Nature and Scope of Literature

• Literature is written or oral works expressing ideas, emotions, and stories reflecting human experiences, culture, society, and history.
• It's an artistic reflection of life, offering insights into the human condition and serving as a tool for communication, education, and social change.

Nature of Literature

• Literature is an artistic expression where writers use language creatively to convey emotions, thoughts, and ideas.
• It serves as a reflection of culture, society, history, and psychology, providing insight into social and personal issues.
• It often involves imagination, allowing readers to explore new worlds or think critically about real ones.
• It evokes emotions, provokes thought, and challenges perspectives, connecting readers with different characters, stories, and ideas.

Scope of Literature

• Fiction: Includes novels, short stories, and dramas that tell invented stories.
• Non-Fiction: Encompasses essays, autobiographies, biographies, and historical works presenting factual accounts.
• Poetry: Focuses on verse, rhyme, and rhythmic language to express feelings, concepts, and images.
• Drama: Consists of plays, screenplays, and scripts meant for performance, exploring conflict, character, and dialogue.
• Hybrid Forms: Blends genres, like graphic novels, multimedia storytelling, and interactive narratives.

Forms of Literature

• Written: Traditional printed literature, including novels, essays, poems, and plays.
• Oral: Folk tales, myths, legends, and songs passed down verbally.
• Digital: Includes e-books, blogs, social media storytelling, and online narratives.
• Visual and Multimedia: Graphic novels, movies, and interactive storytelling forms.

Philippine Literature during the Pre-Colonial Period

• Literary forms were spoken, sung, or chanted to entertain, promote community values, accompany rituals, or impart wisdom.
• Forms include riddles, poems, lullabies, courtship songs, lamentations, and carousals.
• Riddles: Demand an answer, often humorous but with serious answers.
• Chants (Bulong): Used in witchcraft or enchantment, especially in the Visayas; Lagaylay used in Sorsogon for gatherings.
• Legends: Narratives believed to have taken place within human history.
• Folktales: Made-up stories about life, adventure, love, horror, and humor with lessons.
• Epics: Long narrative poems about heroic achievements or events.
• Folk Songs: Mirrored early forms of culture, including Kundiman, Kumintang, Dalit or Imno, Oyayyi or Hele.

Colonial Period

• Spanish Period (1521-1871): Literature classified as religious and secular prose and poetry.
• Baybayin was replaced by the Roman alphabet, and Christian doctrine became the basis of religious practices, with European legends assimilated into songs.
• Folk Songs: Artistic expressions of love and beauty; examples include Pamulinawen, Dandansoy, Sarong Banggi, Ati Cu Pung Sing-sing.
• Recreational Plays: Performed during Spanish times in poetic form, such as Cenaculo, Panunuluyan, Salubong, Embayoka, Lagaylay, and Zarzuela.
• Period of Enlightenment (1872-1898): Filipino intellectuals (Illustrados) wrote about the challenges of colonization.
• The Propaganda Movement (1872-1896): Spearheaded by intellectuals like Jose Rizal, Marcelo del Pilar, and Graciano Lopez Jaena.
• Rizal's Writings: Noli Me Tangere, El Filibusterismo, Mi Ultimo Adios, Sobre La Indolencia De Los Filipinos, and Filipinas Dentro de Cien Anos.
• Del Pilar's Writings: Pagibig sa Tinubuang Lupa, Kaingat Kayo, and Dasalan at Tocsohan.
• Jaena's Writings: Fray Botod, La Hija Del Fraile, Sa Mga Filipino, Everything is Hambug, and Talumpating Paggunita kay Kulumbus.
• American Regime (1898-1944): Americans influenced Filipino writers using English.
• The language used in writings were Spanish, Tagalog and other regional dialects.
• Writers in English imitated American themes and methods.

The Japanese Period (1941-1945)

• Philippine literature in English halted, and newspapers were limited to Tribune and Philippine Review, which interrupted its development.
• Common themes in poetry included nationalism, country, love, life in the barrios, faith, religion, and arts.
• Types of poems:
• Haiku: Free verse, 17 syllables, three lines.
• Tanaga: Short with measure and rhyme.
• Karaniwang Anyo.
• Philippine literature in English experienced a setback, and Tagalog literature was revived.

Rebirth of Freedom (1946-1970)

• Marked by struggle of mind and spirit after emancipation.
• Literary writing in vernacular became of interest.
• Writers had better knowledge of their craft and enjoyed political activism.
• Examples:
  • When I See a Barong-Barong by Maximo Ramos
  • Pighted Wood by Narciso G. Reyes
  • Scent of Appples by Bienvenido Santos
  • Cadaver by Alberto S. Florentino
  • They Called It Brotherhood by Maximo V. Soliven
  • Kwento ni Matubi by Genoveva Edroza-Matute

Period of Activism (1970-1972)

• Youth activism sought reforms due to social ills.
• The youth became vocal with their sentiments and demanded a change in the government.
• Manifested in bloody demonstrations, sidewalk expressions, and literature.

Period of the New Society (1972-1980)

• Poems focused on patience, native culture, nature.
• News favored economic progress, discipline, and culture over sensationalism.
• Filipinos enjoyed magazines and comics.

Period of the Third Republic (1981-1985)

• Martial Law was lifted on January 2, 1981.
• Poems were romantic and revolutionary with themes of grief, poverty, aspirations for freedom, love of God, country, and fellowmen.

Post EDSA 1 Revolution (1986-1999)

• Filipino people regained their independence and changes were noted in songs, newspapers, speeches, and television programs.

21st Century Period

• New trends and ICT incline are used in style and format of writing.

21st Century Literary Genres

• Illustrated Novel: Combines story through text and illustrated images, where 50% of the narrative is presented without words and span all genres.
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick and The Arrival by Shaun Tan are examples.
• Digi Fiction: Combines book, movie/video and internet website, where students must engage in navigation, reading, and viewing in all three forms to get the full story..
• Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman and Level 26 by Anthony Zuiker are examples.
• Graphic Novels: Narrative in comic book format, including non-fiction, short stories, and fictional stories across genres.
• Archie Comics by John Goldwater and Bob Montana are examples.
• Manga: Japanese word for comics used as a generic term for comic books and graphic novels originally published in Japan and is an artistic storytelling style.
• Categories: Shonen (Boy’s), Shojo (Girl’s), Seinen (Men’s), Josei (Women’s), Kodomo (Children’s).
• Doodle Fiction: Incorporates doodle writing, drawings, and handwritten graphics in place of traditional font.
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney and Timmy Failure by Stephan Pastis are examples.
• Text-Talk Novels: Stories told in dialogue simulating social network exchanges.
• Chick Literature: Addresses modern womanhood humorously, featuring a woman protagonist and targeting young women readers.
• Flash Fiction: Story narrated briefly with plot and character development.
• Varieties: Six-word story, dribble (50 words), drabble (100 words), twitterature (280 words), sudden fiction (750), and flash fiction (1000 words).
• Science Fiction: Speculative fiction with futuristic science, time travel, and extraterrestrial life.

Literary Devices

• Literal Language means exactly what it says.
• Figurative Language employs idiomatic expressions and figures of speech to convey meaning indirectly.
• Literary Techniques: Methods authors use to express ideas.
• Examples: foreshadowing, flashbacks, imagery, and symbolism.
• Literary Devices: Tools writers use to create effects.
• Examples: metaphors, similes, personification, and alliteration.
• Foreshadowing: Hints suggest future events.
• Imagery: Words create vivid pictures in the reader's mind.
• Symbolism: Objects or words represent ideas.
• Idiomatic Expression: Phrase with a non-literal meaning.
• Figures of Speech: Rhetorical device using creative language.
• Simile: Compares two unrelated things using "like" or "as".
• Example: "Rachel is as bright as the sun".
• Metaphor: Compares two things indirectly.
• Example: "The whole world is a stage".
• Personification: Gives human characteristics to non-human things.
• Example: "The wind whispered in my ears".
• Hyperbole: Exaggerates the truth.
• Example: "My backpack weighs a ton".
• Onomatopoeia: Word sounds like the sound it describes.
• Example: "Hiss", “Buzz”.
• Apostrophe: Addresses a nonexistent person or object.
• Example: "Oh, you stupid car, you never work when I need you," Bert sighed.
• Alliteration: Repetition of an initial consonant sound.
• Example: She sells seashells by the seashore.

Reading Techniques

• Skimming is reading rapidly for a general overview.
• Scanning is reading rapidly to find specific facts.
• Intensive reading is reading in detail to gain a deeper understanding.
• Extensive reading is reading for enjoyment and to develop general reading skills.
• Reader’s Response Approach: Literary theory focuses on how readers create meaning from a text.
  • Transactional Reader-Response Approach: Meaning is created through the interaction between the reader and the text.
  • Affective Reader-Response Approach: Focuses on the emotions evoked in the reader.
  • Subjective Reader-Response Approach: Readers construct their own unique meaning based on their individual perspectives and life experiences.
  • Social Reader-Response Approach: Meaning is shaped by the reader's social context.
  • Interpretive Communities Approach: Readers belong to communities that share common ways of interpreting texts.
  • Psychological Reader-Response Approach: Emphasizes the reader's subconscious in shaping their response to text.

Textual Reading Approach

• Analysis of the text and what literary strategies it entails.

Contextual Reading Approach

• Focuses on better understanding the reasons behind why a particular piece is written.
• Biographical Context: Background information about an author's life that influenced their writing including their education, culture, beliefs, and experiences.
• Historical Context: Social, economic, political, and cultural conditions during a specific time and place.
• Linguistic Context: Words and phrases that surround a word and help determine its meaning.
• Clarifies the meaning of words, helps readers understand nuances, and enriches comprehension.