ASEAN LIT REVIEWER THE 7 LITERARY S TA N D A R D S

L I T E R AT U R E 1. Universality - It appeals to everyone regardless of

• The word literature is derived from the latin culture, race, sex, and time which are considered
significant.
word “litera” which means letter or words
2. Permanence - It endures across time and draws out
• Literature is the total of preserved the time factor: TIMELINESS, occurring at a particular
writings/spoken words belonging to a given time, and TIMELESSNESS, remaining invariably
language or people. throughout time.
• Literature interprets the meanings of nature 3. Artistry - It has an aesthetic appeal to everyone and
and life (thoughts, emotions/feelings) in words thus possesses a sense of beauty.
of charm and power, touched with the 4. Intellectual Value - It stimulates critical thinking that
personality of the author, in artistic forms of enriches the mental processes of abstract and reasoning,
permanent interests. making man realizes the fundamental truths of life and
• Literature expresses significant human its nature.
experiences. 5. Suggestiveness – It unravels and conjures man’s
emotional power to define symbolism, nuances, implied
LITERARY TYPES meanings, images and message, giving and evoking
visions above and beyond the plane of ordinary life and
• BASED ON STRUCTURE experiences.
• BASED ON CONTENT 6. Spiritual Value - It elevates the spirit and the soul and
thus have the power to motivate and inspire, drawn from
BASED ON STRUCTURE
the suggested morals or lessons of the different literary
Prose Non-Prose (poetry) genres.
7. Style - It presents peculiar ways on how man sees life
1. Novels 1. Narrative Poetry as evidenced by the formation of his ideas, forms,
2. Short Story Epic structures, and expressions which are marked by their
3. Plays Metrical Tale memorable substance.
4. Legends Ballads
5. Fables 2. Lyric Poetry LITERARY DEVICES
6. Anecdotes Folk Songs • refers to the typical structures used by writers in
7. Essay Sonnets their works to convey his or her message(s) in a
8. Biography Elegy simple manner to his or her readers.
9. News Ode • Literary Devices have two aspects. They can be
10. Oration Psalms treated as either Literary Elements and Literary
Awit Techniques.
Corridos Literary Elements - have an inherent existence in literary
3. Dramatic Poetry piece and are extensively employed by writers to
BASED ON CONTENT develop a literary piece.

1. Fiction or “literature of power” 1. Plot: It is the logical sequence of events that

✓ Myths develops a story.
✓ poems 2. Setting: It refers to the time and place in which a
✓ short stories story takes place.
✓ novels 3. Protagonist: “good guy”. It is the main character
✓ Plays of story, novel or a play
2. Non-fiction or “literature of knowledge” 4. Antagonist: “bad guy”. It is the character in
✓ Biographies conflict with the Protagonist
✓ News 5. Point of View: The person or entity through
whom the reader experiences the story.
 6. Conflict: It is an issue in a narrative around which Examples:
the whole story revolves. a. The room was dark and gloomy. -The words
7. Mood: A general atmosphere of a narrative. “dark” and “gloomy” are visual images.
8. Tone: The “attitude” of the speaker, narrator as b. The river was roaring in the mountains. – The
conveyed through the language of the piece. word “roaring” appeals to our sense of hearing.
9. Theme: It is central idea or concept of a story.
7. SIMILE AND METAPHOR: - Both compare two distinct
LITERARY TECHNIQUES - are structures usually a words
objects and draws similarity between them. The
or phrases in literary texts that writers employ to achieve
difference is that Simile uses “as” or “like” and Metaphor
not merely artistic ends but also readers a greater
does not.
understanding and appreciation of their literary works.
Examples:
1. SYMBOLISM: It refers in using an object or action that
a. “My love is like a red rose” (Simile)
means something more than its literal meaning
b. He is an old fox very cunning. (Metaphor)
Examples:
8. PERSONIFICATION: - attribution of human qualities to
a. Pink - the fight against breast cancer something that is non-human like objects and animals.
b. The Statue of Liberty – freedom Example:
c. Roses stand for romance a. The flowers are dancing beside the lake.
b. Have you see my new car? She is a real beauty!
2. FLASHBACK - tells an interjected scene of the story c. My clock yelled at me in the morning.
that takes it back in time from the current point in the
story and often used to tell the events that happened 9. HYPERBOLE: - It is deliberate exaggeration of actions
before another important event and ideas for the sake of emphasis.
Example:
3. FLASH FORWARD - tells a scene that takes the a. I’m so sad that I’m drowning in tears!
narrative to a future time from the current point of the b. I have got a million issues to look after!
story.
LITERARY APPROACHES
4. CLIFFHANGER -tells and abrupt ending which places
the main characters in a perilous situation with no FEMINISM
resolution • Feminist literature is often associated with
literary pieces written by women that deal with
5. FORESHADOWING: Important hints that an author
women in the society.
drops to prepare the reader for what is to come, and help
• It also involves characters which chide the
the reader anticipate the outcome.
common gender norms dominated with
Example:
masculinity.
➢ A pipe is going to burst, but before it does, the
• This approach gives an impact to the voice of
author writes a scene where the family notices a
women.
small dark spot on the ceiling, but ignores it.
NEW HISTORICISM
6. IMAGERY- It is the use of figurative language to create
• It deals with the cultural context during writing
visual representations of actions, objects and ideas in our
of the piece of literature.
mind in such a way that they appeal to our different
• This approach interprets literature for its
senses i.e:
meaning or idea in a particular socio-historical
➢ TASTE (gustatory imagery)
atmosphere.
➢ SIGHT (visual imagery)
➢ SMELL (olfactory imagery)
➢ TOUCH (tactile imagery)
➢ HEAR (aural imagery)
FORMALISM OR NEW CRITICISM
• The formalists’ interpretation of work of art is
formulated by the information and details of the
piece itself.
• Formalist’s focus is on rhetorical and logical
connections within the writing.
SUMMARY OF THE PHILIPPINE LITERARY WORKS
“Kwento ni Mabuti”
• Writer - Genoveva Edroza-Matute is a feminist
writer. One of her master piece is “Kwento ni
Mabuti” which won in Palanca Award for Short
Story in Filipino on 1951.
• Title Background - It is all about the life of a
teacher named Mabuti and how she handles the
problem as a teacher and mother to her child.
• Characters
1. Mabuti – an ordinary public-school teacher
who is trying to make her students realized
the importance of studying.
2. Fe – student of Mabuti.
• Type of Conflict
MAN VS. HERSELF - The main character is
hiding her emotions towards to the
circumstances.
Summary of Si Mabuti
There is a teacher named Mabuti. It is not her real name
but her students used to call her Mabuti. She is teacher
in public school. One day, she heard and saw her student
crying in one corner of the library and she asked her
student if she wanted to share the reason behind those
tears. Mabuti was also crying that time. Fe tried to ask
Mabuti why she is crying and Mabuti just responded that
Fe is too young to understand. Mabuti has one child and
she wanted her to be a doctor. She didn’t tell something
about her husband. One day, Fe heard that the father of
Mabuti’s child died but not laid in their house but to
another woman’s house. And now, Fe understand why
Mabuti is not telling story about her husband.
SUMMARY OF TATA SELO
• Writer - Rogelio Sicat sometimes referred to as
“Rogelio Sikat”, was a prolific Filipino novelist,
playwright and short story writer. One of his
masterpieces is the story of “Tata Selo” which
won the second prize in the Carlos Palanca
Award for 1963.
• Title Background - It is based on Rogelio Sikat on
the main character of the story of a male farmer
named Tata Selo. Primarily, it is based on the
real-life land reform issues and recurring political
cruelties in the Philippines.
• Type of Conflict: MAN VS. SOCIETY
In the story, the main character, Tata Selo,
fought with other people around him so that he
could defend himself in the case he faced
regarding the hacking and accidental death of
Kabesang Tano.
• Summary
The story of Tata Selo is about an old man who
just wanted to be able to farm their land that was
sold because his wife got sick. Tata Selo wanted
their land returned to them but due to lack of
money it could not be returned to them so he
just asked Kabesa Tano to farm his land. Until
one day while Tata Selo was farming, Kabesa
Tano talked to him and left his farm because
there were other farmers then. Tata Selo begged
but Kabesa Tano did not listen to him so Tata
Selo accidentally killed him. And Tata Selo was
imprisoned.
VIETNAM LITERATURE
• Vietnam literature consists of two parts, namely
folk and written literature. Folk literature is oral
literature; meanwhile, written literature
includes kanji, “chu Nom” (Nom letters) and
“chu Quoc ngu” (national language) literature.
• From early 20th century, “chu Quoc ngu”
(national language) was widespread over
nationwide. With the development of printing
technology, together with the exposure of
Western and Eastern literature, literature in
Vietnam witnessed a great number of new
literary genres, in which the prose occupied an
important position in the literature forum with
poems reigned before. Changes in the literary
life appeared with the advent of the New Poetry
movement in the 1930s. This was a modern
movement to liberate Vietnamese poetry from
restrictive rules of classical Chinese poetry. In
the field of the prose, the activities of “Tu Luc
Van Doan” group influenced by the West
created modern Vietnam novel. Vietnam
 literature from this period set a presence of 2.Tho Sau Chu or Six-Word Verse
many movements. It can be named some of
• It is measured by word count and uses either
them, such as works in romanticism, works
alternate or envelope rhyme. It can be written in
according to realism, or works associated with
quatrains or octaves. When written in octaves it
politics – revolutionary literature flow
is called Six-Eight Poetry
• The literary arts, especially poetry, have
• The elements of the Tho Sau Chu are:
traditionally been highly prized in Vietnam.
1. stanzaic, written in any number of
There are three main types of Vietnamese
quatrains. It can also be written in
literature:
any number of octaves.
1. TRUYEN (traditional oral literature);
2. measured by word count, 6 words
2. HAN VIET (Chinese-Vietnamese literature);
per line.
3. QUOC AM (modern literature, or anything
3. rhymed, either alternate, abab cdcd
written in the romanticized quoc ngu alphabet).
etc. (when written as Six-Eight
TONE RULE abababab cdcdcdcd etc.) or
envelope, abba cddc etc. (when
• Tones are among the most important elements
written in octaves abbaabba
in most of Vietnamese verse forms.
cddccddc etc.)
• In poetry, the tones of Vietnamese language are
divided based on their falling and rising nature 3.Tho Bay Chu or Seven Word Poetry
into two categories:
• It is written with seemingly more flexible tonal
1. BẰNG (flat) - Bằng category comprises two
pattern than most Viet verse with the exception
tones: ngang and huyền.
of when an end word in the first line is flat, the
2. TRẮC (sharp or non-flat). - Trắc category
3rd word must be sharp and when the end word
comprises four tones: sắc, hỏi, ngã, nặng.
of second line is sharp, the 4th word in the line
RHYME SCHEME RULE must be flat.
• The elements of the Tho Bay Chu are:
• There are two kinds of rhymes in Vietnamese
1. stanzaic, written in any number of
poetry.
quatrains.
1. VẦN GIÀU (rich rhymes): when two words
2. measured by number of words, 7
have the same final sound and their tones
words per line.
come from the same category.
3. Rhymed
2. VẦN NGHÈO (poor rhymes): when two
words have nearly similar final sound and 4.Tho Tam Chu or Eight Word Poetry
their tones come from the same category.
• It appears to be more flexible in stanza length
DIFFERENT POETIC FORMS OF VIETNAM as well as tonal and end rhyme.
• The elements of the Tho Tam Chu are:
1. Tho Bon Chu or Four Word Verse
1. stanzaic, written in any number of
• It is written as its name implies, measuring the
either tercets, quatrains or septets.
number of words per line rather than syllables.
2. measured by the number of words
• The elements of the Tho Bon Chu are:
in the line, 8 words per line.
1. stanzaic, written in a series of couplets
3. Rhymed
2. measured by the number of words in the
line, each line has 4 words
3. Example:
• Sounds normal to shout
with children at home.
• To shout in office
is not my suggestion.