flat characters
 Dynamic and Static characters
 Protagonist and Antagonist
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Grade Level: Grade 12
Round and Flat Characters
• Round Characters are complex convincing, and true to life characters. They are described in more
detail, having many different and sometimes even contradictory personality traits.

• Flat Characters are stereotyped, shallow, and often symbolic. They have only one or two
personality traits

Dynamic and Static Characters:

• Dynamic Characters undergo some type of change or development in the story, often because of
something that happens to them.

• Static Characters do not change in the course of the story.

Protagonist and Antagonist:

• Protagonist: The main character in a literary work.

• Antagonist: The character who opposes the protagonist

Characterization
Characterization refers to the methods used by the writer to create his or her characters.
Methods of Characterization:
Characters are revealed to us by means of the following techniques or some of them.
 Physical appearance
 Names
 What the narrator tells us about them
 What other characters say about them

IV. Point of View

The angle or perspective from which the story is told (Who tells the story)
• The point of view is divided into two main types:

- First person point of view

- Third person point of view
First Person Point of View
The story is told from the viewpoint of one of the characters, using the first person
pronoun “I”. The first person narrator can either be participant or nonparticipant in the action

Third Person Point of View

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Grade Level: Grade 12
The story is told using a narrator who uses third person pronouns such as “he”, “she”,
“his”, “her”, “they” etc.
Third Person Point of View can be broken up into three different types:
 Omniscient
 Limited Omniscient
 Objective
Omniscient Point of View: The narrator has the power to show the reader what is happening in
the minds of the characters, their feelings and their thinking.
Limited Omniscient Point of View: The narrator shows us inside the mind of one character.
Objective Point of view: The story is told as if from a camera that follows the characters. Only
what is said and done is recorded
V. Theme
Theme is the central idea or central message of the story. It usually contains some insight into
the human condition – telling something about humans and life.
VI. Symbolisms
A symbol represents an idea, quality, or concept larger than itself.
A journey can symbolize life
Water may represent cleanliness and renewal
A lion can be a symbol of courage.
A red rose can represent love.
READER’S CORNER

Station 2
Read the text below.

For 15 years, Anne McDonnell lived in limbo, not knowing whether her Jim was dead or alive.
Then, one Christmas, the impossible happened.

The Husband Who Vanished

By Joseph P. Blank

The McDonnells lived in a small brick house in Larchmont, a suburb of New York City. Jim was foreman
of mail carriers at the post office where he had worked for 25 years. A gentle, soft-spoken man, he had a
wave of the hand acquaintance with hundreds of people in town. Married in 1960, he and Anne were
childless.

During February and March 1971, when he was 50, Jim McDonnell suffered a curious series of accidents.
None was critical in itself, but the combination appeared to trigger a strange result.
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Grade Level: Grade 12
Carrying out the garbage one evening, he slipped on ice-coated steps, bruised his back and struck his
head. A few days later, driving to work, he had a fit of sneezing, lost control of the car, hit a telephone
pole and banged his forehead against the windshield. The following day a dizzy spell at work sent him
tumbling down a flight of steps, and again he banged his head. Ten days later he again lost control of his
car and hit a pole. Found unconscious, he was hospitalized for three days with a cerebral concussion.

On March 29, 1971, Jim borrowed a friend’s station wagon and drove to Kennedy Airport to pick up
Anne’s brother and family. Then he took them to Anne’s sister’s house. When he returned the borrowed
car at 10 p.m., he was unaware that the leather folder containing his identification had slipped out of his
pocket onto the floor of the station wagon. Jim declined the offer of a ride home: “I have a terrible
headache and the walk will help clear my head.” Ordinarily the walk would have taken about 15
minutes.

At 11:15 p.m. Anne called the owner of the station wagon; he had no idea why Jim had not yet reached
home. It was unlike Jim not to telephone if he was delayed. At 2 a.m., Anne called the police and
reported her husband missing.

After 24 hours, the police sent out an all-points bulletin and began writing some 50 letters to Jim’s
friends and relatives. They followed through on every anonymous tip and even checked unidentified
bodies in New York morgues.

Detective George Mulcahy was assigned to head the investigation. He knew Jim was a man of probity
and openness—the two attended the same church—and Mulcahy was sure the disappearance had
nothing to do with wrongdoing by Jim McDonnell. Investigation confirmed that McDonnell’s personal
and professional records were impeccable, and turned up no tendencies toward self destruction or any
evidence that he had been a victim of an accident or attack.

For Mulcahy, the only explanation was amnesia.

The phenomenon of amnesia is clouded in mystery. Why it occurs in some patients and not in others is
open to medical speculation. What is known is that loss of memory can be caused by stroke, Alzheimer’s
disease, alcoholism, severe psychological trauma—or by blows to the head. Any individual whose brain
has suffered such injuries can simply wander aimlessly away from the place where he lives, with all
knowledge of his past blacked out.

“For weeks,” Anne’s sister recalls, “Anne walked the house wringing her hands and praying. She agreed
that Jim could be a victim of amnesia—and she worried about his health. Anne was sustained by her
deep trust in God. She felt that one day he would provide an answer.”

Anne remained alone in the house, waiting. At night, watching television, she would stare at the over-
stuffed hassock where Jim had dozed off evenings. She often dreamed he had come home, only to wake
up and find he wasn’t there.

Soon after Jim’s disappearance Anne realized she had to earn a living. She took babysitting jobs, was a
supermarket checker and worked in a hospital cafeteria. In 1977 she took her current job as a nursing
attendant.
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Grade Level: Grade 12
Anne fell into the habit of working at the hospital on holidays because it was easier if she kept busy. I’ve
got to go on, live as best I can, she told herself. Through it all, she had faith that Jim would return. She
kept his clothes in the closet covered to protect them from dust. His razor and can of shaving cream
remained in the bathroom cabinet.

During his walk home, Jim had indeed blacked out, losing all ability to remember who he was and where
he lived. What happened then is unclear. He may have taken the train to Grand Central Terminal, then
another train or a bus south. The next thing he knew, he was in downtown Philadelphia, a city he had
never visited before.

Seeing signs advertising the services of a James Peters, a real estate broker, Jim adopted James Peters as
his own name. It never occurred to him to seek assistance at a police station or hospital. He had no past;
his only reality was the present.

James Peters got a Social Security card, which could be obtained at that time without showing a birth
certificate, and took a job in the luncheonette of a health club. He next worked at a cancer research
institute, cleaning out animal cages. He also got a nightshift job at the P&P luncheonette, where he
became well known for his omelets, as well as his courtesy and good humor. After a year he felt he was
established at P&P and quit his job at the cancer institute.

Jim made new friends, joined an American Legion post and the Knights of Columbus, and became an
active member of the St. Hugh Roman Catholic Church.

He never talked about his past, and his friends didn’t pry. One once said to him, “From your accent, you
must be from New York.”

Jim replied, “I guess so.”

To Cheryle Sloan, a waitress at P&P, Jim was special: “He loved kids. At Christmastime, he played Santa
Claus at orphanages. He grew a big white beard to make his appearance more authentic. Of course we
wondered about his past. My mother decided that he had to be an ex-priest or an ex-criminal.”

Bernadine Golashovsky recalls: “Soon after Jim started at P&P, I took a job there as a waitress. My father
had died and Jim apparently had no family, so we adopted each other. He became my father figure, and
we—my husband, Pete, our four children and I—were his family. The children loved him.”

About a month before Christmas 1985, Bernadine noticed that Jim had grown unusually quiet and
subdued. Something seemed to be turning in his mind.

On Thanksgiving Day, Jim visited the family and sat watching television with Pete. A scene appeared in
which a mail carrier was making deliveries on a miserably rainy day. Pete said, “Boy, that’s one job I
wouldn’t want.”

Jim frowned and said, “I think I used to be a postman.”

“Really? Where?”

“I don’t know,” Jim answered.

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Grade Level: Grade 12

“New York?”

“I’m not sure. But I think I remember my parents a little.”

Jim spent every major holiday with Bernadine and Pete. On Christmas Eve he always arrived late
because the Golashovskys were his last stop on his rounds of wishing friends a happy holiday. On this
Christmas Eve he never arrived. Bernadine and Pete stayed up all night waiting for him.

On December 22, Jim had fallen and banged his head. The next day at work he seemed distracted, and
late that afternoon he had fallen again, striking his head. On December 24, he awoke feeling confused,
yet elated. After almost 15 years, he knew who he was! He was James A. McDonnell, Jr., of Larchmont,
New York. His wife’s name was Anne. Then, suddenly, he was scared: Is Anne alive? Has she remarried?
If not, how will she greet me?

Anne had just returned home from Christmas Mass, where she lit candles and prayed for Jim. A light
snow was falling, and she was in a hurry to leave for Christmas dinner at her sister’s before the roads
grew slick.

Then the doorbell rang, Oh, my she thought, this is not a good time for a visitor.

Anne opened the door—and peered at a man with a full white beard. Immediately she recognized Jim.
She couldn’t speak.

To Jim, Anne looked a little older, but prettier too. His heart overflowed.

“Hello, Anne,” he said.

“Jim,” she gasped. “Is it true?” Her breathing came in bursts, as if she had been running. “Oh, I’m glad
you’re home. Come in, come in.” They barely touched hands. They were too stunned to fall into each
other’s arms. The embraces and the tears would come later.

Anne led Jim to his favorite seat, the overstuffed hassock. They began to talk, trying to fill in the gaps in
time. Finally, Jim’s eyes grew heavy. Exhausted and happy, he dozed off.

After 15 years, Jim McDonnell was home at last.

On the day after Christmas, Jim reported his return to the police. That evening the Golashovskys received
a phone call from a New York Daily News reporter who told them Jim was fine. Bernadine phoned Jim’s
friends with the good news.

A week after his return Jim had a complete physical, including a CAT scan of his brain. The conclusion: he
was in normal health, Jim and Anne have had no problems resuming their lives as a married couple.
“Each day we are together,” Jim says, “makes the time we were apart seem shorter.”

Activity 2: Questions for comprehension.

1. Analyze the story by completing the following table.
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Grade Level: Grade 12
Elements Aspects Answers/Explanation
Point of view
Character
Setting
Tone and
atmosphere

Symbol/s
Irony
Theme

2. The story was written several decades ago. In what ways does it ring a chord with the
contemporary reader?

III. Looking back

Answer the following questions below.

1. How do the different elements of the traditional literary genres help in constructing a literary
piece?
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2. How similar are the elements of poetry and prose from each other?
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IV. Extension of learning: Writer’s Block

Using the different elements of the literary texts discussed, construct a short paragraph
narrating a childhood experience you cannot forget. You can write either a poem or a short story.