Introduction to Literature--- What is Literature, Literature vs. Other Branches, Prose Vs. Poetry, Elements of Prose, Elements of Poetry

1. What is Literature?

2. “That is part of the beauty of all
literature. You discover that your
longings are universal longings, that
you're not lonely and isolated from
anyone. You belong.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald

3. Definition of Literature
Literature is any form of writing which deals
with the significant human experience -- his
society and his experiences -- which is
artistically conceived for an effect.

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

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

6. Literature vs. Other Academic
Branches

7. Literature vs. Other Branches
LITERATURE
• forward-looking or
futuristic
• selective; aims to
achieve ultimate
beauty
• presents universal or
general idea
HISTORY
• backward looking
• detailed and
chronologically
arranged
• presents the specific
and the particular

8. Literature vs. Other Branches
LITERATURE
• ideas are presented
indirectly
• has its own specific
subjects
PHILOSOPHY
• presents ideas
directly
• deals with issues

9. Literature vs. Other Branches
LITERATURE
• deals mainly with
fiction
• includes every aspect
of human
experiences
• focus is on the story
SOCIOLOGY
• deals with the facts
of life
• includes every aspect
of human social
conditions
• more research
oriented and causal
in nature

10. Literature vs. Other Branches
LITERATURE
• cultivates creative
thinking leading to
appreciation
• expresses the deepest
of human experiences
• emphasizes the
cultivation of human
emotions and values
PSYCHOLOGY
• scientific study of
mental processes and
behavior
• explores thoughts,
feelings and actions
• focuses on the
working of the
nervous system

11. Genres of Literature
Prose Vs. Poetry

12. PROSE FICTION
Prose is any writing or speech in its normal continuous
form, without the rhythmic or visual line structure of
poetry. It is divided into two classifications:
• Fiction / Imaginative Literature
- Literature of Power. Deals with fictitious characters/ persons that
presents actual truths.
- Composed of Short Stories, Novels, Novelettes, etc.
• Non-Fiction Literature
- Literature of Knowledge. Deals with actual facts, experiences, ideas
or events.
- Composed of Essays, Biographies, Diaries, Journals, etc.

13. PROSE FICTION
Fiction
– came from the Latin word “fictio” or counter-fitting.
- refers to any narrative in prose or in verse that is wholly or in
part a production of the imagination.
- Not true but not lies.
- Describe what is not real, but not totally unreal.
- Designed to make us respond “as if”, but not to
deceive us.
- Describe none-existing people but produce real
emotions, altered behavior and important reflections.

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

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

16. Elements of Fiction
Parts of the Plot:
1. Exposition – refers to the layout of the materials of
the story or introduction.
2. Complication – rising action where the major conflict
of the story are presented.
3. Climax – the peak of the story or action where the
dilemma is faced by the main characters.
4. Resolution – falling action.
5. Denouement – ending/conclusion.

17. Elements of Fiction
B. SETTING – the time and place of action. It refers to the
physical locale, climatic conditions and historical period where
the story is taking place.
C. THEME- the generalization about human life or character
that a story explicitly or implicitly embodies a philosophical
truth. It is the central idea of the story and revolved around
the significant human experience.
*it is not the moral message
*it is not always made explicit at some point of the story
*must embody some state of man’s thinking

18. Elements of Fiction
D. CHARACTER – the set of people embodied within a
human experience. The two major characters are the
protagonist and antagonist.
Qualities of a good character:
- Plausible
- Motivation
- Vitality
- Sympathy
- Consistency

19. Elements of Fiction
E. POINT OF VIEW – the narrative voice of the story. It is
the vantage point from which the characters, actions and
events are seen.
• First Person POV – “I or We” limited to himself.
• Dramatic/ Objective POV – story revealed through the dialogues
between the characters and through their actions.
• Omniscient POV – the voice is outside the work which allows the
descriptions of the inner thoughts and emotions of any and all
he characters in the story.

20. Elements of Fiction
F. CONFLICT – the dilemma faced by he main character of
the story.
Types of Conflicts:
• Person Vs. Self
• Person Vs. Person
• Person Vs. Society
• Person Vs. Nature
• Person Vs. Supernatural
• Person Vs. Machine or Technology

21. “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies,
the man who never reads lives only one.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons

22. POETRY
Poetry is a disciplined, compact verbal utterance, in
some none/less musical mode, dealing with aspects of
internal or external reality on some meaningful way.

23. POETRY
Poetry relies more o the figures of speech, symbolism
ad imagery. It also relies more than pose on the sound
and rhythm of speech and how it explains why it often
uses rhyme and meter.
Poetic License – the liberty given to poets t do
whatever they want to do with the language. It can
violate the rules of grammar, insert new words and
follow unusual syntactical arrangements to meet the
requirement of their poem.

24. ELEMENTS OF POETRY
a. Theme – the soul of the poem. It the what the poet
wants to express through is words which may either
be a thought, a feeling, an observation, a story or
an experience.
b. Symbolism – the expressions that are not directly
stated in the poem to express deep hidden meaning
behind the words used by the poet.
c. Meter – it is the basic structure of a poem which is
determined by the number of syllables in line.

25. ELEMENTS OF POETRY
d. Rhythm – this refers to the resonation of words
along with the sounds and the music produced when
the poem is read aloud and not he rhyming between
two words of consecutive lines.
e. Rhyme
f. Simile
g. Metaphor

26. In a ½ sheet, summarize the story
“Waywaya” of F. Sionil Jose by drawing
the plot.
Activity