Lesson 1 Introduction to Literature readers identify with what they read through values

learned.” -JF Loria

What is Literature?
Importance of studying Literature
1. Deriving from the Latin littera, “a letter of the
alphabet,” literature is first and foremost humankind’s ❑To benefit from the insight of others
entire body of writing.
❑To open our minds to ambiguities of meaning
2. It is a “slice of life”.
❑To explore other cultures and beliefs
3. It is a body of written works.
❑To appreciate why individuals are the way they are
4. Writings having excellence of form or expression and
expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest ❑To exercise our brain

5. It is a body of work, either written, oral, or visual ❑To encourage us to question “accepted” knowledge
containing imaginative language that realistically
portrays thoughts, emotion, and experiences of the ❑To appreciate the contributions literature has made
human condition. to history

6. It is a product of a particular culture that concretizes ❑To see human tragedy

man’s array of values, emotions, actions and ideas.
❑To strengthen our mastery of the language
7. It is a creation of human experiences that tells about
❑To recognize language devices and appreciate their
people and their world.
emotional power
Literature is an art that reflects the works of
❑To see the admirable in everyday life
imagination, aesthetics and creative writing which are
distinguished for the beauty of style or expression. ❑To know that we are not alone
What is the importance of Literature?
❑To refine our judgement
Importance of studying Literature Studying Literature is
❑To learn to support our points of view and trust our
like looking at the mirror of life where man’s
own interpretations
experiences, his innermost feelings and thoughts are
reflected. ❑To develop our empathy for those who are unlike us
❑To expand our vocabulary
Importance of studying Literature Through Literature,
we learn the culture of people across time and space. ❑To improve our writing skills
Importance of studying Literature Through Literature, ❑To learn to use our language well
we understand not only the past life a nation but also
its present. ❑To improve our reading comprehension

Importance of studying Literature We become familiar Literary Standards

not only with the culture of neighboring countries but
also with that of others living very far from us.
Importance of studying Literature “Perhaps what makes
literature a more delightful and enriching study than
the rest that deal with the past is its potential of making
1. Universality Literature appeals to everyone,
regardless of culture, race, gender and time.
2. Artistry Literature has an aesthetic appeal and thus
possesses a sense of beauty.
 3. Intellectual Value Literature stimulates critical
thinking that enriches mental processes of abstraction,
and reasoning.
4. Subjectiveness Literature unravels and conjures
man’s emotional power to define symbolisms, nuances,
implied meaning and images.
5. Spiritual Value Literature elevates the spirit and the
soul and thus has the power to motivate and inspire,
drawn from suggested morals of different literary
genres.
6. Permanence Literature endures across time and
draws out the time factor: timelines and timelessness.
7. Style Literature presents peculiar way/s on how man
sees life as evidenced by the formation of his ideas,
forms, structures and expressions which are marked by
their memorable substance.
How are we going to study Literature?
Through the help of Literary Approaches
1. Formalistic Approach Literature is viewed
intrinsically, independent of the author, age or any
extrinsic factor. It focuses more on “literary elements”.
2. Moral or Humanistic Approach Literature is viewed
to discuss man and its nature. It naturally presents man
as essentially rational, endowed with intellect and
freewill.
3. Historical Approach Literature is seen both as a
reflection and product of the times and circumstances
in which it was written.
4. Sociological Approach Literature is viewed as the
expression of man within a given social situation which
is reduced.
5. Cultural Approach Literature is seen as one of the
manifestation and vehicle of a nation’s/race’ culture
and tradition.
6. Psychological Approach Literature is viewed as the
expression of “personality” of “inner drives” or
“neurosis”. It includes the psychology of the author,
characters, and even the psychology of its creation.
7. Impressionistic Approach Literature is viewed to
elucidate “reacting-response” which is considered as
something very personal, relative and fruitful. It seeks
to see how the piece has communicated.
Lesson 2 Classifications of Literature
Classifications of Literature
There are 2 key words in this topic:
- Genre
- Literature
What is literature?
- Literature, in its broadest sense, consists of any
written productions.
- It refers to those deemed to have artistic or
intellectual value, or which deploy language in
ways that differ from ordinary usage.
- In Western Europe prior to the eighteenth
century, literature as a term indicated all books
and writing. (Leitch et al., The Norton
Anthology of Theory and Criticism, 28)
- The value judgment definition of of literature
considers it to cover exclusively those writings
that possess high quality or distinction, forming
part of the so-called Belles-lettres ('fine writing')
tradition. (Eagleton, Literary theory: an
introduction, 9
- This sort of definition is that used in the
Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition
(1910-11) where it classifies literature as:
"the best expression of the best thought reduced
to writing."
- Problematic in this view is that there is no
objective definition of what constitutes
"Literature".
- Anything can be literature, and anything which
is universally regarded as literature has the
potential to be excluded, since value judgments
can change over time.
What is Genre?
- is any category of literature, music, or other
forms of art or entertainment, whether written
 or spoken, audio or visual, based on some set of
stylistic criteria.
- Genres form by conventions that change over
time as new genres are invented and the use of
old ones is discontinued.
- Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of
borrowing and recombining these conventions.
- Genre began as an absolute classification
system for ancient Greek literature. Poetry,
prose, and performance each had a specific and
calculated style that related to the theme of the
story.
There are 3 Genres of Literature
- Poetry
- Prose
- Drama
Poetry - is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and
rhythmic qualities of language.
Poetry has 3 different kinds:
- Lyric Poetry;
- Narrative Poetry; and
- Descriptive and Didactic Poetry.
Lyric Poetry - It is a comparatively short, non-narrative
poem, in which a single speaker presents a state of
mind or emotional state.
It has 4 kinds:
Elegy - a poem of serious reflection, typically a element
for the dead
Ode - a poem in which a person expresses a strong
feeling of love or respect for someone or something.
Sonnet - a fourteen -line poem written in iambic
pentameter, which employ one of several rhyme
schemes and adhere to a tightly structured thematic
organization.
Dramatic Monolouge - a poem in the form of a speech
or narrative by an imagined person, in which the
speaker inadvertently reveals aspects of their character
while describing a particular situation or series of
events.
Narrative Poetry - lt is a form a poetry that tells a story,
often making use of the voices of a narrative and of
characters as well. The entire story is usually written in
metered verse.
It has 3 kinds:
Epics - A long narrative poem written in elevated style,
in which heroes of great historical or legendary
importance perform valorous deeds. (e.g. Beowulf)
Mock-epic - are typically satires or parodies that mock
common Classical stereotypes of heroes and heroic
literature. (e.g Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock)
Ballad - a poem or song narrating a story in short
stanzas. Traditional ballads are typically of unknown
authorship, having been passed on orally from one
generation to the next as part of the folk culture. (The
Second Coming William Butler Yeats (1865-1939))
Descriptive and Didactic Poetry
- Both lyric and narrative poetry can contain
lengthy and detailed descriptions (descriptive
poetry) or scenes in direct speech (dramatic
poetry).
- The purpose of a didactic poem is primarily to
teach something.
Prose - written or spoken language in its ordinary form,
without metrical structure
There are 2 kinds of Prose:
- Fiction
- Non-Fiction
Fiction - lt is a literature written in a form of prose,
especially short stories and novels, that describes
imaginary events and people.
There are 2 kinds of Fiction literature:
Realistic Fiction - is a genre consisting of stories that
could have actually occurred to people or animals in a
believable setting.
Fantastic Fiction -a type of fiction that ideologically and
aesthetically subordinates reality to imagination by
depicting a world of marvels that is contrasted to
everyday reality and to accepted views of what is
credible.
Non-Fiction - Prosed writing which is based on facts,
real events, and real people such as biography and
history.
There are 4 kinds of Non-fiction literature:
Biographies - is a detailed description of a person's life.
It involves more than just the basic facts like education,
work, relationships, and death, but also portrays a
subject's experience of these life events.
Autobiographies - is a written account of the life of a
person written by that person.
Essays - is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the
author's own argument - but the definition is vague,
overlapping with those of an article, a pamphlet, and a
short story. Articles a piece of writing included with
others in a newspaper, magazine, or other publication.
Humour - situations, speech, or writings that are
thought to be humorous
Drama - a piece of writing that tells a story and is
performed on a stage.
There are 6 kinds of Drama:
- Comedy;
- Tragedy;
- Farce;
- Melodrama; Fantasy; and Musical.
Comedy - Comedies are lighter in tone than ordinary
writers, and provide a happy conclusion. The intention
of dramatists in comedies is to make their audience
laugh. Hence, they use quaint circumstances, unusual
characters and witty remarks.
Tragedy - Tragic dramas use darker themes such as
disaster, pain and death. Protagonists often have a
tragic flaw-a characteristic that leads them to their
downfall.
Farce - Generally, a farce is a nonsensical genre of
drama, which often overacts or engages slapstick
humor. It's basically, what you call a "Parody"
Melodrama - Melodrama is an exaggerated drama,
which is sensational and appeals directly to the senses
of audience. Just like the farce, the characters are of
single dimension and simple, or may be stereotyped.
Fantasy - It is a complete fictional work where
characters virtually display supernatural skills. It is more
appealing to children as fairies, angels, superheroes,
etc., are embedded in the plot. Use of magic, pseudo
science, horror, and spooky themes through various
kinds of technical devices create a perfect world of
fantasy. The modern version of drama incorporates a
great deal of special effects.
Elements of Fiction Part 1
Fiction
- Literature in the form of prose, especially short stories
and novels, that describes imaginary events and people.
- It uses imaginary events and characters. In the 21st
century, they are usually adopted into movies.
Elements of Fiction
Characters
❑They are the people whom the story revolves
around.
❑They are usually the recipients and cause of different
conflicts.
❑They can be good and bad
❑Some stay and some go away during any part of the
story
Why are characters important?
❑Something to invest in
❑Someone to care about
❑Someone to root for
Characterization
❑It is the creation or the construction of a fictional
character.
❑It is how characters are described.
❑It is the description of the character’s features,
attitudes or as a whole.
❑ It helps the readers understand the actions of the
❑It is the description of the character’s features, characters deeply.
attitudes or as a whole.
❑ It gives the readers understand the different
Two Types of Characterization motivations and downsides of a character.

Direct Characterization ❑ It helps the readers understand the actions of the

characters deeply.
- the writer makes direct statements about a
character's personality and tells what the ❑ It gives the readers understand the different
character is like. motivations and downsides of a character. SO Elements
- . Think adjectives of Fiction Setting SO Setting
Descriptions
❑It is where the story takes place.
Indirect Characterization
❑It helps the readers give context in analyzing the
- the writer reveals information about a text.
character and his/her personality through that
character's thoughts, words, and actions, along
with how other characters respond to that
❑It is where the story takes place.
character, including what they think and say
about him/her. ❑It helps the readers give context in analyzing the text
- Think verbs .
Actions A Setting:

Two major types of Characters: ❑Can be large and all encompassing

1.Protagonist ❑Can be very intimate areas.

2. Antagonist ❑Can be any time of the day.

Protagonist - It is one of the major characters in the ❑Can be any season (natural).
story. It receives the blow from the antagonist.
Antagonis - It is the one in conflict with the protagonist. Why setting is important?
It give the protagonist the sense of terror and
❑ It shapes the tone and mood of the story.
realization
❑ It gives the readers a vivid mental picture of the
The Four Aspects of Characterization
world your characters move in.
1. Static Character VS Dynamic Character
PLOT
2. Flat Character VS Round Character
❑It is the series of events that happen in story.
Why is characterization important?
❑Commonly known as the “flow” and the arrangement
❑ It helps the readers visualize and relate to the of the story.
characters.
Different Types of Plot
❑ It gives the readers a time to examine the characters,
thus creating “healthy bias”. ❑Conventional Plot
❑Episodic Plot
❑Flashback
❑In Medias Res
Conventional Plot - A conventional plot allows a
straight or linear flow of events that has a start, a
middle part, and a conclusion.
Parts of a Conventional Plot
1. Exposition It provides background information
needed to make sense of the action, describes the
setting and introduces the main characters.
2. Conflicts It is the moment of great tension among
characters.
Climax The turning point, a moment of great tension
that fixes the outcome
Resolution The fixing or the resolution of the different
conflicts
Dénouement It is where the action falls off as the plot’s
complications are sorted out and resolved.
Episodic Plot They are plots that still functions as
conventional plots but they come in series.
Flashback The author shares to the reader an event that
has happened in the past. This past event is where the
story focuses on.
Medias Res The author chooses to start the story in the
middle of a situation. The current situation of the
context is not explained. The beginning of the story is
already established with the conflicts, thus, the
exposition does not exist
Why is having a Plot important?
It organizes the thoughts, ideas and events, thus making
the readers enjoy reading without confusion
Point of View SO Point of View
❑It answers the question “Who is telling the story?” or
“Who is the narrator?”.
Different types of Point of View
❑View First Person Point of View
❑Second Person Point of View
❑Third Person Point of View
• Limited
• Omniscient
• Limited Omniscient
First Person Point of View
- We are seeing events through the eyes of the
character telling the story. SO
Second Person Point of View
- The narrator is speaking to YOU. This isn’t very
common in fiction, unless the narrator is trying
to talk to the reader personally.
- We see second-person point of view mostly in
poems, speeches, instructional writing, and
persuasive articles.
Third Person Point of View
- The narrator is describing what’s seen, but as a
spectator.
- If the narrator is a character in the story, then
we are reading what he or she observes as the
story unfolds.
Three Types of Third Person Point of View
❑ Limited
❑ Omniscient
❑ Limited Omniscient
Limited Third Person Point of View - In limited
third-person, the narrator sees only what’s in front
of him/her, a spectator of events as they unfold and
unable to read any other character’s mind.
Omniscient Third Person Point of View - An
omniscient narrator sees all, much as an all knowing
god of some kind. He or she sees what each
 character is doing and can see into each character’s Man VS Man
mind.
❑The protagonist encounters conflict that are
Limited Omniscient Third Person Point of View - caused by another human being.
The limited omniscient third-person narrator can
only see into one character’s mind. He/she might Man VS Self
see other events happening, but only knows the
❑The character experiences internal conflict. It is a
reasons of one character’s actions in the story.
battle with his/her own “demons”.
Why is having a Point of View important?
Man VS The Society
❑ It will help the readers determine the generic
❑The character experiences a dilemma with the
views and personal biases that are offered in the
people around him, having a hard time coping with
story
the norm.
❑ It helps limit the knowledge about character, and
Man VS Circumstances
at the same time.
❑The character struggles with events or situations
❑ It helps explain the contribution of each
that happens to him, like accidents, death and loss.
character and event in the story.
Man VS Nature
Elements of Fiction Conflict
❑The character struggles between forces of nature
Conflict
like storms, floods, landslides, mudslides and
❑conflict is a literary element that involves a avalanches.
struggle between two opposing forces, usually a
Man VS Supernatural
protagonist and an antagonist.
❑The struggle happens between the character and
INTERNAL VS. EXTERNAL CONFLICT
a paranormal being, a curse, and the like.
- An internal conflict is a struggle within the mind
Man VS God
of a character. It can be mental or emotional.
- An external conflict is a struggle that occurs ❑It is usually a struggle that roots from a sin. God is
between a character and an outside force. blamed by the character who usually exhibits
spiritual frailty and backsliding.

Different Types o Conflict Deux Ex Machina

❑ Man VS Man ❑ “divine intervention”

❑ Man VS Self ❑ a seemingly unresolvable problem was abruptly

resolved in an unexpected or unlikely occurrence.
❑ Man VS The Society
Why is having a Conflict important?
❑ Man VS Circumstances
❑ It gives “spice” and excitement to the story.
❑ Man VS Nature
❑ It gives readers something to look forward to
❑ Man VS The Supernatural
and something to worry about
❑ Man VS God
 1st Semester Preliminary Reviewer in
World Literature
MODULE 1:
WHAT IS LITERATURE?
1. Deriving from the Latin littera, “a letter of the
alphabet,” literature is first and foremost
humankind’s entire body of writing.
2. It is a “slice of life”.
3. It is a body of written works.
4. Writings having excellence of form or
expression and expressing ideas of permanent
or universal interest
5. It is a body of work, either written, oral, or
visual containing imaginative language that
realistically portrays thoughts, emotion, and
experiences of the human condition.
6. It is a product of a particular culture that
concretizes man’s array of values, emotions,
actions and ideas.
7. It is a creation of human experiences that
tells about people and their world.
Literary Standards
 Literature is an art that reflects the works of
imagination, aesthetics and creative writing
which are distinguished for the beauty of style
or expression
 What is the importance of Literature?
 Studying Literature is like looking at the mirror
of life where man’s experiences, his innermost
feelings and thoughts are reflected.
 Through Literature, we learn the culture of
people across time and space.
 Through Literature, we understand not only the
past life of a nation but also its present.
 We become familiar not only with the culture of
neighboring countries but also with that of
others living very far from us.
“Perhaps what makes literature a more delightful
and enriching study than the rest that deal with the
past is its potential of making readers identify
with what they read through values
learned.”
-JF Loria
 To benefit from the insight of others
 To open our minds to ambiguities of meaning
 To explore other cultures and beliefs

To appreciate why individuals are the way
they are
 To exercise our brain
 To encourage us to question “accepted”
knowledge
 To appreciate the contributions literature has
made to history
 To see human tragedy
 To strengthen our master of the language
 To recognize language devices and appreciate
their emotional power
 To see the admirable in everyday life
 To know that we are not alone
 To refine our judgement
 To learn to support our points of view and
trust our own interpretations.
 To develop our empathy for those who are
unlike us
 To expand our vocabulary
 To improve our writing skills
 To learn to use our language well
 To improve our reading comprehension
1. Universality
 Literature appeals to everyone,
regardless of culture, race, gender
and time.
2. Artistry
 Literature has an aesthetic appeal
and thus possesses a sense of
beauty.
3. Intellectual
 Value Literature stimulates critical
thinking that enriches mental
processes of abstraction, and
reasoning.
4. Subjectiveness
 Literature unravels and conjures
man’s emotional power to define
symbolisms, nuances, implied
meaning and images.
5. Spiritual Value
 Literature elevates the spirit and
the soul and thus has the power to
motivate and inspire, drawn from
suggested morals of different
literary genres.
 6. Permanence
 Literature endures across time and
draws out the time factor: timelines
and timelessness.
7. Style
 Literature presents peculiar way/s
on how man sees life as evidenced
by the formation of his ideas,
forms, structures and expressions
which are marked by their
memorable substance.
How are we going to study Literature?
- Through the help of Literary Approaches
1. Formalistic Approach
 Literature is viewed intrinsically,
independent of the author, age or any
extrinsic factor. It focuses more on
“literary elements”.
2. Moral or Humanistic Approach
 Literature is viewed to discuss man and
its nature. It naturally presents man as
essentially rational, endowed with
intellect and freewill.
3. Historical Approach
 Literature is seen both as a reflection
and product of the times and
circumstances in which it was written.
4. Sociological Approach
 Literature is viewed as the expression of
man within a given social situation
which is reduced
5. Cultural Approach
 Literature is seen as one of the
manifestation and vehicle of a
nation’s/race’ culture and tradition.
6. Psychological Approach
 Literature is viewed as the expression of
“personality” of “inner drives” or
“neurosis”. It includes the psychology of
the author, characters, and even the
psychology of its creation.
7. Impressionistic Approach
 Literature is viewed to elucidate
“reacting-response” which is considered
as something very personal, relative
and fruitful. It seeks to see how the
piece has communicated.
MODULE 2:
CLASSIFICATION OF LITERATION
There are 2 Key Words in this topic:
 Genre; and
 Literature
What is Literature?
 Literature, in its broadest sense, consists of any
written productions.
 It refers to those deemed to have artistic or
intellectual value, or which deploy language in
ways that differ from ordinary usage.
 In Western Europe prior to the eighteenth
century, literature as a term indicated all books
and writing. (Leitch et al., The Norton Anthology
of Theory and Criticism, 28)
 The value judgment definition of literature
considers it to cover exclusively those writings
that possess high quality or distinction, forming
part of the so-called Belles-lettres ('fine writing')
tradition. (Eagleton, Literary theory:
introduction, 9) an
 This sort of definition is that used in the
Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition
(1910-11) where it classifies literature as:
o "the best expression of the best
thought reduced to writing”
 Problematic in this view is that there is no
objective definition of what constitutes
"literature".
 Anything can be literature, and anything which
is universally regarded as literature has the
potential to be excluded, since value judgments
can change over time.
What is Genre?
 is any category of literature, music, or other
forms of art or entertainment, whether written
or spoken, audio or visual, based on some set of
stylistic criteria.
 Genres form by conventions that change over
time as new genres are invented and the use of
old ones is discontinued.
 Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of
borrowing and recombining these conventions.
 Genre began as an absolute classification
system for ancient Greek literature. Poetry,
prose, and performance each had a specific and
 calculated style that related to the theme of the
story
There are 3 Genres of Literature
 Poetry
 Prose
 Drama
Poetry
 ‣ is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and
rhythmic qualities of language.
 e.g.
o Shall I compare thee to a summer's
day? Thou art more lovely and more
temperate: Rough winds do shake the
darling buds of May And summer's
lease hath all too short a day
Poetry has 3 different kinds:
 Lyric Poetry;
 Narrative Poetry; and
 Descriptive and Didactic Poetry
1. Lyric Poetry
 It is a comparatively short, non- narrative poem,
in which a single speaker presents a state of
mind or emotional state
 It has 4 kinds:
a. Elegy a poem of serious reflection, typically
a lament for the dead.
b. Ode - a poem in which a person expresses a
strong feeling of love or respect for
someone or something.
c. Sonnet - a fourteen-line poem written in
iambic pentameter, which employ one of
several rhyme schemes and adhere to a
tightly structured thematic organization.
d. Dramatic Monolouge - a poem in the form
of a speech or narrative by an imagined
person, in which the speaker inadvertently
reveals aspects of their character while
describing a particular situation or series of
events
 Example of Lyric Poetry
a. Elegy
O Captain! My Captain!
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale
and still; My father does not feel my arm, he
has no pulse nor will; The ship is anchor'd safe
and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with
object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread, Walk the deck my
Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead
b. Ode
Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of
Early Childhood by William Wordsworth.
There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;--
Turn wheresoe'er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more
c. Sonet
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose
possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
 When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee
d. Melodic Drama
And indeed there will be time To wonder, 'Do I dare?'
and, 'Do I dare?
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair--
(They will say: 'How his hair is growing thin!')
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple
pin--
(They will say: 'But how his arms and legs are thin!')
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse
2. Narrative Poetry
 It is a form a poetry that tells a story, often
making use of the voices of a narrative and
of characters as well. The entire story is
usually written in metered verse.
 It has 3 kinds:
a. Epics - A long narrative poem
written in elevated style, in which
heroes of great historical or
legendary importance perform
valorous deeds. (e.g. Beowulf)
b. Mock-epic are typically satires or
parodies that mock common
Classical stereotypes of heroes and
heroic literature. (e.g Alexander
Pope's The Rape of the Lock)
c. Ballad a poem or song narrating a
story in short stanzas. Traditional
ballads are typically of unknown
authorship, having been passed on
orally from one generation to the
next as part of the folk culture. (The
Second Coming William Butler Yeats
(1865-1939))
3. Descriptive and Didactic Poetry
 Both lyric and narrative poetry can contain
lengthy and detailed descriptions
(descriptive poetry) or scenes in direct
speech (dramatic poetry)
 The purpose of a didactic poem is primarily
to teach something.
Descriptive Poetry
Smoke
Light-winged Smoke, Icarian bird, Melting thy pinions in
thy upward flight, Lark without song, and messenger of
dawn, Circling above the hamlets as thy nest; Or else,
departing dream, and shadowy form Of midnight vision,
gathering up thy skirts; By night star-veiling, and by day
Darkening the light and blotting out the sun; Go thou
my incense upward from this hearth, And ask the gods
to pardon this clear flame
Didactic Poetry
Tis hard to say, if greater Want of Skill Appear in Writing
or in Judging ill,
But, of the two, less dang'rous is th' Offence, To tire our
Patience, than mis-lead our Sense: Some few in that,
but Numbers err in this, Ten Censure wrong for one
who Writes amiss; A Fool might once himself alone
expose, Now One in Verse makes many more in Prose.
An excerpt from An Essay on Criticism by Alexander
Pope
4. Prose
 written or spoken language in its ordinary
form, without metrical structure.
 e.g.
"The woods look lovely against the setting darkness and
as I gaze into the mysterious depths of the forest, I feel
like lingering here longer. However, I have pending
appointments to keep and much distance to cover
before I settle in for the night or else I will be late for all
of them."
There are 2 kinds of Prose:
  Fiction
o It is a literature written in a form of
prose, especially short stories and
novels, that describes imaginary events
and people.
o There are 2 kinds of Fiction literature:
1. Realistic Fiction - is a genre
consisting of stories that could
have actually occurred to
people or animals in a
believable setting.
2. Fantastic Fiction -a type of
fiction that ideologically and
aesthetically subordinates
reality to imagination by
depicting a world of marvels
that is contrasted to everyday
reality and to accepted views of
what is credible
 Non-Fiction
o Prosed writing which is based on facts,
real events, and real people such as
biography and history
o There are 4 kinds of Non-fiction
literature:
1. Biographies - is a detailed
description of a person's life. It
involves more than just the
basic facts like education, work,
relationships, and death, but
also portrays a subject's
experience of these life events.
2. Autobiographies - is a written
account of the life of a person
written by that person.
3. Essays is, generally, a piece of
writing that gives the author's
own argument but the
definition is vague, overlapping
with those of an article, a
pamphlet, and a short story.
4. Articles a piece of writing
included with others in a
5. newspaper, magazine, or other
publication.
6. Humour - situations, speech, or
writings that are thought to be
humorous
5. Drama
 a piece of writing that tells a story and is
performed on a stage.
 e.g
Miranda Priestly: Do you know why I hired you? I
always hire the same girl- stylish, slender, of
course... worships the magazine. But so often, they
turn out to be- I don't know- disappointing and,
um... stupid. So you, with that impressive résumé
and the big speech about your so-called work ethic-
1, um- I thought you would be different. I said to
myself, go ahead. Take a chance. Hire the smart, fat
girl. I had hope. My God. I live on it. Anyway, you
ended up disappointing me more than, um- more
than any of the other silly girls.
- Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada,
2006)
 There are 6 kinds of Drama:
1. Comedy;
 Comedies are lighter in tone
than ordinary writers, and
provide a happy conclusion.
The intention of dramatists in
comedies is to make their
audience laugh. Hence, they
use quaint circumstances,
unusual characters and witty
remarks.
2. Tragedy;
 Tragic dramas use darker
themes such as disaster, pain
and death. Protagonists often
have a tragic flaw-a
characteristic that leads them
to their downfall
3. Farce;
 Generally, a farce is a
nonsensical genre of drama,
which often overacts or
engages slapstick humor.
 It's basically, what you call
"Parody"
4. Melodrama;
 Melodrama is an exaggerated
drama, which is sensational
and appeals directly to the
senses of audience. Just like
the farce, the characters are
of single dimension and
 simple, or may be ways of aristocratic life. She alienates
stereotyped herself from other people, which also
5. Fantasy; and Musical. affects even demography. She is soon
 It is a complete fictional work found dead and after a few days, a
where characters virtually locked door is forced open. There they
display supernatural skills. It found a decaying body of a man who is
is more appealing to children believed to be the love of her life, but
as fairies, angels, there is more. They found an
superheroes, etc., are indentation of a head on the pillow and
embedded in the plot. Use of a long strand of hair that they believe
magic, pseudo science, belonged to Emily
horror, and spooky themes 4. Title: Rashomon Author: Ryunosuke Akutagawa
through various kinds of  This is a story about a samurai who had
technical devices create a just gave up his title and is having a
perfect world of fantasy. The hard time getting over it. He then meets
modern version of drama an olf woman who tests his valiance
incorporates a great deal of and chivalry
special effects.
Elements of Fiction

1. Characters
MODULE 3:  They are the people whom the story revolves
ELEMENTS OF FICTION around.
There are 2 Key Words in this topic:  They are usually the recipients and cause of
different conflicts
Fiction
 They can be good and bad
 Literature in the form of prose, especially short  Some stay and some go away during any part of
stories and novels, that describes imaginary the story
events and people Why are characters important?
 it uses imaginary events and characters. In the
21st century, they are usually adopted into  Something to invest in
movies  Someone to care about
 Someone to root for
Example of Novels
 It is the creation or the construction of a
1. Title: The Perks if Being a Wallflower Author: fictional character.
Stephen Chbosky  It is how characters are described.
 This is a story about a typical teenager  It is the description of the character’s features,
from school who experiences a coming- attitudes or as a whole.
of-age upon meeting a schoolmate  It is the description of the character’s features,
2. Title: Everything, Everything Author: Nicola attitudes or as a whole.
Yoon
Two Types of Characterization
 This is a novel about a sick teenager
who finds meaning in life through love Direct Characterization
and the appreciation of everything
around her  the writer makes direct statements about a
3. Title: A Rose for Emily Author: William Faulkner character's personality and tells what the
 It is a story about Emily, an aristocrat character is like
who has a hard time accepting new  Think adjectives.
trends and still chooses to live in the old  Descriptions
Indirect Characterization
 the writer reveals information about a
character and his/her personality through that
character's thoughts, words, and actions, along
with how other characters respond to that
character, including what they think and say
about him/her.
 Think verbs.
 Actions
Examples of Characterization
Direct Characterization
 Gary is a nice and caring person.
 Gary can sometimes be very mean or rude.
 Showing
Indirect Characterization
• Gary watched his little brother for two
hours while their mother was ill, taking
care of his every need. He did this
without being asked and he did not ask
for anything in return.
 "The next thing I know, Gary was tearing up my
rose garden," said Beatrice his elderly
grandmother as she gave her statement to the
police. She was still badly shaken after the
attack.
 Telling
Two major types of Characters:
1. Protagonist
 It is one of the major characters in the
story. It receives the blow from the
antagonist.
2. Antagonist
 It is the one in conflict with the
protagonist. It give the protagonist the
sense of terror and realization. It can be a
single person or a group.
The Four Aspects of Characterization
1. Static Character VS Dynamic Character
i. STATIC OR DYNAMIC
 A Static Character remains the same
throughout the story
 This character undergoes no change
in thought or personality when
involved in conflict
ii. A Dynamic Character
1. undergoes a change as a result of
learning from conflict
2. o A dynamic character starts the
story one way and then will have
a revelation that changes his or
her views
2. Flat Character VS Round Character
i. FLAT
 A Flat Character is one who has
only 1 or 2 character traits
 These characters have no depth
and usually fit a simple role
 Examples: Bad guy. class clown,
cute girl, etc.
ii. ROUND
 A Round Character is one who has
many character traits
 His personality has various qualities
and is complex, more like a real
person
 Most main characters are round
Why is characterization important?
 It helps the readers visualize and relate to the
characters.
 It gives the readers a time to examine the
characters, thus creating “healthy bias”.
 It helps the readers understand the actions of
the characters deeply.
 It gives the readers understand the different
motivations and downside of the character
Setting
 It is where the story takes place.
 It helps the readers give context in analyzing the
text.
 Can be large and all encompassing
 Can be very intimate areas.
 Can be any time of the day.
 Can be any season (natura)
o Large and all
o Very intimate areas
o Any time of the day
o Any season
 o Any season (man-made
o Any type of climate
o Abstract setting

Why is Setting important?

 It shapes the tone and mood of the story.

 It gives the readers a vivid mental picture of the
world your characters move in.