21st Century Literature Module by Nevers*
LITERATURE - ˈlɪt(ə)rətʃə/ noun -
1. written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit.
2. books and writings published on a particular subject.
3. leaflets and other printed matter used to advertise products or give advice.
Three (3) Genres of Literature
1. PROSE
Consists of those written within the common flow of conversation in sentence and paragraphs. Prose is a form of language which applies ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure (as in traditional poetry). It is commonly used, for example:
1. NOVEL
This is long narrative divided into chapters. The events are taken from to life stories…and spam long period of time.
2. SHORT STORY
It is a narrative involving one or more characters, one plot and one single impression.
3. PLAYS
This is presented on stage, is divided into acts and has many scenes.
4. LEGENDS
These are fictitious narratives, usually about origins.
5. FABLES
These are also fictitious, they deal animals and imitate things that speak and act like people, and their purpose is to enlighten the minds of children to events that can mold their ways and attitudes.
6. ANECDOTES
A merely product of the writer’s imagination and the main aim is to bring out lessons to the readers and attitudes.
7. ESSAY
This expresses the viewpoint of the writer about a particular problem or event.
8. BIOGRAPHY
It deals with the life of a person, which may be about himself, his autobiography or that of others.
9. NEWS
Is Report of everyday events in society, government, science and industry and accidents, happening nationally or not.
10. ORATION
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.
2. POETRY
Comes from the Greek poiesis — with a broad meaning of a "making", seen also in such terms as "hemopoiesis"; more narrowly, the making of poetry. It refers to those expressions in verse, with measure and rhyme, line and stanza and has a more melodious tone.
TWO TYPES OF POETRY:
1. NARRATIVE POETRY - describes important events in life real or imaginary.
2. LYRIC POETRY - refers to that kind of poetry meant to be song to the accompaniment of a lyre, but now this applies to any type of poetry that expresses emotions and feelings of the poet.
TYPES OF NARRATIVE POETRY:
A. EPIC
An extended narrative about heroic exploits often under supernatural control. It may deal with heroes and gods.
B. METRICAL TALE
A Narrative, which is written in verse and can be classified either as a ballad or as a metrical romance.
C. BALADS
Of the narrative poems, this is the shortest and simplest. It has a simple structure and tells of a single incident.
TYPES OF LYRIC POETRY:
A. FOLKSONGS (AWIT NG BAYAN)
These are short poems intended to be sung. The common theme is love, despair, grief, doubt, joy, hope and sorrow.
B. SONNETS
A lyric poem of 14 lines dealing with an emotion, a feeling of an idea.
C. ELEGY
This is a lyric poem, which expresses feelings of grief and melancholy and whose theme is death.
D. ODE
A poem of noble feeling, expressed with dignity, with no definite syllables or definite number of lines in a stanza.
E. PSALM (DALIT)
It is a sound praising god or the Virgin Mary and containing a philosophy of life.
F. AWIT (SONG)
Measures of a 12 (do decasyllabic) and slowly sung to the accompaniment of a guitar or Banduria.
G. CORRIDO
Have measure of eight (octosyllabic) and recited to a martial beat.
3. DRAMA
Drama is the theatrical dialogue performed on stage, it consists of 5 acts.
TYPES OF DRAMA:
A. COMEDY
It comes from the Greek “komos” meaning festivity or revelry. This is usually light and written with the purpose of amusing, and usually has a happy ending.
B. MELODRAMA
It is usually used in musical plays with opera. It arouses immediate and intense emotions and is usually sad but there is a happy ending for the principal character.
C. TRAGEDY
Involves the hero struggling mightily against dynamic forces; he meets death or ruin without success and satisfaction obtained by the protagonist in a comedy.
D. FARCE
Exaggerated comedy, situations are too ridiculous to be true; and the characters seem to be caricatures and the motives undignified and absurd.
FICTION VS. NONFICTION
Texts are commonly classified as fiction or nonfiction. The distinction addresses whether a text discusses the world of the imagination (fiction) or the real world (nonfiction).
Fiction: poems, stories, plays, novels
Nonfiction: newspaper stories, editorials, personal accounts, journal articles, textbooks, legal documents
Fiction is commonly divided into three areas according to the general appearance of the text:
· stories and novels: prose--that is, the usual paragraph structure--forming chapters
· poetry: lines of varying length, forming stanzas
· plays: spoken lines and stage directions, arranged in scenes and acts
Other than for documentaries, movies are fiction because they present a "made up" story. Movie reviews, on the other hand, are nonfiction, because they discuss something real—namely movies.
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ELEMENTS OF FICTION
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The six major elements of fiction are character, plot, point of view, setting, style, and theme.
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1. Character -- A figure in a literary work (personality, gender, age, etc). E. M. Forester makes a distinction between flat and round characters. Flat characters are types or caricatures defined by a single idea of quality, whereas round characters have the three-dimensional complexity of real people.
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2. Plot –- the major events that move the action in a narrative. It is the sequence of major events in a story, usually in a cause-effect relation.
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3. Point of View -- the vantage point from which a narrative is told. A narrative is typically told from a first-person or third-person point of view. In a narrative told from a first-person perspective, the author tells the story through a character who refers to himself or herself as "I." Third –person narratives come in two types: omniscient and limited. An author taking an omniscient point of view assumes the vantage point of an all-knowing narrator able not only to recount the action thoroughly and reliably but also to enter the mind of any character in the work or any time in order to reveal his or her thoughts, feelings, and beliefs directly to the reader. An author using the limited point of view recounts the story through the eyes of a single character (or occasionally more than one, but not all or the narrator would be an omniscient narrator).
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4. Setting –- That combination of place, historical time, and social milieu that provides the general background for the characters and plot of a literary work. The general setting of a work may differ from the specific setting of an individual scene or event.
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5.Style -- The author’s type of diction (choice of words), syntax (arrangement of words), and other linguistic features of a work.
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6. Theme(s) -- The central and dominating idea (or ideas) in a literary work. The term also indicates a message or moral implicit in any work of art.
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FIGURE OF SPEECH is a rhetorical device that achieves a special effect by using words in distinctive ways. Though there are hundreds of figures of speech, here we'll focus on just 20 of the most common ones.
1. ALLITERATION
The repetition of an initial consonant sound.
Example: She sells seashells by the seashore.
2. ANAPHORA
The repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or verses.
Example: Unfortunately, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time on the wrong day.
3. ANTITHESIS
The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases.
Example: As Abraham Lincoln said, "Folks who have no vices have very few virtues."
4. APOSTROPHE
Directly addressing a nonexistent person or an inanimate object as though it were a living being.
Example: "Oh, you stupid car, you never work when I need you to," Bert sighed.
5. ASSONANCE
Identity or similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words.
Example: How now, brown cow?
6. CHIASMUS
A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed.
Example: The famous chef said people should live to eat, not eat to live.
7. EUPHEMISM
The substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively explicit. Example: "We're teaching our toddler how to go potty," Bob said.
8. HYPERBOLE
An extravagant statement; the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect.
Example: I have a ton of things to do when I get home.
9. IRONY
The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. Also, a statement or situation where the meaning is contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea.
Example: "Oh, I love spending big bucks," said my dad, a notorious penny pincher.
10. LITOTES
A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.
Example: A million dollars is no small chunk of change.
11. METAPHOR
An implied comparison between two dissimilar things that have something in common.
Example: The tornado loomed like Godzilla in the distance.
12. METONYMY
A figure of speech in a word or phrase is substituted for another with which it's closely associated; also, the rhetorical strategy of describing something indirectly by referring to things around it.
Example: "That stuffed suit with the briefcase is a poor excuse for a salesman," the manager said angrily.
13. ONOMATOPOEIA
The use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.
Example: The clap of thunder went bang and scared my poor dog.
14. OXYMORON
A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side.
Example: I am as graceful as a bull in a china shop when I dance.
15. PARADOX
A statement that appears to contradict itself.
Example: "This is the beginning of the end," said Eeyore, always the pessimist.
16. PERSONIFICATION
A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with human qualities or abilities.
Example: That kitchen knife will take a bite out of your hand if you don't handle it safely.
A play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words.
Example: Jessie looked up from her breakfast and said, "A boiled egg every morning is hard to beat."
18. SIMILE
A stated comparison (usually formed with "like" or "as") between two fundamentally dissimilar things that have certain qualities in common.
Example: Roberto was white as a sheet after he walked out of the horror movie.
19. SYNECDOCHE
A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole.
Example: Tina is learning her ABC's in preschool.
20. UNDERSTATEMENT
A figure of speech in which a writer or speaker deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is.
Example: "You could say Babe Ruth was a decent ballplayer," the reporter said with a wink.
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