LITERATURE: ITS MEANING, TYPES,

ELEMENTS, AND LITERARY DEVISES

 Literature comes from Latin word “litera” which means letter.
 It is a piece of printed work connected to the thoughts and
expressions of the people.
 It is classified into two groups: Prose and Poetry
TYPES OF LITERATURE
 1. Prose – defined as a written or oral language without metrical
control. It is consists of those written the common flow of
conversation in sentences and paragraphs.
2. Poetry – the imaginative articulation of emotion, thought or
narrative frequently in a metrical form and figurative state. Poetry
has traditionally been differentiated from prose by rhyme or meter.
- refers to those expressions in verse, with measure and
rhyme, line and stanza and has a more melodious tone.
TYPES OF PROSE
 A. NOVEL – is a long narrative divided into chapters. The events
are taken from true to life stories and spans a long period of time.
 B. SHORT STORY – is a narrative involving one or more
characters, one plot and one single impression.
 C. PLAYS – are presented on stage, divided into acts and have
many scenes.
TYPES OF PROSE

 D. LEGENDS – are fictitious narratives usually about the origin of

things, events, or natural phenomena.
 E. FABLES – are fictitious stories that deals with animals and
inanimate things which speak and act like people, their purpose is
to enlighten the minds of children to events that can mold their
ways and attitudes.
TYPES OF PROSE

 F. ANECDOTES – are merely products of the writer’s imagination

and the main aim is to bring lessons to the readers. It can be stories
about animals or children.
 G. ESSAY – expresses the viewpoint or opinion of a writer about a
particular problem or event.
TYPES OF PROSE
 H. BIOGRAPHY – deals with the life of a person which may be
about himself or that of others.
 I. NEWS – is a report of everyday events in society, government,
science and industry, accidents or happenings done nationally or
not.
 J. ORATION – is a formal treatment of a subject and is intended to
be spoken in public.It appeals to the intellect, to the will, or to the
emotions of the audience.
TYPES OF PROSE

 K. FAIRY TALES – wonder tales involving marvelous elements

and occurences.

 L.PARABLES – are short allegorical stories designed to teach a

truth, religious principle or moral lesson. They are often engaging
stories that contain few details but are ripe with meaning.
TYPES OF POETRY
 . 1.NARRATIVE POETRY - is a form that describes important
events in life either real or imaginary.
 The different varieties of Narrative Poetry include:
 a. EPIC – is an extended narrative about heroic exploits under
supernatural control. It may deal with heroes and gods.
 b. METRICAL TALE – is a narrative which is written in verse
and can be classified as a ballad or a metrical romance.
NARRATIVE POETRY
 c. BALLADS – are considered the shortest and simplest of the
narrative poems. They have simple structures and tells of a single
incident.
TYPES OF POETRY

 2. LYRIC POETRY – refers to lyric poetry meant to be sung to the

accompaniment of a lyre, but now applies to any type of poetry that
expresses emotions and feelings of the poet. It is usually short,
simple and easy to understand.
THE TYPES OF LYRIC POETRY INCLUDES:

 a. Folksong – are short poems intended to be sung. The common

theme is love, despair, grief, doubt,joy, hope and sorrow.
 b. Sonnets – are lyric poems of 14 lines dealing with an emotion, a
feeling, or an idea.
 c. Elegy – is a lyric poem which expresses feeling of grief and
melancholy and whose theme is death.
TYPES OF LYRIC POETRY INCLUDE:
 d. Ode – is a poem of a noble feeling expressed with dignity with
no definite number of syllables with or no definite number of lines
in a stanza.
 e. Psalm (Dalit) – is a song praising God or the Saints and contains
a philosophy of life.
TYPES OF LYRIC POETRY INCLUDES:

 f. Song ( Awit) – has a measure of twelve syllables and slowly sung
to the accompaniment of a guitar or a bandurria. An example of this
is Florante and Laura.
 g. Corridos ( Kuridos) – have measures of eight syllables and
recited to a martial beat. An example of this is Ibong Adarna.
TYPES OF POETRY
 3. DRAMATIC POETRY includes the following:
 a. Comedy – comes from the Greek word “Komos” meaning
festivity and revelry. It is usually light and with the purpose of
amusing people and usually has a happy ending.
 b. Melodrama – is usually used in musical plays with the opera.
It arouses immediate and intense emotion and is usually sad but
there is a happy ending for the principal character. This is related to
tragedy.
TYPES OF POETRY
 c. Tragedy – involves the hero struggling mightily against
dynamic forces; he meets death or ruin without success and
satisfaction obtained by the protagonists in a comedy.
 d. Farce – it is an exaggerated comedy. It seeks to arouse mirth
by laughable lines; situations are too ridiculous to be true; the
characters seem to be caricatures and the motives undignified and
absurd.
TYPES OF POETRY

 e. Social Poems – are forms either purely comic or tragic and

picture the life of today. They may aim to bring about changes in the
social conditions.
 f. Riddles – are statements or questions or phrases having double
or veiled meanings put forth as puzzles to be solved.
 g. Proverb ( from the Latin word provebvium ) also called a
byword or nayword, is a simple and concrete saying popularly
known and repeated, which expresses truth, based on common sense
or the practical experience of humanity. It is often metaphorical. A
proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct is known as a maxim.
OTHER LITERARY TERMINOLOGIES
 1. Folklore – refers to culture including stories, music, dance,
legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs, and
so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions of
that culture, subculture, or group.
 2. Folktales – are traditional narratives, usually anonymous, handed
down orally—e.g., fables, fairytales, legends, etc.
OTHER LITERARY TERMINOLOGIES
 3. Electronic book or e-book – is an e-text that forms the digital
media that forms the digital media equivalent of a conventional
printed material.
 4. Blog – is a composition of what is happening in a person’s life
and what is happening on the web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site,
although there are as many unique types of blog as there are people.
Blogs are alternatively called web blogs or weblogs.
OTHER LITERARY TERMINOLOGIES
 5. Dissertation – is a document that presents the authors research
and findings and is submitted in support of.
 6. Thesis – is a treatise advancing a new point of view resulting
from research findings.
 7. Folk Song – one of a class of songs long popular with the
common people.
 8. Folk speech – is the speech of the common people, distinguished
from that of the educated class.
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