MonCAS

LEVEL 1
Accredited

Monkayo College of Arts, Sciences and Technology

“Success in a diverse classroom comes from a balance

of student self-awareness and community
acceptance of others.”

-Beth Morrow

Assessment Tasks for Chapter 1

Name :________________________________Score :_________________

Course/ Major :________________________________Year/Sec: :_________________
Course Code & Title :_________________________________
Name of the Instructor:_________________________________

Topic for Prelim: Chapter 1: Understanding the Literature

LITERATURE comes from the Latin word “litera” which literally means "acquaintance with letters."

= This deals with ideas, thoughts, and emotions of man- thus it can be said that works are
products of man’s story.

=The term has generally come to identify a collection of texts or work of art.

=Literature is a branch of aesthetics, a branch of philosophy that deals with question "What is
art".

=Imaginative or creative writing, especially of recognized artistic value, literature must be an

analysis of experience.

=It is the collective body of literary productions, embracing the entire results of knowledge and
fancy preserved in writing-a body of written works produced in a particular language, country,
or age.

=This illuminates life and offers an experience in which readers will participate and test their
understanding about the literacy piece.

Standards of Good Literature

■ Artistry (quality which appeals to our sense of beauty)

■ Intellectual Value (a literary work stimulates thought and enriches our mental life by making
us realize fundamental truths about life and human nature.)

■Suggestiveness (this is the quality associated with the emotional power of literature, such that
it should move us deeply and stir our creative imagination, giving and evoking visions above and
beyond the plane of ordinary life and experience.)

■Spiritual value (a good literature elevates the spirit by bringing out moral values which make us
better persons...this capacity to inspire is part of the spiritual value of literature.)
 MonCAS
LEVEL 1
Accredited

Monkayo College of Arts, Sciences and Technology

■ Permanence (a great work of literature endures...it can be read again and again as each
reading gives fresh delight and new insights and open new worlds of meaning and experience.

■ Universality (great literature is timeless and timely forever relevant in terms of its theme and
conditions.)

■ Entertainment value, for the richness of its plot, for comparison with other works, for the
ideas it contains, for its emotional power, for character analysis, as an appeal to move readers to
action, for social reforms, for its representations of literary movements and techniques, for the author's
unique use of language (style) and most importantly for its reflection of life itself.

Strategies for Reading Literature

Reading literature is a process in which the reader should engage actively. Responding well to literature
takes a critical approach that involves three major steps: previewing, highlighting, and annotating.

Step 1: Previewing (Ask yourself the following questions)

 What does the title suggest?

 Have I heard of this author before?
 Does my anthology provide any information about this text?
 What type of text is this-a poem, a story, or a play?
 What kind of structure does it possess-stanzas, paragraphs, acts, scenes?
 How is the text organized-by contrast, or by cause and effect?

Step 2: Highlighting

 Read the text closely, and highlight the words and phrases that capture your attention
 Underline words or color them with a highlight pen
 Identify sections that particularly strike the point of view, style, structure, ideas,
characterization, or any other key features you have observed as a reader.
 Identifying the elements used in the adage.

Step 3: Annotating

 Make marginal notes on the book's pages or use a pad or note cards.
 This phase involves you in the critical process of selecting and summarizing.
 After two or three reading, your notes will eventually lead you to respond to the literary
and cultural impact of the text by identifying its words, imagery, and themes.
 Respond actively to the text then becomes a challenge for you as reader is to interact
with it and define its meanings on the basis of both the factual evidence that you find
there and your own insights and experiences.

Classification of Literature According to Expression

 MonCAS
LEVEL 1
Accredited

Monkayo College of Arts, Sciences and Technology

A. Oral. Oral literature is
generally the literature of the ancient times when men did not have much concern about a permanent
preservation of the expressions of their wits and feelings/emotions.

The early men had the pleasure of being able to tell stories as being able to express themselves and to
satisfy their aesthetic interest.

B. Written. Literature is classified written when it is wielded from the pen of the writers-the
product of the writer's creative genius. It is permanent and remains as is.

Classification of Literature According to Period

A. Classical Literature
Characteristics:
 order, logic, accuracy, good taste, restrained emotions, "correctness'.
 appeal to the intellect (reason) rather than emotion, as in satire.
 didacticism; concern with teaching "truth' as the author sees it.
 adherence to the rules of the ancients (Aristotle, Virgil, Horace, others)
 adherence to formal verse forms theory couplets, and other formal forms) formal
and stilted diction.
 precise form, unified structure, clarity in writing.
 emphasis on superiority of "civilization" (City life as opposed to country life).
 objectivity, detachment on the part of the writer.
 directness; avoids the mysterious or obscure
 embraces the ideas of Deism (applies to 18" century neo-classicism)
B. Romantic Literature
Characteristics:
 predominance of imagination and emotion over reason and formal rules.
 intuition: a reliance on "natural" feelings as a guide to conduct, thought, thought,
and truth.
 love of nature, primitivism: respect for the common, "natural" man; idealizes
country life.
 sympathetic interest in the past, especially the Medieval past.
 interest in the supernatural, the mystical, the "gothic" and that which is far away or
remote and unattainable by normal standards of reality.
 emphasis on rebellion and revolution, especially in connection with human rights,
individualism, freedom from oppression.
 emphasis on introspection, psychology, melancholy, sadness; often deals with
death, transience and mankind's feelings about these.
 subjectivity in writing.
 interest in experimentation by poets with many verse forms (sonnets, blank verse,
Spenserian stanza, terza rima and others); freedom to express oneself
 often associated with escapism.
C. Realistic Literature
 MonCAS
LEVEL 1
Accredited

Monkayo College of Arts, Sciences and Technology

Characteristics:
 finds its subjects in bourgeois life and manners; it is the ultimate middle-class art.

 tends to give a faithful representation of characters as individuals rather than types;

character is central in realistic fiction.
 tends to deal with contemporary life than the past or future.
 relies heavily on facts and actual observations; the realist is a believer in pragmatism
 concerns itself with the conduct and life of the audience for which it is written is
didactic and moralizing.
 employs traditional patterns plots, structures in fiction; is sometimes seen as a
rebellion against "falseness" and sentimentality of romanticism.
 adopts a comic or satiric tone; seldom grim or somber.
 tends toward the ugly or sordid as "true life" but deals with these details very
carefully (often avoids direct use of sex, curse words, etc).
 gives an overall impression of truth or verity.

Activity
A. In not more than three (3) sentences, answer the following questions comprehensively. (10
points each: Content-5, Organization of Thoughts-3, and Grammar-2 )

1. What is the importance of Literature in our everyday living? How does this relate to man’s
experiences and individual life?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________.
2. Cite a significant literature that best describes your experiences and life as an individual?
Summary or Plot:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________.
Explanation/s:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________.
3. Cite a literature that contradicts your thoughts and appreciation as a reader and audience of the
author’s point-of-view.
Summary or Plot:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________.
Explanation/s:
 MonCAS
LEVEL 1
Accredited

Monkayo College of Arts, Sciences and Technology

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________.

B. Create a poster (drawing) that demonstrates the impact and importance of Literature in our
everyday living. Relate it from the Activity 1, item #1.

b.1. Poster (Content/Relevance- 35%; Organization of Thoughts and Elements-20%; Creativity-

20%; Neatness 15%; Promptness of Submission 10%= 100%).

b.2. Instructions:
o Draw your poster on a 1/8 piece of illustration board.
o You may use any color of drawing material (ballpoint, pencil, crayons, pastel, the
like)