1. Introduction to Literary Genres
Learning Objectives
1. Identify dominant literary conventions of a particular genre;
2. Analyze the theme and techniques used in a particular text (HUMSS_CNF11/12-LB-
D-3);
3. Express appreciation towards works in creative nonfiction by giving emphasis to the
different techniques used in given texts; and,
4. Create samples of the different literary elements based on one’s experience
((HUMSS_CNF11/12-LB-D-4).
Let Us Study
According to Leo Gutkind, “Creative Nonfiction heightens the whole concept of essay
writing. It allows a writer to employ the diligence of a reporter, the shifting voices and
viewpoints of a novelist, the refined wordplay of a poet and the analytical modes of an
essayist.”
Carolyn Force and Philip Gerard states that the literariness of Creative Nonfiction
distinguishes it from deadline reportage, daily journalism, academic criticism, and critical
biography. It is story telling of a very high order through the revelation of character and the
suspense of plot, the subtle braiding of themes and resonance, memory and imaginative
research, precise and original language.
This definition certainly makes creative nonfiction the most exciting and the most
widespread genre in the literary world today. Example:
(1) On July 15, Rivermaya will have a concert at the Araneta Coliseum. The band has just
arrived from a successful tour in China and Indonesia. Tickets for the concert are selling
quickly. (Ordinary news)
While the said news is factual and true, it appears dull and lacks interesting details. By
using the genre of creative nonfiction, this new can be transformed into a more interesting
piece of information.
(2) Fans of Philippine musical band Rivermaya are in for a real thrill. On July 15, their
idol, fresh from their sold-out tour in China and Indonesia, will be at the Araneta Coliseum for
a single concert. Marie Andrada, 18, a Communication Arts major in UST, says this one
concert she would rather die for than miss. Judging from tickets sales so far, at least 10,000
other people agree with her.
Because of the addition of some fascinating details, the second example is a more interesting
paragraph than the first. Another example is given below.
2. Example 1 Example 2
Now that we understand more about
global warming, we need to make our
children realize how important it is for them
to do their part in protecting the environment.
Examples are saving electricity and water,
using paper bags, and recycling paper.
Global warming is a reality. And it is
here. Now that we have finally understood
this, we have no more excuses for inaction.
Let us begin with our children. Let us make
them aware that the environment is also their
responsibility.
The two improve examples above are illustrations of creative nonfiction. Creative nonfiction
combines the validity of facts and imaginative stance of storytelling.
The word “creative” in creative nonfiction refers to the use of literary craft in the writing of
nonfiction-to produce factually accurate essays or narrative about actual events and people in
a compelling and interesting way.
According to Leo Gutkind, a text can be classified as creative nonfiction when the writer
“communicate information just like a reporter, but shape in a way that reads like fiction.”
LESSON1: Understanding the Genres of Fiction and Drama
Fiction: defined as “a series of imagined facts which illustrates truths about human life.” It is
commonly called “stories,” and can either be short (short story) or rather long (novella or
novel).
Drama: also uses the traditional conventions of fiction but has an additional distinctive
characteristic of being performed and mounted on stage.
Comparison and Contrast of the Conventions and Devices between
Fiction and Drama
1. Fiction is generally classified as a short story or novel.
• Short story- a brief artistic prose form that centers on a single main incident and intends
to produce a single dominant impression.
• Novel- an extensive prose or narratives that contains chapters and interludes.
Plays (drama), however, are generally classified into acts or major divisions.
• One-act play- has one unit of time, one unit of place, and one unit of action and play
• Three-act –play- showcases a longer exposition of the theme and conflict.
2. All stories must have a point of view. Point of view is the vantage point or the angle from
which the readers can see how the story unfolds. It can be told from the perspective of a
narrator, a main supporting character, or an observer. It can also come from an omniscient
(all-knowing) being.
Drama also employs point of view but this is not apparent and evident in a play. What is visible
is the interplay of dialogue between and among the characters. This component that moves the
action of the play. A dialogue is what the viewers see and hear in a performance and these are
the words uttered by the characters in a dramatic play.
3. 3. The development of plot in both fiction and drama has a pattern. Generally, it contains the
following:
Exposition Introduces the characters and dramatic situation of the story or play
Rising Action Introduces the conflict of the story or play
Climax Introduces the central movement of crisis that defines the conflict
Falling Action Introduces the aftermath of conflict (whether it is resolved or not)
Resolution/
denouement
Introduces the moment of insight, discovery, or revelation of the character
after the falling action.
More popular and modern types of fiction and drama divides the plot into three general parts:
the beginning, the middle, and the end.
Narrative Devices
1 Foreshadowing I used in fiction and drama as a guide or hint at what is to happen next
in the story.
2 Irony is also used both in fiction and drama when words that are uttered, either by the
author or characters in the story, are opposite of what they really mean. The intention
here is to present a difference between what is imagined will happen and what actually
happens.
3 Flashback is employed by the author or playwright through the use of past events that
will help the readers understand the present. This is generally utilized to achieve a
dramatic effect or impact on the readers and audiences.
4 A conflict is both present in fiction and drama. It provides and showcases the opposing
objectives of the protagonist and the antagonist, or inside the protagonist.
5 The use of deus ex machina in both fiction and drama was once a noble strategy. Today,
it is a sign of weakness in the written work. Once referring to the Greek practice of
physically lowering a “god” to the stage at the end of the play to solve all the problems,
today it refers to a contrived element in the plot to solve a problem.
4. LESSON2: Understanding the Genre of Poetry
The language of poetry is quite different from the language of prose (fiction and
drama). Poetry uses a more intensified, focused, and intricate language than prose.
In ancient times and periods, poetry was the language of people. So poetry developed
way before prose did.
Poetry is always characterized according to the following:
1 Poetry attempts to achieve beauty.
2 Poetry is imaginative, or makes use of strength of imagination.
3 Poetry is musical, melodic, and rhythmical.
4 Poetry is makes use of language that is metaphorical or symbolic, not direct.
5 Poetry is more concentrated than prose.
6 Poetry makes use of brevity and conciseness.
Poetry is categorized into different forms- from the ancient epic to the specific limerick-but
generally there are about three major categories of poetry: narrative, lyric, and dramatic.
Narrative
poems
Short and simple while others are long and complex. Epics like Iliad, ballads
like Lord Randall, and prose poems like the metrical romance of King Arthur
fall under this category.
Dramatic
poems
Employ dramatic form or elements of dramatic technique such as dialogues
or characters, instead of just a single speaker or persona. Eliot’s The Long
Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a typical example of this.
Lyric
poems
Brief in structure and subjective in expressing the thoughts and emotions of
the persona, the speaker of the poem. Originally written to be sung to the
accompaniment of a lyre (hence, the term), the words in these poems could
be lyrics which are strongly melodic. Songs, sonnets, haikus, odes, elegies,
and pastoral poems are examples of this
Understanding the Elements and Conventions of Poetry
Since poetry makes use of intensified and exulted language, its elements are quite different
from plays and stories.
1
Imagery. The use of images in a constant in poetry. It is the essential representation
of an experience or object that is perceived through the sense. It is presented in
language in a way that we can see, smell, hear, taste, touch, or feel is as our imagination
allows.
5. 2
Figurative language. Figures of speech are devices that help beautify or make the
language more poetic than it already is. The most commonly used figures of speech
are simile, metaphor, personification, and onomatopoeia.
3
Sound. Poetry is as much an oral as it is a visual form; therefore, it is meant to be
recited and real aloud. A poem should be read aloud to reveal its true merits. The rhyme
scheme and the meter that a poem employs add to the sound of the poem.
4
Persona. The speaker of the poem is not necessarily the poet. It many cases, poets
create a persona (a word that comes from Latin which means “mask”) who speaks the
poem in the first person. Since the poem does not have characters, it is the persona and
his or her perspective where we are able to perceive his/her experience.
LESSON3: Using Elements as Techniques to develop Themes
The theme refers to the central idea, the thesis, the message a story conveys, or a
generalization or an abstraction from it. Theme is not necessarily the moral or message of the
story; it may be simply what the story is all about.
An article co-authored by Grant Faulkner (2020) states that a theme in writing is the
underlying idea behind an article or story that unifies its words into a coherent whole. The
theme has been called the “muscle” or the "vehicle" of a story.
A theme can be stated in one of two ways. It can be made explicitly, usually in business
correspondence, technical writing, and editorials. It can also be made implicitly, usually in
short stories, novels, and movie scripts. In this case, the theme often emerges as the moral of
the story.
A strong, well-defined theme enables the reader to see the deeper meaning in your story
and the intention behind your own motivation for writing it. While the structure and purpose
of writing fiction and non-fiction differ, there are techniques common to both forms of writing,
as described by Faulkner (2020) below.
Preparing to Develop Your Theme
1.
Understand the difference between "subject" and "theme." "Subject" is a more general
term than "theme." In non-fiction, the subject is a general topic of interest, while in fiction, the
subject is some aspect of the human condition explored within the work. A theme is an explicit
or implicit statement about the subject.
• As a non-fiction example, a white paper could have as its subject be the improvement
of the security of the cargo transportation supply chain. Its theme would be the forms
of business data and means to access it that could provide those improvements.
6. • As a fiction example, the Hans Christian Anderson story, "The Ugly Duckling," has
a subject of alienation in that the main character is depicted as different from his peers.
The themes, however, are themes of failure to fit in, as well as self-discovery as the
"duckling" grows up to discover he was actually a swan.
2
Identify the purpose of your writing. The purpose behind your writing will shape how you
develop your theme in the piece. There are numerous purposes as to why someone writes.
Your writing may serve any of these purposes (or any combination thereof):
• Documenting or recording an event or information
• Reflection on an idea
• Demonstration of knowledge
• Summary of information
• Explanation of an idea
• Analysis of a problem
• Persuasion
• Theorization that speculates or seeks to explain an issue Entertainment
3
Identify your audience. Understanding who your audience is lets you determine which
themes are appropriate to your audience. This will also help you identify how best to present
those themes to your audience. You can determine what themes are appropriate to your
audience by realistically assessing how much knowledge and experience the audience has.
• For example, in a business marketing letter, your audience will be prospective
customers. Your purpose is to inform or persuade them to buy, and your theme might
be to show them how your product will meet their needs. You may include statements
of needs your customer will identify with, and then follow each statement with a short
paragraph about how your product relates to that need.
• Dr. Seuss wrote books for young children, requiring him to use a limited vocabulary.
His "The Star-Bellied Sneetches" had a theme of learning to accept differences. In the
story, the Sneetches learn to accept differences after applying and removing their
belly stars so many times that they no longer remember their original appearances. In
telling the story, Seuss used short words, made up words, and wrote in a distinctive
rhyming cadence that made his words. This helps the reader recognize and remember
the lessons behind them.
4
Consider the length of what you're writing. Longer works, such as novels or memoirs,
permit the inclusion of other themes subordinate to the primary theme of your work. In
contrast, shorter works, such as short stories or editorials, usually have room to address only a
single theme, although they may give passing reference to supporting ideas.
7. Defining Your Theme
1
Make an outline of your story. Most stories start with a kernel of an idea. This may hint at
the theme of your story, or the theme may emerge through the development of the story. If you
have an idea for a story, it will be helpful to sketch out the story. Then you can start to
determine the different directions it can take. This then points to potential themes that you can
focus on. Outline your story, listing the characters and setting out the order of events that will
happen in the story.
2
Brainstorm ideas that can represent your theme. Once you’ve identified a theme for your
story, you can start to think about ways in which to represent that theme. Start with a free
association exercise. In this exercise, focus on your theme – either the word or phrase (such as
“family” or “environment” or “corporate greed”). Let your mind wander and observe the
thoughts, people, images and so on that enter into your mind. Write down these thoughts and
images.
• Try out the technique of “mind-mapping”. In this technique, you start with a central
idea and begin to map out the ways in which the story develops. This way, you can
also start to identify how the theme weaves through the story.
3
Look into your character’s motivations. Your story’s characters are tasked with goals and
aspirations. These motivations drive your character to act certain ways. These actions often
feed into your theme.[4]
• For example, if your character is passionate about becoming a vegan, you might start
to examine themes of whether humans have the right to take control over the natural
world.
• In many non-fiction pieces, such as a letter to the editor, you are the “character” and
your motivation is what will define the theme. For example, if you are writing a letter
to your congressperson about a recent oil spill in your community, your theme could
be something like the need for environmental cleanup and responsibility.
4
Think about your story’s conflict. The characters in your story are faced with a conflict that
drives the plot. This may be an event or an antagonist. When you figure out the central conflict
of your story, you may start to uncover your theme.[5]
• For example, your character’s parent committed a crime. Your character, a police
officer, is faced with a moral dilemma of whether to arrest the parent or not. Your
theme could start to emerge from this conflict.
5
Research to support your theme. Research is important in both nonfiction and fiction. In
non-fiction, you are primarily looking for facts to support your theme and the points supporting
8. it. In fiction, research also feeds into making your characters and the environment in which
they interact as realistic as possible.
6
Realize that you can have more than one theme. There isn’t any rule that says you can only
have one theme. You may have a dominant theme with sub-themes that strengthen and deepen
your thematic dimension.[6] For example, perhaps your dominant theme is the human impact
on the environment, and you have sub-themes of corporate greed and the breakdown of
community in modern society.
Weaving Your Theme into Your Writing
1
Choose ways to present your theme to your reader. A solidly presented theme will emerge
through many different facets of your story. Start thinking about how your theme will become
apparent to your readers. Some of these ways include:
• Through characters’ actions, thoughts and speech
• Through symbolic use of the environment
• Through repeating ideas
• Through highlighting symbols or landmarks
• Through contrasting values
2
Use narration to present facts and details. Narration means to present facts and details in an
organized, usually chronological fashion to tell what happened and who it happened to.
Narration is used in most newspaper articles and commonly in stories told in the first person
3
Use description to build an image in the reader’s mind. Description is the use of words that
invoke the senses to build an image in the reader's mind of the item being described.
Description is particularly powerful in fiction as a substitute for narration. Instead of writing
that a character was angry, you describe the character as having bulging eyes, flared nostrils,
and a beet-red face, and use "thundered," "shouted," or "screamed" in place of "said" to
describe the character's voice.
4
Use the tool of comparison and contrast. Comparison is showing the similarities of two or
more things. Contrast is showing the differences between two or more things. Comparison and
contrast can be used in both fiction and non-fiction. For example, comparison and contrast was
used to describe the lifestyles of the protagonists in Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper."
It can also be used for a side-by-side comparison of laptop computer features.
5
Try an analogy. A form of comparison and contrast, the analogy compares something familiar
to something unfamiliar to explain the unfamiliar item. An example of an analogy is comparing
Earth’s size in the universe as a grain of sand.
9. 6
Incorporate symbolism into your story. Symbolism is using something to represent
something else, such as the storm gathering around Roderick Usher's house in Poe's "The Fall
of the House of Usher." This represents Usher's own disquiet after his sister's burial.
Symbolism is more common in fiction than non-fiction and requires the reader to be familiar
with the symbols you use and their intended meaning.
Try a recurring motif to institute symbolism in your story. You might have a recurring
motif or detail of a person singing “Ave Maria” in your story.
Finalizing Your Theme
1
Get feedback. Allow lots of people read your writing. It is helpful to get other eyes on a piece
of writing so that you know whether your ideas are conveyed clearly. Ask these readers about
their impressions. See if they can identify your theme without prompting.
• Be open to the ways that other people respond to your writing. They might be able to
point out errors that you regularly make, which can help clarify and improve your
writing. They might also ask thoughtprovoking questions that helps you consider an
angle you hadn’t previously considered.
• Remember that this feedback is not intended to be personal; they are responding to the
writing, not to you.
2
Put away your writing for a few days. Get some distance from your writing by putting it
away for a bit. Sometimes when we write, we’re so invested in the story and shaping the words
that we lose sight of the bigger picture. Take a break from your writing by turning your focus
to a different project for a few days. Then come back to your writing and reread it.
3
Make changes to your theme. Based on your own evaluation of the piece, as well as the
feedback you’ve solicited from others, make alterations to your theme. You may recognize
that, while you thought your theme was one aspect, your readers interpreted it very differently.
• For example, perhaps you have been focusing your theme on a firefighter’s triumph
over her parents’ disapproval. But then you realize that your story is really about the
firefighter’s struggle in a male-dominated profession.
• A change to your theme might necessitate adding or deleting some passages that do not
strengthen your theme.
Common Themes in Literature
These are a just a few of the many possible literary subjects and themes. The themes
about the subjects on the list are still fairly general. As a critical writer discussing a particular
literary work, you'll need to bring your observations about theme closer to the work.
10. 1. The Individual in Nature
a. Nature is at war with each of us and proves our vulnerability.
b. People are out of place in Nature and need technology to survive.
c. People are destroying nature and themselves with uncontrolled technology.
2. The Individual in Society
a. Society and a person's inner nature are always at war.
b. Social influences determine a person's final destiny.
c. Social influences can only complete inclinations formed by Nature.
d. A person's identity is determined by place in society.
e. In spite of the pressure to be among people, and individual is essentially alone and
frightened.
3. An individual's Relation to the gods.
a. The god(s) are benevolent and will reward human beings for overcoming evil and
temptation.
b. The gods mock the individual and torture him or her for presuming to be great.
c. The gods are jealous of and constantly thwarts human aspiration to power and
knowledge.
d. The gods are indifferent toward human beings and let them run
their undetermined course.
e. There are no gods in whom people can place their faith or yearning for meaning in
the universe.
4. Human Relations
a. Marriage is a perpetual comedy bound to fail.
b. Marriage is a relationship in which each partner is supported and enabled to grow.
c. An old man marrying a young woman is destined to be a cuckold.
d. Parents should not sacrifice all for a better life for their children.
e. There are few friends who will make extreme sacrifices.
5. Growth and Initiation
a. A boy and a girl must go through a special trial or series of trials before maturing.
b. Manhood or womanhood is often established by an abrupt, random crisis,
sometimes at an unusually early age.
c. Aspects of childhood are retained in all of us, sometimes hindering growth,
sometimes providing the only joy in later life.
d. A person grows only in so far as he or she must face a crisis of
confidence or identity.
6. Time
a. Enjoy life now, for the present moment, because we all die too soon.
b. By the time we understand life, there is too little left to live.
7. Death
a. Death is part of living, giving life its final meaning.
b. Death is the ultimate absurd joke on life.
c. There is no death, only a different plane or mode of life without physical decay.
d. Without love, death often appears to be the only alternative to life.
11. 8. Alienation
a. An individual is isolated from fellow human beings and foolishly tries to bridge the
gaps.
b. Through alienation comes self-knowledge.
c. Modern culture is defective because it doesn't provide group ties which in primitive
cultures make alienation virtually impossible.
Example:
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Themes: Good vs. Evil, Courage
Thematic Statement: With courage, even the smallest among us can play a powerful
role in defeating darkness.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Themes: Love, Class
Thematic Statement: Class divisions breed prejudices that can blind us to happy
possibilities.
12. Let Us Practice
Task 1. Write a four-line stanza poem using this title, I Am. In this short poem, write about
your thoughts about yourself-your character, fears, and virtues. You can also write about your
dreams and aspirations.
Task 2. To test your understanding about the conventions of drama, as discussed in our
lesson, read an excerpt from the tale of Tungkung Langit and Alunsina.
One day, Tungkung Langit told his wife that he would be away from for some time to put an
end to the chaotic disturbances in the flow of time and in the position of things. However,
despite this purpose, Alunsina sent the sea breeze to spy on Tungkung Langit. This made the
latter very angry upon knowing about it.
Immediately after his return from his trip, he called this act to her attention, saying it was
ungodly of her to be jealous, there being no other creature living in the world except the two
of them. This reproach was resented by Alunsina and a quarrel between them followed.
*Rewrite the excerpt by using dialogue. Imagine what Tungkung Langit would say to
ALunsina and how she would respond to him. Visualize the quarrel scene between the two
gods and write an imaginary dialogue below.
Narrative detail:
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Tungkung Langit: ___________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Alunsina: __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Tungkung Langit: ___________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Alunsina: __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
2
I Am
13. Tungkung Langit: ___________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Alunsina: __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Tungkung Langit: ___________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Alunsina: __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Tungkung Langit: ___________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Alunsina: __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Tungkung Langit: ___________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Alunsina: __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Task 3. Write about your life experiences about the topic, “What Life Means to Me.”
Remember to apply the things that we have learned in developing a theme to a chosen
written work. Then, give a possible title for your creative nonfiction piece.
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
14. Reference:
Aguila, A., Galan, R. & Wigley, J. J. (2017). Telling the Truth: The Art of Creative
Nonfiction for Senior High School. Quezon City: C & E Publishing, Inc.
Task 4. You did a great job in completing our module! Kudos to your hard
work! Let us look back from where we have started and complete the
chart below.
I thought………
I learned that…….
