Lesson 2: Forms and Elements of Literature

Learning Outcomes:

1. Distinguish the forms of literature

2. Outline the elements of prose and poetry.
3. Illustrate the different types of literature, poetry and prose.

Forms of Literature

Two main division of literature are Prose and Poetry

Poem is a composition usually written in verse. Poems rely heavily on imagery, precise
word choice, and metaphor; they may take the form of measures consisting of patterns of
stresses (metric feet) or of patterns of different-length syllables and they may or may not
utilize rhyme.

Prose consists of writing that does not adhere to any particular formal structures (other
than simple grammar). It is spoken or written language without metrical structure as
distinguished from poetry or verse.

Kinds of Poetry

A. Narrative Poetry – A narrative poetry tells a story in verse.

1. Epic retells in a continuous narrative the life and works of a heroic or mythological
person or group of persons. It is considered as the oldest form of literature since its
existence is known to be along the ancient history.

Most of the epic are handed down orally from generation to another as part of the
oral tradition of certain notions, until they translated into writing. This also might have
been the reason as to the---? narrators could have added details thereby supplementing
their own ideas to the story as they please since the stories are handled orally and
nobody could check whether they are duplicated.

2. Ballad is a song that tells a story, often one dealing with adventure or romance. Many
ballads employ repetition of a refrain or incremental repetition in which a refrain is varied
slightly each time it appears.

3. The Metrical Tale is a narrative poem that relates to real or imaginary events in
simple, straight forward language, from wide range of subjects, characters, life
experiences, and emotional situations. The characters are ordinary people concerned
with ordinary events.

4. Metrical Romance is a long narrative poem that presents remote or imaginative

incidents rather than ordinary realistic experience.

B. Lyric Poetry - A lyric poem is a poem that expresses the emotions, feelings and
observations of the writer. Unlike narrative poem, it presents an experience or a single
effect, but it does not tell a full story.
1. Song is a lyric poem set to music and is intended to be sung

2. Sonnet is a fourteen-line lyric poem focused on a single theme.

3. Elegy is a solemn and formal lyric poem about death. It may mourn a particular person
or reflect n serious or tragic theme.

4. Ode is a long, formal lyric poem with a serious theme. It often honors people,
commemorative events, respond to natural scenes, or consider serious human problems.

5. Simple lyric or simply lyric includes all lyric poems that do not fall under the 4 other
types.

Elements of Poetry

Sounds
Poetry is all about sound. Rhythm and rhyme play a big part in how poetry sounds.
Alliteration and repetition are also important.

Rhyme Scheme
Rhyming words end with the same sound. The rhyme scheme is the specific order of the
rhyme.
Example of rhyming words:
I found a shell in the bay
When I was walking yesterday
The words bay and yesterday rhyme.

Rhythm
Rhythm is the music made by the statements of the poem, which includes the syllables in
the lines. The best way to understand this is to read the poem aloud, and understand the
stressed and unstressed syllables. This is how the sound of words flows when they are
linked with one another.

Language
Poetic language is the language used by poets in writing their poems. You understand
this by these poetic devices: figurative language, imagery and figure of speech.

Figurative language is a language using figures of speech; it cannot be taken literally.

Imagery is the representation through language of sense experience; language that
appeals to the senses – seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, smelling.

Figure of Speech is any way of saying something other than the ordinary way. Below are
common figures of speech:

Allegory – a symbolic representation

Example: A blindfolded figure is an allegory of justice.

 William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily- the decline of the Old South
 Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- man’s
 struggle to contain his inner primal instincts
 District 9- South African Apartheid
 X Men- the evils of prejudice
 Harry Potter- the dangers of seeking “racial purity”

Alliteration – the repetition of the initial consonant. There should be at least two
repetitions in a row.
Example: Sandy Sanders sells sausages at the store.

Allusion – A reference to a famous person or event in life or literature.

Example: Her smile is like Mona Lisa’s smile.

Analogy – the comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship.
Example: shoe is to foot as tire is to wheel

Assonance – the repetition of similar vowel in a sentence.

Example: Ted met Zed in Jeddah.

Hyperbole – a figure of speech involving exaggeration.

Example: I travel seven seas and dozen mountains just to express my deepest love for
you.

Metaphor – a comparison in which one thing is said to be another.

Example: The cat’s eyes are diamonds gleaming in the darkness.

Onomatopoeia – the use of words to imitate the sounds they describe.

Example: The wind hissed as it passes my ears.
The ‘oink’ of the pig

Oxymoron – putting two contradictory words together

Example: bittersweet, awfully good, random over

Personification – is giving human qualities to animals or objects.

Example: The yellow bells swing their fragile buds.

Pun – also called paronomasia is a word is used which has two meanings at the same
time, which results in humor.
Example: I met the girl at the internet café but we did not click.

Simile – involves a comparison between unlike things using like, as or as though.

Example: She cries like an owl.

Mood and Meaning

The mood is the feeling or atmosphere of a piece. The mood can be many different
things. Some examples included: a feeling of love, doom, fear, pride, chaos, peace.

Meaning is what the author is trying to communicate. To achieve mood and meaning in
poetry, you should be able to establish mood or purpose in poetry by:
Choice of words – dialects may convey a sense of innocence

Invented words – it adds color and clarity

Symbolic language- appeals to the sense (seeing, hearing, feeling, touching and
smelling. Figurative language is words used for descriptive effects that express some
truth behind their literal meaning.

Structure of the sentences – long sentences may create an air of formality and
seriousness, while short sentences may be livelier. Fragments may confuse the length of
each poetic line can convey mood by varying your lines.

The punctuation mark chosen clarify meaning. No punctuation creates confusion. To do

this, you must have background knowledge on the subject, or research on it.

Kinds of Prose

Fiction

Fiction type of literature is made out of one’s imaginative and creative mind. The ideas
are not true at all. Novels and short stories are best examples of fictional literature.

Elements of Fiction

Themes

A theme is the central idea of the story. When writers have a story idea, they develop
their story around a theme. They have a specific message they want to reveal to you as
their readers.

(1) What do you think the writer wants to reveal to you?

(2) How can you apply the message in your life?

Theme may be classified as stated or implied.

Stated theme is when the writer directly states the theme in the story. This is usually
revealed at the end of the story. It may be expressed y one of the characters or by the
author. A story with a stated theme usually has details to support the theme.

An implied theme is not stated directly. It is gradually revealed to you as readers by the
other elements of the story. We can discover the theme of a story by remembering the
following points:
a character may learn a lesson about life from the events of the story a character’s
personality traits may tell you the author’s ideas about people in general details of setting
may tell you the author’s idea of the world in general the title may suggest the author’s
opinion of what happens in the story.

The following are mistakenly stated as themes:

 Courage
 Loyalty journey
  A great journey growing up
 Jealousy
 Conflicts with journey or God

Above list of words is wrong. Those are ideas and genres not theme. Specific themes are
written in sentence.
For example:
"Good will win”
“You can do it if you try"
"Love is powerful"
"Friendship is all you need"

Settings
A setting reveals the location and time in which a story occurs. It includes the historical
period, geographical area, landscape, season, weather, and culture in which the action
takes place. We can picture the setting from the descriptive details given in the story.

Characters
The characters in a story can be people or animals. There is one main character in the
story. This character has some kind of problem he/she experiences throughout the story.
Each character has certain qualities, or character traits, that you discover as you read the
story.

Character - representation of a person, place, or thing performing traditionally human

activities or functions in a work of fiction

 Protagonist - The character the story revolves around.

 Antagonist - A character or force that opposes the protagonist.
 Minor character - Often provides support and illuminates the protagonist.
 Static character - A character that remains the same.
 Dynamic character - A character that changes in some important way.
 Characterization - The choices an author makes to reveal a character’s
personality, such as appearance, actions, dialogue, and motivations.
Plot
Plot is the structure of the story. They reveal the characters and what the main character
experiences throughout the story. The structure occurs in order of the events that happen
to the main character. They form a sequence, or pattern, in which each event leads
logically to the next. When you read a story, you become very involved in its plot.

Plot - the arrangement of ideas and/or incidents that make up a story

 Foreshadowing - When the writer clues the reader in to something that will
eventually occur in the story; it may be explicit (obvious) or implied (disguised).
The title Before The End of Summer, foreshadows that something important will
happen before the end summer.
 Suspense - The tension that the author uses to create a feeling of discomfort
 about the unknown
 Conflict - Struggle between opposing forces.
 Exposition - Background information regarding the setting, characters, plot.
 Rising Action - The process the story follows as it builds to its main conflict
 Crisis - A significant turning point in the story that determines how it must end
 Resolution/Denouement - The way the story turns out.

Character-driven -The story focuses on the characters. The main character experiences
a certain trial and deals with that trial throughout the story. The main character changes
by the end of the story.
Plot-driven -The story focuses on the plot. The plot is what moves the story. The
characters don't change in plot-driven stories.
Point of View
Point of view is the viewpoint of the story. Writers use first person point of view, third
person point of view and omniscient point of view.
First person point of view – The main character is also the narrator of the story. The
narrator is included in the story in which he uses pronouns like I, we, and us.
Third person point of view – The narrator is neither included nor part of the story. The
narrator uses the pronouns like them and they.
Omniscient point of view – This point of view is almost the same with the third person
point of view. The narrator is also not part of the story but he knows everything about the
characters; thoughts, secrets and plans. The narrator knows the flow of the story.

 Narrator - The person telling the story who may or may not be a character in the
story.
 First-person - Narrator participates in action but sometimes has limited
knowledge/vision.
 Second person - Narrator addresses the reader directly as though she is part of
the story. (i.e. “You walk into your bedroom. You see clutter everywhere and…”)
 Third Person (Objective) - Narrator is unnamed/unidentified (a detached
observer). Does not assume character's perspective and is not a character in the
story. The narrator reports on events and lets the reader supply the meaning.
 Omniscient - All-knowing narrator (multiple perspectives). The narrator knows
what each character is thinking and feeling, not just what they are doing
throughout the story. This type of narrator usually jumps around within the text,
following one character for a few pages or chapters, and then switching to another
character for a few pages, chapters, etc. Omniscient narrators also sometimes
step out of a particular character’s mind to evaluate him or her in some meaningful
way.

Nonfiction
Nonfiction is the opposite of fiction. Books that are nonfiction, or are true, are about real
things, people, events and places. Nonfiction can be broken down or organized into
various sub-categories such as biography/autobiography, memoirs (also journals and
diaries) and essay to name a few.
Autobiography
o (Auto meaning “self”, bios meaning “life”) is a book about the life of a person, written by
that person.

Biography
o This is a description or account of someone’s life. It is more than a list of impersonal
facts (education, work, relationships and death). It portrays the person’s experience of
those events, highlighting various aspects of his or her life, including intimate details of
experiences, and even the analysis of the subject’s personality.

Essay
o Usually a short piece of writing which is often written from the author’s personal point of
view that can deal with any subject.

Memoir
o A memoir is a literary genre (from the French: memoire from the Lain memorial,
meaning “memory”, or reminiscence). It is an account of an individual composed from
personal experience and memory, an account of transactions or events as they are
remembered by the writer.

Elements of Nonfiction

Author’s Purpose

Inform
Since nonfiction literature accounts to real things. To provide information to the readers is
one of the author’s purposes in writing a literature.

Entertain
Entertainment is not just for stories and novels but also for nonfiction literature. The
author doesn’t want his audience to be bored when he presents factual information.
Essays and articles are good example of entertaining nonfiction literature.

Persuade
Convincing the audience may be a hard task for the authors. Criticisms may come and go
even when information is presented properly.

Reader’s Aids

Pictures, charts, graphs and other representations may help to support the information
given by the authors.
This is to give the audience the idea of the whole thing. Readers may read the nonfiction
literature but cannot picture out what the author is trying to say. Nonetheless, images can
help the audience digest the information.

Text Structures
The information being presented and the author’s purpose determine how the writer
organizes the concepts and ideas, like the following:
Enumeration
A major idea is supported by a list of details and examples.
Time Order
A major idea is supported by details. Both major ideas and supporting details must be in
a particular sequence.
Compare/Contrast
The supporting details of two or more major ideas indicate how those concepts are
similar or different.
Cause/Effect
The supporting details give the causes of a major idea or the supporting details are the
results produced by the major idea.

Drama
Drama comes from the Greek words meaning “to do” or “to act.” A play is a story acted
out. It shows people going through some events in their lives, seriously or humorously.
The speech and action of a play recreate the flow of human life. A play comes fully to life
on the stage. Drama presents stories meant to be performed before an audience.

Elements of Drama
Essential elements of drama are found in any play that you see. You are presented with
the elements of the drama considered by Aristotle as essentials to a good drama. They
are:

Plot
This is what happens in the play. Plot refers to the action or the basic storyline of the
play.

Themes
It refers to the meaning of the play. Theme is the main idea or lesson you will learn from
the play.

Characters
Characters are the people (sometimes animals or ideas) portrayed by the actors in the
play. They move the action, or plot, of the play forward.

Dialogue
This refers to the words written by the playwright and spoken y the characters in the play.
The dialogue helps move the action of the play along.

Music/Rhythm
While music is often featured in the drama, in this case Aristotle was referring to the
rhythm of the actors’ voices as they speak.

Spectacle
This refers to the visual elements of a play: sets, costumes, special effects, etc.
Spectacle is everything the audience sees as they watch the play.

In modern theater, there are some changes but you notice that many of the elements
remain the same. These are the elements of the drama in the modern theater: character,
plot, theme, dialogue, convention, genre, audience.
The additional elements are:

Convention
These are the techniques and methods used by the playwright and director to create the
desired stylistic effects.
Genre
It refers to the type of play. Some examples of different genres include: comedy, tragedy, mystery,
and historical play.

Audience
This is the group of people who watch the play. The audience is considered by most playwrights and
actors as the most important element of the drama as all of the effort put in to writing and producing a
play is for the enjoyment of the audience.

Stage directions
They tell actors how to say their lines and how to move on stage. Stage directions appear in brackets.
The first direction tells an actor how to speak. The second direction tells an actor how to move.

A drama is usually divided into acts or scenes. A new act or scene usually begins whenever the time
or setting of the action changes.

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