NORTHERN ILOILO POLYTECHNIC STATE

COLLEGE
AJUY CAMPUS
Ajuy, Iloilo

SECONDARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

INSTRUCTIONAL MODULE
EL 117
LITERARY
CRITICISM
Prepared by:
PROF. SHARON O. CALIMPONG, LPT, MAT
ASST. PROF. 11

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 NORTHERN ILOILO POLYTECHNIC STATE
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Ajuy, Iloilo

SECONDARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

INSTRUCTIONAL MODULE
EL 117
LITERARY
CRITICISM
MODULE I - LESSON 1

REVIEW ON THE STRUCTURE

OF ENGLISH
TOPIC
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Course Description:

This course provides the students with opportunities to study the basic approaches
to literary theory and criticism and their application to selected literary works. They
will be able to demonstrate content knowledge and application of literary criticism
and critical theory approaches relevant to literature and English language teaching.
Moreover, this will allow them to determine instructional implications in applying
literature teaching strategies that will promote critical thinking and higher –order
thinking skills through original critiques of literary pieces.
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MODULE 1- Introduction to Literary Criticism

Lesson
Time Allotment: 13.5 hours
I. Introduction:
Literature offers us an experience in which we should participate as we read
and test what we read by our own experience.
In this module you will be unboxing the different life lessons and realities that
come along as we study the different literary pieces available.

II. Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this lesson, you must have:

A. reviewed literature studies focusing on literary genres and their elements;
B. defined literary criticism and its purpose;
C. showed interest in acquiring a deeper understanding of texts through
literary
interpretation.

III. Learning Content: Purposes and Benefits of Literature Studies

One of the chief purposes of literature is a means of exploring what it is to be

human. It is a way of communicating with others about a huge range of ideas and
concerns. Literature helps us understand people, societies, events, and culture.
Studying literature broadens one’s horizons because one comes to understand
people of different races. One might discover characters or poems that he/she
identifies with- it can be exciting and validating to discover that one’s exact
thoughts and feelings have also been experienced by someone else.
Literature encourages man to be sensitive to the whole spectrum of human
experience and to consider this when making decisions in his/her day-to-day
lives. It teaches the universal human experience
It helps refine one’s own writing skills and expand his/her vocabularies. The
process a student goes through as he/she think and analyze literature builds
his/her ability to be critical thinkers and problem solvers.
It is a time travel that helps put today in context. How things were used to be
are controverted in the literature of the last generation, the last century, all
the way back to Shakespeare and beyond. Reading about how people lived in
the past can really make man appreciate what humanity is able to accomplish
and endure.
Literature has a civilizing effect on people. It cultivates wisdom and
worldview. The different genres were able to help man discriminate between
the real and unreal.
Literature evokes such human emotions as pity and terror (Aristotle), love
and compassion (A.C. Bradley) and many other epistemic virtues (i.e. virtues
that help man to know the world and make it better) like honor, bravery,
honesty, and integrity (Ramirez).

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Studying literature exposes students to words and ideas that reach into their
souls and change them forever. It cultivates wisdom and worldview
(https://www.enotes.com).

Literary Genres

Fiction
Fiction is a narrative in prose that shows an imaginative recreation and
reconstruction of life and presents human life in two levels – the world of
objective reality made up of human actions and experiences, and the world of
subjective reality dealing with human apprehension and comprehension.
It is a manipulated story which is not presented objectively.
It is unrealistic, readers are transported to a make-believe world.
It resembles the world for readers are assumed to see real-life
characters that play roles in situations and places almost similar to
circumstances and environment.

Elements of Fiction

A. Setting is the time and place in which the events of a story occur.
uses evocative portrayal of a region’s distinctive ways and thoughts
and behavior or the so-called “local color” exemplified by the superficial
elements of setting, dialect, and customs.

B. Characters are the representations of human being in a story.

They are the complex combination of both inner and outer self.

Characterization is the method used by the writer to reveal the personality

of
the characters.

Ways of Revealing Literary Characters

The characters are revealed according to:
1. Actions of the characters
2. Thoughts of the characters
3. Descriptions of the characters.
4. Descriptions of other characters
5. Descriptions of the author

Kinds of Characters

According to Principality:
1. Protagonist is the character with whom the reader empathizes.
2. Antagonist is the character that goes against the main character, usually the
protagonist.
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According to Development
1. Dynamic is the character that exhibits noticeable development.
2. Static is the character who exhibits no changes and development.

According to Personality
1. Round is the character that displays different/multiple personalities throughout
the story.
2. Flat is the character that reveals conventional traits, who remains the same
throughout the story. Its characterization does not grow.

C. Plot is the sequence of events in the story, arranged and linked by causality.

Kinds of Plot
1. Linear Plot moves with the natural sequence of events where actions are
arranged sequentially.
2. Circular Plot is a kind of plot where linear development of the story merges with
an interruption in the chronological order to show an event that happened in the
past.
3. En Media Res is a kind of plot where the story commences in the middle part of
the action.
The three types of plot are termed as close plots because they normally follow
the pyramid pattern of development.

The Structure of a Plot

Exposition (beginning) is an introduction to the characters, time, and the
problem. At the point where exposition moves into rising action a problem,
sometimes called an inciting incident, occurs for the main character to handle
or solve. This creates the beginning of the story.
Rising incidents/action includes the events that the main character
encounters. Each event, developed in separate scenes, makes the problem
more complex. This leads to complication.
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Complication is the part of the plot in which the conflict develops.

Crisis is the problem in the story.
Climax is the turning point in the story or the highest point of the story.
Usually, it is a single event with the greatest intensity and uncertainty. The
main character must contend with the problem at this point. The readers
know how the conflict should be resolved.
Denouement or resolution provides closure to the story. It ties up loose
ends in the story. It is the part of the plot in which the conflict is resolved.
Falling incidents/action includes the events that unfold after the climax;
and leads to the conclusion. This usually creates an emotional response from
the reader. It gives the readers or audience a sense of completion, with the
various unsettled issues at work within the plot reaching some state of
resolution.
Conclusion is the last part of the plot which gives the story some finality;
however, when a story ends with a cliffhanger, the reader is the one who
gives a conclusion.

Qualities of the Plot

Exciting. It should be exciting than the everyday reality that surrounds you.
Good structure. The episodes must be arranged effectively. The most
important element of plot structure is tying all the incidents together that
one leads naturally to another.
Plot Devices
Flashback is something out of chronological order to reveal information and
to understand a character’s nature
Foreshadowing is a device that gives a sign of something to come. Its
purpose is to create suspense to keep the readers guessing what will happen
when.
D. Conflict is the struggle between two entities. It is synonymous with opposition.
It is the motivating driving force that involves both characters and readers in the
narrative. There is a conflict if there is a struggle which grows out of the interplay
of opposing forces (ideas/interest).
In story writing the main character, also known as the protagonist,
encounters a conflict with the antagonist, which is an adversary.

Kinds of Conflict:
1. Social or Interpersonal Conflict is a conflict which exists between the
protagonist and the antagonist. It pits the protagonist against someone else.
Character vs. character or person-against-person
Example: Fortunato vs. Montressor in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of
Amontillado
2. Physical Conflict is the conflict which exists between the protagonist and any of
the natural forces (water, earth, wind, and fire as well as disease)
Character vs. nature or natural forces
Example: Louis Roubien vs. flood in Emile Zola’s The Flood
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3. Metaphysical Conflict exists between Iloiloprotagonist and supernatural beings
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forces (deities, fairies, vampires, werewolves, witches, leprechauns, elves and the
like)
Character vs. God
Example: Odysseus versus the wrath of the gods in Homer’s Odyssey
4. Internal/Personal/Psychological Conflict exists between the protagonist and
his/her own self; this is especially true when the character is in a state of
dilemma, during which he/she is faced with two or more alternatives
Character vs himself or herself
Example: Hamlet vs. himself in Shakespeare’s Hamlet
5. External Conflict happens when the protagonist is in conflict with the values of
his or her society
Character vs. society or culture
Examples: Mario vs. society in Alberto Florentino’s The World is an Apple
Hester Prynne vs. society in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet
Letter

E. Point of View (POV) is the angle of narration which refers to “who is the
narrator” and “how is the narration done”.
Classification of Point of View (POV)

Autobiographical/First Person POV

First-person point of view means that the central character or one of
the major/minor characters in the story will narrate–give an account–of the
story. The narrator may be the protagonist, the main character. Writing in
first-person point of view brings the readers closer to the story. They can read
it as if they are the character because personal pronouns like I, me, my,
we, us, and our are used.

Third Person Point of View

Third-person point of view means that the narrator is not in the story.
The third-person narrator is not a character. Third-person point of view can be
done three ways:
1. Omniscient Third Person POV
The narrator is an all-knowing and all-seeing observer who tells
everything (speech, actions, thoughts, and emotions) about the
characters.
2. Objective Third Person POV
The narrator is an objective observer who reports only the
speech (what he hears) and the actions (what he sees) of the
characters.
3. Selective/Limited Third Person POV
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The narrator is bothAjuy,
an Iloilo
omniscient and an objective observer
Third-person limited means that the narrator limits himself/herself by
being able to be in one character’s thoughts. Whereas, third-person
omniscient means the narrator has unlimited ability to be in various
character’s thoughts. Writing in third-person point of view removes
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SECONDARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

readers from the story because of the pronouns he, she, it, him, her,
his, hers, they, them, and theirs.

F. Theme is not the plot of the story. It is the underlying truth that is being
conveyed in the story. It is the central or dominating idea in a literary work. It is the
topic or subject of the selection, which is sometimes stated by a character or by the
writer himself but sometimes, it is merely implied or suggested.
Themes can be universal, meaning they are understood by readers no matter
what culture or country the readers are in. Common themes include coming of age,
circle of life, prejudice, greed, good vs. evil, beating the odds, etc.

Principles in Stating the Theme of the Story

1. It reports for all major details of the story.
2. It may be avowed in more than one way.
3. It is stated in complete statements.
4. It assert a sweeping statement about life.
5. It avoids statements that condense the theme to some familiar adage, aphorism,
dictum, maxim, saying, or value.

Note: The theme is not some familiar saying or moral lesson.

G. Tone refers to the attitude of the writer toward his subject. It may be
communicated through the words used and may evoke an emotional response in the
reader; words used may convey sarcasm, love, hatred, fear, delight, respect, and so
on.

H. Mood (synonymous with tone) refers to the feeling that an author creates in a
literary work. It is also synonymous with atmosphere. Mood refers to the quality of a
setting, such as somber or calm.

I. Moral is a practical lesson about right and wrong conduct contained in a

narrative. It is stated directly in fables, but it is usually implied in other stories.
Example: Too much greed for wealth and power is often a man’s downfall.

J. Symbols/Symbolisms stand for a person, a place, a thing, or an experience

that represent something else. They bring to mind not their own concrete qualities,
but the idea or obstruction that is associated with them.
Examples: black - evil or death
broken mirror – separation
day- beginning, good, opportunities
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fire – danger, anger, passion, Iloilo
love, pain, death
water – baptism, purification
red rose – love and romance
dove – peace

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Elements of Poetry
I. Sense is revealed through the use of words, images and symbols.
A. Diction is the denotative (dictionary meaning) and connotative words or the
meaning assigned by the writer to the words he uses in his literary piece.
B. Figures of Speech is the use of word or words different from the usual
meaning in order to provide emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity.
It can be created through the four fundamental operations:
1. addition (adiectio), also called repetition/expansion/superabundance
2. omission (detraction) also called subtraction/abridgement/lack th
3. transposition (transmutatio) also called .transferring
4.permutation (immutatio) also called
interchange/switching/substitution/transmutation

The Figures of Speech (These are included as literary techniques/devises)

1. Simile (from the Latin word simile which means similar) is a stated
comparison between two things that are different, but share some
common element. It is introduced by like, as, as if, than similar to
resemble, etc.
Examples: 1. His mind is like a sponge.
2. Your eyes are as bright as the stars.
2. Metaphor (from the Greek verb methapherein which means to carry
over) is a suggested or implied comparison between two unlike things
without the use of as, as if, like.
Examples: 1. He is a walking encyclopedia.
2. Character is a diamond that scratches every other stone.
3. Personification gives human qualities or attributes to an object, an
animal, or an idea.
Examples: 1. The volcano is very angry.
2. Time had fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine
4. Metonymy (from the Greek prefix meta, which means change + the
root onoma, name + the noun suffix –y) consists in substitution the
literal noun for another which it suggests because it is somehow
associated with it.
Examples: 1. There is Death (poison) in the cup.
2. Malacañang announced a non-working holiday.
(the president)
5. Hyperbole (from the Greek prefix hyper which means beyond + the
root ballein, to throw) is a deliberate overstatement or exaggeration
– not to deceive, but to emphasize a statement – often for humorous
effect.
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Examples: 1. She cried forever!
2. I’ve been waiting for eternity.
6. Irony is a statement of one idea, the opposite of which is meant.
Examples: 1. You’re so lovely today, you look like a Christmas tree.
2. How good of you to put me into shame.

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SECONDARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

7. Oxymoron is the combining of contraries (opposites) to portray a

particular image or to produce a striking effect.
Examples: 1. Less is more.
2. Sound of silence
8. Apostrophe is a direct address to an inanimate object, a dead person
(as if present), or an idea.
Examples: 1. Oh, Rizal, where is the hope of our motherland?
2. Abraham, look at your children!
9. Synecdoche uses a part to represent the whole.
Examples: 1. I feed eleven mouths. (for persons)
2. She is the brain of this group. (the leader)
10. Paradox uses contradictory statements but in a closer examination
turns out to make sense.
Examples: 1. You can save money by spending it.
2. The more you hate, the more you love.
11. Litotes makes a deliberate understatement used to affirm by
negating its opposite
Examples: 1. She is not pretty that she attracts many men.
2. War is not healthy for children and other living things.
12. Antithesis involves a contrast of words or ideas.
Examples: 1. Love is so short……Forgetting is so long.
2. They promised freedom and provided slavery.
13. Onomatopoeia is the formation or use of words which imitate
sounds, but the term is generally expanded to refer t any word
whose sound is suggested of its meaning whether by imitation or
cultural inference.
Examples: 1. buzz
2. bang
C. Imagery and sense impression is the creation of a picture or images in the
mind of a reader by the use of words that appeal to the senses.
1. Visual Imagery is the imagery produced by the use of words that
appeal to the sense of sight like dark, scintillating, and neon signs.
2. Auditory Imagery is the imagery produced by the use of words that
appeal to the sense of hearing as in loud, explosion and creaking.
3. Olfactory Imagery is the imagery created by the use of words that
appeal to the sense of smell, as in odorous, fragrant, and stinks.
4. Gustatory Imagery is the imagery made by the use of words that
appeal to the sense of taste like sour, sweet, and flavorful.
5. Tactile Imagery is the imagery produced by the use of words that
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appeal to the sense of touch like slimy, greasy, and stiff.
6. Kinesthetic Imagery is the imagery created by the use of words that
appeal to the sense of movement, as in galloping, squinting, and
jumping.

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SECONDARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

7. Thermal Imagery is the imagery made by the use of words that

appeal to the sense of heat, such as lukewarm, frigid, and steamy.

II. Sound is the use of tone color, rhythm, and measure to produce euphony
(good sound) and harmony in poetry.
A. Tone Color is the element resulting from the use of the following
sound devices:
1. Alliteration, a figure of sound which is the repetition of the i
initial letter or sound in a succession of words.
Examples: 1. sea shell, sea shell in the sea shore
2. Tiny Tony takes tea for tonight.
2. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sound (not necessarily
the initial sound) in a succession of words.
Examples: 1. Haste makes waste.
2. Nine times ninety-nine.
3. Anaphora is a figure of a repetition of a word or words at the
beginning of lines, clauses, or sentences.
Examples: 1. Thou shall not kill.
2. Thou shall not steal.
4. Consonance is the repetition of consonant sound (not
necessarily the initial sound) in a succession of words
Examples: 1. Betty baked Toby a banana cake.
2. Ninety-nine nannies renewed their contracts.
B. Rhyme is the presence of words that have identical or similar
(approximate) final sounds, the recurrence of the same final sounds
result in what is known as rhyme pattern such as aabb (star-are-
high-sky), abab (star-high-are-sky), or abba (star-high-sky-are).
1. Internal Rhyme is the rhyme that exists within a line.
Example: “In litanies of silentness”
2. Terminal Rhyme exists at the end of line as in Jose Garcia
Vila’s ”God Said, I Made a Man”
“God said, I made a man
Out of day ---
But so bright he, he spun
Himself to brightest Day”
3. Perfect/Exact Rhyme is exhibited by words having identical
final sounds as i n rhyme-time, sound-round, and final-fatal.
4. Approximate/Imperfect Rhyme is exhibited by words having
similar or approximate final sounds, as in rhyme-thine,
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sound-count, andAjuy, Iloilo
final—fable.
5. Eye Rhyme is exhibited by words having the same final letters
with differing sounds, as in come-home, Joan-loan, and
comb-tomb.
6. Masculine/Single Rhyme is displayed by one-syllable words, as
in lame-dame, star-are, and high-sky.
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SECONDARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

7. Feminine/Double Rhyme is shown by two-syllable words with

stress on the first syllable, as in mother-father, children-
brethren, and walking-talking.
8. Triple Rhyme is exhibited by three-syllable words with stress
on the same syllable (either first, second, or third) as in:
wonderful-beautiful, outrageous-courageous, and snorkeling-
funneling.
9. Compound Rhyme is exhibited by compound words producing
two pairs of rhyming words, as in eyesight--daylight,
moonwalk—goon talk, and dishcloth—fish broth.
10. Rime riche/Identical Rhyme is displayed by homophonous
words or homonyms, as in seen—scene, sight—site, and
night-knight.
11. Monorime is displayed by a stanza having terminal words
with the same final sounds as in Jose Garcia Villa’s couplet;
“First, a poem must be magical,/Then musical as a seagull”.
12. Dirime is shown by a stanza having two pairs or sets of
rhyming words at the end of lines.
13. Tririme is exhibited by a stanza having three pairs or sets of
rhyming words at the end of lines.
C. Rhythm like the beat of music, is the recurrence of pattern of sound. It is
the regular succession of accented and unaccented syllables in a line,
associated with the metrical feet classified below. It may be choppy or
smooth, fast or slow.
1. Iamb -- a two-syllable foot which is accented on the second syllable
Examples: aLONE, beGAN, reFILL
2. Anapest/Antidactylus --a three-syllable foot which is accented o the
third syllable
Examples: overTURN, maraTHON
3. Trochee/Choree/Choreus -- a two-syllable foot which is accented on
the first syllable
Examples: HARbor, MAson, FAvor
4. Dactyl – a three-syllable foot which is accented on the first syllable
Examples: TERrible, SAnity, ORchestra
5. Spondee – a two-syllable foot which is accented on both syllables
Examples: MARRY, FAIRY
6. Pyrrhus/Pyrrhic/Dibrach – a two-syllable foot which is unaccented on
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Examples: butter, copy, happy
7. Tribrach –a three-syllable foot which is unaccented on all syllables
Examples: trinity, misery
8. Amphibrach – a three-syllable foot which is accented on the second
syllable
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SECONDARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
Examples: amNEsia, bapTISmal, syNOPsis
9.Bacchius – a three-syllable foot which has one unaccented syllable
followed by two accented ones
10. Antibacchius – a three-syllable foot which has two accented
syllables followed by one unaccented one
11. Amphimacer/Cretic – a three-syllable foot which has an unaccented
syllable between two accented ones
12. Molossus – a three-syllable foot which is consists of three accented
syllables

D. Meter is the measure with which we count the beat of rhythm. It is taken from
the Greek word ”metron” meaning “in measure.” It is the stress, duration or number
of syllables per line, fixed metrical pattern, or a verse form, quantitative, syllabic,
accentual and accentual syllabic.
1. Monometer is a line which has one foot.(means one syllable)
Example: I
am
gay.
2. Dimeter is a line which has two feet.(two syllables)
Example: Believe,
in me;
always.
3. Trimeter is a line which has three feet. (three syllables)
Example: Remember,
that I am;
forever.
4. Tetrameter is a line which has four feet. (four syllables)
Example: Destiny is,
a journey to;
eternity.
5. Pentameter is a line which has five feet. (five syllables)
Example: How do I love thee?
Let me count the ways…
(lines from How Do I Love Thee by Elizabeth Browning)
6. Hexameter is a line which has six feet. (six syllables)
Example: We can do anything,
In glory or in shame;
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7. Heptameter is a line which hasAjuy,
sevenIloilo
feet. (seven syllables)
Example: Yes, I have a thousand tongues,
And nine and ninety nine lies.
(lines from Yes, I Have a Thousand Tongues by Stephen Crane)

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SECONDARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

8. Octameter is a line which has eight feet. (eight syllables)

Example: I think that I shall never see,
A poem as lovely as a tree.
(lines taken from Trees by Hellen Keller)

Foot is the basic unit of meter consisting of a group of two or three syllables.
Scansion is the progress of determining the prevailing foot in a line of poetry,
identifying the types and sequence of different feet. It is also the process of
measuring verse, that is, marking accented and unaccented syllables, dividing the
lines into feet, identifying the metrical pattern and noting significant variations from
the pattern.

III. Structure is a property of poetry which refers to the way the words are put
together or arranged such that they make sense. It could also refer to the way the
poem is organized. Structure is composed of the following:

a. Word order is the natural and unnatural arrangement of words.

b. Punctuation may be the presence or absence of punctuation marks like,
comma, semi colon and period.
c. Shape is the contextual and visual designs, jumps, omission of spaces,
capitalization and lower case.
d. Syntax is an effect achieved where words are fractured to have a desired
effect.
e. Ellipsis is the omission of words or several words that clearly identify the
understanding of an expression.

Structure could be of vertical and horizontal measure.

A. Vertical Measure is the number of lines within a stanza or the number of
stanza
1. Couplet is a poem or stanza which has two lines.
Example: But in your fear you would see only
love’s peace and love’s pleasure
(Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet)
2. Triplet is a poem or stanza which has monoriming lines
Example: Oh, Philippines, you’re the land of my birth.
You’re teaming with bountiful Nature’s wealth;
But, of good leaders , suffering from dearth.
(Philippines, My Philippines)
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3. Tercet is a poem or stanza Iloilo has three lines that are not
monoriming
Example: To whom should I speak today?

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SECONDARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

Brother are evil;

The friends of today love not.
(To Whom Should I Speak Today? by T. Eric Peet)
4. Terza Rima is a poem or stanza which has three lines with the
following rhyme scheme aba-bcb-cdc-ded, etc.
Example: Before the Spaniards set foot here, a
Three waves of migrators arrived; b
The black Negritoes first came here. a

Atop the trees they simply thrived, b

They fed on fruits and vegetables; c
With the barest needs they survived. b

The next group of men more stable, c

And better built than the first came; d
With their crude tools they were able. c

The hunt for food such as game, d

The last group known as the Malays; e
The Pinoys’ ancestors became d
(from The Early Settlers)

5. Quatrain is a poem or stanza which has four lines.

Example: We are no other than a moving row
Of magic Shadow-shapes that come and go

Round with this sun-illumined lantern, held

In midnight by the Master of the Show.
(from Stanza LXVIII of Rubaiyat by Omar Kayyam)
6. Cinquain/Quintet/Quintain is a poem or stanza with five lines.
Example: Yes, I have a thousand tongues,
And nine and ninety-nine lie.

Though I strive to use the one,

It will make no melody at my will,
But is dead in my mouth.
(Yes, I Have A Thousand Tongues, by Stephen Crane)
7. Sestet is a poem or stanza which has six lines.
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Example: It was many and many Ajuy, Iloiloago,
a year
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may
By the name of Annabel Lee;

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SECONDARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

Than to love and be loved by me.
(from Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe)
8. Septet is a poem or stanza which has seven lines.
Example: But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we,
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels of heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee,
(from Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe)
9. Octave is a poem or stanza which has eight lines.
Example: Education is a key to success,
A college diploma makes us winners;
Without it, we will turn into losers.
At work are many competing forces
In almost all the different courses.
Education is shown through good manners,
In transforming for the better, not worse.
Success gained through educative process.
(from Education Key to Success by Jose Rizal)
10. Nonet is a poem or stanza which has nine lines.
Example: Life
Is short
That we have
To make good use
Of every second
Of our waking time.
Let us not waste precious time;
Let us make every minute count;
Let’s spend everyday meaningfully.
(A Short Life Worth Living)

11. Etheree is a poem or stanza which has ten lines with a 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-
10 syllable count or the reverse 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 syllable count. It may
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be doubled Ajuy, Iloilo
(1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 syllable count),
tripled, quadrupled, and so on.
Example: You
Are the
Only one
Who makes me feel
Genuinely happy.
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SECONDARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

When you are beside me;

I derive satisfaction
From your warm smile, from your embrace,
From your gentle touch and sweet kisses,
Indeed, you really put me in a trance.
12. Sonnet is a poem which has 14 lines. It may be Shakespearean,
Spencerian, Petrarchan or Filipino, with variable rhyme scheme or vertical
measure. (Examples of sonnets were discussed in the rhyme scheme.)
13. Tail-rhyme stanza are those characterized by the presence of two or more
six short lines together and serving as tails to the various parts of the stanza.
Example: We, sleekit cow’rin, tim’rous,beastie,
Oh, what a panic’s in the breastie!
Thou need a start awa sae hasty
Wi, bicherin brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee
Wi, murd’rin pattie!

B. Horizontal Measure is the number of syllables or metrical feet within a line.

1. Monosyllabic is a line which has one syllable, such as the last line in a
nonet or the first line in an etheree.
Example: I
was
sad.
2. Disyllabic is a line which has two syllables.
Example: Loving
is best
for us.
3. Trisyllabic is a line which has three syllables.
Example: Forever
is never
a promise.
4. Tetrasyllabic is a line with four syllables.
Example: There is a word
Which bears a sword
(There Is A Word by Emily Dickinson)
5. Pentasyllabic has five syllables.
Example: Why shouldn’t I say
That the parrot’s mine
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When only of in light Ajuy, Iloilo
That the parrot’s mine
When only of in flight
Can I not trap it?
(Tubad-Tubad, translated by Abdulla Madali)

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6. Hexasyllabic a line with six syllables.

Example: Down river, up river
rows the boatman singing
(Chantney by Ramon Escoda)
7. Heptasyllabic is a line with seven syllables.
Example: Africa, my Africa
Africa of proud warriors
In ancestral savannahs,
(from Africa)
8. Octasyllabic is a line with eight syllables.
Example: Wise education, vital breath
Inspires an enchanting virtue
(from Education Gives Luster to the Motherland by Jose Rizal)
9. Nonasyllabic is a line with nine syllables.
Example: For loneliness is a silver word,
An acid wine, or a broken chord
(from Hermit’s Chant by Francisco Tonogbanua)
10. Decasyllabic is a line which has ten lines.
Example: Rise from your dreams, I bring you love more sweet
(from Soft Night by Abelardo Subido)
11. Undecasyllabic is a line with eleven syllables.
Example: Then you must follow her teaching and obey…
Only then can we prove we respect deeply
(from Our Plea by Marra Lanot and Lilia Santiago)
12. Dodecasyllabic is a line with twelve syllables.
Example: But let there be spaces in your togetherness.
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
(from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran)
C. Parallelism is the use of similar structure in poetry and prose works.
Example: The youth of the land is a proud and noble appellation
The youth of the land is a panoramic poem,
The youth of the land is a book of paradoxes.
(from Like the Molave)

D. Ellipsis is the omission of some words or phrases to produce a literary effect.

Example: Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith;
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Where there is despair, hope;Ajuy, Iloilo
(from the Prayer of Peace)

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Essay

Essay comes from the French word, ESSAI, which means trial or test. It is a
prose composition of moderate length develop to a single topic from a limited point
of view.
It explains a provisional exploration or appraisal of a subject and
likewise gives details, point of view or anything that can be said on a
particular subject.
Its purpose is to explain or educate a thought, a theory, an inkling, or a
standpoint.
It serves as an ideal means for transforming human conditions as
evoked in its content.
It brings an attempt for reformation as exemplified by the personal
expression of thoughts and experiments of the writer.

Elements of Essay

A. Idea explores the general proposition or thesis that the essay argues about its
topic whether it is spelled out fully at the start or revealed gradually. It should be
true but arguable and limited enough in scope to be argued in short composition
and with available evidence.

B. Motive identifies the reason for writing, which is suggested at the start of essay
and echoed throughout. It establishes the reason why one has thought of the
topic that needed taking up and why the reader should care.

C. Structure forms the shape of ideas, the sequence of sub topics and sections
through which the ideas are unfolded and developed. This takes place through the
complimentary activities convincing the reader and exploring the topic.

D. Evidences identify the facts or details, summarized or quoted, that one uses to
support, demonstrate, and prove the main idea and sub ideas. They are ample,
concrete, and explicitly connected to the idea.

E. Explanations are bits of background information, summary, context to orient the

readers who are not familiar with the text being discussed. It includes essential
plot information, precise locating of scene or comment, setting up a quotation,
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Ajuy,and
telling who is speaking, in what context, Iloilowhat the reader should be listening
in it.

F. Coherence shapes the smooth flow of argument created by transition sentences

that show how the next paragraph or section follows from the preceding one, thus

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SECONDARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

sustaining momentum and echoing key words or resonant phrases quoted or

stated earlier.

G. Implication places speculation on the general significance of the particular

analysis of a particular text. One suggests issues of argumentation raised about
the author’s work or generally about works of its knot, or about the way fiction or
criticism works.

H. Presence points out the sensation of life in writing, of a mind invested in and
focused on a subject, freely directing and developing the essay not surrendering
control to easy ideas, sentiments, or stock phrases.

General Types of Essay

1. Strict or impersonal deals with serious topics that are authoritative and
scholarly in treatment. It reveals the writer’s mastery of the subject where its
tone is dictated, characterized as something detached, objective, clear, and
straightforward.
2. Causal or familiar deals with light, ordinary, even commonplace subjects in a
language that is bubbling, casual, conversational, friendly, often humorous, and
appeals more to the emotion than the intellect, touching on sensitivity first then
the mind. The main source, the personality of the author, is revealed in the style
and treatment of the subject.

Basic Parts

1. Introduction hints or relates to the main thesis.

2. Main Body presents the discussion and illustration of the main ideas raised.

3. Conclusion presents the generalization or insight of the essay.

Major Patterns

1. Inductive Pattern presents ideas from specific points leading to a general

principle or thesis.
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2. Deductive Pattern develops ideas from Ajuy, Iloilo
general hypothesis to particular or
specific proofs that lead to a definite ending or conclusion.

Drama
Drama is a composition in pose form that presents a story told entirely in

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dialogue and action. It is written with the intention of its eventual performance
before an audience.
Drama has two-fold nature; that of literature and theater.

Elements of Drama

A. Setting identifies the time and place in which the events occur. It consists of the
historical period, the moment, day and season when incidents take place. It also
includes the scenery in the performance which is usually found in the preliminary
description.

B. Character/s is/are the people in the play and thus considered as the principal
material in a drama.

Character Aspects

1. Physical identifies peripheral facts such as age, sexual category, size, race, and
color. It deals with external attributes which may be envisaged from the description
of the playwright or deduced from what the characters say or what other characters
verbalize about his appearance.

2. Social embraces all aspects that can be gleaned from the character’s world or
environment as exemplified by the economic status, occupation or trade, creed,
familial affiliation of the character/s.

3. Psychological disclose the inner mechanism of the mind of the character as

exemplified by his habitual responses, attitudes, longings, purposes, likes and
dislikes. It is considered as the most indispensable level of character categorization
because routines and emotions, thoughts, attitude and behavior enable the readers
to know the character intrinsically.

4. Moral discloses the decisions of the characters, either socially acceptable or not,
exposing their intentions, thus projecting what is upright or not.

C. Plot lays out the series of the events that form the entirely of the play. It serves
as a structural framework which brings the events to a cohesive form and sense.

Types of Plot
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Ajuy, Iloilo
1. Natural Plot is a chronological sequence of events’ arrangement where actions
continuously take place as an end-result of the previous action.

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SECONDARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

2. Episodic Plot is made up of series of episodes where the story builds up and
characters interrelate cohesively as the theme develops. Each episode independently
comprises a setting, climax, and resolution; therefore, a full story in itself is formed.

Plot as a Framework

1. Beginning identifies information about the place, such as geographical location,

social, cultural, political background or period when the event took place.

Exposition is the point where the playwright commences his story. It reveals
the identity of the story’s initial crisis.

Expository Approaches:

Unfolding Plot establishes the story at a point near the climax, conclusion, or
end. The events leading to the climax are assumed to have taken place and thus
revealed little by little.

Accretive Plot begins the narration from the very first incident to its peak.
an early point of attack is expected; however, the sequence of events move
chronologically.

2. Middle is composed of a series of activities:

a. Complications bring changes and alterations in the movement of the
action
which takes place when discovery of novel information, unexpected alteration
of plan, choosing between two courses of action or preface of new ideas are
revealed. Any of the aforementioned may likely create problem/s that
destabilize the situation, narrowing the likelihood for action leading to crisis.

b. Crisis reveals the peak of anticipation in the series of incidents.

c. Obligatory Scene identifies the open collision between two opposing

characters or forces.

d. Discovery discloses points which are previously unknown, characterized as

something mysterious, strange, unfamiliar and thus revealed through objects,
persons, facts, values, or self-discovery.
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3. Ending is the final major componentAjuy, Iloilostory which brings the condition back
of the
to its stability. This part brings satisfaction to the audience, which extends to the
final curtain as peace is completely restored.

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SECONDARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

D. Dialogue is the speeches that the characters use to advance the action. Since
there is no description or commentary on the action, as there is in fiction, the
dialogue must tell the whole story. A highly efficient dialogue reveals the characters,
unfolds the action and introduces the themes of the play.
Soliloguy – a speech in which an actor, usually alone on stage, utters his or
her thoughts aloud, revealing personal feelings.
Aside – a short speech made by a character to the audience which by
convention, the other characters on stage cannot hear.

E. Movement – in the Greek tragedies, the chorus danced in a ritualistic fashion

from one side of the stage to the other. Their movement was keyed to the structure
of their speeches. In reading a play, the stage directions give information as to
where the characters are, when they move, and perhaps even the significance of
their movement. The stage directions enhance the actor’s interpretations of the
characters’ actions.

F. Music – is an occasional dramatic element in a play. This may be either sung live
by the characters or provided as background during the performance.

G. Themes is considered as the unifying element that defines the dramatized idea
of the play. It is the over-all sense or implication of the action. It defines the
problem, emphasizes the ethical judgment and suggest attitude or course of action
that eliminates the crisis in an acceptable way.

H. Style refers to the mode of expression or presentation of the play which points
out the playwright’s position or viewpoint in life.

Major Dramatic Attitude:

1. Realism is an accurate, detailed, and life-like description in a play where things

are presented as a real as can be set in actual life, with dialogue/s sounding like
day-to-day conversation.

2. Non-realism is a method of presentation identified as something stylized or

theatricalized whereby an artist uses his imagination in projecting his ideas.

Types of Drama
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1. Tragedy is a play in which the main Ajuy,character
Iloilo is brought to ruin or suffers a
great sorrow. This type raises vital points about man, his moral nature, and his
social and psychological relationships.

2. Comedy is a play that brings laughter where the protagonist leaps over all
difficulties placed in his way and ultimately achieves his goal notwithstanding

21
awkwardness. The stroke in comedy based on some divergence for customariness or
familiarity in the different elements of story.

3. Melodrama is drawn from tragedy and characterized as something overstated

which concentrates on action. It deals with stern feat and concludes in a happy
resolution. It is only achieved when the power of the villain is neutralized or
combated.

4. Farce is a play that brings laughter for the sake of laughter, usually making use
of grossly embellished events and character. Unlikely plots and entertaining
characterization are used for stimulation.
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Literary Criticism

What is literary criticism?

According to Aristotle, literature is a standard of judging well, the most

essential part is to observe those excellence which should delight a reasonable
reader.
Literary criticism is fundamentally the estimation of the value of a particular
work or body of work on such grounds as personal, cultural significance of the
themes and the uses of language of a text; the insights and impact of a text; and
the aesthetic production( performance) of the text.
It is a fairly specialized kind of writing. Instead of writing to a general lay
audience, you are writing to members of a literary community who have read a work
and who developed opinions about the work–as well as a vocabulary of
interpretation.

Literary criticism is the interpretation, analysis, classification and ultimately

the judgment of literary works.
It is usually in the form of a critical essay, but in-depth book reviews can
sometimes be considered as literary criticism
The analysis of a literary text though various lenses that highlight authorial
stance, purpose, and perspective

Criticism may examine a particular literary work, or may look at an author's writings
as a whole.

The Term ‘Criticism’

The term ‘criticism’ is often understood to be:

The act of finding fault; censure; disapproval
The act of criticizing, especially adversely
But the term ‘criticism’ as it is used in this course signifies:
The act of interpreting, analyzing and making judgments of individual and
comparative worth of works of art such as literature
A critical comment, review, article, essay, etc. expressing such analysis and
judgment
The art, principles, or methods of a critic or critics
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Literary criticism advances a particular argument about a specific text or a set
of texts, so literary criticism should be persuasive. The first step in formulating a
critical argument is to assume a rhetorical stance that engages a type, school, or
approach of literary criticism. The critical approach will determine the content of the
interpretation. Although literary theory and criticism have existed from classical
through contemporary times, a feature of modern and postmodern literary criticism
is the division of criticism into various schools.

23

A Literary Critic
1580s: Critic is "one who passes judgment," from M.Fr. critique (14c.), from
L. criticus "a judge, literary critic,"
from Gk. kritikos "able to make judgments," from krinein "to separate,
decide." Meaning "one who judges merits of books, plays, etc.“
23
17th and 18th centuries: the critic was considered a judge who finds the finds
the faults and merits of a literary work
A literary critic is not someone who merely evaluates the worth or quality of a
piece of literature but, rather, is someone who argues on behalf of an
interpretation or understanding of the particular meaning(s) of literary texts
The task of a literary critic is to explain and attempt to reach a critical
understanding of what literary texts mean in terms of their aesthetic, as well
as social, political, and cultural statements and suggestions
A literary critic does more than simply discuss or evaluate the importance of a
literary text; rather,
a literary critic seeks to reach a logical and reasonable understanding of not
only what a text’s author intends for it to mean but, also, what different
cultures and ideologies render it capable of meaning

The Functions of a Critic according to Sylvan Barnet are:

1. Introduces readers to authors or works of which they are not aware.

2. Convinces readers that they have understand an author or work because they
have
not read them carefully enough.
3. Show readers the relation between works of different ages, each culture which
they
could never have seen for themselves because they have limited knowledge.
4. Give a “reading” of a work which increases the readers’ understanding of it.
5. Throw light upon the process of artistic “Making.”
6. Throw light upon the relation of art of life, to science, economics, ethics, religion,
etc.

A good literary critic resists the tendency to automatically “buy into” the text’s
world view, considering what the text doesn’t say and critiquing its arguments from
a distance. Literary critics use different theoretical approaches when interpreting
texts, and the priorities of literary criticism have shifted over time. While this is not
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a critical theory course, it will brieflyAjuy, Iloilo some major schools so you can
introduce
recognize them and perhaps experiment with one or more of them in your own
work.

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Literary Analysis

A literary analysis is a careful examination of the mechanism of a literary

work and a discussion of how that mechanism functions to reveal meaning. A
literary analysis is a careful examination of the mechanism of a literary work and a
discussion of how that mechanism functions to reveal meaning.

The Analytical Process

Begin the effective analytical process with an open mind and several assumptions.

Be willing to trust your own ideas.

Approach the story with a "willing suspension of disbelief."
Assume that a cigar is sometimes just a cigar, but be willing to accept that
sometimes it is not.
Assume that the writer knows what he or she is doing, and what appears in
the story is there on purpose. In good fiction, there are no accidents.
The writer controls the reader's reaction through the careful selection and
arrangement of details.
Writers often use extreme situations to make a point. In "The Lottery," a
village's annual tradition ends with the stoning of one of its residents. Is the
author, Shirley Jackson, writing only about a bunch of nuts in a small town?
No, she is making a larger point, and she is using her individual characters to
illustrate that point. The villagers united in the lottery become society, for
example, and the sacrificial victim, Tessie, becomes the representative
individual.

Here are the three steps to a good analysis:

1. Make a direct analytical claim. (The central character is dynamic. The central
conflict is . . . . The climax of the story is when . . . .)
2. Provide evidence from the story by identifying a specific plot event or character
action--the facts of the story.
3. Explain the link between the analytical claim and the evidence, if necessary.

Example: The climax occurs [analytical claim] when Mrs. Ames goes down in the
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drain with the plumber [fact of story]. Ajuy, Iloilo

Important: Do not make vague references to broad parts of the story, and do not
make analytical claims without support.
Do not place the burden of understanding on the reader. Explain how your quotes or
plot events reveal or support your analytical claims.

25

The Basic Questions of Analysis

When you begin the analysis process, you must ask and answer some key
questions:

 WHO? are the characters or forces that inhabit the story?

 WHICH? one is the central character?
 WHAT? is the problem or conflict that leads to a climax?
 WHERE and WHEN? does the story take place?
 WHY? does the character behave as he or she does? What is the motivation,
key trait, or imbalance that leads to the exterior conflicts?

When you are able to answer these questions about a story, you have made a fair
start of the analytical process.

Examples of Literary Analysis

Be aware that literary analysis is not the same as plot summary. A plot
summary tells what happens in the story. The events are known as the facts of the
story. A literary analysis tells how the author has used certain basic elements of
fiction such as character, conflict, and setting. An analysis uses facts of the story to
support logical conclusions about the story, such as whether the central character is
static or dynamic. Here are some examples showing the difference between plot
summary and literary analysis.

FICTION
Summary:
Charlotte Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" is about a woman going insane. To
recuperate from childbirth, the woman, Jane, is prescribed rest and inactivity by her
physician-husband, John. But she resents her idleness and tries to write a journal.
In her solitude she comes to hate the wallpaper in her bedroom. She comes to see it
as a pattern of bars with a woman imprisoned behind. Jane's mental condition
seems to worsen throughout the story, but John pays this little mind. Finally, Jane
sees herself as the imprisoned woman in the wallpaper. To free herself, she rips the
paper from the wall. By the end, Jane is hopelessly insane.
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Analysis

Charlotte Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" is about women's place in society. In the
story, a young woman, Jane, has a restrictive lifestyle imposed upon her. She is
imprisoned in a role. She is to bear and nurse children. Beyond that, she is to do
nothing. Indeed, her room is barred and her bed nailed down. She rebels against
this social role and keeps a secret diary. She comes to view her bedroom's wallpaper
as a prison of bars without sense, much as she views society. She sees herself as
confined by these bars. By the end, though, she is "out at last." The rebellious part
of Jane refuses to succumb.

26

POETRY
Summary:
In E.A. Robinson's poem "Richard Cory," all the poor villagers admire and envy
the wealthy and debonair Richard Cory. Cory displays all the traits and qualities the
villagers lack. To the villagers, Cory possesses all the things that make life good--
nice clothes and good manners, good food and wealth, education and grace. Then,
for some unknown reason, Cory suddenly commits suicide.

Analysis:
Robinson uses situational irony in his poem "Richard Cory" to show that the
grass is not always greener on the other side. To develop his irony, Robinson
contrasts the somewhat envious portrait of Cory by the villagers to Cory's sad plight.
Though the villagers think Cory has a good life, obviously Cory disagrees. Though
the villagers desire all the things Cory has, obviously Cory needs something more.
The villagers' envy causes them ultimately to curse their fate. But no doubt they are
confused and dismayed to hear that Cory's "good life" has ended in ironic suicide.

DRAMA

Summary:
In Act III, Hamlet has a chance to kill Claudius. Claudius is kneeling in prayer,
and Hamlet spies on him. But Hamlet does not act, and Claudius lives longer.

Analysis:
Shakespeare uses Hamlet's procrastination in Act III to seal the young prince's
doom. Hamlet and Claudius are alone, and Claudius is unarmed. Hamlet could easily
kill his uncle. But Hamlet perceives Claudius's prayers as penance, something
Hamlet's father did not enjoy. Hamlet wants to send Claudius straight away to hell,
so he cannot act during Claudius's plea for mercy. Hence, Hamlet's tragic flaw of
procrastination in Act III leads to his death in Act V.

Thinking Analytically
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There are two kinds of thinking requiredAjuy, Iloilo
in analysis of fiction.

 The first type is literal thinking, and it deals with information. This kind of
thinking gathers the facts necessary for the plot summary. It is concerned
with what happens in the story: the external conflict and the attainment of
some external goal. Oh, goodness, will Chester win the race?

 The second type is abstract or interpretive or critical thinking, and it

deals with analysis and interpretation. This kind of thinking ponders
the why of events and actions in the story. Why does a character behave a
certain way? Why did the author choose the particular setting for the story?

27

 Why does an object seem to have some secondary association attached to it?
Why does Chester want to win the race?

To be successful in analysis of fiction, you must employ both kinds of

thinking, and you must be able to pose and answer the why questions. Most
importantly, you must trust your own ideas.

Literary Interpretation

Literary interpretation is referring to an analysis that is based on a view of

us or some person, place, and thing. While analyzing we are trying to get the point
about a story or book and the key elements that are in them.
Interpretation is an explicit argument about a text's deeper meanings—its
implied themes, values, and assumptions. Interpretation also recognizes how the
cultural context of the text and the reader might influence our interpretive
conclusions.
When you interpret literature, you are trying to find the meaning and
significance of the story. You are asking yourself both what the text means and why
it is important. One of the best ways to interpret a writing is to use the text as a
guide.
However, literary analysis and literary interpretation seem to overlap each
other when critiquing a literary text. The best critique of a text would be the
combination of these two.

Here is an explanation that would help you in analyzing/interpreting a literary piece.

As scholars who study literature, it is our job to interpret the meaning and
patterns within texts to learn more about language, culture, history, society, power,
art, and ourselves. The literary scholar must read closely and analyze the details of
the text in order to reassemble those details in a coherent argument about the
meaning of the overall text. Literary scholars write arguments to convince others to
interpret texts as they do. Rules for writing papers that analyze and interpret texts.
Your papers should answer the question: how does the way the text is written
affect its meaning? The way the text is written can include any of several features:
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the genre(s) to which it belongsAjuy,
and Iloilo
the ways it follows or breaks the rules
of its genre(s).
the narrative structure, including the order of events, the perspective
and/or credibility of the narrator or speaker, the resolution or lack of closure
provided at the end, etc. Note: prose texts (novels, stories, essays) have
narrators, but poems have speakers.
The interactions among characters and which characters are represented
sympathetically or unsympathetically.
the use of language, especially literary figures such as imagery, metaphor,
rhyme, meter.
the representations of major cultural and social issues of the text’s time,
such as gender, class, race, nature, progress, sexuality, conflict, and other
human themes.
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the role of the text in changing or adding to the direction of the literary
tradition, either as an example of the literary movements of its own time
period or in comparison with literary movements of various times, places, or
particular groups of writers.
The similarities in plot, character, theme, or imagery with other texts.
the representation of theoretical concepts revealed and explored within the
text.
The point of literary analysis is to find meaning in the representations
provided within the text, whether the author intended them or not. You know you
are right if your interpretation is consistent with the details of the entire text.
Literary analysis papers may often discuss moral choices and social issues or
teach us lessons about ourselves, but such papers are not ABOUT those issues nor
about the way we feel about them. Literary analysis is about the way language
attempts to represent those issues and human experiences and how readers can
find meaning within those representations
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IV. Learning Assessment

Make a literary interpretation of the drama “New Yorker in Tondo” by Marcelino

Agana, Jr. Focus on the different elements of drama and refer on the different
features of interpretation discussed previously.

V. Enrichment Activity

List 2 pairs of words for each type of rhyme. (13 types of rhymes)
List 2 examples of words for each type of rhythm. (12 types of rhythm)
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VI. References

1. Ang, Jaime G. (2009). Kritika:Selected readings in Philippine literature from pre-

colonial to post EDSA. Manila: Mindshapers Co., Inc.
2. Shrabanek, D. W. (2014). What is analysis? English/Austin Community College.
3. Literary Analysis. (2014).
Seattle Pacific University. https://spu.edu/academics/college-of-arts-
sciences/english-cultural-studies-department/

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Module 2 – Periods and Movements in Literature

Time Allotment:12 hours

I. Introduction
Analyzing and interpreting a literary text does not come easy. You do not only
interpret a text for yourself but also for readers. In order to make your argument,
and for you to prove something, you need to based your analysis or interpretation
on founded theories and approaches to literary criticism.
In this lesson, you will be introduced with the different periods, movements
and school of thought in literature.

II. Learning Outcomes

At the end of the lesson, you must have:

A. traced the foundations of literature and literary criticism through literary
period development;
B. identified different characteristics of each literary period and movement;
C. created a critical analysis of a text from a definite literary period or
movement.

III. Learning Content: Periods and Movements in Literature

Literary periods are spans of time for literature that shares intellectual,
linguistic, religious, and artistic influences.

The Literary Periods

I. THE CLASSICAL PERIOD (1200 BCE - 455 CE)
1. HOMERIC or HEROIC PERIOD
(1200-800 BCE)
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Greek legends were passed along orally, including Homer's The Iliad and The
Odyssey. This is a chaotic period of warrior-princes, wandering sea-traders, and
fierce pirates.

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2. CLASSICAL GREEK PERIOD
(800-200 BCE)

Greek writers, playwrights, and philosophers include Gorgias, Aesop, Plato,

Socrates, Aristotle, Euripides, and Sophocles. The fifth century (499-400 BCE) in
particular is renowned as The Golden Age of Greece. This was the sophisticated era
of the polis, or individual City-State, and early democracy. Some of the world's
finest art, poetry, drama, architecture, and philosophy originated in Athens.
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3. CLASSICAL ROMAN PERIOD Ajuy, Iloilo
(200 BCE-455 CE)

Greece's culture gave way to Roman power when Rome conquered Greece in
146 CE. The Roman Republic was traditionally founded in 509 BCE, but it was limited
in size until later. Playwrights of this time include Plautus and Terence. After nearly
500 years as a Republic, Rome slid into a dictatorship under Julius Caesar and finally
into a monarchial empire under Caesar Augustus in 27 CE.
This later period is known as the Roman Imperial period. Roman writers
include Ovid, Horace, and Virgil. Roman philosophers include Marcus Aurelius and
Lucretius. Roman rhetoricians include Cicero and Quintilian.

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4. PATRISTIC PERIOD
(c. 70 CE-455 CE)

Early Christian writers include Saint Augustine, Tertullian, Saint Cyprian, Saint
Ambrose and Saint Jerome. This is the period when Saint Jerome first compiled the
Bible, Christianity spread across Europe, and the Roman Empire suffered its dying
convulsions. In this period, barbarians attacked Rome in 410 CE, and the city finally
fell to them completely in 455 CE.

II. THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD (455 CE-1485 CE)

1. THE OLD ENGLISH (ANGLO-SAXON) PERIOD

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(428-1066 CE)King Alfred Coins Ajuy, Iloilo

The so-called "Dark Ages" (455 CE -799 CE) occured after Rome fell and barbarian
tribes moved into Europe. Franks, Ostrogoths, Lombards, and Goths settled in the
ruins of Europe, and the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes migrated to Britain displacing

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native Celts into Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Early Old English poems such as
Beowulf, The Wanderer, and The Seafarer originated sometime late in the Anglo-
Saxon period. The Carolingian Renaissance (800- 850 CE) emerged in Europe. In
central Europe, texts include early medieval grammars, encyclopedias, etc. In
northern Europe, this time period marks the setting of Viking sagas.

2. THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD

(c. 1066-1450 CE)

The transitional period between Anglo-Saxon and modern English. The

cultural upheaval that followed the Norman Conquest of England, in 1066, saw a
flowering of secular literature, including ballads, chivalric romances, allegorical
poems, and a variety of religious plays. Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is the most
celebrated work of this period.

In 1066, Norman French armies invaded and conquered England under

William I. This marks the end of the Anglo-Saxon hierarchy and the emergence of
the Twelfth Century Renaissance (c. 1100-1200 CE). French chivalric romances--
such as works by Chretien de Troyes--and French fables--such as the works of Marie
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de France and Jeun de Meun--spread inAjuy, Iloilo
popularity. Abelard and other humanists
produced great scholastic and theological works.

Late or "High" Medieval Period

(c. 1200-1485 CE)

Canterbury Tales manuscript. This often tumultuous period is marked by the Middle
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English writings of Geoffrey Chaucer, the "Gawain" or "Pearl" Poet, the Wakefield
Master, and William Langland. Other writers include Italian and French authors like
Boccaccio, Petrarch, Dante, and Christine de Pisan.

III. THE RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION (1485-1660 CE)

The Renaissance took place in the late 15th, 16th, and early 17th century in
Britain, but somewhat earlier in Italy and southern Europe and somewhat later in
northern Europe.
1. Early Tudor Period
(1485-1558)

Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene

The War of the Roses ended in England with Henry Tudor (Henry VII) claiming
the throne. Martin Luther's split with Rome marks the emergence of Protestantism,
followed by Henry VIII's Anglican schism, which created the first Protestant church
in England. Edmund Spenser is a sample poet.`

2. Elizabethan Period
(1558-1603)
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Elizabethan era (c. 1558–1603): Ajuy, Iloilo
A flourishing period in English literature,
particularly drama, that coincided with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and included
writers such as Francis Bacon, Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, William
Shakespeare, Sir Philip Sidney, and Edmund Spenser.

William Shakespeare

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Queen Elizabeth saved England from both Spanish invasion and internal squabbles
at home. Her reign is marked by the early works of Shakespeare, Marlowe, Kyd, and
Sidney.

3. Jacobean Period
(1603-1625)

Shakespeare's later work include Aemilia Lanyer, Ben Jonson, and John Donne.

4. Caroline Age
(1625-1649)

John Milton, George Herbert, Robert Herrick, the "Sons of Ben" and others
wrote during the reign of Charles I and his Cavaliers.
5. Commonwealth Period/Puritan Interregnum
(1649-1660)
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Under Cromwell's Puritan dictatorship, John Milton continued to write, but we
also find writers like Andrew Marvell and Sir Thomas Browne.

IV. THE ENLIGHTENMENT (Neoclassical) Period (1660-1790 CE)

Enlightenment (c. 1660–1790): An intellectual movement in France and other

parts of Europe that emphasized the importance of reason, progress, and liberty.
The Enlightenment, sometimes called the Age of Reason, is primarily associated with
nonfiction writing, such as essays and philosophical treatises. Major Enlightenment
writers include Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, René
Descartes.
"Neoclassical" refers to the increased influence of Classical literature upon
these centuries. The Neoclassical Period is also called the "Enlightenment" due to the
increased reverence for logic and disdain for superstition. The period is marked by
the rise of Deism, intellectual backlash against earlier Puritanism, and America's
revolution against England.

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Neoclassicism (c. 1660–1798): A literary movement, inspired by the

rediscovery of classical works of ancient Greece and Rome that emphasized balance,
restraint, and order. Neoclassicism roughly coincided with the Enlightenment, which
espoused reason over passion. Notable neoclassical writers include Edmund Burke,
John Dryden, Samuel Johnson, Alexander Pope, and Jonathan Swift.
1. Restoration Period
(1660-1700)
This period marks the British king's restoration to the throne after a long
period of Puritan domination in England. Its symptoms include the dominance of
French and Classical influences on poetry and drama. Sample writers include John
Dryden, John Locke, Sir William Temple, and Samuel Pepys, and Aphra Behn in
England. Abroad, representative authors include Jean Racine and Molière.
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2. The Augustan Age Ajuy, Iloilo
(1700-1750)

This period is marked by the imitation of Virgil and Horace's literature in

English letters. The principal English writers include Addison, Steele, Swift,
and Alexander Pope. Abroad, Voltaire was the dominant French writer.

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3. The Age of Johnson (1750-1790)

This period marks the transition toward the upcoming Romanticism though
the period is still largely Neoclassical. Major writers include Dr. Samuel
Johnson, Boswell, and Edward Gibbon who represent the Neoclassical tendencies,
while writers like Robert Burns, Thomas Gray, Cowper, and Crabbe show movement
away from the Neoclassical ideal. In America, this period is called the Colonial
Period. It includes colonial and revolutionary writers like Ben Franklin, Thomas
Jefferson, and Thomas Paine.

V. The Romantic Period (1790-1830 CE)

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Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in

Europe towards the end of the eighteenth century characterized by a heightened
interest in nature and an emphasis on individual expression of emotion and
imagination. Romanticism flourished from the early to the mid-nineteenth century,
partly as a reaction to the rationalism and empiricism of the previous age (the
Enlightenment).
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In fiction, Romanticism is often expressed through an emphasis on the
individual (a main character) and the expression of his or her emotional experience,
such as by having the plot coincide with the character’s emotional conflicts. In
opposition to the logic of the previous age, Romantic fiction sometimes even returns
to Gothic elements, which often includes stories about the supernatural of the
uncanny. (An example of this literary movement in this module is Edgar Allen Poe’s
“A Descent into the Maelström.”)

Romantic poets wrote about nature, imagination, and individuality in England.

Some Romantics include Coleridge, Blake, Keats, and Shelley in Britain and Johann
von Goethe in Germany. Jane Austen also wrote at this time, though she is typically
not categorized with the male Romantic poets. In America, this period is mirrored in
the Transcendental Period from about 1830-1850. Transcendentalists include
Emerson and Thoreau.
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Gothic writings (c. 1790-1890) overlap with the Romantic and Victorian
periods. Writers of Gothic novels (the precursor to horror novels) include Radcliffe,
"Monk" Lewis, and Victorians like Bram Stoker in Britain. In America, Gothic writers
include Poe and Hawthorne.

VI. THE VICTORIAN AND THE 19TH CENTURY (1832-1901 CE)

Victorian era (c. 1832–1901): The period of English history between the
passage of the first Reform Bill (1832) and the death of Queen Victoria (reigned
1837–1901). Though remembered for strict social, political, and sexual conservatism
and frequent clashes between religion and science, the period also saw prolific
literary activity and significant social reform and criticism. Notable Victorian novelists
include the Brontë sisters, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, William Makepeace
Thackeray, Anthony Trollope, and Thomas Hardy, while prominent poets include
Matthew Arnold; Robert Browning; Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Gerard Manley
Hopkins; Alfred, Lord Tennyson; and Christina Rossetti. Notable Victorian nonfiction
writers include Walter Pater, John Ruskin, and Charles Darwin, who penned the
famous On the Origin of Species (1859).

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Writings from the period of Queen Victoria's reign include sentimental novels.
British writers include Elizabeth Browning, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Matthew Arnold,
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Robert Browning, Charles Dickens, and Ajuy, Iloilo sisters. Pre-Raphaelites, like the
the Brontë
Rossetti siblings and William Morris, idealize and long for the morality of the
medieval world.

The end of the Victorian Period is marked by the intellectual movements of

Aestheticism and "the Decadence" in the writings of Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde.
In America, Naturalist writers like Stephen Crane flourished, as did early free verse
poets like Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson.

VII. THE MODERN PERIOD (1914-1945 CE)

Modernism became the predominant literary and artistic movement of the 20 th

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century. Modernism is a broad term referring to the social thought, cultural
expressions, and artistic techniques that broke with past traditions following the
political upheavals across Europe in the mid–1800s (including the French Revolution)
through the horrors of the first World War, as well as the scientific and technological
developments flowing from the Industrial Revolution. Yet, ‘modernism’ also is a term
that is specifically used in relation to a precise style of fiction that attempted to
chronicle the personal alienation, cultural disruption, and even loneliness of living in
a century of rapid and often traumatic change
Some modernist literature (Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, William Faulkner)
relied on a style of writing known as stream-of-consciousness , where the narrative
followed the organic (and sometimes chaotic) pathways of one or more characters’
thoughts. Other modernist authors, such as Hemingway, sought to pare down the
comparatively flowery language of previous literary movements and present the
complexity of modern life through crisp, sharp detail. Many modernist writers sought
to create work that represented not simply a moment or a region (as in Realistic
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fiction) but a larger, universal truth Ajuy,that
Iloilo transcended personal experience.
(Examples of this literary movement in this module include William Faulkner’s “A
Rose for Emily” and Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law.”)
In Britain, modernist writers include W. B. Yeats, Seamus Heaney, Dylan
Thomas, W. H. Auden, Virginia Woolf, and Wilfred Owen. In America, the modernist
period includes Robert Frost and Flannery O'Connor as well as the famous writers of
The Lost Generation (also called the writers of The Jazz Age, 1914-1929) such as
Hemingway, Stein, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner.

The Harlem Renaissance marks the rise of black writers such as Baldwin and Ellison.
Realism is the dominant fashion, but the disillusionment with the World Wars lead to
new experimentation.

VIII. THE POSTMODERN PERIOD (1945 - onward)

Post-modernist literature extends the disillusionment and disruption that

characterized modernism by further fragmenting language and literary structures,

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even by creating “hybrid” forms so that it becomes less clear what is a poem and
what is a story, for example. Some postmodernist literature exaggerates the irony at
the height of Modernism to the point of becoming parody, obscuring what is comic
and what is tragic about the subjects being represented.
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T. S. Eliot, Morrison, Shaw, Beckett, Stoppard, Fowles, Calvino, Ginsberg,

Pynchon, and other modern writers, poets, and playwrights experimented with
metafiction and fragmented poetry. Multiculturalism led to an increasing
canonization of non-Caucasian writers such as Langston Hughes, Sandra Cisneros,
and Zora Neal Hurston.

Magic Realists such as Gabriel García Márquez, Luis Borges, Alejo Carpentier,
Günter Grass, and Salman Rushdie flourished with surrealistic writings embroidered
in the conventions of realism.

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The Literary Movements

Literary movements are a way to divide literature into categories of similar

philosophical, topical, or aesthetic features, as o
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pposed to divisions by genre or period. Like other categorizations, literary
movements provide language for comparing and discussing literary works.

1. Metaphysical
Metaphysical is a philosophical concept used in literature to describe the
things that are beyond the description of physical existence. It is intended to
elucidate the fundamental nature of being and the world and is often used in the
form of argument to describe the intellectual or emotional state an individual goes
through. It is deliberately inserted to make the audience think about the things they
had never imagined. Although it is often considered a complex phenomenon, it,
however, plays a pivotal role in advancing the idea of the text.
In literature, metaphysical is often used with poetry. It is a type of poetry
written during the seventeenth century. Etymologically, “metaphysical” is a
combination of two words ‘meta’ and ‘physical.’ The meanings are clear that it deals
with the things that are beyond this the existence of the physical world
Metaphysical poets (c. 1633–1680): A group of 17th-century poets who
combined direct language with ingenious images, paradoxes, and conceits. John
Donne and Andrew Marvell are the best known poets of this school.
Exhibit introspective meditations on love, death, God, and human
frailty
More realistic
Famous for its difficulty and obscurity
Features of Metaphysical Poetry
1. Metaphysical texts are based on wit and often deal with serious questions about
the existence of God and the tendency of human beings to perceive this world.
2. In metaphysical poetry, serious issues are discussed with a touch of humor. In
this sense, it makes the seriousness a bit light in intensity.
3. Metaphysical poetry elevates the readers of their normal existence to make them
question the unquestionable.
4.Metaphysical texts offer comparisons of unlikely things and are loaded with
conceits, paradoxes, irony, and
5. They are argumentative, intellectual, realistic and rational
What to Look For:
Wit, irony, and paradox are paramount
Wit is often seen in the pairing of dissimilar objects into the service of a
clever, ironic analogy or paradoxical conceit.

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Elaborate stylistic maneuvers (ornamental conceits, dazzling rhymes) are
pulled of with ease.
Huge shifts in scale (i.e.: ants to plants)
Formal tendencies to talk about deep philosophical issues:
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 the passage of time,Ajuy,
the Iloilo
difficulty of being sure of any one thing,
the uneasy relationship of human beings to each other and to
God.

 The beauty of the Metaphysical poetry is in the dramatic unfolding of

the truth through irony, conceits, and scale shifts.

Example of Metaphysical elements in Literature

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning by John Donne

“If they be two, they are two so

As stiff twin compasses are two;
Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if the other do.

And though it in the center sit,

Yet when the other far doth roam,
It leans and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,

Like th’ other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.

The poem appreciates the beauty of spiritual love. The poet has painted a
vivid picture of his eternal bond that keeps him attached to his beloved even when
they are apart. This is a very good example of metaphysical text in literature as
Donne has used metaphysical conceits to show the comparison between the spiritual
aspect of a person and a physical thing in the world. He has compared his spiritual
and holy love with the feet of a geometrical compass.

2. Symbolists
Symbolists (1870s–1890s): A group of French poets who reacted against
realism with a poetry of suggestion based on private symbols, and experimented
with new poetic forms such as free verse and the prose poem. The symbolists—
Stéphane Mallarmé, Arthur Rimbaud, and Paul Verlaine are the most well known—
were influenced by Charles Baudelaire. In turn, they had a seminal influence on the
modernist poetry of the early 20th century.
The link between romanticism and modernism
Yearn for transcendence – but more decadent and sensual
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Seem obscure in the beginning but contain deep symbols and intuitive
associations
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The rise of symbolism coincidedAjuy,
withIloilo
a period when some intellectuals were
beginning to question positivism. Writers, in particular, reacted against positivist
and materialist theories because they centralized science as the key way of knowing
the world and essentially did not allow for the existence of art as a unique form of
knowledge and human activity. The motivational drive behind the symbolist
aesthetic was the goal of establishing art as an independent or autonomous field of
activity. Following from that goal and its opposition to positivism, symbolism
focused on subjective knowledge as a source of truth. More specifically, the
symbolists argued that truth could be found in either a spiritual or mystical realm,
and that it was the result of personal experience, rather than observation of the
physical world.
Since symbolism began as a literary movement, the initial concern with
methods took the form of an interest in the role of language and the ways in which
language could convey ideas about a subject or impede the communication of those
ideas. Eventually the interest in the role of language would be translated into an
interest in the communicative properties of color and form, but the analogy to
language lingered for a long time as a characteristic of symbolist theory and
modernism. For symbolism, language provided a metaphor for the relationship
between the real or objective world and the ideal or absolute world (hence, the
interest in alternative spiritual systems).
What to Look For:
Deal with the crepuscular (dusk and dawn) and with the time between waking
and sleeping.
Dreams or dream state figure prominently in many of the symbolist art
 Dream experiences afford humans the best opportunity to
explore the relationships between states
Synaesthesia (using one sense to describe another) proved to be a favorite
mode
The French symbolists were adept at using words with three or four
simultaneous meanings, creating a resonance among groups of these words.
Poets drawn to the properties of music – attempted to create the same effects
in their poems by concentrating on simultaneous effects (like harmony) and
by choosing mellifluous words meant to inspire a kind of language in the
reader.
Associated with the “Art for Art’s Sake” movement that placed aesthetics and
form above political relevance
3. Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance (c. 1918–1930): A flowering of African-American
literature, art, and music during the 1920s in New York City. W. E. B. DuBois’s The
Souls of Black Folk anticipated the movement, which included Alain Locke’s
anthology The New Negro, Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching
God, and the poetry of Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen.

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The Harlem Renaissance was Ajuy, Iloilo
an artistic and political movement among
African Americans that originated in the Harlem district of New York City. Although
the precise dates are difficult to pinpoint, the period is typically dated from 1920 up
to the mid to late 1930s. A number of important social and economic factors
contributed to the movement’s emergence. Firstly, after World War I, America’s
northern industrialized cities experienced a severe labor shortage.
At the same time, after a brief period of social and political reform in the
South, which took place during the Reconstruction period, life for African Americans
grew particularly difficult with the rise of Jim Crow laws and the resurgence of racial
violence and segregation. Many African Americans left the South as part of what
would become known as the Great Migration, a movement which ultimately led to
migration of nearly six million African Americans from the South to the Northeast,
and later the Midwest and West. In the Northeast, this mass migration of African
Americans led to the emergence of urban cultural centers in Harlem, in addition to
parts of Chicago, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis, among others.
Created in the first half of the 20 th century, after World War I, during the
movement of African Americans to northern industrial cities (called the Great
Migration)

What to Look For:

Directly related to African American concerns and issue of the time.
Many rely on repetitive structure similar to blues lyrics or on fragmented
structure similar to jazz improvisations.
Several of the poets consciously sought new American idioms alongside other
African American artists such as blues singer Bessie Smith.
Other poets combined European forms like the sonnet with a content and tone
more related to African American concerns.
4. The Beats
Beat Generation (1950s–1960s): A group of American writers in the 1950s
and 1960s who sought release and illumination though a bohemian counterculture of
sex, drugs, and Zen Buddhism. Beat writers such as Jack Kerouac (On the Road)
and Allen Ginsberg (Howl) gained fame by giving readings in coffeehouses, often
accompanied by jazz music.
Beat movement, also called Beat Generation, American social and literary
movement originating in the 1950s and centred in the bohemian artist communities
of San Francisco’s North Beach, Los Angeles’ Venice West, and New York City’s
Greenwich Village. Its adherents, self-styled as “beat” (originally meaning “weary,”
but later also connoting a musical sense, a “beatific” spirituality, and other
meanings) and derisively called “beatniks,” expressed their alienation from
conventional, or “square,” society by adopting a style of dress, manners, and “hip”
vocabulary borrowed from jazz musicians. They advocated personal release,
purification, and illumination through the heightened sensory awareness that might
be induced by drugs, jazz, sex, or the disciplines of Zen Buddhism. The Beats and
their advocates
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found the joylessness and purposelessness of modern society sufficient justification
for both withdrawal and protest.
Beat poets sought to transform poetry into an expression of genuine lived
experience. They read their work, sometimes to the accompaniment of progressive
jazz, in such Beat strongholds as the Coexistence Bagel Shop and Lawrence
Ferlinghetti’s City Lights bookstore in San Francisco. The verse was frequently
chaotic and liberally sprinkled with obscenities and frank references to sex, all
intended to liberate poetry from academic preciosity. Allen Ginsberg’s Howl became
the most representative poetic expression of the Beat movement: the poem itself
embodied the essence of the Beats’ voice; its first performance, in 1955, was a
disorderly celebration; and the obscenity trial, in 1957, that followed its publication
showed the movement’s social and political relevance. Ginsberg and other major
figures of the movement, such as the novelist Jack Kerouac, advocated a kind of
free, unstructured composition in which the writer put down his thoughts and
feelings without plan or revision in order to convey the immediacy of experience.
Post world War II phenomenon
Used different settings over the years to practice their brand of
hallucinogenic, visionary, anti-establishment art.
Quite good mythologizing themselves and shared a sense of personal
frankness with the confessional poets and a sense of interdisciplinary energy
with the New York school.
Buddhism was important to many members.
Deep connection to nature
Tone could be: satirical, angry, and ranting as well as tender and meditative
“First thought, best thought” – aesthetic ideal
Politics directly informs many of the poems, either through specific reference
to members of the government or specific references to issue important to
them.
5. Confessional
Confessional poetry is the poetry of the personal or "I." This style of writing
emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s and is associated with poets such as
Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and W. D. Snodgrass. Lowell's book Life
Studies was a highly personal account of his life and familial ties and had a
significant impact on American poetry. Plath and Sexton were both students of
Lowell and noted that his work influenced their own writing.
The confessional poetry of the mid-twentieth century dealt with subject matter that
previously had not been openly discussed in American poetry. Private experiences
with and feelings about death, trauma, depression and relationships were addressed
in this type of poetry, often in an autobiographical manner. Sexton in particular was
interested in the psychological aspect of poetry, having started writing at the
suggestion of her therapist.
The confessional poets were not merely recording their emotions on paper;
craft and construction were extremely important to their work. While their treatment
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of the poetic self may have been groundbreaking and shocking to some readers,
these poets maintained a high level of craftsmanship through their careful attention
to and use of prosody.
One of the most well-known poems by a confessional poet is "Daddy" by
Plath. Addressed to her father, the poem contains references to the Holocaust but
uses a sing-song rhythm that echoes the nursery rhymes of childhood:
Daddy, I have had to kill you.
You died before I had time--
Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,
Ghastly statue with one gray toe
Big as a Frisco seal
Another confessional poet of this generation was John Berryman. His major work
was The Dream Songs, which consists of 385 poems about a character named Henry
and his friend Mr. Bones. Many of the poems contain elements of Berryman's own
life and traumas, such as his father's suicide. Below is an excerpt from "Dream Song
1":
All the world like a woolen lover
once did seem on Henry's side.
Then came a departure.
Thereafter nothing fell out as it might or ought.
I don't see how Henry, pried
open for all the world to see, survived.
The confessional poets of the 1950s and 1960s pioneered a type of writing
that forever changed the landscape of American poetry. The tradition of confessional
poetry has been a major influence on generations of writers and continues to this
day; Marie Howe and Sharon Olds are two contemporary poets whose writing largely
draws upon their personal experience.
Took the personal pronouns (I, me, my) seriously and explore intimate
content.
Love affairs, suicidal thoughts, fears of failure, ambivalent or downright
violent opinions about family members, and other autobiographically sensitive
material moved to the front and center.
They “pried open” their innermost thoughts and opened them for all the world
to see, even if it meant sharing one’s troubled feelings or mental health
issues.
Revealed the doubts and anxieties of suburban America.
Invested a great deal of time and effort into their craft, constructing verse
that paid careful attention to rewritten prosody (the science or study of poetic
meters and versification).
6. New York School
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The New York school of poetry was anIloilo
innovative group of poets made up
principally by Frank O’Hara, John Ashbery, Barbara Guest, James Schuyler, and

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Kenneth Koch. Their poetry was experimental, philosophical, staunchly
antiestablishment, and antiacademic. The group began writing in the 1950s and is
closely associated with a similarly named movement in painting alternatively called
abstract expressionism or action painting. The name New York school is a result of
an aesthetic sensibility and writing style, more than simply a location, although all
five poets did live in New York City at some point during their formative years as
writers.
Their poetry is steeped in the facts, events, and objects of everyday life, and
it is characterized by an impulse to blur the boundary between art and life; in
writing poetry that includes the discourse and details of normal human interaction,
the poets conflated the differences between what is normally considered material for
art and what people experience in day-to-day existence. They are also noteworthy
for appropriating various aspects of French surrealism and French symbolism; they
especially employed typically surrealistic juxtapositions, which tended to be
combined with whimsical observations of daily human behavior and speech. Their
use of ironic gestures coupled with an often casual, informal tone and style created a
unique tension that characterizes their distinct poetic sensibility.
The term New York school was supposedly coined by John Bernard Myers, the
director of the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in New York City, in an effort to connect the
increasingly popular abstract expressionist painters with the then-emerging poets
who were also working in New York at the time. Both groups frequently collaborated
on projects or shared and argued about ideas regarding art, politics, and philosophy.
The characteristics associated with the label—the New York school—emerge first and
foremost from the poets’ anti traditionalist aesthetic and highly experimental style.
Taking the lead from such painters as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and
Robert Motherwell and, later, a second generation of painters—Fairfield Porter, Jane
Freilicher, Nell Blaine, Grace Hartigan, Larry Rivers, Robert Rauschenberg, and
Jasper Johns— these poets strove for artistic change by proclaiming poetry to be a
process, not simply a product.
Saw themselves as fellow travelers of the abstract expressionist school of
painters.
Many wrote art criticism.
Their aesthetic mode overlapped with Beat spontaneity and with the
confessional –poet frankness, but was much more ironic, and more interested
in the surreal combination of high art and popular art allusions.
Often saw themselves as helping the reader see the world in new and
different ways.
Wanted to jar the audience’s senses by juxtaposing uncommon objects.
Revealed in the combination of the serious and the silly, the profound and the
absurd, the highly formal and the relentlessly casual.

7. Black Arts Movement

The Black Arts Movement emphasized self-determination for Black people, a
separate cultural existence for Black people on their own terms, and the beauty and
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goodness of being Black. Black Arts poets Iloilo
embodied these ideas in a defiantly Black
poetic language that drew on Black musical forms, especially jazz; Black vernacular

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speech; African folklore; and radical experimentation with sound, spelling, and
grammar. Black Arts Movement poet and publisher Haki Madhubuti wrote, “And the
mission is how do we become a whole people, and how do we begin to essentially
tell our narrative, while at the same time move toward a level of success in this
country and in the world? And we can do that. I know we can do that.”
The Black Arts Movement was politically militant; Baraka described its goal as
“to create an art, a literature that would fight for black people's liberation with as
much intensity as Malcolm X our ‘Fire Prophet’ and the rest of the enraged masses
who took to the streets.” Drawing on chants, slogans, and rituals of call and
response, Black Arts poetry was meant to be politically galvanizing. Because of its
politics—as well as what some saw as its potentially homophobic, sexist, and anti-
Semitic elements—the Black Arts Movement was one of the most controversial
literary movements in US history.
The movement began to wane in the mid-1970s, in tandem with its political
counterpart, the Black Power movement. Government surveillance and violence
decimated Black Power organizations, but the Black Arts Movement fell prey to
internal schism—notably over Baraka’s shift from Black nationalism to Marxism-
Leninism—and financial difficulties.
Despite its brief official existence, the movement created enduring institutions
dedicated to promoting the work of Black artists, such as Chicago’s Third World
Press and Detroit’s Broadside Press, as well as community theaters. It also created
space for the Black artists who came afterward, especially rappers, slam poets, and
those who explicitly draw on the movement’s legacy. Ishmael Reed, a sometimes
opponent of the Black Arts Movement, still noted its importance in a 1995 interview:
“I think what Black Arts did was inspire a whole lot of Black people to write.
Moreover, there would be no multiculturalism movement without Black Arts. Latinos,
Asian Americans, and others all say they began writing as a result of the example of
the 1960s. Blacks gave the example that you don't have to assimilate. You could do
your own thing, get into your own background, your own history, your own tradition
and your own culture.”
Often associated with members of the Black Power movement who grew
frustrated with the pace of the changes enacted by the civil rights movement
of the 1950s and 1960s.
Often politically charged, even aggressive, challenges to the white
establishments.
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IV. Learning Assessment

Do a simple analysis of the poem below. Include the influence of the period when it
was written and identify the different issues (political, social, moral, filial, etc.) the
poem dealt with. Is/Are the issue/s resolved? Why or why not?

Metaphors
By: Sylvia Plath

I’m a riddle in nine syllables,

An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling in two tendrils.
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf’s big with its yeasty rising,
Money’s new minted in this fat purse.
I’m a means, a stage, a cow in a calf.
I’ve eaten a bag of green apples,
Boarded the train there’s no getting off.
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V. Enrichment Activity

From the different literary periods and movements, list down the titles and authors
of the famous literary genres produced.
1. 2 short stories
2. 2 poems
3. 1 novel or essay

VI. References
1.Academy of American Poets (2014). Confessional movement.
https://poets.org/text/brief-guide-confessional-poetry
Retrieval date: May 3, 2021
2. Luebering, J. E. Beat movement. https://www.britannica.com/art/Beat-movement
Retrieval date: May 3, 2021
3. Lumencandela: Harlem Renaissance. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-fscj-
literatureforhumanities/chapter/what-was-the-harlem-renaissance/
Retrieval date: May 3, 2021
4. Mambrol. Nusrullah (2020).New York School of poetry.
https://poets.org/text/brief- guide-confessional-poetry
Retrieval date: May 3, 2021
5. Poetry Foundation (2021). The Black Arts Movement
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/collections/148936/an-introduction-to-the-
black-arts-movement
Retrieval date: May 3, 2021
6. The Symbolist Movement: To Make the Invisible Visible.
https://www.radford.edu/~rbarris/art428/Chapter%202%20Symbolism.html
Retrieval date: May 3, 2021
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Module 3 – Literary Theories and Modern Criticism Schools
of Thought
Time Allotment: 19.5 hours

I. Introduction
Literary theory is the process of understanding what the nature of literature
is, what functions it has, what the relation of text is to author, to reader, to
language, to history. It is not judgment but understanding of the frame of judgment.
Literary theory therefore has to explain literary criticism. One way of doing
that is to explain the nature of literary texts in such a way that the theory predicts
the bounds of criticism. Literary theory the principles and concepts, strategies and
tactics needed to guide critical practice( cited in Himpayan, 2016 from Castle
2013).
In this module, you will be exposed to the different literary theories and
modern criticisms which are very tantamount when critiquing or analyzing any
literary genre.

II. Learning Outcomes

At the end of the module, the student must have:
A. familiarized the intellectual, linguistic, socio-emotional and artistic
influences of literature through literary theories;
B. identified definite characteristics of each literary theory for an in
depth study of literature;
C. created a critical analysis of a poetic text through a definite literary
theory.

III. Learning Content: The Literary Theories

READING LITERATURE INVOLVES the reader in analyzing or interpreting or

criticizing a literary text according to how its author wrote it theoretically. Hence,
literary theories ( author’s perspective) are the main criteria used in literary criticism
(reader’s perspective).
Each textual reading, therefore, orchestrates at once an imaginary dualism of
reader-author textual communication transaction: face-to-face with the author
coming alive mentally in multidimensional orientations.(Abrams,1972).
Thus, Abrams (1972) collectively calls these as Critical Theories of Literature,
classified according to where reader/ critic locates ( as author situates) the literary
work: the theoretical domains of textuality, which legitimize all these critical textual
interpretations of literature.

READER-AUTHOR TEXTUAL TEHORETICAL DOMAINS

Critical Location of Text/Theoretical Critical theories of literature

Situation of Text
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The nature/ reality copied by the text Mimesis
The author creating the text as self- expression Expressivism
The verbal structure of the text Objectivism
The audience/ reader that the text finds Affectivism
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Different theories offer different readings/critiques to a literary text, varied
perspectives in interpretive processing of a literary text:

MEANING VERSUS SIGNIFICANCE: the reader actually gets not meaning but
significance.

MEANING SPOTTING VERSUS MEANING MAKING: the reader completes the textual
meaning initiated by the author- what the reader makes of the text as directed by
the author.

GENRE-DICTATED TEXTUALITY: the reader has to consider the literary genre that
structurally encodes the textual message-the very specific formalistic elements that
make up the myriad constructs of poetry, fiction, drama, and essay as art forms of
textualities.

Mimetic Critical Theory: the Nature or Reality copied by the Text

MIMESIS CONSIDERS TEXTS as imitations, representations, copies-definable

in terms of whatever they copy: nature, the world, realities some other texts.
Plato explains mimesis by asserting that literature is a copy of a reality.
Reality refers to ideas which are perceived in the appearances of objects, which the
writer uses verbally in his creative texts. Thus, the author who is restricted to
imitating the realm of appearances, makes mere copies of copies of realities and his
creation is thus twice removed from reality. Furthermore, when the writer writes, he
is possessed by dementia (madness) and not in control of himself. Plato claims that
ordinary art effects badly on the audience because it represents imagination rather
than truth, and
nourishes their feeling rather than reason.
Aristotle, on the other hand, treats imitation as a basic human faculty, which
expresses itself in a wide range of arts. For him, to imitate is not to produce a copy
or mirror reflection of some things but involves a complex mediation of reality. For
example, in tragedy the writer imitates people’s actions rather than their characters.
For him, this world is real but incomplete so poet endeavors to complete it through
the imitation. Thus, poets are both imitators and creator. In contrast to him, Plato
opines that artists lack creative power.
Aristotle believes that the writer imitates reality by taking a form ( idea from
nature) and reshapes it in a different matter or medium-thus he is both an imitator
and a creator.
In mimesis, the reader looks for the antecedent of the verbal structure of the
literary text, as follows:
 life signified by figurative speech
 object/idea by symbolisms
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 events/history signified by plot Ajuy, Iloilo
 significance signified rhetoric devices
 phenomena signified by myths
 human significance signified by literary elements
 behavioral/sociological realities signified by literary themes

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 philosophical/ideological realities signified by literary elements
 fantasy represented by literary texts expressing sex and power
 historical/ anthropological /biblical/cultural figures signified by archetypes
 taboo themes signified by texts
 gender biases signified by textualities
 themes on self and on the other signified by fictional characterizations

A MIMETIC READING OF CARL SANDBURG’S “ ‘I LOVE YOU’, SAID A GREAT

MOTHER”

“ “ I Love You”, Said A Great Mother”

Carl Sandburg

“ I love you,” 1
said a great mother 2
“ I love you for what you are 3
Knowing so well what you are. 4
And I love you more yet, child 5
deeper yet then ever, child 6
for what you are going far 7
knowing so well you are going far 8
knowing your great works are ahead 9
ahead and beyond 10
yonder and far over yet.” 11

This Critical Reading argues that Carl Sandburg’s poem “ ‘I LOVE YOU’, SAID
A GREAT MOTHER”, signifies a parent’s prophetic love that envisions the
child’sFuture greatness.
The poem tells of a “great mother” which is figuratively represents the
“parents” (mother or father) whose faith and watchful eye become a miracle so
precious that she/he sees the far off greatness in the potential of the speechless
child ( baby) whose eyes do not even see yet, whose mind is still unformed. This the
“great mother” celebrates in sheer love- she/he can not underestimate this
speechless child as expressed in lines 3 and 4.
“ I love you for what you are knowing so well what you are.” The “ great
mother” simply loves the child for the greatness for off as revealed in lines
5,6,7,8,9,10,11:
“ And I love you more yet, child, deeper yet than ever, child, for what you are going
to be, knowing so well you are going for, knowing your great works are ahead,
ahead and be, yonder and for over yet.”
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This great and deep love for theAjuy,
childIloilo
miraculously becomes prophetic as the
“great mother” envisions the greatness of the child far off as supported in lines
9,10,11:
“knowing your great works are ahead
ahead and beyond
yonder and far over yet.”
Thus Stanburg’s “ ‘I LOVE YOU’, SAID A GREAT MOTHER’ signifies the reality
of a parent’s love that envisions the child’s future greatness.

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Expressive Critical Theory the writer’s Presence in the Text

EXPRESSIVISM CONSIDERS TEXT in terms of what its author expressed,

stressing the presence of the writer in the text. Thus, the literary text is the
expression of the author’s inner being. This author-work relationship considers the
creative process, therefore, expressivism delves into the ideas of : creative
spontaneity preference for feeling over rationality Sexual pleasure is unconsciously
symbolized by
images of flying and riding in psychoanalysis.
Therefore, the expressive critical theory can ultimately interpret a literary text
as the conscious and unconscious expression of the author’s sexuality through
literary images used subjectively interpreted female and / or male symbolisms of
certain sexual impulses, desires, and memories repressed by taboos.

OBJECTIVE CRITICAL THEORY: the Verbal Structure of the Literary Text

OBJECTIVISM CONSIDERS TEXT as an object with internal purpose. The

reader/ critic faces the task of examining the literary work’s internality or structure,
and of communicating a sense of its textual unity, hence called by many names:
genre
study, signification study, formalism, textuality, intertextuality, organicism, new
criticism.
Objectivism holds that the literary text generates its own unique form so that
no external formal laws can be applied to it. It holds that a literary text in itself is
made up of formalistic/ structural elements that determine, in a unified fashion, the
meaning or content of the literary genres( literary forms) for its own specific
purpose in conveying meaning: poetry, fiction, drama, essay. Each genre is a
formalistic
construct of specific structural elements.

Genre Formalistic Structural Elements

Poetry: rhetoric in verse Versification: tonality due to meter, stanzaic form,

and rhyme
Pragmatics: persona-vision-addressee transaction,
figurative language
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Essay: rhetoric in prose Ajuy,
Subject: Iloilo mood, function Verbal medium:
intent,
rhetoric, diction. Style

Drama: Storytelling in dialog Theme, plot, characterization, diction in dialog,

spectacle, music, conflict

Fiction: Storytelling in Theme, plot, characterization, setting, point of

narration-conversation view, diction, symbolism, style, emotional effect

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AFFECTIVISM: Reader-response to the Literary Text

AFFECTIVE CRITICAL THEORY sees the literary text in its relation to the
reader: what could be its result in the reader. Thus, this is also known as reader-
response critical theory.
According to Adams, reader-response could be: moral betterment, scientific or
other learning, psychic therapy, hedonistic pleasure, catharsis of unpleasant
emotions, sublime transport, aesthetic emotion of detached contemplation.
Classicism merged reader-response with mimesis, as follows:
 Plato’s moralistic-didactic concern from poetry’s appeal to the irrational
feeling rather than to reason;
 Aristotle’s idea of tragic catharsis or knowledge affected by the poem read;
 Horace’s idea of “ dulce et utile” asserting from the poem’s function to delight
and to teach.

Medievalism argued that poem should be didactic and moralistic: providing

the aesthetic and moralistic knowledge : providing the aesthetic experience of the
beautiful and sublime.
Renaissance concept of morally allegory, merging mimesis and affectivism.
Each reader, thus, has the freedom to assess the coherence of the writer’s
work and interpret this in the light of one’s own experience and logical attitude to
the world within the textual parameters created by the writer of the text.
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Literary Criticism: An Overview of Approaches

The Three-fold Purpose of Criticism:

To help us solve a problem in the reading.
To help us sift between and resolve conflicting readings.
To enable us craft interpretative, yet scholarly judgments about literature.

1. Historical / Biographical Approach: Historical / Biographical critics see works

as the reflection of an author’s life and times (or of the characters’ life and times).
H/B approach deems it necessary to know about the author and the political,
economical, and sociological context of his times in order to truly understand the
work(s).
Advantages: This approach works well for some works--like those of Alexander
Pope, John Dryden, and Milton-- which are obviously political in nature. It also is
necessary to take a historical approach in order to place allusions in their proper
classical, political, or biblical background.

Disadvantages: New Critics refer to the historical / biographical critic’s belief that
the meaning or value of a work may be determined by the author’s intention as “the
intentional fallacy.” Thus, art is reduced to the level of biography
rather than universal.

A Checklist of Historical Critical Questions:

When was the work written? When was it published? How was it received by
the critics and public and why?
What does the work’s reception reveal about the standards of taste and value
during the time it was published and reviewed?
What social attitudes and cultural practices related to the action of the word
were prevalent during the time the work was written and published?
What kinds of power relationships does the word describe, reflect, or embody?
How do the power relationships reflected in the literary work manifest
themselves in the cultural practices and social institutions prevalent during
the time the work was written and published?
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To what extent can we understand Iloilopast as it is reflected in the literary
work? To what extent does the work reflect differences from the ideas and
values of its time?

Checklist of Biographical Critical Questions:

What influences—people, ideas, movements, events—evident in the writer’s
life does the work reflect?
To what extent are the events described in the word a direct transfer of what
happened in the writer’s actual life?
What modifications of the actual events has the writer made in the literary
work? For what possibly purposes?
What are the effects of the differences between actual events and their
literary transformation in the poem, story, play, or essay?

58
What has the author revealed in the work about his/her characteristic modes
of thought, perception, or emotion? What place does this work have in the
artist’s literary development and career?

2. Moral / Philosophical Approach: Moral / philosophical critics believe that the

larger purpose of literature is to teach morality and to probe philosophical issues.
Practitioners include Matthew Arnold (works must have “high seriousness”), Plato
(literature must exhibit moralism and utilitarianism), and Horace (literature should
be
“delightful and instructive”).

Advantages: This approach is useful for such works as Alexander Pope’s “An Essay
on Man,” which presents an obvious moral philosophy. It is also useful when
considering the themes of works (for example, man’s inhumanity to man in Mark
Twain’s Huckleberry Finn). Finally, it does not view literature merely as “art” isolated
from all moral implications; it recognizes that literature can affect readers, whether
subtly or directly, and that the message of a work--and not just the decorous vehicle
for that message--is important.

Disadvantages: Detractors argue that such an approach can be too “judgmental.”

Some believe literature should be judged primarily (if not solely) on its artistic
merits, not its moral or philosophical content.

Checklist of Moral/Didactic Critical Questions:

What enduring truth is revealed in the theme of this work?
How are the actions of the protagonist rewarded and the actions of the
antagonist punished?

3. Formalism / New Criticism:

A formalistic approach to literature, once called New Criticism, involves a close
reading of the text. Formalistic critics believe that all information essential to the
interpretation of a work must be found within the work itself; there is no need to
bring in outside information about the history, politics, or society of the time, or
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about the author's life. Formalistic critics Iloilomuch time analyzing irony, paradox,
spend
imagery, and metaphor. They are also interested in the work's setting, characters,
symbols, and point of view.

Terms Used in New Criticism:

Tension - the integral unity of the poem which results from the resolution of
opposites, often in irony or paradox
Intentional fallacy - the belief that the meaning or value of a work may be
determined by the author’s intention
Affective fallacy - the belief that the meaning or value of a work may be
determined by its affect on the reader
External form - rhyme scheme, meter, stanza form, etc.
Objective correlative - originated by T.S. Eliot, this term refers to a collection
of objects, situations, or events that instantly evoke a particular emotion.

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Advantages: This approach can be performed without much research, and it
emphasizes the value of literature apart from its context (in effect makes literature
timeless). Virtually all critical approaches must begin here.

Disadvantages: The text is seen in isolation. Formalism ignores the context of the
work. It cannot account for allusions. It tends to reduce literature to little more than
a collection of rhetorical devices.

A Checklist of Formalistic Critical Questions:

How is the work structured or organized? How does it begin? Where does it go
next? How does it end? What is the work’s plot? How is its plot related to its
structure?
What is the relationship of each part of the work to the work as a whole? How
are the parts related to one another?
Who is narrating or telling what happens in the work? How is the narrator,
speaker, or character revealed to readers? How do we come to know and
understand this figure?
Who are the major and minor characters, what do they represent, and how do
they relate to one another?
What are the time and place of the work—it’s setting? How is the setting
related to what we know of the characters and their actions? To what extent
is the setting symbolic?
What kind of language does the author use to describe, narrate, explain, or
otherwise create the world of the literary work? More specifically, what
images, similes, metaphors, symbols appear in the work? What is their
function? What meanings do they convey?
Formalism
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/critical_define/crit_form.html
NewCriticism
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/critical_define/crit_newcrit.html
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4. Psychological Approach: Psychological critics view works through the lens of
psychology. They look either at the psychological motivations of the characters or of
the authors themselves, although the former is generally considered a more
respectable approach. Most frequently, psychological critics apply Freudian and/or
Jungian (archetypes) psychology to works.

(a) Freudian Approach:

(http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/critical_define/crit_psycho.html)
A Freudian approach often includes pinpointing the influences of a character’s
psyche (Greek for “soul”), which consists of the:
Id (reservoir of libido or pleasure principle in the unconscious)
Superego (the moral censoring agency and repository of conscience/pride that
protects society)
Ego (the rational governing agent of the unconscious that protects the
individual)

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Freudian critics steer toward the sexual implications of symbols and imagery, since
Freud theorized that all human behavior (drives) derives from libido/sexual energy.

 Concave Images, such as ponds, flowers, cups, and caves = female symbols.
 Convex Images, such as skyscrapers, submarines, obelisks, etc. = male
symbols
 Actions, such as dancing, riding, and flying = sexual pleasure.
 Water = birth, the female principle, the maternal, the womb, and the death
wish.
 Oedipus complex = a boy’s unconscious rivalry with his father for the love of
his mother
 The Electra Complex = a girl’s unconscious rivalry with her mother for the
love of her father
 Critics may also refer to Freud’s psychology of child development, which
includes the oral stage (eating), the anal stage (elimination), and the genital
(reproduction).

Advantages: A useful tool for understanding some works, in which characters

manifest clear psychological issues. Like the biographical approach, knowing
something about a writer’s psychological make up can give us insight into his work.
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Disadvantages: Psychological criticism Ajuy,
canIloilo
turn a work into little more than a
psychological case study, neglecting to view it as a piece of art. Critics sometimes
attempt to diagnose long dead authors based on their works, which is perhaps not
the best evidence of their psychology. Critics tend to see sex in everything,
exaggerating this aspect of literature. Finally, some works do not lend themselves
readily to this approach.

Checklist of Psychological Critical Questions

What connections can you make between your knowledge of an author’s life
and the behavior and motivations of characters in his or her work?
How does your understanding of the characters, their relationships, their
actions, and their motivations in a literary work help you better understand
the mental world and imaginative life, or the actions and motivations of the
author?
How does a particular literary work—its images, metaphors, and other
linguistic elements—reveal the psychological motivations of its characters or
the psychological mindset of its author?
61
To what extent can you employ the concepts of Freudian psychoanalysis to
understand the motivations of literary characters?
What kinds of literary works and what types of literary characters seem best
suited to a critical approach that employs a psychological or psychoanalytical
perspective? Why?
How can a psychological or psychoanalytical approach to a particular work be
combined with an approach from another critical perspective—for example,
biographical, formalist, or feminist criticism?

(b) Jungian Approach:

Jung is also an influential force in myth (archetypal) criticism. Psychological critics
are generally concerned with his concept of the process of individuation (the
process of discovering what makes one different form everyone else)
(http://www.sonoma.edu/users/d/daniels/Jungsum.html)
Jung labeled three parts of the self:
Shadow -- the darker, unconscious self; rarely surfaces, yet must be faced
for totality of Self
Persona -- the public personality/mask (particularly masculine)
Anima/Animus -- a man’s/woman’s “soul image” (the negative that makes a
composite whole)
A neurosis occurs when someone fails to assimilate one of these unconscious
components into his conscious and projects it on someone else. The persona
must be flexible and be able to balance the components of the psyche.

Mythological / Archetypal: A mythological / archetypal approach to literature

assumes that there is a collection of symbols, images, characters, and motifs (i.e.,
archetypes) that evokes a similar response in all people. According to the
psychologist Carl Jung, mankind possesses a “collective unconscious” (a cosmic
reservoir of human experience) that contains these archetypes and that is common
to all of humanity. Myth critics identify these archetypal patterns and discuss how
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they function in the works. They believe Ajuy,that
Iloilo these archetypes are the source of
much of literature's power.
This uses Northrop Frye’s assertion that literature consists of variation on a great
mythic theme that contains the following elements:
The creation of life in a paradise: garden
The displacement from paradise: alienation
A time of trial and tribulation, usually a wandering: a journey
A self discovery as a result of the struggle: an epiphany
A return to paradise: either the original or a new improved one

Advantages: Provides a universalistic approach to literature and identifies a reason

why certain literature may survive the test of time. It works well with works that are
highly symbolic.

Disadvantages: Literature may become little more than a vehicle for archetypes,
and this approach may ignore the “art” of literature.

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Checklist of Mythological Critical Questions
What incidents in the work seem common or familiar enough as actions that
they might be considered symbolic or archetypal? Are there any journeys,
battles, falls, reversals of fortune, etc.?
What kinds of character types appear in the work? How might they be
classified?
What creatures, elements of nature, or man-made objects playing a role in
the work might be considered symbolic?
What changes do the characters undergo? How can those changes be
characterized or named? To what might they be related or compared?
What religious or quasi-religious traditions might the work’s story, characters,
elements, or objects be compared to or affiliated with? Why?

5. Feminist Approach:
Feminist criticism is concerned with the impact of gender on writing and reading. It
usually begins with a critique of patriarchal culture. It is concerned with the place of
female writers in the cannon. Finally, it includes a search for a feminine theory or
approach to texts. Feminist criticism is political and often revisionist. Feminists often
argue that male fears are portrayed through female characters. They may argue
that gender determines everything, or just the opposite: that all gender differences
are imposed by society, and gender determines nothing.

Elaine Showalter's Theory:

In A Literature of Their Own, Elaine Showalter argued that literary subcultures all go
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through three major phases of development. For literature by or about women, she
labels these stages the Feminine, Feminist, and Female:

Feminine Stage -- involves “imitation of the prevailing modes of the dominant

tradition” and “internalization of its standards.”
Feminist Stage -- involves “protest against these standards and values and
advocacy of minority rights....”
Female Stage -- this is the “phase of self-discovery, a turning inwards freed
from some of the dependency of opposition, a search for identity.”

Advantages: Women have been underrepresented in the traditional cannon, and a

feminist approach to literature attempts to redress this problem.

Disadvantages: Feminists turn literary criticism into a political battlefield and

overlook the merits of works they consider “patriarchal.” When arguing for a distinct
feminine writing style, they tend to relegate women’s literature to a ghetto status;
this in turn prevents female literature from being naturally included in the literary

63
cannon. The feminist approach is often too theoretical.
(http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/critical_define/crit_femin.html)

Checklist of Feminist Critical Questions

To what extent does the representation of women (and men) in the work
reflect the place and time in which the work was written?
How are the relationships between men and women or those between
members of the same sex presented in the work? What roles do men and
women assume and perform and with what consequences?
Does the author present the work from within a predominantly male or female
sensibility? Why might this have been done, and with what effects?
How do the facts of the author’s life relate to the presentation of men and
women in the work? To their relative degrees of power?
How do other works by the author correspond to this one in their depiction of
the power relationships between men and women?
(http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/critical_define/
crit_femin.html)

6. Marxist Criticism:
Marxist criticism is a type of criticism in which literary works are viewed as the
product of work and whose practitioners emphasize the role of class and ideology as
they reflect, propagate, and even challenge the prevailing social order. Rather than
viewing texts as repositories for hidden meanings, Marxist critics view texts as
material products to be understood in broadly historical terms. In short, literary
works are viewed as a product of work (and hence of the realm of production and
consumption we call economics).

Core Marxist Principles & Basic Terms:

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Proletariat: that class of society, which Ajuy,
doesIloilo
not have ownership of the means of
production.
Bourgeoisie: wealthy class that rules society.
Power of the Base: Marx believed that the economic means of production in a
society (the base) both creates and controls all human institutions and
ideologies (the superstructure). This superstructure includes all social and legal
institutions, all political and educational systems, all religions, and all art. These
ideologies develop as a result of the economic means of production, not the
reverse.
Alienation -- Marx believed that capitalist society created three forms of alienation:
First, the worker is alienated from what he produces.
Second, the worker is alienated from himself; only when he is not working
does he feel truly himself.
Finally, in capitalist society people are alienated from each other; that is, in a
competitive society people are set against other people. Marx believed that
the solution was communism, which would allow the development of our full
“potentialities as a human.”
For Marx, the possibility that one may give up ownership of one's own -- one's
capacity to transform the world -- is tantamount to being alienated from one's
own nature; it is a spiritual loss.
64
Dialectical Materialism
Marx believed that communism was a historical inevitability. Society had
progressed from one economic system to another—from feudalism to
capitalism, for example.
The contradictions of each system led to its collapse. As history advanced, the
failures of the preceding system would lead to the adoption of a new one.
Marx’s version was that human history was a series of steps towards a perfect
economic arrangement—an inevitable march. According to Marx, capitalism
was the result of conflict between lords and serfs in feudal society and
between guild masters and journeymen in precapitalistic society. The resulting
conflicts created the capitalist class or bourgeoisie, which owns the means of
production, and the wage workers or proletariat class, which has to sell its
labor to survive.
Derived from Hegel’s dialectic, the belief that truth (synthesis) emerges from
a comparison of a thesis and anti-thesis.

Checklist of Marxist/Cultural Criticism:

What is the economic status of the characters?
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What happens to them as a result Ajuy, Iloilostatus?
of this
How do they fare against economic and political odds?
What other conditions stemming from their class does the writer emphasize?
(e.g., poor education, poor nutrition, poor health care, inadequate
opportunity)
To what extent does the work fail by overlooking the economic, social and
political implications of its material?
In what other ways does economic determinism affect the work? How should
readers consider the story in today’s modern economic setting (nationally,
globally,etc.)?
(http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/critical_define/crit_marx.html)

7. Cultural Criticism: Cultural Studies from the beginning has shared concerns and
methods of analysis with Marxist theory. One shared assumption is that culture is
dialectical in nature: we make culture and we are made by culture. Because cultural
processes are intimately connected with social relations, especially class, gender,
and
racial structural divisions, culture is understood to involve power and helps maintain
and create inequalities within and between social groups. As part of the dialectic of
culture, resistance is always present in that a dominant cultural process will
generate its own critical response. For this reason Cultural Studies emphasizes the
importance
of analyzing the dialectical play between resistance and incorporation of cultural
65
production. And again like Marxist criticism, Cultural Studies focuses on the
relationship between social practices commonly separated so that culture is seen as
a whole way of life, a social totality.

8. Structuralism: It is based on the linguistic theories of Ferdinand de Saussure

and cultural theories of Claude-Levi Strauss.
Language is a well-contained system of signs. (Saussure)
Culture like languages, could be viewed as systems of signs and could be
analyzed in terms of the structural relations among their elements. (Levi-
Strauss)
Views literary text as system of interlocking signs which are arbitrary.
Seeks to make explicit the “grammar” (the rules are coded or system of
organization)
Uses the concept of binary oppositions (sign-signifier, parole-langue,
performance-competence).
Believes that a sign (something which stands to somebody for
something) can never have a definite meaning, because the meaning must
be continuously qualified.
Strength: allows extratextuality and links literary text to system of signs that
exist even before the work is written.
Weakness: denie’s author’s individuality contribution.

9. Deconstraction: Was initiated by Jacques Derrida in the late 1960’s.

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Assumes that language refers only Ajuy, to
Iloiloitself rather than to an extratextual
reality.
Asserts multiple conflicting interpretation of a text.
Bases interpretation on the philosophical, political implications of the use of
language in a text rather than on the author’s intentions.
Involves the questioning of the many hierarchical oppositions (binary
oppositions) in order to expose the bias of the privileged terms.
Takes apart the logical of language in which authors make their claims.
Reveals how all text undermine themselves in that every text includes
unconscious “traces” of other positions exactly opposite to that which it sets
out to uphold.
Strength: debunks the idea of the arbitraries of the verbal sign and loosen up
language from concepts and referents.
Weakness: views that the “meaning” of the text bears only accidental
relationship to the author’s conscious intention.

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IV. Learning Assessment
1. Do an analysis of the poem below. Use the Mimetic Critical Theory.

FIRE AND ICE

By: Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire, 1

Some say in ice. 2
From what I’ve tasted of desire 3
I hold with those who favor fire. 4
But if it had to perish twice, 5
I think I know enough of hate 6
To say that for destruction ice 7
Is also great 8
And would suffice. 9

2. Analyze the poem using the Affective Critical Theory.

INVICTUS
By: William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,

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Ajuy,
Black as the Pit Iloilo
from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet
the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gates,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Criteria: Comprehension 10 pts.

Analysis 15 pts.
Interpretation 15 pts.
Writing Skills and Mechanics 10 pts.
Total 50 pts.

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V. Enrichment Activity

Research on any short story with an analysis which used some of the literary
approaches that were discussed earlier. You can have it copy-pasted in a sheet of
paper and pass it on my messenger; the one with our school logo. Read it and study
for later reference.
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Ajuy, Iloilo

VI. Reference

1. Ang, Jaime. (2009). Kritika: selected readings in Philippine literature from pre-
colonial to post EDSA:Manila. Mindshapers Co., Inc.
2. Himpayan, Lucille. Literary theory and literary practice. Negros Oriental State
University
3. http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/critical_define/crit_femin.html)
retrieved: May 18, 2021
4. http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/critical_define/crit_form.html
retrieved: May 18, 2021
5. http://www.sonoma.edu/users/d/daniels/Jungsum.html
retrieved: May 18, 2021
6. http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/critical_define/crit_marx.html)
retrieved: May 18, 2021
7. http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/critical_define/crit_newcrit.html
retrieved: May 18, 2021

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Module 4 – Writing the Literary Criticism Paper
Time Allotment: 6 hours

I. Introduction
Writing the literary criticism paper may be viewed technically according to its
structure and forma; but it can be creative at the same time since it is a form of
appreciation delving deeper than merely knowing the story; and how the events
turned into a satisfactory or disgusting ending.
In this module, you will be introduced with some examples of literary analysis
that will serve as a guide as you do your own literary analysis.

II. Learning Outcomes

At the end of the module, you must have:

A. identified the elements necessary for a literary criticism paper;
B. applied the structure and techniques in writing a literary criticism paper;
C. written an original critique paper addressing problems in critical theory.

III. Learning Content: Post-War Fiction Standard

1. Emphasis on Key Moment or Epiphany

Determining the key moment is crucial part of the story. It is likewise known
as the point of illumination or Flash of Realization which usually appears at the end
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of the story where the perceptive readerAjuy,gets
Iloiloan insight into the total intention of
the story. It is the part where main character who experience the conflict or inner
turbulence, realizes something which would change his decision or succeeding
action. A very simple event or twist of event which is sometimes presented as irony
may cause the epiphany or key moment. It is the new awareness that comes about
due to a simple thing or event which illumines the character.
For example, in Hemingway’s “The Killer” two killers were going to a
restaurant with a few more customers left. Nick Adams; George, the restaurant
hand; and the chef were tied. But Anderson is not the main character, it is his last
statement that shows the key moment since he couldn’t help thinking about it. He
had been shaken into a new awareness. It is the “Epiphany” or “Point of Revelation”
which comes about because of the brilliant spurts of a writer.

2. Use of Consistent Point of View

It is the point of authority which the story unfolds through the eyes the
character. The point of view of the character need not be the central character.
There is the character in focus and it may be through the eyes of a minor character
that a story is unfolded.
The kinds of points of view character include:
a) the omniscient- the writer can go into the thoughts of any character even
a dog;
b) first person point of view; and
c) third person or central intelligence point of view. The author can go into
the consciousness of the main character who is also the Central Intelligence.
Everything is evaluated and conjectured in the mind of the Central Intelligence
from the third person point of view.

3. Use of Symbols
A modern fictionist is not satisfied with a story existing in one level, since
there is more to it than just literary level. It should take on some symbolic devices.
If the selection analyzed is a ballad or epic dramatic devices usually focus on
dialogue, action and narrative. Historical background, authorship and literary
background are always sought, aside from the conventional elements.
Devices which are symbolic include:
figurative language,
en medias res, and
foreshadowing

Effective use of figurative language is not only artistic but symbolic as well,
toaid analysis of poetry selections and fiction as well. These devices are employed by
the author according to his purpose.
In foreshadowing, the writer symbolically sets the mood or atmosphere at
the beginning of the beginning of the story for better understanding and
appreciation. Foreshadowing is a technique using suggestive lines, queer
prominent feeling, silhouettes or images, and premonitions expressed in vivid
imagery which gives a reader a hint or clue and help them predict what will happen
at the end of the story, e.g., Several lines can easily be identified as foreshadowing’
at the start of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of House of Usher”. The Character’s eerie
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feeling, imagination and ephemeral images all give hint to the morbid scenes that
ensue; and the flitting silhouette of a crumbling house before his eyes, does really
occur at the end of thr story.
The flashback technique basically sets the structure or development of the
story, how it starts and how it ends. The techniques known as en medias res
(starting in the middle), uses effective recall of the past event to illumine the
present or future events.

4. Evocative Use of Language

Most contemporary writers have mastered the use of language. They are able
to manipulate language to powerfully evoke emotions.

5. Overall Structural Unity

A story should maintain an overall structural unity. There should be effective
blending of form and content, and idea calls for a certain character to bring it out,
and gets a setting which should best project the story, e.g., a ghetto place in the
U.S., where the underprivileged converge, is used as a setting since it is important
to project the idea of poverty and dillusionment. The language should evoke images
of poverty. Then the idea gives birth to conflict which stems from the illusion of the
central character. Hence, “Illusion vs. Reality”, is established.
James Joyce’s “Araby” best illustrates this idea which has been copied by
other Western and Oriental fictionist. The girl character, who is the love interest in
the story,

69
stands for illusion. The main character experiences the inner conflict and he is torn
asunder. He jolted back to his senses and the stark reality that they are worlds
apart; and that he is on the losing end.

6. Modern Concept of Plot

This is the simple forward movement of the plot in the story that should
progress until the major character manifests changes. At the end of the story, a
change must have taken place in a short span of time. This is similar to the
Epiphany or Key Moment. The changes are not cosmic and tentative. They come in
the form of:
a) Reversal of Attitude: It is a complete change in the main character,
and the change may be brought about by a simple cause, situation or
simple incident, e.g., a man contemplating to commit suicide is stopped
by his pet feline snuggling closely: and this changes his decision.
b) Heightening of an old awareness: Some relationships go sour. The
wife for instance is aware of the growing strain in the relationship. As
the situation worsens there is heightening of an old awareness – that
the marriage is now shaky. Then the bum husband is made to realize
that he is losing her.
c) Discovery of truth about himself: A twist of event or a simple
incident may cause the main character’s discovery of truth about
himself, about human or human condition. Lu Hsun’s short story, “A
Little Incident” is the best example of how the major character
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discovered how mean sheAjuy, Iloilo
could be, shouting at the rickshaw man who
did the right thing – attending to the old woman who got hurt in the
accident, despite the intense pain he himself felt. This incident led the
character to the flash realization about herself, which later became a
part of her guilt and left an imprint on her own consciousness for the
rest of her lifetime.

As part of fiction, the same literary standards may be used for novelettes and
novels, and drama. Just like the short story, all these are very rich sources of
human values. They all have storylines as their commonality; yet presented in
different forms or genre.

A play however, remains a mere script unless it is acted on stage. It is only

when a written script is interpreted, and presented on stage that a slice of life is
recreated and best appreciated; and becomes a work classified as the performing
arts in the real sense.

General Analysis:
requires summing up, tracing a theme and briefly discussing some elements
of a technique
an impromptu interpretation of a piece of literature may be done
as a cardinal rule, a literary work should be analyzed on the basis of its most
prominent feature
if the story seems to have a threadbare plot but has a well-developed
character, then focus the analysis on the character

70
if the poem uses elaborate vivid imagery and says nothing about the
personality of the speaker, then take imagery as your take-off for discussion
and ignore the persona
start the analysis with a brief introduction, providing the theme of the story in
a nutshell
sum up the work in terms of its single dominant idea and state this idea as a
theme
extracting the theme is the most error-prone process of general analysis
if the formulated theme is erroneous, the entire analysis is likely to collapse
for lack of solid formulation – that is the theme
one can always reconstruct and several themes may be extracted
Reading a story enables one to get away From the tedium of the daily grind and puts
him at a vantage point from which he can look back on life, see more clearly with
greater discernment than when he is just immersed with trivialities on hand.

A theme is a generalization about life or human character that a story explicitly or

implicitly embodies.
It should not be confused with a “message” as though the value of a story is
determined by how potent the dose of moral medicine it ladles out to the
reader.
Message is intended to highlight the theme of the story
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May be discussed giving a final Ajuy, Iloilo alongside with the implications of
statement
the story in real life
Specifies what should be done, what should be rectified and what course of
action should be taken in the actual situation, since lessons and messages
have been clarified
In a theme setting, it is best to be reminded that most literary works prompt
us to see how time works and changes; transforming love into hate, loyalty
into treachery, idealism into debauchery, and beauty into ugliness or
significant values are surfaced
Great works like that of Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina,” William Shakespeare’s
“Macbeth,” William Golding’s “The Lord of the Flies,” or Jose Rizal’s “Noli” and “Fili”
often deal with moral issues. For literature focuses on man; and man’s most
significant moments are when he is engaged in a moral choice, and is made to
choose between good and evil, heroism or cowardice, and regeneration or despair.

71

Sample Reading and Analysis

THE PORTRAIT
By Stanley Kunitz

My mother never forgave my father

for killing himself,
especially at such an awkward time
and in public park,
that spring
when I was waiting to be born.
She locked his name
in her deepest cabinet
and would not let him out,
though I could hear him thumping,
When I came down from the attic
with the pastel portrait in my hand
of a long-lipped stranger
with a brave mustache
and deep brown level eyes ,
she ripped it into shreds
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withoutAjuy, Iloilo word
a single
and slapped me hard.
In my sixty-fourth year
I can feel my cheek
Still burning.

Notes on the Above Poem:

Literal level notes:

 Basic situation – a family, 3 people: father, mother, child; father killed

himself in public before the child was born; “mother” never forgives “father”
and never talks about “father”; child senses “mother” still thinks about and
feels for “father”; child retrieves photo of “father” and “mother” slaps child
and tears photo; years later, child still remembers the slapping
 Persona – speaker in the poem is the child, years later, sex or gender of the
child is not Explicit in text.
 No specific setting or time or atmosphere, except the narrative of the
poem which takes place in some country where there are focus season
(“spring”)

Beyond the Literal Level

A. Suicide
 Father commits suicide and no explicit reason is given in the text
 Studies in most suicides show that in most cases, the person who kills himself
 or herself leaves no clear reason for doing so; the effect on others is a
complex
72
of emotions including guilt and anger and grief over sudden, unexpected
death
 suicide has been said to be the most painful thing one person can do to
another because it is complete and utter rejection of other’s love and
personhood

B. There are 3 relationships implied in the text:

 Husband and wife
 Father and child
 Mother and child

1. Father and child

 child grows up without a father; longing is implied in the child’s
scrounging around in the attic and retrieving a photo
 the child looking in the attic (the highest, most remote and unused part
of the house where a lot of a family’s junk – which they don’t want to
throw away – is stored) is a metaphor for a child looking for a father
figure
2. Husband and wife
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My mother never forgave my Ajuy,father
Iloilo
For killing himself
 mother never quite gets over the whole thing
 Consider the enjambed line: the line ends with “father”, not only do the
two lines talk about how the mother never quite gets over the father’s
suicide, but also, because the line ends with “father” the first line
implies the relationship between mother and father – that the mother
never forgave the father. There is a hint here about the character of
the mother being “unforgiving”, or in all probability difficult to live with,
not necessarily meaning that she was the cause of the father’s suicide,
but that their relationship wasn’t exactly the happiest one.

3. Mother and child

 Mother’s mode of communicating with child-well, she doesn’t really, she
keeps her feelings to herself, and when she sees the child with the
photo, she reacts violently, and without explanation; child knows father
lingers in mother’s heart.
She locked his name
in the deepest cabinet
and would not let him out,
though I could hear him thumping.

 Years after the slapping (when the child is close to retirement at 64),
the relationship and the event itself remain unresolved in the child

C. Other Formal Elements

1. Tone of voice – detached, questioning tone, with some emphasis on the
mother slapping the child – note the lines cuts:
she ripped it into shreds

73
without a single word
and slapped me hard

The above lines are cuts at the natural syntactical moments (had above been a
sentence). These syntactical moments are also moments in the event itself; she rips
the photo, says nothing, slaps the child. The event is extremely memorable, the
moments of pause/ emphasis/ weight within the poem.

Despite the seeming detachment, the child has some unresolved ill feelings towards
the mother, perhaps even blaming the mother for the father’s suicide. We see this
especially because the description of the man in the portrait is a flattering one:
with a brave mustache
and deep brown level eyes,

2. Dominant Metaphor
The main metaphor, we take from the title, the portrait. The portrait is a
photo of a person, usually a photo that accepts to capture the character of the
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person. Of course, photos are flat icons of Iloilo
a person, place, thing, event, etc. They
don’t capture the essence of the person, place, event, etc. They don’t capture
emotional content.

So what you have in the photo is both presence (in the form of icon) and
absence (in the lack of essence or emotional content). The photo is a metaphor for
the father’s continuing “presence” in their lives in the form of remnants and
memories, and “absence” because he is literally dead.

Photos have the power to trigger memory. This is why mother slaps the child.
But in the child’s case, there is no memory to trigger. The slapping becomes the
child’s key family memory (family meaning “father, mother, child”), and this is why
the whole thing remains unresolved in the child.

Things to remember when reading (poetry, fiction, non-fiction, newspaper,

documents etc.)

 When a person reads, everything that person experienced, everything that he

or she have read, the milieu in which the reader finds himself or herself – in
other words, all of what constitutes what we call “intertext” and “historicity” –
comes into play in that reading.
 There is no way around it, or no way to escape intertext and historicity.
 Just as a writer, consciously and unconsciously, brings his or her intertext and
historicity into whatever he/she writes, so do a reader in the act of reading.
 In the above reading/interpretation, the author brought into play his prior
reading on suicides.
 The point, however, when reading is to attempt to control what comes into
play.
 Not everything he knows or have read or experienced regarding family
relationships is important in reading the above poem.

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 For example, the poem doesn’t work with the problems brought about by
sexual
incompatibility, financial constraints etc.
 Never take the author’s gender or sex of the poem’s persona.
 Never take the author as the main character of the persona/speaker of the
poem even if the author uses first person point of view.
 The only exception to this way of reading is when the poem belongs to the
“confessional poetry” genre – like the poems of Plath and Sexton.
 A reading of a text lies between the reader and the writer.
 The text, to a certain extent controls the possible readings of it: but never
completely.
 The writer no longer exists, except in terms of his or her milieu (at what point
in history was she/he writing, from what country etc.) and except when its’s a
confessional poem (Sylvia Plath attempted suicide two times before finally
succeeding in her third attempt. She had a problematic relationship with her
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Ajuy,
father, etc.). (taken from Ang’s Iloilo 2019; written by Chuck Gomez,
Kritika,
Ateneo de Manila University)

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IV. Learning Assessment

Do a critical analysis of the short story “May Day Eve” by Nick Joaquin. Use a
combination of different literary approaches which you deem appropriate for the
analysis. Please refer to the criteria below.

Criteria:
Comprehension 10 pts.
Analysis 15 pts.
Interpretation 15 pts.
Writing Skills and Mechanics 10 pts.
Total 50 pts.
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Ajuy, Iloilo

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V. Enrichment Activity

In the movie “Noy” which starred Coco Martin and highlights the political journey of
then President Benigno Simeon Aquino III:

1. What are the different types of issues tackeld?

2. What literary approach/es do you think is/are best applied for the movie when
analyzed?
3. Are there symbols used in the movie? What are their meaning?
4. What is the key moment of epiphany of the movie “Noy”?
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Ajuy, Iloilo

VI. Reference

1. Ang, Jaime. (2009). Kritika: selected readings in Philippine literature from pre-
colonial to post EDSA:Manila. Mindshapers Co., Inc

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