AMERICAN LITERATURE REVIEWER
composed to be sung, and is orally told
LITERATURE
❖Written works with artistic value- written
works, e.g. fiction, poetry, drama, and criticism,
that are recognized as having important or
permanent artistic value.
❖Body of written works- the body of written
works of a culture, language, people, or period
of time
Ex: Russian literature
❖Production of literary works- the creation of
literary work, especially as an art or occupation
POETRY
❖Expression in verse, with measures, rhymes,
lines, stanzas and melodious tone.
DIVISIONS AND TYPES OF
POETRY
1. LYRIC POETRY
❖meant to be sung
❖love, death and grief, religion and
feelings, the beauty and the love of
nature, art, the world of fancy and
imagination, the
environment, and others.
❖subjective of the authors’ feelings
and thoughts.
 Simple Lyric - This embraces a
wide variety of poems and is
characterized by subjectivity,
imagination, melody and
emotion.
 Song - This is a short lyric poem
which has a specific melodious
quality and is intended to be
sung and can be set easily to
music.
 Sonnet - A lyric poem of 14
lines with a formal rhyme.
 Elegy - It is a poem expressing
lament or grief for the dead.
 Ode - The most splendid type of
lyric poetry. Exalted in tone,
projects, deep feelings and
expresses high praise for some
persons, objects, events or ideas.
B. NARRATIVE POETRY - tells a story
following an order of events.
 Ballad - short simple narrative poem
from one generation to another.
 Metrical Romance - a narrative poem
written in verse and can be classified
either as a ballad or a metrical romance.
 Epic - a long majestic, narrative poem
which tells the adventures of a
traditional hero and the development of
a nation.
C. DRAMATIC POETRY - this poetry has
elements that are closely related to drama
because it is written in dramatic form or makes
use of a dramatic technique.
 Dramatic Monologue – combination of
drama and poetry which presents the
speech of a character in a particular
situation at a critical moment.
 The Soliloquy – a passage spoken by the
speaker in a poem or by a character in a
play except that there is no one present
to hear him except the reader or the
audience.
 Character Sketch – a poem whose writer
is concerned less with complete or
implied matters of story, but rather with
arousing sympathy or antagonism for, or
mere interest in an individual.
PROSE
- It is a literary piece which is written in the
form of ordinary written or spoken language and
within the common flow of a conversation
(script).
-prose generally concentrates on the familiar and
the ordinary, but may also deal with subjects
such as heroism, beauty, love and nobility of
spirit.
DIVISIONS AND TYPES OF PROSE
-Prose is generally categorized into fiction and
nonfiction.
❖ FICTION – series of imagined facts which
illustrates truths about human life.
 Short Story – brief prose fiction which
centered on a single main incident
 Novel – more extensive form of prose.
Length of hundred pages.
❖ NON FICTION - literary works based on
facts rather than on the imagination, although
they may contain fictional elements.
  Essay – prose composition of moderate
length, usually expository in nature,
which aims to explain an idea, a theory,
an impression or a point of view.
 Formal Essay – deals with a
serious and important topics.
such as philosophy, theology,
science, politics, morality and
others.
 Informal Essay – deals with any
subject, even the ordinary and
commonplace.
 Critical Essay – seeks to analyze
and evaluate a literary work or
any other work of art.
Biographical Essay – deals with
the personal life and
achievements of an individual.
Essay of travel – informs, as
well as entertains, by its
personal treatment of various
experiences in a given place and
time.
❖DRAMA- comes from the Greek word “dran”
which means “to do”. Actors
 The drama involves three elements,
namely: the theater, the actors (and
directors) and the audience.
 Tragedy
 Comedy
QUALITIES OF A LITERARY MASTERPIECE
❖ Artistry – Appeals to the sense of beauty.
❖ Intellectual Value – a literary work stimulates
thoughts.
❖ Suggestiveness – associated with the
emotional aspect of literature.
❖ Spiritual Value – literature puts our spirits
high by bringing out the understanding of moral
values which lead us to become better people.
❖ Permanence – a great work of literature can
endure the test of time.
❖Universality – great literature observes no
limits.
❖Style – the unique way in which the writer
views life, forms his/her ideas and expresses
them.
BRIEF HISTORY OF ENGLISH
LITERATURE
 English literature is the literature written
in the English language, including
literature composed in English by
writers not necessarily from England.
 English literature is as diverse as the
varieties and dialects of English spoken
around the world.
 the works of William Shakespeare
remain paramount throughout the
English-speaking world.
OLD ENGLISH (ANGLO –SAXON
LITERATURE)
 The first works in English was written in
English, appeared in the early middle
ages, the oldest surviving text being the
Hymn of Cædmon.
 The oral tradition was very strong in the
early English culture and most literary
works were written to be performed.
 Language spoken in England
 An early form of the English language
that was spoken and written by the
Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in
parts of what are now England and
southern and eastern Scotland, more
specifically in the England Old Period,
between at least the mid-5th century and
the mid-12thcentury. What survives
through writing represents primarily the
literary register of Anglo-Saxon.
 The four main dialectal forms of Old
English were Mercian, Northumbrian,
Kentish, and West
 Saxon. Each of those dialects was
associated with an independent kingdom
on the island
THE HISTORY OF OLD ENGLISH CAN BE
SUBDIVIDED
IN…
 Prehistoric Old English (450 to 650); for
this period, Old English is mostly a
reconstructed language as no literary
witnesses survive (with the exception of
limited epigraphic evidence).
 Early Old English (650 to 900), the
period of the oldest manuscript
traditions, with authors such as
Cædmon, Bede, Cynewulf and Aldhelm.
  Late Old English (900 to 1066), the final
stage of the language leading up to the
Norman conquest of England and the
subsequent transition to Early Middle
English.
 The Old English period is followed by
Middle English (12th to 15th century),
 Early Modern English (1480 to 1650)
and finally Modern English (after 1650).
ENGLISH POET/AUTHORS
1. JOHN DONNE-
 Born : 22 January 1572, London,
England.
 Died : 31 March 1631 (aged 59).
 Wife : Anne More-Donne
 Poet, priest and lawyer.
 Nationality : English.
 Genre : Satire, love poetry, elegy,
sermons.
 Subject : Love, sexuality, religion,
death.
 Literary Movement : Metaphysical
poetry
 Metaphysical poetry uses complex,
extended metaphors called conceits that
are often continued throughout the entire
poem.
 leading English poet of the
Metaphysical school and dean of St.
Paul’s Cathedral, London (1621–1631).
 noted for his religious verse and
treatises and for his sermons, which rank
among the best of the 17th century.
 He aimed at reality of thought and
vividness of expression.
Themes of Donne’s poetry
 Paradoxes
 Belittling cosmic forces
 Religion
 Death and the Hereafter
 Love as both physical and spiritual
 Interconnectedness of humanity
 Fidelity