Literary Genres and Traditions

1. Chapter IV- Literary Genres, Traditions, and Forms from Different Cultures, 21st Century
Literature from the Philippines and the World
English Literature
 Epic poem - This is a long narrative poem usually about a hero and his deeds. A well-known example is Beowulf.
 Sonnet - This poem has fourteen lines that follow a rhyme scheme. A well-known example is Sonnet 18 of William
Shakespeare. It starts with the famous line, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
 Drama - This piece of writing tells a story through dialogue, and it is performed on stage. A well-known example
is The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.
 Novel - This is a long prose narrative usually about fictional characters and events, which are told in a particular
sequence.
English Literature
English literature is one of the richest, most developed, and most important bodies of literature in the world. It encompasses
both written and spoken works by writers from the United Kingdom.
Old English Literature (600 - 1100)
Old English, the earliest form of the English language, was spoken by the Anglo-Saxons, a Germanic tribe living in Britain
during the fifth century. One significant work written in Old English is Beowulf, the longest epic poem in Old English. It is
known for its use of kennings, which are phrases or compound words used to name persons, places, and things indirectly.
Middle English Literature (1100 - 1500)
Middle English is a blend Old English and Norman French, the French dialect spoken by the Normans (people of
Normandy). The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English literature, is a fine example of literature written
in Middle English.
Elizabethan Literature (1558 - 1603)
The Elizabethan period is the golden age of English literature. Also, it is the golden age of drama. Known as the “Bard of
Avon,” William Shakespeare wrote his plays during the period. His best plays include Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth,
Othello, and The Merchant of Venice. Also, he wrote 154 sonnets, many of which are the best loved and the most widely-read
poems in the English literature.
The Romantic Period (1800 - 1837)
This period is the golden age of lyric poetry. Poetry became the expression of the poet’s personal feelings and emotions. A few
notable works of poetry of the period are Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake, Lyrical Ballads by William
Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems by John Keats, “Don Juan” by Lord Byron,
and “Ode to the West Wind” by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
The Victorian Period (1837 - 1900)
The period saw the rise of the novel. Charles Dickens, considered to be the greatest English novelist of the 19th century,
wrote Great Expectations. This novel was published as a serial in a weekly periodical from December 1860 to August 1861.
Alfred Lord Tennyson and Robert Browning each wrote fine poetry during the period. Tennyson’s In Memoriam A.H.H. is a
requiem for his friend Arthur Henry Hallam. It is widely considered to be one of the great poems of the 19th century. Browning,
who is known for his dramatic monologues, wrote the famous poem “My Last Duchess.” In a dramatic monologue, the poet
addresses an audience through an assumed voice.
Oscar Wilde is the best dramatist of the period. He wrote the masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest.
Twentieth Century (1900 - 2000)
William Butler Yeats and Thomas Stearns Eliot wrote Modernist poems during the period. Yeats wrote The Tower, The
Winding Stair, and New Poems, all of which are known to have potent images. Eliot’s masterpieces are “The Love Song of J.
Alfred Prufrock” and “The Waste Land.”
Virginia Woolf in her story Mrs. Dalloway and James Joyce in his work Ulysses use stream of consciousness, a literary
technique in which the flow of thoughts of a character is described in words.
Summary
English literature is a very large body of diverse literature that encompasses works by writers from the United Kingdom.
American Literature
American Literature
American literature refers to all works of literature in English produced in the United States.
The 19th Century
 William Cullen Bryant (1794 - 1878) became famous for “Thanatopsis” (1817). This poem marked a new beginning
for American poetry.
 Washington Irving (1783 - 1859) was known for “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” the first
American short stories. They were part of his work The Sketch Book, the first American work to become successful
internationally.
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2.  Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849) became famous for his macabre stories like “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839)
and “The Cask of Amontillado” (1846). Also, he wrote “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841), the first detective
story, and the poem “Raven” (1845), with which he achieved instant fame.
 Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 - 1864) became known for his symbolical tales like “The Hollow of the Three Hills”
(1830) and “Young Goodman Brown” (1835). Also, he wrote the gothic romance The Scarlet Letter (1850).
 Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892) became well-known for Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855. In this poetry
collection, Whitman showed the experiences of the common man.
 Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886) wrote odd poems. She mostly used the imperfect rhyme and avoided regular
rhythms. A collection of her poems, Poems by Emily Dickinson, came out in 1890.
The 20th Century
 Robert Frost (1874 - 1963) wrote poems with traditional stanzas and a blank verse, a verse in iambic pentameter
with no rhyme. His poems portray ordinary people in everyday situations like “Mending Wall,” "The Road Not
Taken," and “After Apple-Picking,” both of which were published in 1914.
 E. E. cummings (1894 - 1962) was known for his unconventional punctuation and phrasing. His poems were
compiled in Complete Poems (1968).
 Ezra Pound (1885 - 1972) was a leader of the Imagists, who emphasized the use of direct and sparse language and
precise images in writing poetry. Two of his works are Ripostes (1912) and Lustra (1916).
 Sherwood Anderson (1876 - 1941) wrote prose using everyday speech. His best works appeared in Winesburg,
Ohio (1919) and Death in the Woods (1933).
 Ernest Hemingway (1899 - 1961) was known for his succinct writing, which was widely imitated. His writing was
very straightforward and objective - not verbose and sentimental. Two of his finest stories are “The Killers” (1927)
and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” (1936).
 Allen Ginsberg (1926 - 1997) was known for his work “Howl” (1956), a poem with incantatory rhythms and raw
emotion. He was one of the Beat poets, who aimed to bring poetry back to the streets.
 Anne Sexton (1928 - 1974) became known for her confessional poetry, a kind of poetry that deals with the private
experiences of the speaker. Her work Live or Die (1966) won a Pulitzer Prize.
Summary
American literature is a rich body of literature. It refers to all works of literature in English published in the United States,
which has produced many great writers through the centuries.
European Literature
European Literature, also called Western Literature, refers to literature in the Indo-European languages including Latin,
Greek, the Romance languages, and Russian. It is considered as the largest body of literature in the world.
Latin Literature
 Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BCE–43 BCE) was the greatest Roman orator. The first part of the Golden Age of
Latin Literature (70 BC–AD 18) is named after him, the Ciceronian period (70–43 BC). Using Latin as a literary
medium, he was able to express abstract and complicated thoughts clearly in his speeches. One of his well-known
speeches is Pro Cluentio.
 Virgil (70 BCE–19 BCE), the greatest Roman poet, was known for Aeneid, an epic poem. He wrote it during the
Augustan Age (43 BC–AD 18), the second part of the Golden Age.
Greek Literature
 Homer is known for the The Iliad and the The Odyssey. These epics are about the heroic achievements of Achilles
and Odysseus, respectively.
 Sophocles (496 BC–406 BC) was a tragic playwright. He was known for Oedipus the King, which marks the
highest level of achievement of Greek drama.
Italian Literature
 Francesco Petrarca, or Petrarch (1304–1374) perfected the Italian sonnet, a major influence on European poetry.
Written in the vernacular, his sonnets were published in the Canzoniere.
 Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375) is known for Decameron, a classic Italian masterpiece. The stories were written
in the vernacular.
Spanish Literature
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 Two well-known Spanish writers of Siglo De Oro (1500–1681) are Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) and Lope de
Vega (1562–1635).
 Miguel de Cervantes was known for his novel Don Quixote, one of the most widely read works of Western
Literature. Its titular character’s name is the origin of the word “quixotic,” meaning hopeful or romantic in a way
that is not practical.
 Lope de Vega, an outstanding dramatist, wrote as many as 1800 plays during his lifetime, including cloak and
sword drama, which are plays of upper middle class manners and intrigue.
French Literature
 Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880), a novelist, was a major influence on the realist school. His masterpiece, Madame
Bovary(1857), marked the beginning of a new age of realism.
 Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893) is considered as the greatest French short story writer. A Naturalist, he wrote
objective stories which present a real “slice of life.”
Russian Literature
 Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) is known for his novels War and Peace (1865–1869) and Anna Karenina (1875–1877).
A master of realistic fiction, he is considered as one of the world’s greatest novelists.
 Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) is a master of the modern short story and a Russian playwright. His works such as,
"The Bet" and "The Misfortune" reveal his clinical approach to ordinary life.
Summary
European Literature refers to literatures in the Indo-European languages. It is considered as the largest body of literature in
the world.
Latin American Literature
Latin American Literature
Latin American Literature refers to all works of literature in Latin American countries like Chile, Argentina, Mexico,
Cuba, Guatemala, Colombia, and Peru.
The Vanguardia
 The Vanguardia (avant-garde in English) took place in Latin America between approximately 1916 and 1935. It
collectively referred to different literary movements. Four of those were the following:
o Creacionismo, founded by Vicente Huidobro (1893–1948), a Chilean poet, in 1916
o Ultraismo, introduced to South America by Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986), an Argentine writer, in 1921
o Estridentismo, founded in Mexico City by Manuel Maples Arce (1898–1981), a Mexican writer, in 1921
o Surrealism, which is said to have started in Argentina when the Argentinian poet Aldo Pellegrini (1903–
1973) launched the first Surrealist magazine in 1928
 Surrealism, an art form that combines unrelated images or events in a very strange and dreamlike way, became a
major influence in Latin American Literature throughout the 20th century.
 Pablo Neruda (1904–1973), a Chilean poet, wrote Residence on Earth (1933), a collection of poetry inspired by
surrealism.
 Octavio Paz (1914–1998), a Mexican poet, wrote poems with surrealist imagery. His major works were published
in Freedom Under Parole (1960).
 Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) was known for his fantastic stories, published later as a collection
entitled Ficciones (1944).
 Alejo Carpentier (1904–1980), a Cuban writer, wrote The Kingdom of This World (1949), a novel of the magic
realism genre, in which elements of fantasy or myth are included matter-of-factly in seemingly realistic fiction.
 Miguel Angel Asturias (1899–1974), a Guatemalan writer, wrote the novel The President (1946). This novel along
with Carpentier’s novel introduced magic realism.
The Boom Novels
These were essentially modernist novels, which appeared in the second half of the 20th century. They had features that were
different or absent from the works of the regionalist writers of the past. (Regionalist writers were those that used local color,
which refers to interesting information about a particular place or its people.)
The boom novels were the following:
 The Death of Artemio Cruz (1962) by Carlos Fuentes (1928–2012), a Mexican writer
 Hopscotch (1963) by Julio Cortazar (1914–1984), an Argentine fictionist
 The Time of the Hero (1963) by Mario Vargas Llosa, a Peruvian writer
 One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1927–2014), a Colombian fictionist

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“Post-Boom” Writers
These writers included a host of women who published works in the last twenty years of the 20th century. Three of them
were Isabel Allende, a Chilean writer who wrote The House of Spirits (1982); Diamela Eltit, a Chilean writer who wrote E.
Luminata(1983); and Luisa Valenzuela, an Argentine writer who wrote Black Novel with Argentines (1990).
Summary
Latin American Literature refers to all works of literature in Latin American countries. The 20th century saw some of its
best writers.
Asian Literature
Asian Literature
 Asian literature refers to the body of literature produced in the countries in Asia.
Chinese Literature
 This body of works is in Chinese. It has more than 50 000 published works in a wide range of topics.
 Du Fu (712–770) is considered as China’s greatest poet. He was known for his works of lüshi. A lüshi has eight
lines, each of which has five or seven syllables following a strict tonal pattern. It became widely popular during the
Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE), the golden age of art and literature in Chinese history.
 Li Bai (701–762), also called Li Po, rivaled Du Fu for the title of China’s greatest poet. Unlike Du Fu, he wrote less
formal verse forms. A famous drinker, he frequently celebrated drinking in his poetry.
Japanese Literature
 This body of works is mostly in Japanese, except the early writings which were written in Chinese.
 Kakinomoto Hitomaro, Japan’s first literary figure, was known for his works of tanka and chōka. The tanka, the
basic form of Japanese poetry, has five lines in five-seven-five-seven-seven syllable pattern. On the other hand, the
chōka has alternating lines of five and seven syllables and ends with an extra line of seven syllables. Having no
definite length, it can have from seven lines to 150. Hitomaro’s works were included in Man’yōshū, the oldest
anthology of Japanese poetry which was produced during the Nara Period (710–784).
 Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694) was regarded as the supreme haiku poet. Emerged from the early Tokugawa period
(1603–1770), the haiku is composed of three lines with five-seven-five syllable pattern. It originated from the
hokku, the first three lines of a renga, a poem usually with a hundred linked verses. Bashō’s verses appear with his
travel accounts like The Narrow Road to the Deep North (1694).
Indian Literature
 This body of works is produced in India in a variety of vernacular languages like Sanskrit, Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil,
and Urdu.
 The Mahabharata is an Indian epic written in Sanskrit. It is the longest poem in history with about 100 000
couplets. It is traditionally ascribed to an Indian sage named Vyasa. The Hindus regard the epic as both a text about
dharma (the Hindu moral law) and a history. Bhagavadgītā, the most celebrated of its episodes, gives spiritual
guidance.
 The Ramayana is another Indian epic in Sanskrit. The sage Valmiki was traditionally regarded as its author. It is
shorter than Mahabharata, with some 24 000 couplets.
 The Panchatantra is a collection of Indian animal fables. Originally written in Sanskrit, it is a mixture of prose and
verse. The stories are attributed to Vishnusharman, a learned Brahmin.
Summary
Asian literature refers to the body of literature produced in the countries in Asia, which includes the Chinese, Japanese, and
Indian literatures.
African Literature
African Literature
The literary works of African writers in English are part of the African literature. This body of works refers to the ones not
only produced in Afro-Asiatic and African languages, but also to those works by Africans in English, French, and other
European languages.

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A few of the common themes in the works of African writers are the oppression of African people by the colonizers, the
European influences on the native African culture, racial discrimination, and pride in African past and resilience.
Chinua Achebe (1930–2013) – This Nigerian writer was known for his novel Things Fall Apart (1958), considered as the best
known African novel of the 20th century. It deals with emergent Africa, where native communities, like Achebe’s Igbo
community, came in contact with white missionaries and its colonizers. The novel is the first in sometimes called The African
Trilogy. It was followed by No Longer at Ease, published in 1960, and then Arrow of God in 1964.
Wole Soyinka – This Nigerian writer received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, becoming the first black African to
receive such award. As a playwright, he wrote the satire A Dance of the Forests (1963), his first important play that depicts the
traditions of his people, the Yoruba. It was staged in 1960 during the Nigerian independence celebrations. Also, he wrote fiction
and poetry.
Example
“The Telephone Conversation” by Wole Soyinka
Wole Soyinka’s poem “The Telephone Conversation” first appeared in his collection Modern Poetry from Africa (1963). As
the title suggests, the poem is about a telephone conversation between an African man and a white woman. Considering to rent
the apartment owned by the white woman, the African man confesses, saying “I hate a wasted journey—I am African.” Then
as the conversation goes, the woman shows her true colors. She asks, “HOW DARK?” then follows it up with another question,
“ARE YOU LIGHT/ OR VERY DARK.” Then asks again, “ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?” Then the African man
clarifies the question, saying “You mean—like plain or milk chocolate?” Then he settles on this response “West African sepia...
Down in my passport.” Perhaps, out of ignorance, the woman says that she does not know the color. To simplify, the African
man says, “Like brunette.” Confirming what she already thinks about the African man, the woman says “THAT’S DARK,
ISN’T IT?” Towards the end of the poetry, the African man tries to describe the colors of the different parts of his body to the
woman. The poem ends with an invitation from the African man for the white woman, saying “Madam . . . wouldn’t you rather/
see for yourself?”
Nadine Gordimer (1923–2014) – This South African writer received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991. She was known
for her works that dealt with the effects of apartheid on her country. Apartheid was a system in which people of color had less
political and economic rights than that of the white people, so the former was forced to live separately from the latter. An ardent
opponent of such system, she wrote novels that focused on the oppression of nonwhite characters like A World of
Strangers(1958), The Late Bourgeois World (1966), Burger’s Daughter (1979), and July’s People (1981), all of which were
banned in her country.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – This Nigerian writer is known for her widely-acclaimed novels Purple Hibiscus (2003), Half
of a Yellow Sun (2006), and Americanah (2013), all of which won awards. The story of Purple Hibiscus is told through a
fifteen-year-old girl named Kambili as she together with her family endured domestic violence in the hands of her father. The
story of Half of a Yellow Sun took place during the Nigerian Civil War or Biafran War (1967–1970). Lastly, Americanah tells
the story of a young Nigerian woman that came to the US to study and to stay for work.
Example:
“A Private Experience” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“A Private Experience” is one of the short stories in the author’s collection The Thing Around Your Neck published in 2009.
It tells the story of two women, one named Chika and the other unnamed. Chika is an Igbo, one of the largest ethnic groups of
Africa, and an outward Christian (she wears a rosary that her mother gave her, but she does not pray or believe in God). On
the other hand, the unnamed woman is a Hausa, another large African ethnic group, and a devout Muslim. They cross paths
during a riot at a market in the city of Kano, northern Nigeria. Both confused and scared, they ran away from the market and
hid in a small, abandoned store. Stuck together, the two women start to talk and eventually learn more things about each other.
Chika tells the woman that her sister Nnedi was with her at the market and that they are both university students. She learns
that the woman sells onions for a living. The two women become closer when the woman shows Chika her breasts with cracked
nipples. Chika, who is studying medicine, examines the breasts and learns that the woman has just had her fifth child. She then
advises the woman to rub some lotion on her nipples after feeding her baby and to put the nipple and the areola into the baby’s
mouth while it feeds. The woman’s eldest daughter, Halima, was at the bus stop selling groundnuts when the confusion began.
At the mention of her daughter’s name, the woman cries. As she wipes her tears away, she says, “Allah keep your sister and
Halima in safe place.” After more than three hours, Chika ventures out into the street to go home, anxious to see her sister and
her auntie. She leaves the woman and promises to come back for her and her daughter. However, when she sees and smells a
recently burned body in the street, she gets terrified and runs back to the small store, accidentally cutting her leg. The woman
at the store cleans the wound and wraps it with her scarf. Chika stays there with the woman until morning when it is safe to
leave the store.
Explanation:
In different parts of the narrative, the narrator gives a brief glimpse of what happens in the future. For instance, after Chika
shuts the windows of the small store where she and the unnamed woman are hiding, the narrator tells the reader what Chika

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will find out eventually—that Chika will see the burned cars and will learn that the riot started when some Muslims chopped
off an Igbo man’s head for driving over a Koran with his car. Another instance is that after Chika mentions her sister’s name
to the woman, the narrator tells the reader what Chika will later do—that Chika will go to hospital mortuaries to look for her
sister, but she will never find her.
Summary
Literary works by African writers in English like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Chimamanda Adichie, and Nadine
Gordimer are part of African literature, a body of works produced in Afro-Asiatic and African languages as well as those
made by Africans in English, French, and other European languages.
Chapter V- Basic Textual and Contextual Reading Approaches, 21st Century Literature from t
he Philippines and the World
Figures of Speech
Figures of Speech
Figures of speech, also referred to as figurative language, are words or phrases that express meanings in a nonliteral way.
These expressions are often used for comparison and for conveying emotion.
Literary writers use figures of speech to enhance the artistic quality of their works. Figures of speech bring vividness and
liveliness to the work, and they also emphasize the message that the writer wants to convey. The use of these expressions also
allows readers to feel a connection with the literary work by sparking their imagination and arousing their emotions.
There are numerous figures of speech, and these can be classified into different categories. Among these categories are the
following:
 Figures of relationship
 Figures of emphasis
 Figures of sound
Figures of Relationship
Figures of relationship include simile, metaphor, metonymy, and synecdoche.
 Simile
A simile compares two unlike things with a common quality. The comparison is done using words such as like or as.
Example:
O my Luve's like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June;
–from "A Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns
Explanation:
The persona in the poem compares his love to a red rose that blooms in springtime.
 Metaphor
A metaphor is a comparison that is done by stating that one thing is another in order to suggest their similarity or
shared qualities.
Example:
Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky.
–Khalil Gibran
Explanation:
In the given quote, trees are likened to poems, and the comparison does not use words such as like or as.
 Metonymy
Metonymy refers to using a thing or idea that is not referred to by its own name but by a different one, a name of
something with which it is closely associated.

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Example:
I’m mighty glad Georgia waited till after Christmas before it seceded or it would have ruined the Christmas parties.
–from Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Explanation:
In the given line, Georgia is not used to refer to the place or state but rather the people making up the state: its
citizens and government officials.
 Synecdoche
A synecdoche uses a part of something to represent the whole or the whole to represent a part.
Example:
His eye met hers as she sat there paler and whiter than anyone in the vast ocean of anxious faces about her.
–from "The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank Stockton
Explanation:
The word faces is used to refer to people.
Figures of Emphasis
Among the common figures of emphasis are hyperbole, oxymoron, and paradox.
 Hyperbole
Hyperbole uses intentional exaggeration to achieve emphasis or produce a comic effect.
Example:
I had to wait in the station for ten days–an eternity.
–from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Explanation:
The use of the word eternity to describe a wait of ten days is an exaggeration. It simply emphasizes that the persona
feels that he waited for so long.
 Oxymoron
An oxymoron is a word or a combination of words with contradictory meanings, as in bittersweet and open secret.
Example:
Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O anything, of nothing first create!
–from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Explanation:
The phrase loving hate is an oxymoron, as it makes use of two contradictory terms.
 Paradox
A paradox is a statement that appears to hold contradictory ideas but may actually be true.
Example:
The Child is father of the Man.
–from "My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold" by William Wordsworth
Explanation:
The given statement may appear silly at first, but what it conveys is that the experiences of the child shape who
he/she becomes and how he/she acts as an adult.
Figures of Sound
Among the figures of sound are alliteration and onomatopoeia.

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 Alliteration
Alliteration refers to the use of closely spaced words that have the same initial sounds.
Example:
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before
–from "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe
Explanation:
The neighboring words doubting, dreaming, dreams, dared, and dream begin with the d sound, giving the line a
musical quality.
 Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is the use of words that imitate the sound of what they are referring to.
Example:
ARIEL:
Hark, hark!
Bow-wow.
The watch-dogs bark!
Bow-wow.
Hark, hark! I hear
The strain of strutting chanticleers
Cry, ‘cock-a-diddle-dow!’
–from The Tempest by William Shakespeare
Explanation:
The words bow-wow and cock-a-diddle-dow are examples of onomatopoeia, as they are animal sounds.
Key Points
 Figures of speech, also referred to as figurative language, are words or phrases that express meanings in a
nonliteral way.
 Figures of relationship include simile, metaphor, metonymy, and synecdoche.
 Some figures of emphasis are hyperbole, oxymoron, and paradox.
 Among the figures of sound are alliteration and onomatopoeia.
Literary Techniques
Literary Techniques
 Literary techniques or devices refer to specific methods writers employ in their works to convey messages.
Readers, on the other hand, look for several literary techniques when examining or analyzing a text or simply
evaluating a text’s artistic value.
 Keep in mind that literary techniques or devices are different from literary elements. Literary elements are essential
to a narrative as writers make use of these components to serve as the structure of and to develop a story. These
elements refer to the plot, setting, characters, point of view, and theme, among others.
Here are some literary techniques that writers make use of in their works.
Anaphora
Anaphora, sometimes called epanaphora, refers to the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a sentence to create
an artistic or heightened effect. It adds rhythm to a particular line or paragraph, making it easier to memorize or remember.
Anaphora is also used for emphasis or to stir emotions among the audience.
Example:
Hamlet (An Excerpt)
By William Shakespeare
'Tis a fault to heaven,
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature
To reason most absurd. . . .

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(Hamlet by Shakespeare, Act 1 Scene 2)
Explanation:
The line above was delivered by Claudius while talking to Hamlet. Claudius was trying to convince his nephew to end his
mourning for his father, emphasizing that it is “a fault” against heaven, the dead, and nature to do so since death is inevitable.
Antihero
An antihero is a fictional character who does not possess the traits, such as pride and valor, expected of a hero. Often,
antiheroes are portrayed as foolish and usually find themselves in mischief.
Example:
Don Quixote (An Excerpt)
By Miguel Cervantes
One of those, however, that stood near him, fancying he was mocking them, lifted up a long staff he had in his hand and
smote him such a blow with it that Sancho dropped helpless to the ground. Don Quixote, seeing him so roughly handled,
attacked the man who had struck him lance in hand, but so many thrust themselves between them that he could not avenge
him. Far from it, finding a shower of stones rained upon him, and crossbows and muskets unnumbered levelled at him, he
wheeled Rocinante round and, as fast as his best gallop could take him, fled from the midst of them, commending himself to
God with all his heart to deliver him out of this peril, in dread every step of some ball coming in at his back and coming out
at his breast, and every minute drawing his breath to see whether it had gone from him.
Explanation:
The passage above shows that Don Quixote, despite considering himself as a knight-errant, is a coward. Instead of helping
his squire Sancho from the mob, he fled to save himself.
Cliff-hanger
Cliff-hanger is a literary technique used by the author to arouse curiosity among readers by ending a chapter or story
abruptly. Most of the time, the characters are confronted with a difficult or an unsettling situation. Instead of providing a
resolution, the author would end it. Furthermore, this technique is often found in serialized works. Writers utilize cliff-
hangers in their works to keep the readers focused and interested as to what will happen next.
Example:
Divergent (An Excerpt)
By Veronica Roth
I turn the gun in my hands and press it into Tobias’s palm.
He pushes the barrel into my forehead. My tears have stopped and the air feels cold as it touches my cheeks. I reach out and
rest my hand on his chest so I can feel his heartbeat. At least his heartbeat is still him.
The bullet clicks into the chamber. Maybe it will be as easy to let him shoot me as it was in the fear landscape, as it is in my
dreams. Maybe it will be just a bang, and the lights will lift, and I will find myself in another world. I stand still and wait.
(Roth, Veronica. Divergent. New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2011)
Explanation:
The main character Tris Prior was in an intense situation as Tobias, under a simulation, was about to shoot her. However, the
author did not divulge whether Tobias did it or not until the next chapter.
Juxtaposition
Juxtaposition is a technique authors use in their works to compare two different things, or two contrasting ideas to be able to
emphasize their differences, such as good and evil, life and death, truth and lies, among others. This technique is also used to
develop a character, resolve a conflict, or clarify various concepts.
Example:
The Cask of Amontillado (An Excerpt)
By Edgar Allan Poe

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It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I [Montresor] encountered my friend
[Fortunato]. He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a
tightfitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells. I was so pleased to see him, that I
thought I should never have done wringing his hand. . . .
At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled
to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. Three sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented
in this manner. From the fourth the bones had been thrown down, and lay promiscuously upon the earth, forming at one
point a mound of some size. Within the wall thus exposed by the displacing of the bones, we perceived a still interior recess,
in depth about four feet, in width three, in height six or seven. . . .
Explanation:
Edgar Allan Poe used juxtaposition in “The Cask of Amontillado.” In the first paragraph, the carnival season, including
Fortunato’s motley, symbolizes life and merrymaking. Meanwhile, the catacombs and bones symbolize what would become
of Fortunato.
Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing refers to lines or dialogues in a story which give the reader an idea of what is about to happen without
spoiling or explicitly stating the plot’s entirety. When writers use this technique, especially in mystery or thriller novels, they
provide “red herrings” (misleading or false clues) to divert the readers’ expectations.
Example:
The Iliad (An Excerpt)
By Homer
Then Thetis spake unto him, shedding tears the while: “Doomed then to a speedy death, my child, shalt thou be, that thou
spakest thus; for straightway after Hector is thine own death ready at hand."
Explanation:
Achilles was devastated upon learning about Patroclus’ death in the hands of Hector. He wished to avenge his fallen
comrade, but his mother, Thetis, warned him of his impending death should he kill Hector in battle.
Catharsis
Catharsis is derived from the Greek word katharsis, which means “purification” or “purgation.” It refers to the emotional
release or cleansing of the characters, or audience or readers, from strong emotions usually brought by learning of the truth or
when confronted with difficult situations. This technique is commonly found in tragedies, such as Shakespeare’s Romeo and
Juliet and Sophocles’ Oedipus the King.
Example:
Oedipus the King (An Excerpt)
By Sophocles
Second Messenger:
(. . . .) Guided his footsteps; with a terrible shriek,
As though one beckoned him, he crashed against
The folding doors, and from their staples forced
The wrenched bolts and hurled himself within.
Then we beheld the woman hanging there,
A running noose entwined about her neck.
But when he saw her, with a maddened roar
He loosed the cord; and when her wretched corpse
Lay stretched on earth, what followed—O 'twas dread!
He tore the golden brooches that upheld
Her queenly robes, upraised them high and smote
Full on his eye-balls, uttering words like these:
"No more shall ye behold such sights of woe,

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Deeds I have suffered and myself have wrought;
Henceforward quenched in darkness shall ye see
Those ye should ne'er have seen; now blind to those
Whom, when I saw, I vainly yearned to know."
Explanation:
The excerpt above pertains to the scene where it was revealed that Oedipus married his mother Jocasta and killed his father
Laius. Upon learning of the truth, Jocasta committed suicide while Oedipus thrust his mother’s golden brooches into his eyes,
thus causing him to become blind.
Stream of Consciousness
Stream of consciousness, sometimes referred to as interior monologue, is a literary technique that is usually associated with
Modern writers. The plot is developed based on the characters’ reminiscence or recollection of events and thought fragments.
Instead of using dialogues to show the characters’ reaction or emotion, writers make use of stream of consciousness to show
each character’s complex nature. More so, readers are taken into the depths of the characters’ mind and witness how these
characters process their thoughts when faced with a particular situation or emotion.
Example:
Mrs. Dalloway (An Excerpt)
By Virginia Woolf
Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. . . .
For Lucy had her work cut out for her. The doors would be taken off their hinges; Rumpelmayer's men were coming. And
then, thought Clarissa Dalloway, what a morning--fresh as if issued to children on a beach.
What a lark! What a plunge! For so it had always seemed to her, when, with a little squeak of the hinges, which she could
hear now, she had burst open the French windows and plunged at Bourton into the open air. How fresh, how calm, stiller
than this of course, the air was in the early morning; like the flap of a wave; the kiss of a wave; chill and sharp and yet (for a
girl of eighteen as she then was) solemn, feeling as she did, standing there at the open window, that something awful was
about to happen; looking at the flowers, at the trees with the smoke winding off them and the rooks rising, falling; standing
and looking until Peter Walsh said, "Musing among the vegetables?"--was that it?--"I prefer men to cauliflowers"--was that
it? . . .
Explanation:
From the passage above, we see how Mrs. Dalloway’s thoughts wandered from present to past. All these came into her head
while she was on her way to buy flowers.
Hamartia
Hamartia, or tragic flaw, is a technique commonly found in Greek tragedies. It refers to the tragic hero’s error in judgment,
which leads to his or her downfall. Most of the time, this error is committed unknowingly, such in the case of Oedipus when
he killed his father Laius and married his mother Jocasta. Hamartia is used to have the audience identify themselves with the
protagonist (that he or she has weaknesses too) and to provoke pity because of the miserable turn of events he or she went
through. Additionally, it is used to impart a moral objective among readers or audience to improve or change for the better so
as to avoid the tragedy that has befallen the protagonist.
Example:
Medea (An Excerpt)
By Euripides
An easy answer had I to this swell
Of speech, but Zeus our father knoweth well,
All I for thee have wrought, and thou for me.
So let it rest. This thing was not to be,
That thou shouldst live a merry life, my bed
Forgotten and my heart uncomforted,
Thou nor thy princess: nor the king that planned
Thy marriage drive Medea from his land,
And suffer not. Call me what thing thou please,
Tigress or Skylla from the Tuscan seas:
My claws have gripped thine heart, and all things shine.

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Explanation:
Medea’s hamartia or tragic flaw was her excessive love for Jason, who left her and their children to marry Creon’s daughter,
Glauce. This led Medea to cast her revenge to Glauce, poisoning her, and to kill their children as she knew how greatly it
would hurt Jason.
Summary
Writers make use of literary techniques or devices to convey messages or to simply add an artistic value to a text. Readers
look for these techniques to help them analyze or interpret a specific body of work.
Some of the literary techniques are anaphora, antihero, cliff-hanger, juxtaposition, foreshadowing, stream of
consciousness, catharsis, and hamartia.
Literary Reading through a Biographical Context
Biographical Context
 A biographical context refers to the author’s life and the factors that influenced and shaped it, such as social, political,
and economic conditions during his or her time. This also includes his or her educational background, religion,
ethnicity, among others. When you read based on a biographical context, you employ a biographical criticism.
 In analyzing a text based on its biographical context, you should consider not only how the factors mentioned earlier
have caused an impact to the author, but also how these factors were reflected in, and have helped shape, his or her
work(s).
 It is important to take into consideration the literary background of the author. You must research about who and
which the author reads as these may have also influenced him or her and his or her work(s).
However, one should not mistake a biographical analysis from a biography. Remember that when you analyze a text based on
the biographical context, you gather information about the author’s life as it can help you understand some difficult concepts
or extract profound meanings in an author’s work. Moreover, a biographical analysis helps you understand the relationship of
the author and his or her work(s), not produce a detailed account of his or her life–thus, a biography. Literature, aside from
being form of expression, can be based on real or orchestrated events. These events included by the author in his or her work(s)
are sometimes different from what really transpired in real life. Sometimes these events are a reimagination, exaggeration, or
wishful thinking.
Example:
Manuel E. Arguilla’s “How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife” is a story told through Baldo’s, Leon’s brother, point of
view. He narrated how Leon brought his soon-to-be wife, Maria, in their hometown (Nagrebcan, La Union) to meet his family.
To analyze this story, let us first consider some facts about Arguilla:
 Arguilla was born on June 17, 1911 in Bauang, La Union to Crisanto Arguilla and Margarita Estabillo.
 He was the fourth child and his family owned a small piece of land in their town.
 He was married to Lydia Villanueva, who was from Ermita, Manila.
Explanation:
Based on the facts presented above, we can infer that Arguilla’s “How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife” was a creative
retelling of how his then girlfriend Lydia Villanueva met his folks in La Union. Moreover, Maria fondly calls Leon “Noel,”
which also reads as Leon in a reverse manner or simply referring to the author since his first name was “Manuel.”
The Ilocano culture of calling an older woman or man manang or manong respectively was also evident. Additionally, this
story was published during the American occupation in the country. Since the country as a whole was transgressing from its
conservative roots, not to mention that the English language was widely used then (which also lacks words to describe an elder
sibling such as ate or kuya), perhaps this was Arguilla’s way of preserving his Ilocano upbringing.
Summary
Reading through a biographical context entails that readers understand the text better upon learning about the author’s life.
Keep in mind that even when engaging in a biographical criticism, your interpretation must still come from how the text made
an impact on you. Analyzing a text based on the biographical context adds substance to that “impact” and does not distort it.
Literary Reading through a Linguistic Context
English is a legacy of the American colonization of the Philippines. In this lesson, you will see how Filipino writers were able
to use English to create a new body of Philippine literature.

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The English Language Situation during the American Colonial Period (1898–1945)
In 1901, the Americans established public education in the Philippines with English as the medium of instruction. This
exposed Filipino writers to Anglo-American literature, culture, and ways of looking at the world. Hence, a period of
apprenticeship in the development of a new body of literature took place. The period of apprenticeship (1910–1935) was
characterized by writers imitating Western writers. The succeeding “period of emergence” (1935–1945) saw writers gaining
full command of English and finally giving shape to what is now the Philippine Literature in English.
Example 1:
Dead Stars (An Excerpt)
By Paz Marquez-Benitez
Under straight recalcitrant hair, a thin face with a satisfying breadth of forehead, slow, dreamer's eyes, and astonishing
freshness of lips--indeed Alfredo Salazar's appearance betokened little of exuberant masculinity; rather a poet with wayward
humor, a fastidious artist with keen, clear brain.
Explanation:
“Dead Stars” (1925) by Paz Marquez-Benitez is considered as the first modern Philippine short story in English for its
maturity in subject and language. The prose is rich, a characteristic found in Western literature, which is often verbose and
elaborate. It uses deep words and figures of speech (e.g., “recalcitrant hair”). The sentence is quite long; the author plays with
the language, creating a more vivid characterization of Alfredo.
Example 2:
How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife (An Excerpt)
By Manuel E. Arguilla
She stepped down from the carretela of Ca Celin with a quick, delicate grace. She was lovely. She was tall. She looked up to
my brother with a smile, and her forehead was on a level with his mouth.
"You are Baldo," she said and placed her hand lightly on my shoulder. Her nails were long, but they were not painted. She
was fragrant like a morning when papayas are in bloom. And a small dimple appeared momently high on her right cheek.
"And this is Labang of whom I have heard so much." She held the wrist of one hand with the other and looked at Labang, and
Labang never stopped chewing his cud. He swallowed and brought up to his mouth more cud and the sound of his insides
was like a drum.
Explanation:
In “How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife” (1941), Arguilla writes in a simple and very fluid language, which is easy
for the readers to follow. He used simple figures of speech (e.g., “fragrant like a morning when papayas are in bloom”). He
also used borrowed Spanish words to express meanings more accurately. For example, he used “carretela of Ca Celin”
instead of “Mr. Celine’s carriage.” It places the story in a rural setting and gives it a distinct native quality.
Tip: Check the period that a literary work belongs to in order to understand the language used in the text.
Key Points
The American Colonial Period (1898–1945) saw the birth of Philippine Literature in English. The "period of
apprenticeship" is characterized by Filipino writers following Western writers. Then the short story “Dead Stars” by Paz
Marquez-Benitez, with its maturity in subject and language, made its mark as the first modern Filipino short story in English.
The succeeding “period of emergence” saw writers like Manuel Arguilla gain full command of English to express the
Filipino sensibility.
Context – This is the background of the text which may have been influenced by the author’s life, language, society, and
culture.
Figure of Speech – This word or phrase has a different meaning from its literal meaning.
Setting – This refers to the time and place where the events in a story take place.
Literary Reading through a Sociocultural Context
Bienvenido Santos (1911–1996) became an exile twice. In 1941, he was studying in the US on government scholarship
when the Japanese attacked Manila in December; he was cut off from his family. During that time, he wrote stories that later
on appeared in his short story collections You, Lovely People (1955), The Day the Dancers Came (1967), and Scent of

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Apples (1979). He was only able to return to the country in February 1946. Then in 1972, he was with his wife Beatriz in San
Francisco when President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law. His novel The Praying Man (1982), which is about the
political corruption of the government, was banned by the government. From 1973 to 1982, he was a writer-in-residence at
Wichita State University. In 1976, he became a US citizen. He returned to the Philippines for a visit in 1981.
Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzalez (1915–1999), simply known as “N. V. M.,” became a Rockefeller Foundation fellow in
1948 and attended Stanford University in California and Columbia University in New York City. In 1950, he returned to the
country and began his teaching career. Then he went back to California in the 1960s to teach and stayed there until 1983.
Despite those travels, though, he never gave up his citizenship. Throughout his teaching career, he produced fourteen books,
including the short story collections Children of the Ash-Covered Loam (1954) and The Bread of Salt and Other
Stories (1993). He received many awards for his achievements including the National Artist of Literature in 1997.
Example 1:
“Immigration Blues”
by Bienvenido Santos
“Immigration Blues” tells the story of Alipio Palma, a Filipino old-timer and a naturalized American citizen. A widower, he
lived alone in an apartment in San Francisco. One day during the summertime, two women came to his home. The women
were Antonietta Zafra and her sister Monica. Antonietta introduced herself to Alipio as the wife of Carlito. At the mention of
the name of his old buddy, Alipio became familiar. In their conversation, he talked about his late wife Seniang. One of his
fond memories of her is when he came home to see her wearing his jacket and slippers. Also, she went to see him in his
apartment and asked him without hesitation to marry her. She had to marry an American citizen like Alipio at that time so
that she could stay in the country. In return, she would take care of him. At first, Alipio was not interested. Eventually, he
agreed to marry her. By doing so, he thought that he would become more sensible with his time and money and that he would
be happier, and he would live longer.
For the same reason as Alipio’s late wife, Antonietta and her sister Monica came to see Alipio. At first, it was only Antonietta
who was working on Alipio for Monica. She was dropping hints during their conversation. The most obvious one was when
Alipio was telling the two women how he and Carlito had impressed women before with their gallantry and that they were
“fools on fire.” Antonietta responded with less subtlety by saying, “I’m sure you still got some of that fire.” From that
moment, Monica took her turn to work on Alipio herself. The story ends with Antonietta leaving Alipio and Monica alone to
go to a nearby grocery store for their dinner.
 In 1977, the short story won the best fiction award given by New Letters magazine. In 1980, it was included in Scent
of Apples, published by the University of Washington Press. The next year, Santos won the American Book Award
for that collection from Before Columbus Foundation.
Example 2:
“The Tomato Game”
by N. V. M. Gonzalez
“The Tomato Game” is written in an epistolary style. The narrator, a lecturer at a university called Transpacifica University
in the US, is writing to a man named Greg. In the letter, he tells about a colleague named Sophio Arimuhanan, whom he
refers to as Sopi, and his modus operandi. Sopi calls himself “Importer-Exporter of Brides,” that is, he makes arrangements
for people who wanted to get married. He is called “Attorney,” but he is not legally allowed to practice law. One Sunday in
the summertime, the narrator and Sopi went to a tomato farm. At first the narrator thought they were going to watch a
cockfight, but he soon found out that they were meeting an old man whom Sopi referred to as “Lolo.” This old man was
arranged by Sopi to marry a young Filipina named Alice. In their arrangement, the old man would take Alice as his wife and
some young man named Tony as his nephew. Then the old man would send Tony to school. Hearing about the arrangement
made the narrator angry. Later on, when the narrator realized his role in Sopi’s scheme, he felt terrible. As hinted by Sopi,
he would need the narrator’s help as he was a lecturer at Transpacifica. The old man had already paid eight hundred dollars
for Tony’s tuition in advance. Towards the end of the letter, the narrator tells Greg what Sopi said to him when they left the
farm. Sopi said, “To think that that old man hasn’t even met the boy.”
 In 1972, the short story “The Tomato Game” won the first prize in the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for
Literature. In 1993, the short story was published along with other works in the collection The Bread of Salt and
Other Stories.
Explanation:
Bienvenido Santos and N. V. M. Gonzalez presented different facets of the Filipino immigrant experience. In “Immigrant
Blues,” Santos portrayed a lonely old-timer who wanted a companion and a woman who chose to marry an old-timer out to
avoid deportation. In “The Tomato Game,” Gonzalez portrayed Filipinos trying to make it in the US. One is a lecturer who

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regrets to be part of a scheme that deceives an unsuspecting old man, while another, an unlicensed lawyer, deceives people
for a living.
Tip: Society and culture strongly influence a writer’s work. To understand the text better then, identify its sociocultural
context.
Key Point: Context is the background of the text which may have been influenced by the author’s life, language, society, and
culture.
Critical Reading Strategies in Literature
Critical Reading
Critical reading has an academic or professional purpose. Unlike reading for pleasure, it requires critical thinking skills like
doing analysis, developing an argument, and doing an evaluation.
Critical reading strategies in literature vary in purpose and focus.
Previewing a Text
Previewing a text enables a reader to get the sense of what the text is all about and how its parts are organized. A reader can
take a look at the facts about the author and the work and the title of the work.
Example:
Consider the book Tales from the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald. You can find out more about the Jazz Age and F. Scott
Fitzgerald. By checking the Table of Contents, you can see how the author classifies the stories and what inspired him to
write each one.
TALES FROM THE JAZZ AGE
BY
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
1922
A TABLE OF CONTENTS
FANTASIES
THE DIAMOND AS BIG AS THE RITZ.
These next stories are written in what, were I of imposing stature, I should call my "second manner." "The Diamond as Big
as the Ritz," which appeared last summer in the "Smart Set," was designed utterly for my own amusement. I was in that
familiar mood characterized by a perfect craving for luxury, and the story began as an attempt to feed that craving on
imaginary foods.
One well-known critic has been pleased to like this extravaganza better than anything I have written. Personally, I prefer
"The Offshore Pirate." But, to tamper slightly with Lincoln: If you like this sort of thing, this, possibly, is the sort of thing
you'll like.
Contextualizing
Contextualizing a text is considering the time and place in which the text was produced. A reader can read about the writer’s
life to see how his or her experiences shape the writing. Also, a reader can examine how a text reflects the society or culture.
Lastly, a reader can consider the significant events in history that influence the text.
Example:
Again, consider the book Tales from the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald. As the title suggests, the stories in the collection
were written during the Jazz Age. A reader may consider the society or culture in that period of time in reading the stories.
Asking Questions
Asking questions about a text allows one to understand and remember the content of a piece of literature. A reader asks
questions about the main ideas or literary elements; and such questions are answered in his or her own words.
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
1. Who are the main characters in the short story?

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2. What is the plot of the short story?
3. What is the conflict?
4. What are the theme, motifs, and symbols used by the writer?
Reflecting
Reflecting on a text involves examination of the reader’s personal responses to the text. The reader relates the new learning to
his or her previous learning as well as to his or her own beliefs.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1. Have you had experiences similar to that of the character of the story?
2. What feelings did you have as you read the story?
3. Which character do you feel a connection with and why?
4. Is there any part of the story that you find difficult to understand?
5. How did the story change your way of thinking?
Making an Outline and a Summary
Making an outline and a summary of a text involves identifying its important ideas. An outline is a list of the main ideas and
supporting ideas of the text, while a summary is a brief statement of the most important information of the text.
Evaluating the Argument
Evaluating the argument made in a text involves assessing the validity of its claim and support. A reader examines the main
idea, opinion, or point of view of the writer if it is well supported by enough credible evidence or proof.
Making a Comparison and Contrast of Related Texts
Making a comparison and contrast of related texts is the strategy of identifying the similarities and differences between texts
of similar issue or approach.
Summary
Critical reading requires different critical thinking skills. In reading a piece of literature critically, you can preview it,
contextualize it, ask questions about it, reflect on it, make an outline of its ideas and a summary, evaluate its argument, or
compare and contrast it with another text.