1-Children-and-Adolescent-Literature.pdf

Major 09 Children and Adolescent Literature 1
Republic of the Philippines
UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN PHILIPPINES
University Town, Northern Samar
Web: http://uep.edu.ph ; Email: uepnsofficial@gmail.com
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Major 09
CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENT
LITERATURE
Second Semester, School Year 2020-2021
LEAH A. DE ASIS, EdD
All photos are from www.google.com/search

Module 1
PRELIMINARIES

Good Day!
Welcome to my class in Major 9, Children and Adolescent Literature.
This subject provides a survey of the categories and types of the world’s
literature for children and adolescents
Module 1 includes the preliminaries in better understanding of
literature. It reviews the definition, the importance of the study, theories,
subjects, literary standards classifications, the study of fiction and technique
for literary reading.
It also discusses the 20 questions in the study of literature, approaches
in the study of literary genres – traditional and contemporary, the different
values found in literary pieces, benefits of teaching literature, goals and some
guides to literary terms and techniques.
I have decided to include these topics and subtopics to refresh you with
important lessons in literature as you move forward to higher in levels –
analytical and application.
There are six (6) modules prepared for this subject. Each module
includes learning outcomes, discussions, and assessments, suggested
readings, and references.
LEAH A. DE ASIS, EdD
Course Professor

1.1 The Preliminaries
1.2 The Study of Fiction
1.3 Techniques for Reading
Poetry
1.4 Techniques for Reading
Drama
1.5 Questions in the Study of
Literature
1.6 Reading: A Complex Process
1.7 Poems Analyses and
Interpretations
1.8 Contemporary Approaches
to the Reading of Literature
1.9 Guide to Literary Terms and
Techniques
1.10 Benefits of Teaching
Literature
1.11 Reasons Why Literature is
Taught
1.1 THE PRELIMINARIES
The Meaning of Literature
Literature is defined as written works which deal with themes of
permanent and universal interest, charcterized by creativeness and grace of
expression such as poetry, fiction, essay, etc; distinguished from works of
scientific, technical, or journalistic nature. It can also be defined as an
expression of the emotions, thoughts, beliefs, spirations, dreams, and goals of
humanity in general and of man in particular. We can say that this is life itself.
In many ways, it can teach us the unkown and undiscovered things bout
ourselves, what Saint Augustinemany centuries ago called “the dark corners
of the heart.” And according to Thomas Moore, literature means “to appreciate
life” and “to make us see beauty.”
Learning Outcomes
 Scaffold learning competencies
and appreciation for literature;
 Recognize the importance of the
study of literature;
 Identify theories used in literature;
 Apply techniques in reading,
poetry, drama, and fiction;
 Analyze literary text;
 Apply the different approaches in
the study of literary genres;
 Appreciate the benefits of
literature; and
 Attain the goal of teaching
literature.
PRELIMINARIES

Importance of the Study of Literature
There are varied reasons why the study of literature is of great
importance. These are:
1. It expresses our emotions, beliefs and aspirations, and sentiments.
2. It reflects the ideologies and philosophies of life.
3. It informs, entertains, and teaches a lesson.
4. It allows one to discover him/herself and grow through him/her
exposure to the beliefs, attitudes, values, customs, and traditions of the
people of the world.
5. It enables the reader to appreciate literary masterpieces and value the
meaning of life.
6. It allows us to understand literary trends and techniques.
7. It gives the distinctive qualities of literary works and ideas peculiar to a
certain group of people or nation.
8. It makes us realize the
universality of events in
human life which we need to
understand and accept.
9. It enables students to
understand the values of
other peoples of the world.
Theories of Literature
1. It is initiative. It is believed in
the study of literary
background that writers
follow the examples of other authors before they arrive at their own
original works.
2. It is representative. Any literary work is a substitute for reality.
3. It is appreciative. Literature gives us a bigger view of life.
4. It is symbolic. Literature is scattered in other meanings.
Other Set of Theories
Theory Description
Imitative Adheres to the idea that writers follow the ideas of other
authors, that literature is a reproduction of life experiences.
Expressive Holds that an artist or a writer puts or shows his/her sentiments,
feelings, and emotions in his/her work. It further posts that

literature is an expression of the thoughts and feelings of the
author.
Affective Holds that the purpose of any work of literature is to stir or
arouse the emotions of the readers for a specific reason or
purpose.
Subjects of Literature
There are varied topics or ideas that could be subjects of what people
write. These could be based on their concepts and observations about
people, places, history, objects, events, or occasions, experiments, actions,
and experiences. Anything which attracts or inspires can be subjects of
literature.
Literary Standards
The following criteria are suggested and used by a world literary critic
to evaluate a literary piece.
1. Artistry. A quality which appeals to our sense of beauty.
2. Intellectual beauty. Literary pieces must stimulate thought. These
should enrich our mental life by making us realize fundamental truths
about life and human nature.
3. Suggestiveness. This is the quality relevant to the emotional power of
literature to make us feel deeply and stir our feelings and imagination.
It should give and evoke visions
above and beyond the plane of
ordinary life and experience.
4. Spiritual value. A literary work
must elevate the spirit by bringing
out moral values which make us
better persons. The capacity to
inspire is part of the spiritual value
of literature.
5. Permanence. A great literary work
endures and can be read again as
each reading gives fresh delights and new insights. It opens new
worlds of meaning and experience and its appeal is lasting.

6. Universality. A great literary work is timeless and timely. It is forever
relevant, it appeals to one and all, anytime, anywhere because it deals
with elemental feelings, fundamental truths, and universal conditions.
7. Style. It is the peculiar way in which a writer sees life, forms his ideas
and expresses them. Great works are marked as much by their
memorable substance as by their distinctive style. It should suit
content.
Classifications of Literature
Imaginative Literature. Creative, somewhat fictional
Nonfiction prose. Scientific (to describe or interpret facts, present
judgments, its goal include truth in reposting and logic in reasoning.
Prose. Speech or writing without metrical structure.
Poetry. The art by which a poet projects feeling and experience or an
imaginative plane, in rhythmical words, to stir the imagination and the
elements.
Narrative. An orderly, continuous account of an event or series of
events.
Dramatic. Of, connected with, or like the drama; especially involving
conflict.
Play. A dramatic composition, also a
dramatic representation, especially a public
theatrical exhibition.
Melodrama. Originally, a drama with a
romantic story or plot, sensational incidents,
and usually including some music and song.
Epic. A poem or other literary work
usually with a happy ending.
Tragedy. A form of drama in which the
protagonist, having some quality of greatness
(as in Greek, Roman and Renaissance tragedy,
in high places), comes to disaster through some flaw (which may be a noble

fault) in him brings about his inevitable downfall or death, the action being
managed in a way to produce pity and fear in the spectator and to effect a
catharsis of these feelings.
Lyric. Characterizing verse expressing the poet’s personal emotions or
sentiments.
Elegy. In funeral song, a meditative poem with a sorrowful theme.
Ode. In classical prosody, a lyric poem
intended to be a sung or chanted composed
of an octave and a sestet properly expressing
two successive phases of s single thought or
sentiment.
Song. The rendering of a vocal music;
a musical composition for the voice or for
several voices.
Utilitarian. Relating to utility;
especially, placing utility above beauty or the amenities of life.
Speech. The faculty of expressing thought and emotion by spoken
words.
Editorial. An article in a journal, or periodical, presumably written by
the editor or by his subordinate, and published as an official argument or
expression of opinion.
History. A recorded narrative of pst event, especially those concerning
a particular period, nation, individual, etc.
Expository. Conveying, containing, or pertaining to exposition.
Letter. A written or printed communication, from one person to
another.
Essay. A prose composition of moderate length usually expository,
dealing on a subject, idea, theory or an experience.
Short Story. A type of prose fiction differing from the novel especially
in the matter of length.

Novel. A fictional prose narrative of considerable length, representing
characters and events as if in real life by a plot or scheme.
Folktales. Explain ancient peoples’ origins, cultures, their beliefs and
traditions.
Legends. Pure narratives which tell of the origin of a place, a person or
object.
Myths. Sacred narratives which explain how the world and men came
to be in the present form.

1.2 THE STUDY OF FICTION
Fiction is the embodiment of artistic or the structural unity of plot,
character, setting, point of view, irony, symbols, theme, and style.
Plot is the selection of events (story) based on relevance (cause-
effect) and suggestiveness (provocative scenes), ordering of action to reveal
exposition, complication leading to crisis-turn-reversal, and the resolution,
which leads to the denouement, and ending.
Character, the sense of physical presence of people “in the round,”
fully fleshed and with inner life. Characters reveal motivation, flower in action;
act or cated upon and exhibit growth, change, or deterioration.
Characterization is the use of techniques, in which character is revealed
notably, by the reaction of characters to each other, externals, speech, action,
description of thought, direct comments, and juxtaposition with other
characters who show opposite traits (foil).
Setting, also scene or atmosphere, could be a fixed locale or a
“feeling” which invites meanings. It has
four (4) functions: setting as an idea, as a
symbol, as an atmosphere, and as a
motive force.
Point of View, through this, the
author allows us to see what he wants us
to see and is, therefore, a device of
selectiveness, limitation, verisimilitude, and
distancing. There are different kinds: telling
it in the first person, either as observer or
participant; telling it in the third person,
omniscient or panoramic; and as “limited omniscient.”
Irony shows contrast between what seems, and what is, and could be:
 Dramatic discrepancy between meaning intended by fictional
character and another meaning that the audience or reader finds
in the same words;
 Verbal discrepancy between what is said and what is meant,
often a vehicle for sarcasm, sadness, afvfection.

Symbolism doubles as the designation of something concrete in the
story and something intangible and valuable, for example, T.S. Eliot’s
“objective correlative” or a verbal shorthand to convey meaning or mood.
Style implies control of material through different devices.
Theme is meaning that suraces and is communicated with clarity and
intensity; should not be obvious or simply a moral.
Elements of Fiction
1. Setting. Refers to time, place, and condition cited in the story. The
setting should be revealed at the beginning to set the reader in the
desired mood and build up an impression of reality.
2. Characters. Refer to persons or animals or natural forces represented
as persons in a work of literature.
Characters may be classified as:
a. Static or flat, they stay the same
throughout a work; flat
characteristics are merely sketched
for us and are not fully developed;
they have only one dimension or
side.
b. Dynamic or round, undergoes a
change in personality or attitude.
Round characters are more fully developed; we see many sides of
their personality and we come to appreciate their complexity, as if
they were actual persons.
Types of Characters
a. Protagonist or hero (heroine) the pivotal character in the story.
S/he is usually sympthatized by the readers/audience.
b. Antagonist or villain a person or force that opposes the
protagonist in the story or drama, an enemy of the hero or heroine.
Antagonist comes rom a Greek word meaning, “to struggle against.”
c. Sub-characters supporting characters in the story.

General Methods of Characterization
a. Expository method, the author tells us about a character directly
through the narrator’s voice.
b. Dramatic method, the author allows the characterization to arise
indirectly out of action and speech.
Ways which an Author Reveals Character
a. Direct characterization, the author describes the charcter’s
appearance, makes interpretive comments about this character’s
thought, words, actions, and reactions and compres this character
with others.
b. Indirect characterization, the author shows how the other
character treats the character
in question, what they say to
him/her and about him/her, as
well as what they think of
him/her nand how they react
to him/her.
c. Dramatic characterization,
the author lets the character
reveal him/herself. How
he/she talks, how he/she acts,
what he/she thinks about, and
how he/she acts to other
characters.
d. Miscellaneous technique,
the author may describe the setting in a way that sheds light on the
character. He/she my give the character a name that tells the
reader about him/her or he/she may relate to a symbolic object or
action.
3. Plot is the sequence of related events that make up a story or a drama.
It is important to remember that a plot shows us a relationship among
events. Plot is the scaffolding of the story, the framework. It is through
plot that the story is being built.
Elements of Plot
a. Exposition gives background nand information on such things as
character and setting.

b. Conflict consists of series of complications or probems. The
conflict is physical, mental, or spiritual. The basis of conflict may be
between man and nature, man versus man, man versus society, or
man versus him/herself.
c. Climax is the point where the main conflict is finally solved. It is
called the highest point of interest because it gives clue to the final
outcome of the story.
d. Conclusion or denouement is the final outcome of the story. It is
the resolution or the ending of a certain literary piece. The ending
could be happy, sad, or tragic.
e. Theme is the idea expressed in literary works; the central insight
that the work gives us about human lfe. If the work is relatively brief,
such as short story or a lyric poem, it will probably have only one
theme. If it is a longer work, such as novel or play, it will have
probably several themes, which may work together. Theme is
different from moral/lesson. Theme is only suggested and requires
analysis and thought to be brought out. The theme of a work
sometimes is a statement about life, but it often simply is the raising
of an important question for which the writer gives no ready
answers. It is an exploration of important ideas about human life.
1.3 TECHNIQUES FOR READING POETRY
Poetry is a branch of the humanities that readers artistically,
imaginatively the best of man’s thoughts
and feelings. It is methaphorical
communication, “the highest form of talk”
(Engle). It is, according to Ciardi, a formal
structre in which elements operate
simultaneously. We know poetry as a
statement of human experience and its two
(2) outstanding qualities are the formal
structure and intensity of language.
Effects of Poetry. Its interpretive
power – awakening, enhancing our
awareness of things. Here, words mean more, suggest more: a story, a world
of ideas, emotions, moods. What is a poet? One who “hangs around words,”
a juggler of words, a man who imposes verbal restrictions (rules of form) or

who evolves his/her own form as a poet writing free verse, one of
encyclopedic minds with a flair for sounds, shapes, coors, etc.
General Themes of Poetry. Personal themes – love, death,
loneliness, frustration, nature as destroyer or as an aspect of the Divine, art
and life, faith in man, faith in God; and Social themes – injustice, human
suffering, man’s inhumanity to man, failure of tradition, of the family,
materialism, etc.
Characteristics of Poetry. Methaporical, rhythmical or cadenced,
connotative, figurative, condensed, imaginative, emotional, dramatic, indirect,
mysterious, vivid, descriptive, concrete, and paradoxical.
Elements of Poetry
Language. The poet uses every resource of language, from simplicity
to eloquence, heightening through compression, expansion, omission, and
repetition, but the effect is always one of spontaneity. Poetic language
considers diction, vocabulary, and level (whether lofty or simple and
conversational). Language is connotative, that is, it empoys words for their
flavor of “feel.” The choice of words is marked by the use of active and exact
words, with more nouns and verbs than adjective and adverbs.
Tone or atmosphere, feeling, attitude, stance, or the poet’s way of
looking at his/her subject or at the world. It may be serious, ironic, bitter,
resigned, joyful, sad, etc.
Imagery is the total sensory suggestion of poetry – visual, auditory,
tactile, gustatory, and bodily. Imagery which is wider than metaphor suggests
symbols, myth, and archetype. The image is a kind of verbal shorthand
wherein the poet, through his/her images, perceives intuitive similarities of
unlike objects. The poet is an image-maker, one who reinforces his/her
thoughts with concrete words. Images in
poetry should not be merely profuse, but
if they are, they should be part of a
planned symbolic significance or part of
an organized system, hence, imagery.
Sound and Rhythms take into
account the kind and number of foot
patterns in each line (lamb, trochaic,
anapest, dactylic, spondee and
monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter,
etc.). Rhythm is determined by metrical stress and rhetorical stress, the latter

being dependent on meaning. Rime or echoing of sound is characterized by
the presence of masculine rime, feminine rime, assonance, consonance,
alliteration, and interior rime. Musicality means the expressive use of these
kinds of rime. Onomatopoeia is also an important quality of sound in poetry.
Thought or Meaning. More significant than the answer to the question
“What does a poem mean?” is the question “How does a poem mean?”
Reading poetry is reenactment of an experience (“What it feels lie to…?”)
raher than arrival at a thought or logical conclusion.
How to Succeed as a Poetry Reader
1. Follow the author’s idea or argument through to the end. Poetry is
generally to be imagined as the voice of someone addressing the
audience. It has dramatic possibilities of being or sounding meditative,
pleading, angry, prayerful, declamatory, narrative, ironic, satiric, etc.
2. Take in the mood evoked by richly connotative words. Emphasize with
the “persona.”
3. Recreate the world suggested by the sensous imagery or lilting sound
effects be charmed, delighted by the world conjured by the poet.
4. Look up references, allusions, and suggestions.
5. Analyze it as a formal piece with each strand of elements but which
works expressively as a whole.
1.4 TECHNIQUES FOR READING DRAMA
The drama is a presentation made up of words, sights, sounds,
motions, noise, stillness, relationships, and
responses. It has two (2) aspects, drama as
script and drama as play. The script is the
dialogue and stage directions for actors and
stage technicians. The play is the script
coming to life and is a director’s
interpretation of the script. The advantage of
reading a play is that we can be our own
directors. It lends to appreciation of
literature, as it can be read leisurely and
deliberately. The play presentation is
heighthened living and offers immediacy,
vividness, and intensity. A statement can have different implications
depending upon stresses, tone of voice, and gesture which tell a story through
action.

The elements of a drama are plot, character, conflict, language and
idea, and spectacle.
Plot, the “soul of drama” (Aristotle), is more tightly knit in the drama
than in the novel. Nothing extraneous should occur as in fact, classical
tragedy insisted on unities of time, place, and action. The plot is divided into:
exposition (information regarding antecedent action, characters, their
relationships, and the initial situation); inciting action which moves toward a
point; rising action which is part of the complication; turning point, where
choices and decisions lead to the inevitable; falling action in which incidents
follow from the turning point without diminution of the intensity; and the
denouement or resolution which clarifies and relaxes the tension. Someone
calls it the bridge to reality.
Character or dramatic personae presents protagists and antagonists
whose personalities, temper of mind, and morality trigger conflicts,
developments, changes, problems, actions, and reactions. Characters are
partly types and partly individuals.
Conflict. Since struggle is the essence
of drama, we find a clash of wills, or moral,
psychological, and sociological conflicts.
Discovery and reversal are results of conflicts.
Discovery fulfills our epectations of events. The
Greek word is peripeteia while ignorance
(anagnorisis) is a situation where the audience
knows but the character does not or both do not
kow certain things vital to the play. A development of conflict is reversal where
events or actions make a turnabout because of a discovery and this leads to
shock or surprise.
Irony (from eironeia which means feigning ignorance) is an important
element of the dramas in all literature. It arises from a recognition of a
discrepancy between the expected and actual, the apparent and the real.
There are irony of statement (paradox, understatement) and irony of the
dramatic situation which results from the occurrence of discovery,
ignorance, and reversal. Ironic perception of the dramatic situation heightens
tension and suspense and is essentially what drama is all about.
Language and Idea. Some plays emphasize theme and idea and
quality of language , or attempt to present a thesis. Hence, the dramatic
situation is an illustration of ideas although the story which may be taken from
the Bible, myth, legend, or history may be familiar to the audience.

Spectacle or theater conventions are part of the total appeal of the
drama which shows the relationships of script, actor, audience, author,
producer, society, genre, stage, and theatre to each other.
Limitations of the Drama
1. Description
2. Narrative progression
3. Comment
4. Direct penetration into a character’s mind
How to Read a Play
Read it twice, once for the text and the second time for its subtext,
which means tempo, rhythm, subplot, voice, registers, stresses, pauses,
inflection, pitch, volume, body movements, position, gestures, and movement.
The Tragedy and Comedy
Mood. The mood of tragedy is serious, thoughtful, philosophical, and
more emotional. Comedy is mirthful, satiric,
and more intellectual.
Kinds of Actions
In the tragedy, the hero is overcome
by forces he/she is opposed to or tries to
oppose. In the comedy, incongruity springs
from the gap between intentions and
actuality.
Resolution of the Action
The tragic hero loses in the end and the play ends in catastrophe,
death, a sense of sadness, and futility. The main character in the comedy
triumphs over ostacles.
Effect
The tragedy produces catharsis (makes us pity the hero and fear with
him/her in a sense of identification) while in the comedy, the amusement
makes us feel superior to the hero because of his/her imperfections and
ignorance.

Levels of Reading
There are three (3) levels of reading. These are as follows.
1. Reading the lines. Literal reading of
the text without necessarily
understanding its contents.
2. Reading between the lines. In poetry,
it means figurative understanding. It
could also mean understanding its
context or connotation.
3. Reading beyond the lines. Moving
forward, that is, predicting, drawing inferences, and forming
judgment.
QUESTIONS IN THE STUDY OF LITERATURE
Below is a roster of the 20 questions in the study of literature.
I. Reader-Response
1. How do you feel about this work? For example, what feelings did
it evoke when you read it? Pity, fear, suspense, surprise, joy, or
humor?
2. Does your attitude toward, or understanding of the work change
as you read it? What brings about conditions that change? How
many different ways can the work be read?
3. By manipulating such literary devices as tone and point of view,
authors try to establish a relationship between their work and
their readers. What relationship to the reader does this work or
author) assume? What elements of the work help establish this
relationship?
II. Formal
4. Make an inventory of the key words, symbols, and images in the
work by listing those that seem most insignificant to you. What
meanings seem to be attached to these words, symbols, and
images?
5. How do these words, symbols, and images help to provide unity
or define the overall pattern or structure of the work?

6. Under what genre should the work be classified? What generic
conventions are readily apparent? If it is fiction or drama, what
does each of the five (5) structural elements – plot, characters,
setting, theme, and mood – contribute to the work? If it is poetry,
how do meter, rhythm, rhyme, and figurative language
contribute to your experience of the poem?
III. Traditional
7. How does the work reflect the biographical or historical
background of the author or the time during which it was
written?
8. What are the principal themes of the work?
9. What moral statements, if any, does the work make? What
philosophical view of life or the world does the work present?
IV. Psychological
10.What are the principal characteristics or defining traits of the
protagonists or main characters in the work?
11.What psychological relationships exist between and among the
characters? Try to determine which characters are stronger and
which are weaker. What is the source of their strength or
weakness?
12.Are these unconscious conflicts within or between characters?
How are these conflicts portrayed in the work? Is the Freudian
concept of the id-ego-superego applicable?
13.Is sexuality or sexual imagery employed in the work? Are there
implications of Oedipus complex, pleasure principle, or wish
fulfilment?
14.How do the principal characters view the world around them and
other characters in the
work? Is that view
accurate or distorted?
V. Mythological-Archetypal
15.Does the work contain
mythic elements in plot,
theme, or character? Are
there recognizable mythic
patterns such as
rebirth/fertility/quest/journe
y or struggle/return of the hero?
16.Are there archetypal characters, images, or symbols, such as
the great mother, the wise old man, the sea, the seasons?

17.Do you find Jungian archetypes, such as shadow, persona, or
anima, growth, and individualism?
VI. Sociological
18.What is the relationship between the work and the society it
presents or grew out of? Does it address particular social issues
either directly or indirectly – such as race, sex, class, religion, or
politics?
19.Does the sexual identity of the main character affect the
relationships and ultimately the events in the story?
20.Finally, does the story, poem, or play lend itself to one of the
various interpretative techniques more than the others?
Approaches in the Study of Literary Genres
1. Formalistic or Literary Approach. This approach is called
“formalistic” or “pure” or “literary”. The selection is read and viewed
intrinsically, or for itself independent of author, age, or any other
extrinsic factors.
2. Moral or Humanistic Approach. It is where the nature of man is
central to literature. This approach is close to the “morality” of literature,
to question of ethical goodness or badness.
3. Historical Approach. Considered as a popular approach. Man as a
member of a particular society or nation at a particular time is central to
the approach where historical or biographical are introduced in a
selection or arranged in a literature course in a chronological order.
4. Sociological approach. It may be considered as the extension of the
historical approach. It considers
literature as principally the
expression of man within a given
social situation.
5. Cultural Approach. It considers
literature as one of the principal
manifestations and vehicles of a
nation’s or a race’s culture and
tradition.
6. Psychological Approach. This
considers literature as the expression of personality, of inner drives, of
neurosis. It has resulted in an almost exhausting and exhaustive

“psychological analysis of characters, of symbols and images, of
recurrent themes, etc.”
7. Impressionistic Approach. Also known as the reaction-response.
This approach is now popular. Students may be asked to react or
respond to anything, which may have impressed them for one reason
or another. The inclinations of the students, their ability or inability to
respond mis-conceptions, new insights, or blank minds are revealed in
their papers.
1.6 READING: A COMPLEX PROCESS
Reading is indeed a complex process. The recognition and
comprehension of written symbols are influenced by the reader’s perceptual
skills, word analysis, language background, and mindset, reading ability. In
reading, we may be able to find different values, namely, factual values,
emotional values, human values, and ethical values.
1. Factual Values. It tells you about life in other lands.
 Does it tell you things about the world, about other people, about
life in other lands?
 Do you learn anything from the description? From the
conversation?
The answer to these questions makes up the factual or
informational values of the story.
2. Emotional Values. Refers to the feeling of the story aroused in you.
Words not only have meaning; they
are charged with emotional content,
too. Images and feelings lead the
reader to identify him/herself with the
characters, to feel their joys and
grieve, to worry over their problems.
3. Human Values. Gives clearer
understanding of the motives behind
human actions.
 Why does a story character act as s/he does?
 Why does s/he say what s/he says?

 Would another type of person act and speak in the same way?
 Would a coward and a brave man act and speak in the same
manner?
 Would an honest person and a crook behave and talk in the
same way?
4. Ethical Values. These are the ideas of right conduct and nobility in
thought and action awakened in you as you read the selection.
5. Symbolic Values. They represent objects and characters that stand
for ideas. The symbolic values may be national, racial, or associated
with religion.
1.7 POEM ANALYSES AND INTERPRETATIONS
Below is a roster of suggested questions that may be asked in
analyzing and interpreting a poem.
1. Human Experience and the Speaker
 What is the occasion of the poem?
 What is the situation being described?
 Who is the speaker? Is the speaker taking part in the action?
 Are other voices speaking? Is there an implied audience for the
poem?
2. Organization of Idea
 How is the poem organized?
 Are keywords repeated?
 What connection do you see
between ages?
 How is grammar related to
the meaning?
 Is there logical progression of
ideas?
 Is the use of a specific stanza
or verse form effective in
establishing connections of
time, space, comparison-
contrast, cause and effect of ideas?
 Is the pattern of organization related to the meaning?

3. Tone and Diction
 What attitude is the speaker taking toward his subject? Is he
serious, amused, angry, humorous, or what?
 Is the diction concrete of abstract? What are the connotations of
the keywords and images?
 Does the context give unusual meanings to words? Are common
words used in common ways?
 Does the tone of the poem indicate that the words are used
ironically?
 Are there examples of poetic ambiguity?
4. Imagery and Symbolism
 Do the images have a literal or metaphoric meaning? If the
passage is metaphoric, what two (2) things are being
compared?
 Which is the literary term and which is the figurative?
 In what ways are the two (2)
things alike? What do the
figurative phrases mean
literally?
 Is there any use of symbols?
What do they stand for?
5. Sound and Meaning
 What is the connection between
sound and meaning?
 What use had the poet made of
alliteration and assonance?
 What is the predominant meter of the poem?
 Where there are exceptions to regular beat, what changes are
made in the emphasis?
 Does the variation affect the meaning? What use is made of
pause?
 In what tempo should the various lines be read? Does the
meaning help in determining the tempo?
 How does the writer manage to vary the tempo?
6. Theme
 What is the significance of the title?
 Does it have or more than one meaning?
 What is the theme of the poem?

1.8 CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO THE READING OF
LITERATURE
In the last 20 years of the 20th
century, the academe has caught the
excitement of applying new paradigms or ways of looking at the world and
interpreting reality or interpreting text, notably literature. Three (3) of these
literary frameworks or paradigms are: structuralism, deconstruction, and
gender (Femninist) criticism. Marxism and cultural criticism are subsumed
under Deconstruction or Post-Modern Criticism. The questions under the
Mythical-Archetypal and the sociological approaches are part of these literary
frames of references, but these new concepts deserve a little more
clarification.
Structuralism is a reading approach that identifies structures of
thought in the way we read. Put more simply, it is a perspective that shows
the reader ways in which he thinks he/she thinks as he/she reads patterns of
deep structure. For instance, in reading Psam 23 (“The Lord is my
shepherd…”), the reader might categorize a system in which the speaker of
the psalm (King David) is suggesting the relationship between a shepherd and
his/her sheep, a guest and his/her host (“He prepares a table before me…”)
and that of a father and his children (“I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.”).
Structuralism does not categorize literature into plot, character, setting,
etc. but rather relates text to language, landscape, kinship systems, marriage
customs, fashion, menu, architecture, furniture, and politics. The reader is in
quest of “codes” which the author has encoded and the interpreter decodes in
several ways as codes of action (proairetic), codes of puzzle (hermeneutics)
or as cultural, connotative, abd symbolic codes.
[Students can try the structural approach with the Book of Ruth,
Orpheus, and Eurydice, and “Lord
Ranall.”}
Post-Modernism is the most
thought-provoking approach to
literary interpretation. It is called
Post-Modern because it questions
all our assumptions about the
accumulated experience of modern
Western traditions, of civilization,
rationalization, urbanization, liberal democracy, and advanced technology. It
proposes to set itself outside modern paradigms (by “modern”is meant all

ideas after the Enlightenment) – to contemplate modern evaluative criteria.
Post-Modernism seeks to “de-center” any wordview (logocentric or any
totalizing meta-narrative hat gives pre-determined answers) and then to
“deconstruct” the text.
Ultimately, it does not formulate any set of assumptions but rather
makes the reader believe that it is impossible to discover any underlying
principle for certainty or knowledge.
Since Post-Modernism challenges clarity through a logical or
chronological order, novelists tend to suspend strict linearity of plot for
instance and therefore, the organization of story element or design must be
provided through implications by the reader. (One will observe this in
“Orphan” by Peter Straughan).
{Try Post-Modernism with “A Letter to God” and The Temple of the
Golden Pavilion.}
Feminist (sometimes Gender or Gynocentric) criticism is another
approach which seeks to discover awareness, consciousness, and re-
evaluation of women – their roles in life and their consciousness in literature.
Led by authors such as Elaine Showalter, Toril Moi, Helen Cixous, feminist
reading means recognizing that what is written about them in literature are
examples of questionable assumptions. These assumptions are made by men
(and some by women) that men are superior as they have been enshrined to
be so by the patriarchal order of society.
Women have been denied equal status with
men, or suppressed or have been treated as
inferior creatures, or assumed to be “natural” or
objects of violence from men. Examples of
these are implicit in Alice Walker’s novel and
film, “The Color of Purple” which starred
Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Whinfrey.
Feminism, furthermore, offers one of the
most important social, economic, and aesthetic
revolutions of modern times. It not only exposes prejudices of masculine
superiority but has also penetrated into the unconscious psychoanalytical
realms of expressions and focused on the significance of literacy prototypes
such as a Medusa, Cassandra, Arachne, Ceres, Isis, and Diana.
{The readers can try Feminism with several selections like the Haiku,
Africa, Medea, Habitation, The Horse Breaker, lines from Ramayana ad
Shakuntala.}

Marxist Criticism is an appraoch that shows the relationship between
literature and the political struggle. It presents patterns of inferiority and
oppression by reason of class, race, ethnicity, and even of gender (Feminist
readings). The production theory states that capitalistic ideology has
predetermined thought, feelings, taste, and behavior of people. Marxist
refelction theory advocates that readers who recognize the influence of
capitalistic classes on human behavior and
the perpetuation of injustice and inequality
shoud propose workable solutions.
{Students can try Marxist criticism
with Fallen on a Field of Splendor, Riches,
and Honour, Prayers of the Hungry, Poet’s
Obligation, and Six Feet of the Country.}
Cultural Criticism is a combination of
elements of these critical theories – that is
gender studies, film, theory, pop culture,
post-colonial studie,. It presents cultural forces that divide and alienate
communities from each other, or on a more hopeful note, create and unite
communities with each other.
{Try this approach with the folk tale from Indonesia, the myth from
Greece, the poems from China and Africa, and A Maririage Proposal by
Chekhov.}
Literature may include the following activities:
1. Oral Reading
2. Singing
3. Dramatics
4. Others
a. Monologue
b. Role-playing
c. Pantomime
d. Chamber theater
e. Play production
5. Verse Choir/Speech Choir
6. Writing
a. Reaction papers
b. Writing original poems with the aid of insights gained from what has
been read
7. Graphics
a. Drawing or sketching

b. Painting or coloring
c. Cutting, folding, pasting or any activity, which results in, finished
products inspired by what has been read
1.9 GUIDE TO LITERARY TERMS AND TECHNIQUES
 Analogy. A comparison of two (2) things, stressing their similarities
often analogies are used in arguments to convince someone of a point,
but analogies are used in other types of writing and speaking as well.
 Blank Verse. Is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter – that is, with
each line usually containing five (5) iambic, which consists of an
unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The word blank
means that the verse is not rhymed. William Shakespeare’s play and
John Milton’s epics are written in blank verse. Usually a line in blank
verse has exactly 10 syllables, it almost always has five (5) strong
stresses.
When down her weedy, trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide.
And mermaid like a while they bore her up.
 Catastrophe. The conclusion of a tragic drama or story, following the
period of falling action. At the point of
catastrophe, the conflicts have been
resolved, with disastrous
consequences for the tragic hero or
heroine, and possibly for others as
well.
 Characterization. The method used
to present the personality of a
character in a work of literature. A
writer can develop a character in
many ways:
a. by showing the character’s actions and speech,
b. by giving a physical description of the character,
c. by revealing the character’s thoughts,
d. by revealing what others think about the character,
e. and by commenting directly on the character.

 Connotation. The suggested meanings of a word or phrase, the
meaning and feelings that have become associated with the word, in
addition to its explicit meaning.
For example:
The dictionary explicitly defines rock, as a
hard stone; but the connotations of the word
rock goes beyond this literal meaning; the
word may suggest strength, restriction, and
sturdy.
 Denotation. The explicit meaning of a word,
as listed in a dictionary.
 Description. A kind of writing that uses
sensory details to re-create a person, a place,
a thing, or an event. Sensory details are those
that appeal to the senses of sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste.
Description often works to establish a mood, or stir up emotion.
 Irony. A contrast or discrepancy between what is stated and what is
really meant, or between what is expected to happen and what actually
does happen. There are three kinds of irony:
1. Verbal irony, in which a writer or speaker says one thing and
means something entirely different.
2. Dramatic irony, a device that allows an audience or a reader to
know something that a character in a drama or story is unaware of.
For example:
In Oedipus the King, throughout the story, Oedipus tries to discover
the murderer of the previous king, threatening to destroy the
murderer one he is found. But it is Oedipus himself who has killed
the King, through he does not know it.
3. Irony of situation, occurs when a situation turns out to be different
from what we had expected.
 Flashback. A scene in a story or play that interrupts the present action
to tell about the events that happened at an earlier time. A flashback is

needed to make the present action more understandable to the reader.
It is a narrative device in which past events and conversations are
recalled.
 Free Verse. Is a potery that doesn’t have a fixed line length, stanza
form, rhyme scheme, or meter. Sometimes free verse relies on the
kinds of pauses we hear in conversation, thus, giving easiness to the
poetry. Although it does not use fixed rhymes, free verse may make
use of rhyme and rhythm, as well as other poetic techniques, such as
alliteration, figurative language, and onomatopoeia.
 Onomatopoeia. The use of a word which sound imitates or reinforces
its meaning. In everyday speech,
words such as whoosh, tick-tock,
zoom, and purr are onomatopoetic.
 Paradox. Is a statement that
reveals a kind of truth, although it
seems at first to be self-contradictory
and untrue.
For example, in the following poem, Countee Cullen presents a
paradox. Though his grandmother is dead, he believes she grow again.
This lovely flower fell to seed,
Work gently sun and rain;
She held it as her dying creed
That she would grow again.
 Parallelism. The repetition of words, phrases or clauses that are
similar in structure or in meaning. Parallelism is used extensively in the
Psalms of the Bible, where the meaning of one statement is oten
repeated, in a different way, in the next.
I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
 Paraphrase is a rewording of a text or of a passage from a text, often
for the purpose of clarification or simplification.
 Petrarchan Sonnet. Is a lyric poem of 14 lines, written in iambic
pentameter, with an octave (first eight lines) that establishes a position
or problem, and a sestet (last six lines) that resolves it. It is also called
the Italian sonnet.

 Rhythm in language refers to the arrangement of stressed and
unstressed syllables. Rhythm is used to lend musicality to a poem and
to support the meaning of its lines. When rhythm follows a generally
regular pattern, we call it meter.
 Satire is a literary work that mocks or ridicules the stupidity or vices of
individuals, groups, institutions, or society in general. Satire is generally
of two (2) sorts: that which is gentle, witty, and amusing; and that which
is forceful, we call it meter.
 Simile a direct comparison made between two (2) unlike things, using
a word of comparison such as like, as, than, such as, or resembles.
 Soliloquy a dramatic convention in which a character makes an
extended speech while along on the stage. This device allows the
dramatist to convey a character’s most private thought to the audience.
In fact, soliloquies are actually, “verbalized thoughts.”
 Verse Drama a play written mosty or entirely in verse. All
Shakespeare’s play are verse drama. Antigone, like all the Greek
dramas, is a verse drama. Maxwell Anderson’s Winters is one of the
betterknown examples of modern verse drama.
1.10 BENEFITS OF TEACHING LITERATURE
1. Literature provides pleasure to listeners and readers.
It is a relaxing scape from daily problems, and it fills leisure
moments. Making time for
recreational reading and using high-
quality literature helps to develop
enthusiastic readers and improve
achievement.
2. Literature builds experience.
Children expand their
horizons through vicarious
experiences. They visit new places,
gain new experiences, and meet
new people. They learn about the past as well as the present and learn
about a variety of cultures, including their own. They discover the

common goals and similar emotions found in people of all times and
places.
3. Literature provides a language model for those who hear and read
it.
Good literature exposes children to correct sentence patterns,
standard story structures, and varied word usage. Children for whom
English is a second language can improve
their English with the interesting context,
and all children benefit from new
vocabulary that is woven into the stories.
4. Literature develops thinking skills.
Discussions of literature bring out
reasoning related to sequence; cause and
effect; character motivation; predictions;
visualization of actions, characters, and
settings; critical analysis of the story; and
creative responses.
5. Literature supports all areas of the language arts curriculum.
The chapter-opening classroom vignette shows how literature
brings together all of the language arts. Listening to stories provides
opportunities for honing listening skills and discussion allows children
to express their thoughts, feelings, and reactions. When students read
literature, they are practicing their comprehension strategies in
meaningful sitautions. Young writers may use various genres of
literature as models for their own writing, and literature can be the
basis fo creative dramatics. Children can find stories to read and
puzzles to solve on the internet, and the computer can serve as a word
processor for creating stories of their own.
6. Literature helps children deal with their problems.
By finding out about the problems of others through books,
children receive insights into deaing with their own problems, a process
called bibliotherapy. Children might identify with Gilly, living resentfully
in a foster home in Katherine Paterson’s The Great Gilly Hopkins, or
with Mary Alice, a city girl forced to live with her gradma in a “hick
town” in Richard Peck’s A Year Down Yonder.

7. Picture books develop visual literacy.
The carefully crafted, creative illustrations in picture books
develop children’s awareness of line, color, space, shape, and design.
Some illustrations complement or reinforce the story, whereas others
enhance or extend the text. Pictures convey meaning and open new
opportunities for interpretation (Giorgis, et al., 1999).
8. Multicultural literature helps reader’s value people from different
races, ethnic grous, and cultures.
Excellent, well-illustrated book are available for many cultural
groups. Children from such populations gain self-esteem by seeing
themselves represented in books, and mainsream children begin to
appreciate others from culturally diverse
backgrounds.
9. Literature helps establish career
concepts.
For children who have limited
knowledge of occupations, literature
expands their ideas for potential careers
(Harkins, 2001). Peggy Ratman’s Officer
Buckle and Gloria, about a police officer
who shares information, and Alexandra Days Frank and Ernest on the
Road, about truck driving, give insights into two (2) career choices.
10.Literature integrates curriculum.
Trade books (books of the trade, or library books) supplement
and enrich any part of the curriculum. Instead of relying solely on
textbooks, look for recent, brightly illustrated books on specific topics
related to your theme or subject area. Remember that textbooks are
assigned, but trade books are often chosen.
11.Literature improves reading ability and attitudes.
A study of thirty second-, third-, fourth-, and sixth-grade
classrooms by Block, Reed, and deTuncq (2003) indicated that
students benefited more from 20 minutes of daily trade book or short
story reading instruction. The researcers claim that reading from trade
books resulted in increased reading ability, improved attitudes toward
reading, and increased reading rate.

Reasons Why Literature is Taught
1. Cultural Value
Stories have been of central importance to the human race ever
since it began, as far as we can tell. Cultures are built on stories –
histories, myths and legends, fables, religions, and so on. If students
are to understand and participate in the culture to which they belong,
they must first learn about the stories that culture has been built
around. And while books aren’t the only kinds of stories out there, they
are one of the most important.
2. Expanding Horizons
Everyone has a tendency to get so caught up in his/her own
lives that he/she forgets what’s going on in the world around them. And
children and teens are particularly prone to this. It’s a goal of education
to expose them to ideas from other cultures, to teach them about the
histories and peoples of other times and places. Literature is an ideal
way to do this. Huckleberry Finn, for example, puts students into the
mind of a boy living in the south in the 1800s, letting them experience
his life firsthand. Through this experience they learn what it was like to
live in the that time period, how the
people talked and thought, and acted.
3. Building Vocabulary
Having a large and wide-ranging
vocabulary is essential for a number of
reasons. It helps with both writing and
reading abilities, of course, but it also
allows for more complex discourse. The
larger your vocabulary is, the more in
depth and thoughtful discussions you can have on important topics and
issues, both in and outside of the classroom. When people speak they
tend to use a fairly limited vocabulary, so the best way to become
exposed to new words is to read.
4. Improving Writing Skills
Writing skills can be taught, to some extent. But the number one
way to become a better writer is to read often. When you read you are

being immersed in language, in the way it sounds and feels when put
together in the right ways. Students who are encouraged to read have
more intimate knowledge of the ways in which language works, and so
have an advantage when it comes time for them to write. This effect
can even be made transparent by encouraging students to try writing in
a particular book or author’s style.
5. Teaching Critical Thinking
Education is supposed to give
students the tools the need to become a
valuabe part of society, and one such
tool is the ability to think critically. We
want them to not just passively
consume whatever is around them, but
to analyze and criticize it as well.
Literature serves this goal in a couple of
ways. Many novels encourage critical
thinking on their own, due to the issues and themes they exlore. The
kind of novel usually taught in the classroom is selected for its depth
and for the way it transcends the obvious and the cliché.
6. And Many More
Literature takes students out of their own lives and lets them
experience things that are new and challenging, and encouarges them
to imagine possibilities and to think about ways the world could be
different.
Goals of Teaching Literature
1. Helps students to experience through feeling, intellect, and imagination
what is to be alive. This may be accomplished by the inductive or
discovery method in which students are encouraged to examine the
work under discussion and enter into the closest possible relationship
with it.
2. Gives the students the opportunity to enjoy the world of literature and
the development of interest in reading literature.
3. Wakes up those who never read books.
4. Helps students to learn English.
5. Widens students’ knowledge about literature.
6. Improves stdents use of expressions and vocabulary.
7. Teaches students how to analyze and write about text.

Assessment
Kindly answer the items below.
1. Read any story for children or for young adults then do the following:
Story Map
Who
What
When
Where
Why
2. Prepare story blocks
Setting
Characters Protagonist
Antagonist
Problem(s)
Solution From the story
Your suggested
solution
Theme
3. Formulate 10 W/H questions.
4. Analyse the story using at least three (3) approaches in the study of
literary genres.
5. Identify the values found in the story.
6. Answer the “20 Questions in the Study of Literature” using the story
you have chosen.
7. Choose one (1) poem, the analyse it using the guide questions in the
study of poetry.

SUGGESTED READINGS
Concepcion, S.C., World Literary Gems
De Asis, Leah A. (2020). Module 3, Teaching Literacy to Elementary Grade
through Literature, University of Eastern Philippines
____________. Reasons to the Study of World Literature (online source)
REFERENCES:
Arambulo, Thelma, et.al., Literature and Society. Quezon City: UP Open
University, 2000.
Carter, Ronald and Michael N. Ong. Teaching Literature. Congman
Publishing, New York, 2005.
Cinco, Linda A. Literature for Children.
Collie, Joanne. Literature in the Language Classroom. New York. Cambridge
University Press, 1988.
Cruz, Isagani. How to Teach Literature. A Manual of Reading. De La Salle
University, Manila, 1988.
Culler, Jonathan. Literary Theory. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press,
1997.
De Asis, Leah, et.al., Walking Through the Wonders of World Literature.
Malabon City: Mutya Publishing House, Inc., 2015.
Gil, Avelina Juna and Cay B., Reading for Skill and Growth. Quezon City:
Alemar’s Phoenix Publishing House, 1970.
Mallari-Hall, Luisa. Texts and Contexts. International Conference. UP Diliman,
Quezon City, 1997.
Tan, Arsenia B. Introduction to Literature. Pasig City: Academic Publishing
Corp., 1995.
Zepetnek, Steven. Comparative Literature Theory, Method and Approaches.
Amsterdam, Atlanta, C.A., 1998.
You deserve a break. Enjoy your coffee.

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