English 9

Quarter 3, Wk.2 - Module 2

Literary Devices and Techniques to
Craft Short Prose Forms

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What This Module is About

Literature mirrors life. All life experiences are reflected in any literary genres that will help
us understand others better. It evokes emotions which are sensationalized intensely, using
literary devices to let us experience and feel the actual emotions conveyed in a certain piece of
literature. In this module, you will learn to use literary devices and few techniques in crafting a
short prose and to appreciate literature by connecting its significance to real life situation.

What I Need to Know

In this module, you are to be guided of the following objectives:
a. Explain the literary devices used
b. Use literary devices and techniques to craft short prose forms
c. Apply the literary device in writing a synopsis of the prose being read.

How to Learn from this Module

To achieve the objectives cited above, you are expected to do the following:

• Take your time reading the lessons carefully.

• Follow the directions and/or instructions in the activities and exercises diligently.
• Answer all the given tests and exercises.

Lesson
Literary Devices and
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 Techniques to Craft Short
Prose Forms
1
What I Need to Know

Activity 1 Examine carefully the pictures below and answer the questions that follow.
Write your answer on your activity notebook.

A.
PJOsorio (pixabay.com) .Flashback Transport Rear-view Mirror. https://www.needpix.com/photo/1269792/flashback-
transport-rear-view-mirror-travel-free-pictures-free-photos-free-images-royalty-free-free-illustrations

B.
Arnold, Steve .Brisbane Lightening.www.flickr.com/photos/stevoarnold/6088514598/in/photostream. December 29, 2008

C.
Zoe Schlott.Air Force works with privatized housing project owners on emergency, urgent work orders.
https://www.af.mil/News/Coronavirus-Disease-2019/ 

1. Which picture interrupts the usual/customary daily life events?

2. Which picture shows something behind?

3. Which picture shows clue of what will be happening next?

What’s In

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Activity 2 Tell something… Here are some of the literary devices/figures of
speech you’ve learned in your previous lessons . Identify each statement and look for the
answers from the word listed inside the box below. Write your answer in your notebook.

Hyperbole simile Imagery metaphor

Alliteration Personification onomatopoeia

______________ 1. It is a literary device in which a word or phrase makes a

comparison of two unlike objects.
______________ 2. It is defined as a word which imitates the natural sounds of a
thing.
______________ 3. It is a literary device that makes a comparison, showing
similarities between two unlike things using “as or like”.
______________ 4. It is a literary device in which a thing – an idea or an animal – is
given human qualities.
______________ 5. It is the repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or
more neighboring words or syllables.
______________ 6.It is a language used by poets, novelists and other writers to
create images in the mind of the reader
______________ 7. It is a literary device in which overstatement is used for
emphasis or effect.

What’s New
Activity 3 Each of the numbered vocabulary words appears in the story “Everything Has
a Name”. Look at the four suggested definitions for each word and encircle the correct
one.

1. Tussle a. harmony b. fight c. peace d. calm

2. Amenity a. unpleasant b. impolite c. comfort d. rudeness
3. Augment a. grow b. reduce c. lessen d. decrease
4. Persist a. give up b. quit c. stop d. continue
5. Acquire a. get b. lose c. give d. surrender

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 Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American
author, political activist, and lecturer. The story of Keller and her teacher,  Anne
Sullivan, was made famous by Keller's autobiography, The Story of My Life, and
its adaptations for film and stage, The Miracle Worker. Her birthplace in
West Tuscumbia, Alabama, is now a museum[1] and sponsors an annual "Helen
Keller Day". Her June 27 birthday is commemorated as Helen Keller Day
in Pennsylvania and, in the centenary year of her birth, was recognized by a
presidential proclamation from US President Jimmy Carter

Your Text
Find out how Helen’s teacher helped her perceive the world around her. Read the text.

Everything Has a Name

(An excerpt from “The Story of My Life”)

by Helen Keller

The most important day I remember in all my life is the one in which my teacher,
Anne Mansfield Sullivan, came to me. I am filled with wonder when I consider the
immeasurable contrast between the two lives, which it connects. It was the third of March
1887, three months before I was seven years old.
On the afternoon of that eventful day, I stood on the porch, dumb, expectant. I
guessed vaguely from my mother’s signs and from the hurrying to and fro in the house
that something unusual was about to happen, so I went to the door and waited on the
steps.
I felt approaching footsteps. I stretched out my hand as I supposed to my mother.
Someone took it, and I was caught up and held close in the arms of her who had come
to reveal all things to me, and, more than all things else, to love me
The morning after my teacher came she led me into her room and gave me a doll.
The little blind children at the Perkins Institution had sent it and Laura Bridgeman had
dressed it; but I did not know this until afterward. When I played with it a little while, Miss
Sullivan slowly spelled into my hand the word “d-o-l-l,” I was at once interested in this
finger play and tried to imitate it. When I finally succeeded in making the letters correctly,
I was flushed with childish pleasure and pride. Running downstairs to my spelling a word
or even those words existed; I was simply making my fingers go into monkey-like
imitation. In the days that followed, I learned to spell in this uncomprehending way a
great many words, among them pin, hat, cup and a few verbs like sit, stand, hand, walk.
But my teacher had been with me several weeks before I understood that everything has
a name.
One day, while I was playing with my new doll, Miss Sullivan put my big rag doll
into my lap also, spelled “d-o-l-l” and tried to make me understand that “d-o-l-l” applied to
both. Earlier in the day we had a tussle over the words “m-u-g” and “w-a-t-e-r.” Miss
Sullivan tried to impress upon me that “m-u-g” is mug and “w-a-t-e-r” is water. But, I
persisted in confounding the two. In despair she had dropped the subject for a time, only
to renew it at the first opportunity. I became impatient at her repeated attempts and
seizing the new doll, I dashed it upon the floor. I was keenly delighted when I felt the
fragment of the broken doll at my feet. Neither sorrow nor regret followed my passionate

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outburst. I had not loved the doll. In the still, dark world in which I lived, there was not
strong sentiment of tenderness.
I felt my teacher sweep the fragments to one side of the hearth and I had sense of
satisfaction that the cause of my discomfort was removed. She brought me my hat, and I
knew I was going out into the warm sunshine. This thought, if a wordless sensation may
be called a thought, made me hop and skip with pleasure.

Through which sense does Keller experience the water?

We walked down the path to the well house, attracted by the fragrance of the
honeysuckle with which it was covered. Someone was drawing water and my teacher placed my
hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the
word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of
her fingers. Suddenly, I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten – a thrill of returning
thought: and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that “w-a-t-e-r”
meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened
my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that
could in time be swept away.

I left the well house eager to learn. Everything has a name, and each name gave
birth to a new thought. As we returned to the house, every object which I touched
seemed to quiver with life. That was because I saw everything with the strange, new
sight that had come to me.
On entering the door I remembered the doll I had broken. I felt my way to the
hearth and picked up the pieces. I tried vainly to put them together. Then my eyes filled
with tears; for I realized what I had done, and for the first time I felt repentance and
sorrow.
I learned a great many words that day, I do not remember what they all were; but I
do know that mother, father, sister, teacher were among them – words that were to make
world blossom for me, “like Aaron’s rod, with flowers.” It would have been difficult to find
a happier child than I was as I lay in my crib at the close of that eventful day and lived
over the joys it had brought me, and for the first time I longed for a new day to come.

How do you think has Ms. Sullivan made Helen understand what love is?

I remember the morning that I first asked the meaning of the word, “love.” This
was before I knew many words. I had found a few early violets in the garden and brought
them to my teacher. She tried to kiss me, but at the time I did not like to have anyone
kiss me except my mother. Miss Sullivan put her arm gently around me and spelled into
my hand, “I love Helen.”
“What is love?” I asked.
She drew me closer to her and said, “It is here,” pointing to my heart whose beats
I was conscious for the first time. Her words puzzled me very much because I did not
then understand anything unless I touched it.
I smelt the violets in her hand and asked, half in words, half in signs, a question
which meant, “Is love the sweetness of flowers?”
“No,” said my teacher.

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 Again I thought. The warm sun was shining on us. “Is this not love?” I asked,
pointing in the direction from which the heat came. “Is this not love?”
It seemed to me that there could be nothing more beautiful than the sun, whose
warmth makes all things glow. But Miss Sullivan shook her head and I was greatly
puzzled and disappointed. I thought it strange that my teacher could not show me love.
A day or two afterward, I was stringing heads of different sizes in symmetrical groups –
two large beads, three small ones and so on. I had made many mistakes, and Miss Sullivan had
pointed them out again and again with gentle patience. Finally, I noticed a very obvious
error in the sequence and for an instant I concentrated on the lesson and tried to think how I
should have arranged the

Beads Miss Sullivan touched my forehead and spelled with decided emphasis,
“Think”.
On a flash, I knew that the word was the name of the process that was going on
in my head. This was my first conscious perception of an abstract idea.
For a long time I was still – I was not thinking of the beads in my lap, but trying to
find a meaning for “love” in the light of this new idea. The sun had been under a cloud all
day, and there had been brief showers; but suddenly, the sun broke forth in all its
southern splendor.
Again, I asked my teacher, “Is this not love?”
“Love is something like the clouds that we’re in the sky before the sun came out,”
she replied. Then in simpler words than these, which at that time I could not have
understood, she explained.
“You cannot touch the clouds, you know; but you feel the rain and know how glad
the flowers and the thirsty earth are to have it after a hot day. You cannot touch love
either, but you feel the sweetness that pours into everything. Without love you would not
be happy or want to play.”
The beautiful truth burst upon my mind – I felt that there were invisible lines
stretched between my spirit and the spirits of others.
From the beginning of my education Miss Sullivan made it a practice to speak to
me as she would speak to any hearing child; the only difference was that she spelled the
sentences into my hand instead of speaking them. If I did not know the words and idioms
necessary to express my thoughts she supplied them, even suggesting conversation
when I was unable to keep up my end of the dialogue.
This process was continued for several years, for the deaf does not learn in a
month or even in two or three years the numberless idioms and expressions used in the
simplest daily intercourse. The little hearing child learns these from constant repetition
and imitation.
The conversation he hears in his home stimulates his mind and suggests topics
and calls forth the spontaneous expression of his own thoughts. This natural exchange
of ideas is denied to the deaf child. My teacher, realizing this, determined to supply the
kind of stimulus I lacked. This she did by repeating to me as far as possible, verbatim,
what she heard, and by showing me how I could take part in the conversation. But it was
a long time before I ventured to take the initiative, and still longer before I could find
something appropriate to say at the right time.

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 The deaf and the blind find it very difficult to acquire the amenities of
conversation. How much more this difficulty must be augmented in the case of those
who are both deaf and blind! They cannot distinguish the tone of the voice, without
assistance, go up and down the gamut of tones that give significance to words; nor they
watch the expression of the speaker’s face and a look is often the very soul of what one
says.
Thus, I learned from life itself. At the beginning I was only a little mass of
possibilities. It was my teacher who unfolded and developed them. When she came,
everything about me breathed of love and joy and was full of meaning. She has never
since let pass an opportunity to point out the beauty that is in everything, nor has she
ceased trying in thought and action and example to make my life sweet and useful.
Prototype Lesson Plans in English Third year DepED

Activity 4 Task 1: Answer the questions below and write your answer on your
notebook.
1. Since Helen Keller was deaf, mute and blind, what did she mean by
the strange new sight that had come to her?
2. Explain in a few words how Anne Sullivan taught Helen to “see.”
3. Why was it difficult for Helen to learn the meaning of love? How did her
teacher help her understand it?
4. Why has both Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan been called miracles?
5. Why do you think the author chose to tell the story from the “I” point of
view?
6. What if the story was told from Ms. Sullivan’s point of view?

Activity 5 Task 2
On the blanks, write the details/causes that support the statement in the
box. Write your answer in a 1 whole sheet of paper.

Helen’s life became

sweet and useful.

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 details

Helen's life
became
details sweet and details
useful

details

What Is It

Aside from the mentioned above, here are other few literary devices used in prose.

Foreshadowing is a literary device in which a

FORESHADOWING
writer gives an advance hint of what is to come
later in the story.

Example The hints are straightforward, which makes the reader aware of what’s going to
happen.

“I
am sure she is going to be our future daughter-in-law, Jack.”, Judy
said with a bright smile. 

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This is the direct positive foreshadowing.

It is a technique in which the present story, scene or

FLASHBACK event taking place changes into a scene in the past .

As a mother takes pictures during her daughter’s graduation, she begins telling her
husband about memories she has of her daughter starting kindergarten. She has
interrupted the present action of graduation in order to tell about a past event.

.
IN MEDIAS RES It is a technique that is in or into the middle of a
narrative or plot. It is pronounced as [in ˈmēdēəs ˈres,
ˈmādēˌäs]

Example: After showing why Bruce Wayne is so afraid of bats, the film flashes
forward to a scene with Bruce Wayne in prison.
9 There’s no explanation of why
he’s there, and soon he’s attacked by the other inmates. The film then goes back
Sources: https://literarydevices.net/flashback/
in time to fill in the gaps leading up to that point.
https://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Terms/inmediasres.html

https://www.britannica.com/art/in-medias-res-literature

https://literarydevices.net/foreshadowing/ http://literary-devices.com/content/foreshadowing

What’s More
Activty 6 Match the definition in Column A with the right term in Column B.

A B
1.It is a literary device in which a writer Flashback
gives an advance hint of what is to come
later in the story.
2.It is a transition in a story to an earlier In medias res
time that interrupts the normal
chronological order of events.
3.It is a narrative work beginning opens Foreshadowing
in the midst of action

Activity 7 Read the selection, and then answer the questions that follow.

One fine sunny day, Cricket was hopping

x about in the field. As he chirped
and danced, he spied Ant carrying a big grain of rice to his nest. Cricket watched
_____ 1. In this fable, the author uses flashback to have __________
a. Cricket remembers a song he used to sing.
b. Ant remembers where Cricket used to live.
c. Ant remembers how bad last rainy day was.
d. Cricket remembers where he hid seeds during the summer.
_____ 2. Which best foreshadowed what might happen in the story?
a. Cricket hopped about in the field.
b. An even worse storm was predicted.
c. Ant walked away.
d. Cricket chirped.
_____ 3. Based on the story, which do you predict could NOT happen?
a. Cricket begs Ant for just a small bit of food.
b. Ant feels sorry for Cricket and gives him food.
c. Cricket happily swims in the flood.
d. Cricket weakens without any food.

What I have Learned

Activity 8
Go over to the story again and look for the lines that show flashback,
foreshadowing or in medias res. Write your answer in a 1 whole sheet of paper following
the chart below.

FLASHBACK FORESHADOWING IN MEDIAS RES

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What I Can Do
Activity 9 Write a short synopsis or summary of the story “ Everything Has a Name” by using
any of these literary devices; flashback, foreshadowing, or in Medias res. Write your summary
on the shape you have chosen and highlight the part that shows the device you use to justify
your answer

FORESHADOWING

FLASHBACK

IN MEDIAS RES

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 Rubrics for Summary Writing

Criteria 3 2 1
Organization of The summary is The story is pretty Ideas and scenes
Plot very well well organized. seem to be
organized. One One idea or scene randomly arranged.
idea or scene may seem out of
follows another in a place. Clear
logical sequence transitions are
with clear used.
transitions
Sentence All sentences are Most sentences Sentences lack
Structure well-constructed are well- structure and
(Fluency) with varied and constructed but appear incomplete
interesting have similar and or rambling.
structure patterns. uninteresting
structure patterns.
Use of Literary Literary device is Literary device is No literary device
Device clearly used not properly used has been used.

Activity 10
Write a short story that will utilize the literary devices discussed. Using a highlighter,
indicate the parts where each of the literary devices has been used..

Summary

Literature portrays life experiences. To have a vivid portrayal to evoke

emotions of every reader, the authors have to use various literary devices to
accurately convey specific emotions felt by every character in a narrative
prose. This will help the author achieve his/her purpose. Few of these devices
are useful in crafting a narrative prose. These are the following;
Foreshadowing, in which the writer gives an advance hint of what is to come
later in the story
Flashback, which are the interruptions of past relevant events inserted by
writers to provide background or contextrelated to the current events of a narrative
Medias Res, which is taken from the middle part that gives specific description
on how the plot of a narrative started.

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Assessment: (Post-Test)
Tell whether the following statements is a foreshadowing, flashback or
medias Res. Write your answer on your notebook.

Flashback Foreshadowing Media Res

____________ 1. It is a literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of

what is to come later in the story.

____________ 2. It is a transition in a story to an earlier time that interrupts the

normal chronological order of events
____________3. When an author jumps back to a scene or event that happened in
the past.
____________ 4. When an author gives hints or clues that suggest what will
happen later in the story.
____________5. Often appears at the beginning of a story or a chapter and helps
the reader develop expectations about the coming events in a
story
____________6. In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me
some advice that I‘ve been turning over in my mind ever since.
Whenever you feel like criticizing any one, ‖ he told me, ―just
remember that all the people in this world haven ‘t had the
advantages that you ‘ve had. ‖
_____________7. Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano
Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father
took him to discover ice. At that time Macondo was a village
of twenty adobe houses, built on the bank of a river of clear
water that ran along a bed of polished stones, which were white and
enormous, like prehistoric eggs. The world was so recent that
many things lacked names, and in order to indicate them it was
necessary to point.
____________8.The general eyed me coldly, greeted me without fashion and
dismissed me to pay my respects to his sister. It was clear that from
somewhere money had been acquired. It works so well because it
immediately immerses us in the world of the protagonist, begging us
to ask questions, to turn the page and find out what is the story is all
about.
_____________9. Mike felt confident as ever when he started his boat engine that
day. He noticed a few clouds gathering overhead, but did not worry
about them.
_____________10. A scene within a story that interrupts the sequence of events to
relate events that occurred in the past.

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