LITERATURE AS

AN ART

That is part of the beauty of all

literature. You discover that your
longings are universal longings, that
you're not lonely and isolated from
anyone. You belong.
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Definition of Literature

Literature is any form of writing which

deals with the significant human
experience -- his society and his
experiences -- which is artistically
conceived for an effect.

Definition of Literature
All writings in prose, or verse, especially those
of an imaginative or critical characteristics.
Literature is the enactment of human
possibilities, or a vehicle that will help us
discover more about ourselves and the
meaning we can make of life.

Definition of Literature
It has two major features: Language and
Imagination --- that when combined, they
produce a fictional world that reflects
reality.
Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but
because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.
Neil Gaiman, Coraline

Elements of Literature
Inspiration comes to a writer of great literature in
three channels:
- through the senses

- through the intellect

- through the emotions

These three now also serves as the major elements
that constitutes literature.

Classification of Literature
Major Types of Literature:
- Oral Literature (ballads, myths, jokes, folktales, fables)
- Written Literature (drama, novel, poetry, non fiction)
Major Genres of Literature:
- Prose (literature written in normal language)
- Poetry
Major Forms of Literature:
- Fiction

Genres of Literature
Prose Vs. Poetry

PROSE

Prose is any writing or speech in its normal

continuous form, without the rhythmic or
visual line structure of poetry.

PROSE
It is divided into two classifications:
Fiction / Imaginative Literature
- Literature of Power. Deals with fictitious characters/ persons that
presents actual truths.
- Composed of Short Stories, Novels, Novelettes, etc.

Non-Fiction Literature

- Literature of Knowledge. Deals with actual facts, experiences,

ideas or events.
- Composed of Essays, Biographies, Diaries, Journals, etc.

PROSE
Fiction
came from the Latin word fictio or counter-fitting.
- refers to any narrative in prose or in verse that is wholly or in part a
production of the imagination.
-

Not true but not lies.

Describe what is not real, but not totally unreal.
Designed to make us respond as if, but not to deceive us.
Describe none-existing people but produce real emotions,
altered behavior and important reflections.

PROSE: FICTION
1. Short Story a prose narrative w/c concentrates on
a uniform or single effect and are in which the
totality of the effect is the main objective.
2. Novel fictitious prose narrative or a tale of
considerable length in which characters and actins
represents the real life wherein the past and present
times are portrayed in a plot of none/less
complexity.

PROSE: FICTION
There are two major kinds of novels:
Allegory the symbolical story revolves around
two meanings: what the writer says directly is
totally different from the conveyed meaning at
the end.
Comedy a common type of novel wherein
satire is used in focusing on the facts of the
society and their desires.

Elements of Fiction
A.PLOT - it is the skeletal framework of the story
wherein the events are arranged in a
meaningful sequence.
*the plot should be exciting and should have good
structure.

Elements of Fiction

Elements of Fiction
Parts of the Plot:

1. Exposition refers to the layout of the materials of

the story or introduction.
2. Complication rising action where the major
conflict of the story are presented.

3. Climax the peak of the story or action where the

dilemma is faced by the main characters.
4. Resolution falling action.

Elements of Fiction
B. SETTING the time and place of action. It
refers to the physical locale, climatic
conditions and historical period where the
story is taking place.

Elements of Fiction
C. THEME- the generalization about human life or
character that a story explicitly or implicitly
embodies a philosophical truth. It is the central
idea of the story and revolved around the
significant human experience.
*it is not the moral message
*it is not always made explicit at some point of the story
*must embody some state of mans thinking

Elements of Fiction
D. CHARACTER the set of people embodied
within a human experience. There are two
major characters are the protagonist (main
character) and antagonist (villain), but
sometimes the line between the two is blurred
like the anti-hero.

Elements of Fiction
E. POINT OF VIEW the narrative voice of
the story. It is the vantage point from
which the characters, actions and
events are seen.

Elements of Fiction
First Person POV I or We limited to himself.
Dramatic/ Objective POV story revealed through
the dialogues between the characters and through
their actions.
Omniscient POV the voice is outside the work
which allows the descriptions of the inner thoughts
and emotions of any and all he characters in the
story.

Elements of Fiction
F. CONFLICT the dilemma faced by he main character
of the story.
Types of Conflicts:

Person Vs. Self

Person Vs. Person
Person Vs. Society
Person Vs. Nature
Person Vs. Supernatural
Person Vs. Machine or Technology

NON-FICTION
Non-fiction is a story based on real life facts and
information. Non-fiction is anarrative,account, or
other communicative work whose assertions and
descriptions are believed by theauthorto
befactual.

NON-FICTION
Itdepends on the author attempting to tell the
truth. In other words, even though no author
knows everyone or everything, one of the main
requirements of non-fiction is that an author
should never claim something is true if he or she
knows that it's not.

Biographies
are writings about real people that are
composed by someone other than the person
whose story is being told.
It's important to note that, unlike some fiction
stories that biographically tell the story of a
character, biographies are meant to tell the
story of a real person who lived or is alive.

Autobiographies And Memoirs

Autobiographiesare stories about a person's life
that are written by the person whose life is being
discussed.
One particularly influential example of this
genre isThe Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin,
which covers Franklin's experiences growing up
and becoming a famous political figure.

Autobiographies And Memoirs

One subcategory of autobiography that also
includes a first-person account of one's
experiences is the memoir. While similar to
autobiographies in that they retell the events of
a person's life, memoirs tend to focus more on
specific events or phases in the person's life than
autobiographies.

ESSAY
Essaysas works that are meant to introduce an
author's opinion or argument. This naturally
means that essays might take all sorts of forms,
such as long editorials, articles in a magazine or
journal, or even collections of photographs that
are meant to make a point.

A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, the man

who never reads lives only one.
George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons

POETRY

Poetry is a disciplined, compact verbal

utterance, in some none/less musical mode,

dealing with aspects of internal or external
reality on some meaningful way.

POETRY
Poetry relies more on the figures of speech,
symbolism and imagery. It also relies more
on the sound and rhythm of speech and it
often uses rhyme and meter. .

ELEMENTS OF POETRY
a. Theme the soul of the poem. It is what the poet
wants to express through words which may either be
a thought, a feeling, an observation, a story or an
experience.

b. Symbolism the expressions that express deep

hidden meaning behind the words used by the poet.

ELEMENTS OF POETRY
d.Rhythm this refers to the resonation of words
along with the sounds, and the music
produced when the poem is read aloud.
e.Meter it is the basic structure of a poem which
is determined by the number of syllables in line.
f. Rhyme

ELEMENTS OF POETRY
g. Simile - is a figure of speech that directly
compares two things through the explicit use of
connecting words
h. Metaphor - a figure of speech in which a term
or phrase is applied to something to which it is
not literally applicable in order to suggest a
resemblance