INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE - Prelims
What is Literature?
1. It is a body of written works.
2. Writings having excellence of form or expression
and expressing ideas of permanent or universal
interest.
3. Deriving from the Latin littera, “a letter of the
alphabet,” literature is first and foremost
humankind’s entire body of writing.
4. It is a “slice of life”.
5. It is a body of work, either written, oral, or
visual containing imaginative language that
realistically portrays thoughts, emotion and
experiences of the human condition.
6. It is a product of a particular culture that
concretizes man’s array of values, emotions,
actions and ideas.
7. It is a creation of human experiences that tells
about people and their world.
Literature is an art that reflects the works of
imagination, aesthetics and creative writing which are
distinguished for the beauty of style or expression.
“Literature raises life into new level of meaning and
understanding, and in the process restores sanity and
justice in an insane and unjust world.” – Cirilo F. Bautista
What is the importance of Literature?
Importance of studying Literature
Studying literature is like looking at the mirror of life
where man’s experiences, his innermost feelings and
thoughts are reflected.
Through literature, we learn the culture of people across
time and space.
Through literature, we understand not only the past life
a nation but also its present.
We become familiar not only with the culture of
neighboring countries but also with that of others living
very far from us.
“Perhaps what makes literature a more delightful and
enriching study that the rest that deal with the past is its
potential of making readers identify with what they read
through values learned.” – JF Loria
Importance of studying Literature
● To benefit from the insight of others
● To open our minds to ambiguities of meaning
● To explore other cultures and beliefs
● To appreciate why individuals are the way they
are
● To exercise our brain
● To encourage us to question “accepted”
knowledge
● To appreciate the contributions literature has
made to history
● To see human tragedy
● To strengthen our mastery of the language
● To recognize language devices and appreciate
their emotional power
● To see the admirable in everyday life
● To know that we are not alone
● To refine our judgement
● To learn to support our points of view and trust
our own interpretations
● To develop our empathy for those who are
unlike us
● To expand our vocabulary
● To improve our writing skills
● To learn to use our language well
● To improve our reading comprehension
Literary Standards
1. Universality - literature appeals to everyone,
regardless of culture, race, gender and time.
2. Artistry – literature has an aesthetic appeal and
thus possesses a sense beauty.
3. Intellectual value – literature stimulates critical
thinking that enriches mental processes of
abstraction and reasoning.
4. Subjectiveness – literature unravels and
conjures man’s emotional power to define
symbolisms, nuances, implied meaning and
images.
5. Spiritual value – literature elevates the spirit
and the soul and thus has the power to
motivate and inspire, drawn from suggested
morals of different literary genres.
6. Permanence – literature endures across time
and draws out the time factor: timeliness and
timelessness.
7. Style – literature presents peculiar way/s on
how man sees life as evidenced by the
formation of his ideas, forms, structures and
 expressions which are marked by their
memorable substance.
How are we going to study literature?
Through the help of literary approaches:
1. Formalistic approach – literature is viewed
intrinsically, independent of the author, age or
any extrinsic factor. It focuses more on “literary
elements”.
2. Moral or humanistic approach – literature is
viewed to discuss man and its nature. It
naturally presents man as essentially rational,
endowed with intellect and freewill.
3. Historical approach – literature is seen both as a
reflection and product of the times and
circumstances in which it was written.
4. Sociological approach – literature is viewed as
the expression of man within a given social
situation which is reduced.
5. Cultural approach – literature is seen as one of
the manifestation and vehicle of a nation’s/race’
culture and tradition.
6. Psychological approach – literature is viewed as
the expression of “personality” of “inner drives”
or “neurosis”. It includes the psychology of the
author, characters and even the psychology of
its creation.
7. Impressionistic Approach - Literature is viewed
to elucidate “reacting-response” which is
considered as something very personal, relative
and fruitful. It seeks to see how the piece has
communicated.
Classifications of Literature
There are two key words in this topic:
⮚ genre; and
⮚ literature
What is Literature?
● Literature, in tis broadest sense, consists of any
written productions.
● It refers to those deemed to have artistic or
intellectual value, or which deploy language in
ways that differ from ordinary usage.
● In western Europe prior to the eighteenth
century, literature as a term indicated all books
and wirting. (Leitch et al., The Norton Anthology
of Theory and Criticism, 28)
● The value judgment definition of literature
considers it to cover exclusively those writing
that possess high quality or distinction, forming
part of the so-called Belles-lettres (‘fine
writing’) tradition. (Eagleton, Literary theory: an
introduction, 9)
● This sort of definition is that used in the
Encyclopedia Britannica Eleventh Edition
(1910-11) where it classifies literature as:
“the best expression of the best thought
reduced to writing.”
What is literature?
● Problematic in this view is that there is no
objective definition of what constitutes
“literature”.
● Anything can be literature, and anything which
is universally regarded as literature has the
potential to be excluded, since value judgement
can change over time.
What is genre?
● Is any category of literature, music or other
forms of art or entertainment, whether written
or spoken, audio or visual, based on some set of
stylistic criteria.
● Genres form by conventions that change over
time as new genres are invented and the use of
old ones is discontinued.
● Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of
borrowing and recombining these conventions.
● Genre began as an absolute classification
system for ancient Greek literature. Poetry,
prose and performance each had a specific and
calculated style that related to the theme of the
story.
There are three genres of literature
⮚ Poetry – is a form of literature that uses
aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language.
e.g.
Shall I compare the to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Poetry has 3 different kinds:
● Lyric poetry – it is a comparatively short,
non-narrative poem, in which a single speaker
presents a state of mind or emotional state.
It has 4 kinds:
Elegy – a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament
for the dead.
Ode – a poem in which a person expresses a strong
feeling of love or respect for someone or something.
Sonnet – a fourteen-line poem written in iambic
pentameter, which employ one of several rhyme
schemes and adhere to a tightly structured thematic
organization.
Dramatic monologue – a poem in the form of a speech
or narrative by an imagined person, in which the
speaker inadvertently reveals aspects of their character
while describing a particular situation or series of
events.
Examples of Lyric Poetry
Elegy
O Captain! My Captain!
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor
will;
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed
and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object
won;
Exult, O shores and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
Ode
Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of
Early Childhood by William Wordsworth
There was a time when meadow, grove and stream,
The earth, and every common sight
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not as it hath been of yore;--
Turn wheresoe’er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.
Sonnet
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed:
But they eternal summer shall not fade,
‘Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Melodic Drama
And indeed there will be time
To wonder, ‘Do I dare?’ and, ‘Do I dare?’
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair—
(They will say: ‘How his hair is growing thin!’)
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple
pin—
(They will say: ‘But how his arms and legs are thin!’)
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.’
● Narrative poetry – it is a form a poetry that tells
a story, often making use of the voices of a
narrative and of characters as well. The entire
story is usually written in metered verse.
It has 3 kinds:
Epics – a long narrative poem written in elevated style,
in which heroes of great historical or legendary
importance perform valorous deeds. (e.g. Beowulf)
Mock-epic – are typically satires or parodies that mock
common Classical stereotypes of heroes and heroic
literature. (e.g Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock)
Ballad – a poem or song narrating a story in short
stanzas. Traditional ballads are typically of unknown
authorship, having been passed on orally from one
generation to the next as part of the folk culture. (The
Second Coming William Butler Yeats (1865-1939))
● Descriptive and didactic poetry – both lyric and
narrative poetry can contain lengthy ad detailed
descriptions (descriptive poetry) or scenes in
direct speech (dramatic poetry).
● The purpose of a didactic poem is primarily to
teach something.
Descriptive Poetry
Smoke
Light-winged Smoke, Icarian bird,
Melting thy pinions in thy upward flight,
Lark without song, and messenger of dawn, circling
above the hamlets as they nest;
Circling above the hamlets as thy nest;
Or else, departing dream, and shadowy form
Of midnight vision, gathering up thy skirts;
By night start-veiling, and by day
Darkening the light and blotting out the sun;
Go thou my incense upward from this hearth,
And ask the gods to pardon this clear flame.
Didactic Poetry
‘Tis hard to say, if greater Want of Skill
Appear in Writing or in Judging ill,
But, of the two, less dang’rous is th’ Offence,
To tire our Patience, than mis-lead our Sense:
Some few in that, but Numbers err in this,
Ten Censure wrong for one who Writes amiss;
A Fool might once himself alone expose,
Now One in Verse makes many more in Prose.
An excerpt from An Essay on Criticism by Alexander
Pope.
⮚ Prose – written or spoken language in its
ordinary form, without metrical structure.
e.g.
“The woods look lovely against the setting darkness and
as I gaze into the mysterious depths of the forest, I feel
like lingering here longer. However, I have pending
appointments to keep and much distance to cover
before I settle in for the night or else I will be late for all
of them.”
There are two kind sof prose:
Fiction – it is a literature written in a form of prose,
especially short stories and novels, that describes
imaginary events and people.
There are two kinds of Fiction Literature:
Realistic fiction – is a genre consisting of stories that
could have actually occurred to people or animals in a
believing setting.
Fantastic fiction – a type of fiction that ideologically and
aesthetically subordinates reality to imagination by
depicting a world of marvels that is contrasted to
everyday reality and to accepted views of what is
credible.
Non-fiction – prosed writing which is based on facts,
real events, and real people such as biography and
history.
There are four kinds of non-fiction literature:
Bibliographies – is a detailed description of a person’s
life. It involves more than just the basic facts like
education, work, relationships, and death but also
portrays a subject’s experience of these life events.
Autobiographies – is a written account of the life of a
person written by that person.
Essay – is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the
author’s own argument – but the definition is vague,
overlapping with those of an article, a pamphlet, and a
short story.
Articles – a piece of writing included with others in a
newspaper, magazine or other publication.
Humour – situations, speech or writing that are thought
to be humorous.
⮚ Drama – a piece of writing that tells a story and
is performed on a stage.
e.g.
Miranda Priestly: Do you know why I hired you? I always
hire the same girl – stylish, slender, of course… worship
the magazine. But so often, they turn to be – I don’t
know – disappointing and, um… stupid. So you, with
that impressive resume and the big speech about your
so-called work ethic – I um – I thought you would be
different. I said to myself, g ahead. Take a chance. Hire
the smart, fat girl. I had hope. My God. I live on it.
Anyway, you ended up disappointing me more than, um
– more than any of the other silly girls. – Meryl Streep
(The Devil Wears Prada, 2006)

There are six kinds of Drama:

Comedy – comedies are lighter in tone than ordinary

writer, and provide a happy conclusion. The intention of
dramatists in comedies is to make their audience laugh.
Hence, they use quaint circumstances, unusual
characters and witty remarks.
Example of Short:
Tragedy – tragic dramas use darker theme such as
disaster, pain and death. Protagonists often have a tragic
flaw – a characteristic that leads them to their downfall.

Farce – generally, a farce is a nonsensical genre of

drama, which often overacts or engages slapstick
humor. It’s basically, what you call a “Parody”.

Melodrama – melodrama is an exaggerated drama,

which is sensational and appeals directly to the sense of
audience. Just like the farce, the characters are of single
dimension and simple, or may be stereotyped.

Fantasy – it is a complete fictional work where

characters virtually display supernatural skills. It is more
appealing to children as fairies, angles, superheroes,
etc., are embedded in the plot, use of magic, pseudo
science, horror, and spooky themes through various
kinds of technical devices create a perfect world of
fantasy. The modern version of drama incorporates a
great deal of special effects.

Musical

Elements of Fiction
Fiction - Literature in the form of prose, especially short
stories and novels, that describes imaginary events and
people. It uses imaginary events and characters. In the
21st century, they are usually adopted into movies.
Elements of Fiction: Character
Characters - They are the people whom the story
revolves around. They are usually the recipients and
cause of different conflicts.

Example of Novels: They can be good and bad. Some stay and some go
away during any part of the story.

Why are characters important?

● Something to invest in
● Something to care about
● Someone to root for
Characterization - it is the creation or the construction Antagonist - It is the one in conflict with the protagonist.
of a fictional character. It is how characters are It gives the protagonist the sense of terror and
described. realization. It can be a single person or a group.

● It is the description of the character’s features, Examples of Antagonists:

attitudes or as a whole.

Two Types of Characterization

Direct Characterization

● The writer makes direct statements about a

character’s personality and tells what the
character is like.
● Think adjectives. (descriptions)

Indirect Characterization

● The writer reveals information about a The Four Aspects of Characterization

character and his/her personality through that
character’s thoughts, words, and actions, along
with how other characters, including what they
think and say about him/her.
● Think verbs. (actions)
1.Static Character VS Dynamic Character
STATIC – remains the same throughout the story. This
character undergoes no change in thought or
personality when involved in conflict.

Examples of Characterization DYNAMIC – undergoes a change as a result of learning

Direct Characterization
● Gary is a nice and caring person
● Gary can sometimes be very mean or rude.
(showing)
Indirect Characterization
● Gary watched his little brother for two hours
while their mother was ill, taking care of his
every need. He did this without being asked and
he did not ask for anything in return.
● “The next time I know, Gary was tearing up my
rose garden,” said Beatrice his elderly
grandmother as she gave her statement to the
police. She was still badly shaken after the
attack. (telling)
Two major types of characters:
Protagonist - It is one of the major characters in the
story. It receives the blow from the antagonist.
Examples of Protagonist: Harry Potter, Bruce Wayne
(Batman), Luke Skywalker, Dorothy (Wizard of Oz),
Katniss Everdeen, James Bond and many more…
from conflict. A dynamic character starts the story one
way and then will have a revelation that changes his or
her views.
2.Flat Character VS Round Character
FLAT – A flat character is one who has only 1 or 2
character traits. These characters have no depth and
usually fit a simple role.
Ex. Bad guys, class clown, cute girl, etc.
ROUND – A round character is one who has many
character traits. His personality has various qualities and
is complex, more like a real person. Most main
characters are round.
Why is characterization important?
❑ It helps the readers visualize and relate to the
characters.
❑ It gives the readers a time to examine the characters,
thus creating “healthy bias”.
❑ It helps the readers understand the actions of the
characters deeply.
❑ It gives the readers understand the different
motivations and downsides of a character.
Elements of Fiction: Setting

Setting - It is where the story takes place. It helps the

readers give context in analyzing the text.
Elements of Fiction: Plot
❑Can be large and all encompassing
Plot - It is the series of events that happen in story.
❑Can be very intimate areas.
Commonly known as the “flow” and the arrangement of
❑Can be any time of the day.
the story.
❑Can be any season (natural).
Different Types of Plot
Large and all
Conventional Plot - A conventional plot allows a
● Junge
straight or linear flow of events that has a start, a
● Hospital
middle part, and a conclusion.
● City
Parts of a Conventional Plot
Very intimate areas
1. Exposition - It provides background information
● Kitchen
needed to make sense of the action, describes the
● Room
setting and introduces the main characters.
● Alley Way
2. Conflicts - It is the moment of great tension among
Any time of the day
characters.
● Dawn
3. Climax - The turning point, a moment of great tension
● High Noon
that fixes the outcome.
● Twilight
4. Resolution - The fixing or the resolution of the
Any season
different conflicts.
● Winter
5. Dénouement - It is where the action falls off as the
● Fall
plot’s complications are sorted out and resolved.
● Summer

Any season (man-made)

● Christmas
● Ramadhan
● Hanukkah

Any type of climate

● Cold
● Hot
● Humid

Abstract Setting
Episodic Plot - They are plots that still functions as
● Joyous conventional plots but they come in series.
● Eerie
● Sad Example of Episodic Plot:

Why is Setting important? ● How to Get Away with Murder

● Thirteen Reasons Why
❑It shapes the tone and mood of the story. ● The Walking Dead
❑It gives the readers a vivid mental picture of the
world your characters move in.
Flashback - The author shares to the reader an event • Omniscient Third Person Point of View
that has happened in the past. This past event is where
An omniscient narrator sees all, much as an all knowing
the story focuses on.
god of some kind. He or she sees what each character is
doing and can see into each character’s mind.

Examples of Flashback:

● Titanic • Limited Omniscient Third Person Point of View

● The Life of Pi
The limited omniscient third-person narrator can only
● The Notebook
see into one character’s mind. He/she might see other
In Medias Res - The author chooses to start the story events happening, but only knows the reasons of one
in the middle of a situation. The current situation of the character’s actions in the story.
context is not explained. The beginning of the story is
already established with the conflicts, thus, the
exposition does not exist.

Examples of In Medias Res:

● Predestination
● The Hunger Games
● The Notebook

Why is having a Plot important?

Why is having a Point of View important?
It organizes the thoughts, ideas and events, thus making
the readers enjoy reading without confusion.  It will help the readers determine the generic views
and personal biases that are offered in the story.
Elements of Fiction: Point of View
 It helps limit the knowledge about character, and at
 It answers the question “Who is telling the story?” or
the same time.
“Who is the narrator?”.
 It helps explain the contribution of each character
Different types of Point of View
and event in the story.
 First Person Point of View - We are seeing events
Elements of Fiction: Conflict
through the eyes of the character telling the story.
Conflict - is a literary element that involves a struggle
 Second Person Point of View - The narrator is
between two opposing forces, usually a protagonist and
speaking to YOU. This isn’t very common in fiction,
an antagonist.
unless the narrator is trying to talk to the reader
personally. We see second-person point of view mostly INTERNAL VS. EXTERNAL CONFLICT
in poems, speeches, instructional writing, and
● Internal conflict – is a struggle within the mind
persuasive articles.
of a character. It can be mental or emotional.
 Third Person Point of View - The narrator is ● External conflict – is a struggle that occurs
describing what’s seen, but as a spectator. If the between a character and an outside force.
narrator is a character in the story, then we are reading
Different Types of Conflict
what he or she observes as the story unfolds.
 Man VS Man - The protagonist encounters conflict
• Limited Third Person Point of View
that are caused by another human being.
In limited third-person, the narrator sees only what’s in
 Man VS Self - The character experiences internal
front of him/her, a spectator of events as they unfold
conflict. It is a battle with his/her own “demons”.
and unable to read any other character’s mind.
 Man VS The Society - The character experiences a
dilemma with the people around him, having a hard
time coping with the norm.

 Man VS Circumstances - The character struggles with

events or situations that happens to him, like accidents,
death and loss.

 Man VS Nature - The character struggles between

forces of nature like storms, floods, landslides,
mudslides and avalanches.

 Man VS The Supernatural - The struggle happens

between the character and a paranormal being, a curse,
and the like.

 Man VS God - It is usually a struggle that roots from a

sin. God is blamed by the character who usually exhibits
spiritual frailty and backsliding.

Deux Ex Machina

 “divine intervention”

 a seemingly unresolvable problem was abruptly

resolved in an unexpected or unlikely occurrence.

Why is having a Conflict important?

 It gives “spice” and excitement to the story.

 It gives readers something to look forward to and

something to worry about.