Introduction to Literature PDF

Prof. Allan Roy M. Ungriano Literature  Literature expression of life through writings having excellence of form. are written works collectively, especially those of enduring importance, exhibiting creative imagination and artistic skill comes from the Latin word lite...

Prof. Allan Roy M. Ungriano Literature  Literature expression of life through writings having excellence of form. are written works collectively, especially those of enduring importance, exhibiting creative imagination and artistic skill comes from the Latin word literature meaning writing; literatus which means learning; and thus is literate for learned.  It is both oral and written work characterized by expressive or imaginative writing, nobility of thoughts, universality and timeliness. The best way to understand human nature fully and to know a nation completely is to study literature. Literature appeals to man’s higher nature and its needs–emotional, spiritual, intellectual and creative. Like all other forms of art, literature entertains and gives pleasure; it fires the imagination and arouses noble emotions and it enriches man by enabling him to reflect on life by filling him new ideas.  I. Importance of Literature Literature gives aesthetic pleasure Enhances imagination Gives insights to human nature Arouse deep-seated feelings Literature increases knowledge  II. Standards of a Good Literature Artistry Intellectual value Suggestiveness Spiritual value Permanence Universality  III. Some of the Values Learned Through Literature Aesthetic/ Artistic - helps us contemplate the nature of beauty and human creativity. Historical - helps one understand the past and how the world has evolved. Socio-Political - can change the way people live with and influence each other. Moral - teaches a lesson that will inspire the reader to live a better life. Religious/ Ethical - helps us asks questions related to the standards of a "good" life. Scientific/ Cultural - sheds light on the place and time of the author of the work. Philosophical - explores human knowledge, how we know and what we know. Entertainment - is an enjoyable way to pass the time.  Two Separate Offices of Literature According to Thomas De Quincey 1. Literature of Knowledge – Function is to Teach Speaks to the mere discursive understanding 2. Literature of Power – Function is to move Speaks ultimately, it may happen to the higher understanding, or reason, but always through affections of pleasure and sympathy.  Literary Ideals/ Standard by Paz Latorena 1. Intellectual Value. Meaning, something in a literary composition which makes the reader think to some purpose so that his mental life is enriched and enlarged as a result. 2. Emotional Value. An appeal to the emotions is the distinguishing mark of any literature worth its name. And even the dullest of novels, the flattest of dramatic failures, the worst poem show an endeavor to express and to arouse emotion. 3. Ethical Value. More frequently been a storm center than either of the other content values. Emphasis on the ethical significance of literature has been derided as frequently as it has been demanded. Art for art’s sake has been a cry raised on and off, especially in modern times, but it has been countered by the works of great didactic writers, from Plato to Tolstoi.  PERSPECTIVE Not everything has the same meaning. PERSPECTIVE WHAT ARE THE MAIN LITERARY FORMS? The main literary forms are Fiction, Drama & Poetry. Although each of the three major literary genres, fiction, drama, and poetry are different, they have many elements in common. For example, in all three genres, authors make purposeful use of diction (word choice), employ imagery (significant detail) and each piece of literature has its own unique tone (emotional quality). An important element that you will find in all three genres is theme, the larger meaning(s) the reader derives from the poem, story, novel or play. Each of the literary genres is distinguished by its form: Fiction is written in sentences and paragraphs. Poetry is written in lines and stanzas. Drama is written in dialogue. WHY IS KNOWING THEM IMPORTANT? As you read different forms of literature you will need to know specialized vocabulary to be able to best understand, interpret, and write about what you are reading. Also, how you approach a literary text and what you focus on will depend on its literary form. For instance, fiction and drama are typically anchored by a reader’s engagement with characters while many poems do not contain a character or tell a story. Therefore, plot is often not a factor in a poem. A poem can be an impression or reflection about a person, a place, an experience or an idea.  HOW DO I APPROACH EACH FORM? KNOW THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF FICTION: Short Stories are usually defined as being between 2000-6000 words long. Most short stories have at least one “rounded” (developed and complex) character and any number of “flat” (less-developed, simpler) characters. Short stories tend to focus on one major source of conflict and often take place within one basic time period. Novellas generally run between 50-150 pages, halfway between a story and a novel. Novels don’t have a prescribed length. Because they are a longer form of fiction, an author has more freedom to work with plot and characters, as well as develop sub-plots and move freely through time. Characters can change and develop over the course of time and the theme(s) can be broader and more intricate than in shorter forms of fiction. KNOW THE DIFFERENT TYPES AND STRUCTURE OF DRAMA: Drama Types: Tragedy – generally serious in tone, focusing on a protagonist who experiences an eventual downfall Comedy – light in tone, employs humor and ends happily Satire – exaggerated and comic in tone for the purpose of criticism or ridicule Experimental – can be light or serious in tone. It creates its own style through experimentation with language, characters, plot, etc. Musical – can be light or serious. The majority of the dialogue is sung rather than spoken. Drama Structure: Plays are organized into dialogue, scenes and acts. A play can be made up one act or multiple acts. Each act is divided into scenes, in which a character, or characters, come on or off stage and speak their lines. A play can have only one character or many characters. The main character is the protagonist and a character who opposes him/her is the antagonist. The plots of plays typically follow this pattern: Rising Action – complications the protagonist must face, composed of any number of conflicts and crises Climax – the peak of the rising action and the turning point for the protagonist Falling Action – the movement toward a resolution COMMONALITIES OF FICTION AND DRAMA TERMS: Both fiction and drama are typically anchored by plot and character. They also contain literary themes as well as having other elements in common, so we will look at literary terms that can be applied to both of these literary forms. PLOT: Plot is the unfolding of a dramatic situation; it is what happens in the narrative. Be aware that writers of fiction arrange fictional events into patterns. They select these events carefully, they establish causal relationships among events, and they enliven these events with conflict. Therefore, more accurately defined, plot is a pattern of carefully selected, casually related events that contain conflict. There are two general categories of conflict: internal conflict, takes place within the minds of the characters and external conflict, takes place between individuals or between individuals and the world external to the individuals (the forces of nature, human created objects, and environments). The forces in a conflict are usually embodied by characters, the most relevant being the protagonist, the main character, and the antagonist, the opponent of the protagonist (the antagonist is usually a person but can also be a nonhuman force or even an aspect of the protagonist—his or her tendency toward evil and self-destruction for example). CHARACTERS: There are two broad categories of character development: simple and complex. Simple (or “flat”) characters have only one or two personality traits and are easily recognizable as stereotypes—the shrewish wife, the lazy husband, the egomaniac, etc. Complex (or “rounded”) characters have multiple personality traits and therefore resemble real people. They are much harder to understand and describe than simple characters. No single description or interpretation can fully contain them. For the characters in modern fiction, the hero has often been replaced by the antihero, an ordinary, unglamorous person often confused, frustrated and at odds with modern life. THEME: The theme is an idea or point that is central to a story, which can often be summed up in a word or a few words (e.g. loneliness, fate, oppression, rebirth, coming of age; humans in conflict with technology; nostalgia; the dangers of unchecked power). A story may have several themes. Themes often explore historically common or cross-culturally recognizable ideas, such as ethical questions and commentary on the human condition, and are usually implied rather than stated explicitly. SYMBOLISM: In the broadest sense, a symbol is something that represents something else. Words, for example, are symbols. But in literature, a symbol is an object that has meaning beyond itself. The object is concrete and the meanings are abstract. SETTINGS: The social mores, values, and customs of the world in which the characters live; the physical world; and the time of the action, including historical circumstances. TONE: The narrator’s predominant attitude toward the subject, whether that subject is a particular setting, an event, a character, or an idea. POINT OF VIEW: The author’s relationship to his or her fictional world, especially to the minds of the characters. Put another way, point of view is the position from which the story is told. There are four common points of view: * Omniscient point of view—the author tells the story and assumes complete knowledge of the characters’ actions and thoughts. * Limited omniscient point of view—the author still narrates the story but restricts his or her revelation—and therefore our knowledge—to the thoughts of just one character. * First person point of view—one of the characters tells the story, eliminating the author as narrator. The narration is restricted to what one character says he or she observes. * Objective point of view—the author is the narrator but does not enter the minds of any of the characters. The writer sees them (and lets us see them) as we would in real life. FORESHADOWING: The anticipation of something, which will happen later. It is often done subtlety with symbols or other indirect devices. We have to use inferential thinking to identify foreshadowing in some stories, and often it occurs on an almost emotional level as we're reading, leading us further into the heart of the story. EXPOSITION: The opening portion of a story that sets the scene, introduces characters and gives background information we may need to understand the story. INTERIOR MONOLOGUE: An extended exploration of one character's thoughts told from the inside but as if spoken out loud for the reader to overhear. STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS: A style of presenting thoughts and sense impressions in a lifelike fashion, the way thoughts move freely through the mind, often chaotic or dreamlike. IRONY: Generally irony makes visible a contrast between appearance and reality. More fully and specifically, it exposes and underscores a contrast between (1) what is and what seems to be, (2) between what is and what ought to be, (3) between what is and what one wishes to be, (4) and between what is and what one expects to be. Incongruity is the method of irony; opposites come suddenly together so that the disparity is obvious. CLIMAX: The moment of greatest tension when a problem or complication may be resolved or, at least, confronted. RESOLUTION, CONCLUSION or DENOUEMENT ("untying of the knot"): Brings the problem to some sort of finality, not necessarily a happy ending, but a resolution.  PRACTICE Using the literary vocabulary and questions, let’s analyze a literary text. Read the memoir, “Learning to Read,” by Jessica Powers which can be located in Chapter 1: Critical Reading in the “Faculty- Written Texts” section. Powers employs many of the elements of fiction in this autobiographical piece. When you have finished reading, answer the questions below. Questions about plot: 1. What is the main conflict in the story? 2. What causes the conflict? 3. Is the conflict external or internal? 4. What is the turning point in the story? 5. How is the main conflict resolved?  Questions about theme: 1. What does the story show us about human behavior? 2. Are there moral issues raised by the story? Describe. 3. What does the story tell us about why people change? Questions about character: 1. Is the main character simple or complex? Explain. 2. What are the traits of the main character? Make a list. 3. Does the main character change? Describe. 4. What steps does she go through to change? Make a list. 5. What does she learn? Describe. 6. Does the main character experience an epiphany? Describe.  General Divisions and Classifications of Literature According to Subject – Fiction - is any form of narrative which deals, in part or in whole, with events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary and invented by its author(s). – Non-Fiction - is an account, narrative, or representation of a subject which an author presents as fact.  According to Language – Prose - the ordinary form of spoken and written language whose unit is the sentence. – Verse - is formally a single line in a metrical composition.  Components of Literature Form – the manner in which the literary work is written. Content/Theme – the message that the author wants to express. ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE  1. Plot It is the rendering and ordering of the events and actions of a story. It is a pattern of carefully selected, casually related events that contain conflict. Parts of Plot: 1. Exposition is concerned with introducing characters and setting. Readers or viewers know the background information about the characters and the conflicts they face. 2. Rising Action is the central part of a story during which various problems arise, leading up to the climax. Suspense accumulates in this part as the conflicts are more difficult especially for the main character to resolve. 3. Climax is the high point of the story, where a culmination of events create the peak of the conflict. Catches the highest interest of the reader or viewer. 4. Falling Action gradual decrease of action after the climax, wraps up the narrative, and leads towards the end/resolution. 5. Resolution (Dénouement) serves as the conclusion of the story. The conflict is resolved and the story is comes to an end.  Diagram of Plot Climax Introduction Resolution/Denouement Exposition/ Opening situation  Deus Ex Machina is a plot device whereby a seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new character, ability, or object.  2. Conflict – is a central problem around which a story revolves. There are 2 types of conflict that can occur: – Internal conflict occurs within a person or character. Man vs Himself – External conflict occurs between a person & another person, a machine, nature, or society. Man vs Man and Man vs Nature  Conflict is necessary to every story. In short stories, there is usually one major conflict. In longer stories, there could be several conflicts. Conflict adds excitement and suspense to a story. The conflict usually becomes clear at the beginning of a story. As the plot unfolds, the reader starts to wonder what will happen next and how the characters will handle the situation.  3. Character is a person, animal, being, creature in a story. Writers use characters to perform the actions and speak dialogue, moving the story along a plot line.  Types of Character: Protagonist – is the main character, around which the whole story revolves. Antagonist – is a character, or group of characters that causes conflict for the protagonist. The antagonist could also be the protagonist, who is torn by a problem within. Foil – opposite character traits from another where the character is meant to help highlight or bring out another’s positive or negative side.  Character Traits: Static – do not change throughout the story. A major character can remain static through the whole story. Dynamic – changes throughout the story. They may learn a lesson, become bad, or change in complex ways. Flat – has one or two traits, usually only all positive or negative. They are the opposite of a round character. The flaw or strength has its use in the story. Round – opposite of the flat character. Characters have many different traits, good and bad, making them more interesting.  Characterization – is a writer’s process used to develop their characters throughout the story. The author uses details to teach us about a character. This is used over the course of a story in order to tell the tale  Types of Characterization: Direct – the author explicitly tells the audience what he or she wants you to know about the character. Indirect – the reader makes inferences about a character based on their actions, thoughts, personality, and emotional effect on other characters. There are five types of Indirect Characterization: – Speech – Thoughts – Effect on others – Actions – Looks  4. Theme Is the underlying focus of a story. Subjects or main ideas of works can often be expressed in one word, e.g., love. But, a theme is underlying; a theme is something the writer wants the reader to discover. There may be more than one theme in a literary work.  5. Setting The time and place (or when and where) of the story. It can be the time period, location, the time of day, the season, the weather, the type of room or building.  Types of Setting: Time / Historical – the general period of the plot and the main location of the story. Physical – what the place/location of the setting looks like physically. Atmospheric – the feeling, emotion, or mood that an author creates in a narrative through descriptive language.  6. Foreshadowing it uses clues that hint as to things that will happen later in the plot.  7. Point of View the voice telling the story is the narrator. Point of view refers to the voice in which the story is told. It is the set of eyes the author uses to let the reader see the action unfold. The three points of view or voices follow; however, of the three, first and third persons are the most commonly used in writing stories.  Types of Point of View: First-person – the story is told through the eyes of the character telling the story. Second-person – the narrator is speaking to you. This is seen mostly in poems, speeches, instructional writing, and persuasive articles. Third-person – the narrator is describing what’s seen, but as a spectator. If the narrator is a character in the story, then we are reading what he or she observes as the story unfolds. The story can be told from an omniscient (all-knowing) narrator who doesn’t interact in the events, or a limited omniscient character who knows only one other person’s thoughts or feelings, or character who has a limited perspective of the events unfolding.  8. Tone is the attitude that the author conveys about his/her subject through his or her choice of words. Examples of tone follow: – Serious – Light-hearted – Bitter – Angry – Ironic – Sarcastic  9. Irony is the difference or gap between what is said and what is actually meant in a text. Types of Irony: Verbal Irony – this is when a character or narrator says something but means exactly the opposite. Situational Irony – this is the difference between what appears to be and what actually is true. It is often demonstrated by an actual result being different than what is expected. Dramatic Irony – This occurs when the reader/observer knows something that the character in a film or written text does not know.  10. Diction – refers to word choice and phrasing in any written or spoken text. Types of Diction: Formal – involves choosing words that are polite and proper. Formal language is often filled with descriptive words that are quite precise, and sentences may be longer. Informal – generally uses shorter words. Sentences may be incomplete or ignore some finer points of grammar and usage.  11. Denotation dictionary definition of a word. Sometimes a word can have multiple definitions. Consider the way the word is used in context to the story.  12. Connotation feelings and images associated with a word or phrase.  13. Symbolism the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities, by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense. Symbols can be universal, conventional, and contextual.  Types of Symbols: Universal – a word or object that everyone agrees on the meaning of. Conventional – widely recognized by a society or culture. – Example: Christian cross, the Star of David, a swastika, or a nation’s flag. Contextual – a word or object that stands for something else just in the story or situation.  14. Imagery a set of mental pictures or images. The use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas. To make an imaginary world seem real, an author often makes use of words and phrases that appeal to the senses. These words and phrases, called images, help a reader mentally experience what the characters in the literary selection are actually experiencing. A well-written description should arouse a particular response or emotion in the reader's imagination. Sensory imagery is developed using the five senses: sight, sounds, taste, touch and smell.  15. Flashback Is action that interrupts to show an event that happened at an earlier time which is necessary to better understanding  16. Figurative Language used to describe someone or something by comparing to another or using words for description that do not have a literal meaning. POETRY  Poetry A form of literature that evokes a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience or a specific emotional response through language chosen and arranged for its meaning, sound, and rhythm.  Meter The rhythmic pattern produced when words are arranged so that their stressed and unstressed syllables fall into a more or less regular sequence, resulting in repeated patterns of accent (called f00t)  Foot The basic unit of measurement in a line of poetry Anapest Dactyl Iamb  Anapest In a line of poetry, two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable forming the pattern for the line or perhaps for the entire poem As I came / to the edge / of the woods  Dactyl In poetry, a metrical pattern consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables Picture your self in a boat on a river with  Iamb A metrical pattern of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!  Types of Poetry A. Narrative Poetry 1. Ballad - is a form of verse that is narrative and set to music. 2. Epic - is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation.  B. Lyric Poetry a form of poetry with rhyming schemes that express personal and emotional feelings. 1. Ode - is typically a lyrical verse written in praise of, or dedicated to someone or something which captures the poet's interest or serves as an inspiration for the ode. 2. Sonnet - a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure. a. Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet “On His Blindness” by John Milton When I consider how my light is spent (a) Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, (b) And that one talent which is death to hide, (b) Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent (a) To serve therewith my Maker, and present (a) My true account, lest he returning chide; (b) "Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?" (b) I fondly ask; but Patience to prevent (a) That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need (c) Either man's work or his own gifts; who best (d) Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state (e) Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed (c) And post o'er land and ocean without rest; (d) They also serve who only stand and wait." (e) b. English (Shakespearean) sonnet Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 Let me not to the marriage of true minds (a) Admit impediments, love is not love (b) Which alters when it alteration finds, (a) Or bends with the remover to remove. (b) O no, it is an ever fixéd mark (c) That looks on tempests and is never shaken; (d) It is the star to every wand'ring bark, (c) Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken. (d) Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks (e) Within his bending sickle's compass come, (f) Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, (e) But bears it out even to the edge of doom: (f) If this be error and upon me proved, (g) I never writ, nor no man ever loved. (g) 3. Villanelle – a French form of 19 lines in iambic pentameter with only two rhymes 4. Sestina – an unrhymed poem that places the same six words in varying patterns through six stanzas, ending with a two-line stanza 5. Haiku – a Japanese form of three lines in which the first and third lines contain 5 syllables and the second line contains 7 syllables  Elegy is a mournful, melancholy or plaintive poem, especially a lament for the dead or a funeral song.  FIGURES OF SPEECH Language that uses figures of speech is known collectively as figurative language. You will find examples of figurative language in novels, poems, essays, and plays. The opposite of figurative language is literal language. Literal language is the type of straightforward writing you’ll find on road signs, in office memos, and in research papers.  Alliteration Is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in neighboring words, which creates a memorable or melodic effect. Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate That time will come and take my love away, -Shakespeare, Sonnet 64-  Antithesis is a literary technique that places opposite things or ideas next to one another in order to draw out their contrast. – Example: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...” —Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities  Anthropomorphism The act of attributing human forms or qualities to entities which are not human  Assonance Is the repetition of vowel sounds Hear the mellow wedding bells. — Edgar Allan Poe  Conceit An elaborate, usually intellectually ingenious poetic comparison or image, such as an analogy or metaphor  Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair some time declines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grows't: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.  Consonance Is the repetition of consonant sounds, but not vowels, as in assonance All mammals named Sam are clammy  Enjambed The running over of a sentence or thought into the next couplet or line without a pause at the end of the line; a run-on line. i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling) -e. e. cummings  Euphemism A mild word of phrase which substitutes for another which would be undesirable because it is too direct, unpleasant, or offensive correctional facility for prison sanitation worker for garbage collector adult entertainment for pornography  Apostrophe Is when an absent person, an abstract concept, or an important object is directly addressed. – "Science! True daughter of Old Time thou art!" -Edgar Allan Poe – "O eloquent, just, and mighty Death!" - Sir Walter Raleigh  Metaphor Comparison of two unlike or dissimilar things using the verb “to be” and not using like or as in a simile to create more vivid imagery or understanding. – Example: He was an onion; to understand him, she had to peel back the layers. – All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; (William Shakespeare)  Simile Compares two dissimilar things using “like” or “as.” The goal of simile is to give the reader a more vivid understanding of something. – Example: It was the first real day of summer, and by the time she came back indoors, she was as red as a tomato. – Ex. She is like a fairy  Metonymy Is substituting a word for another word closely associated with it. Is a literary device in which a word or object stands in for a closely related word or object. Metonymy gives a writer more variability with descriptions. – Example: I thought his movies were better when they weren’t so Hollywood. – The White House supports the bill.  Hyperbole Is exaggeration or overstatement – These books weigh a ton. – I could sleep for a year.  Irony Is an implied discrepancy between what is said and what is meant.  Oxymoron Is putting two contradictory words together to create a new meaning. Example: – That strawberry cake was awfully good. – Deafening silence – Living Dead  Analogy Is the comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship. Hand : Palm :: Foot : _____  Analogy Is the comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship. Hand : Palm :: Foot : Sole  Onomatopoeia Is a word that imitates the sound it represents. This occurs when a word actually sounds like its meaning. – Examples are: buzz, tick, splash, meow. – When a character is exasperated, they might exclaim, “Sheesh!” That’s both a word to show exasperation and a sound that happens when you sigh loudly.  Paradox is a statement that appears to contradict itself but contains some truth, theme, or humor. Example: – The saviors come not home tonight; Themselves they could not save; – “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” — George Orwell, Animal Farm  Personification Is giving or assigning human attributes to nonhuman things like animals or objects – It was time to go home, but the bell refused to ring. – The floorboards groaned under the weight of each step. Types of poetry styles: Narrative: tells a story Imagist: uses rich sensory imagery Lyrical: expresses strongly felt emotion and is written in a shorter form Persona: relies on a character whose voice speaks the poem Confessional: speaks openly about a poet’s personal life Satirical: uses humor to make a point Sound: relies on sounds rather than ideas to create meaning Concrete: takes on the literal shape of its subject Experimental: creates its own style through experimentation with language, shape, meaning and form Epic: deals with a mythic, legendary or historic event and often focuses on a hero and is written in a longer form Occasional: marks a particular occasion, like a birthday, dedication, death or marriage END