Literary Criticism and Analysis PDF

**Formalistic or Literary Approach** - The first approach is called **"formalistic" or "pure", or "literary**." The selection is read and viewed intrinsically, or for itself independent of author, age, or any other extrinsic factor. - **art for art's sake" dictum**. - **more or less...

**Formalistic or Literary Approach** - The first approach is called **"formalistic" or "pure", or "literary**." The selection is read and viewed intrinsically, or for itself independent of author, age, or any other extrinsic factor. - **art for art's sake" dictum**. - **more or less boil down** - **like "satire," "comedy," "symbol," etc**.; **Moral or Humanistic Approach** the nature of man is central to literature. piece presents man as essentially rational; that is, endowed with intellect and free will; or that the piece does not misinterpret the true nature of man. **Historical Approach** The very popular historical approach, based on Taine's "**moment-milieu-race,"** sees literature as both a reflection and a product of the times and circumstances in which it was written. Man as a member of a particular society or nation at a particular time, is central to the approach where historical or biographical backgrounds are introduced in a selection, or arranged in a literature course in chronological order. It is hewing close to this approach. **Sociological Approach** The sociological approach may be considered an extension of the historical approach, sometimes loons so large, that it is sometimes quoted for the latter or taker by itself. It considers literature as principally the expression of man within a given social situation. Often, this "social situation" is reduced to a question of economic, in which men are somewhat simplistically divided into the haves and have-nots, thus passing into the **"proletarian approach,"** which tends to underscore the conflict between the two classes. The sociological approach stresses social "relevance," social "commitment," contemporaneity, and deems communication with the reader important. Wanting to disseminate a "message," especially when it tends subtly or deliberately towards propaganda (another controversial matter in literature), the selection has to be understood. Socially-committed literature almost deliberately invites questions using this approach. **Cultural Approach** This approach considers literature as one of the principal manifestations and **vehicles of a nation's or a race's** culture and tradition **Psychological Approach** principally by Freud, it considers literature as the expression of "personality," of "inner drives," of "neurosis." It includes the psychology of the author, of the characters and even the "psychology of creation." It has resulted in an almost exhausting and exhaustive "psychological analysis of characters of symbols and images, of recurrent themes, etc. **Impressionistic Approach**-- very personal, very relative, sometimes very fruitful. Unconditioned by explanations and often taking the impact of the piece as a whole (which is one **positive point for it), it seeks to see how the piece has communicated.** Standard questions for this approach are the "reaction-response" papers so much in vogue now. **New Criticism or Formalist Criticism** examines the relationships between a text's ideas and its form, "**the connection between what a text says and the way it's said."** New Critics/Formalists "[may find tension, irony, or paradox in this relation], reading of "the work itself." They insist that the meaning of a text should not be confused with the author's intentions nor the text's affective dimension---its effects on the reader. The objective determination as to **"how a piece works"** can be found through close focus and analysis, rather than through extraneous and erudite special knowledge. **Archetypal criticism** "[traces cultural and psychological ']myths' that Shape the meaning of texts." It argues that "[certain literary archetypes determine the structure and function of individual literary works,"] and therefore that literature imitates not the world but rather the "total dream of humankind." Archetypes (recurring images or symbols, patterns, universal experiences) may include motifs such as the quest or the heavenly ascent, symbols such as the apple or snake, or images such as crucifixion---all laden with meaning already when employed in a particular work. **Psychoanalytic criticism** adopts the methods of "**reading"** employed by Freud and later theorists to interpret what a text really indicates. It argues that "[unresolved and sometimes unconscious ambivalences in the author's own life may lead to a disunified literary work," and that the literary work is a manifestation of the author's own neuroses.] Psychoanalytic critics focus on apparent dilemmas and conflicts in a work and "attempt to read an author's own family life and traumas into the actions of their characters," realizing that the psychological material will be expressed indirectly, encoded (similar to dreams) through principles such as "condensation," "displacement," and "symbolism." **Feminist criticism** critiques patriarchal language and literature by Exposing how a work reflects masculine ideology. It examines gender politics in works and traces the subtle construction of masculinity and femininity, and their relative status, positionings, and marginalizations within works. **Marxist criticism** argues that literature reflects social institutions and that it is one itself, with a particular ideological function: that literature participates in the series of struggles between oppressed and oppressing classes which makes up human history. Similar to Marx's historical theory, Marxist criticism will focus on the distribution of resources, materialism, class conflict, or the author's analysis of class relations. It examines how some works attempt to shore up an oppressive social order or how they idealize social conflict out of existence, how others offer an alternative collective life or propose a utopian vision as a solution. **Cultural criticism** questions traditional value hierarchies and takes a cross-disciplinary approach to works traditionally marginalized by the aesthetic ideology of white European males. Instead of more attention to the canon, cultural studies examines works by minority ethnic groups and postcolonial writers, and the products of folk, urban, and mass culture. Popular literature, soap opera, rock and rap music, cartoons, professional wrestling, food, etc. all fall within the domain of cultural criticism. We are focusing on it particularly as it concerns questioning the ways Western cultural tradition expressed in literature defines itself partly by stifling the voices of oppressed groups or even by demonizing those groups. We will focus on how literary tradition has constructed models of identity for oppressed groups, how these groups have constructed oppositional literary identities, and how different communities of readers might interpret the same text differently due to varied value systems. **New Historicism** "finds meaning by looking at a text within the Framework of the prevailing ideas and assumptions of its historical era, or by considering its contents within a context of 'what really happened during the period that produced the text." New Historicists concern themselves with the political function of literature and with the concept of power, "the complex means by which societies produce and reproduce themselves." These critics focus on revealing the historically specific model of truth and authority reflected in a given work. **Reader-Response criticism** "insists that all literature is a structure of experience, not just a form or meaning," and therefore focuses on finding meaning in the act of reading itself and examines the ways individual readers or communities of readers experience texts. These critics examine how the reader joins with the author "to help the text mean." They determine what kind of reader or what community of readers the work implies and helps to create. They examine "the significance of the series of interpretations the reader goes through in the process of reading." **Deconstruction** is a recent school of criticism which ventures beyond the structuralists' assertion that all aspects of human culture are fundamentally languages---complex systems of signs: signifies (concepts) and signifiers (verbal or non-verbal---and that therefore a quasi-scientific formalism is available for approaching literature (and advertising, fashion, food, etc.). Deconstructionists oppose the "metaphysics of presence," that is, the claim of literature or philosophy that we can find some full, rich meaning outside of or prior to language itself. Like formalists, these critics also look "at the relation of a text's ideas to the way the ideas are expressed. Unlike formalists, though, deconstructionists find meaning in the ways the text breaks down: for instance, in the ways the rhetoric contradicts the ostensible message." Deconstructive criticism "typically argues that a particular literary, historical, or philosophical work both claims to possess full and immediate presence and admits the impossibility of attaining such presence,"---that texts, rather than revealing the New Critic's "unities," actually dismantle themselves due to their intertwined, inevitably opposite "discourses" (strands of narrative, threads of meaning) **B. LITERARY LITERATURE USING ANALYSIS: ELEMENTS OF** **Allegory --** narrative form in which the characters are representative of some larger humanistic trait (i.e. greed, vanity, or bravery) and attempt to convey some larger lesson or meaning to life. William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily- the decline of the Old South Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- man's struggle to contain his inner primal instincts District 9- South African Apartheid X Men- the evils of prejudice Harry Potter- the dangers of seeking "racial purity" **✓ Character --** representation of a person, place, or thing performing traditionally human activities or functions in a work of fiction **Protagonist --** The character to whom the story revolves around. **Antagonist --** A character or force that opposes the protagonist. **Minor character --** Often provides support and illuminates the protagonist. **Static character** -- A character that remains the same. **Dynamic character --** A character that changes in some important way. **Characterization --** The choices an author makes to reveal a character's personality, such as appearance, actions, dialogue, and motivations. **Connotation** -- implied meaning of word. **Denotation** -- dictionary definition of a word **Diction --** word choice that both conveys and emphasizes the meaning or theme of a poem through distinctions in sound, look, rhythm, syllable, letters, and definition **Figurative language** -- the use of words to express meaning beyond the literal meaning of the words themselves **Metaphor --** contrasting to seemingly unalike things to enhance the meaning of a situation or theme without using like or as You are the sunshine of my life. **Simile** -- contrasting to seemingly unalike things to enhance the meaning of a situation or theme using like or as What happens to a dream deferred, does it dry up like a raisin in the sun **Hyperbole --** exaggeration I have a million things to do today. **Personification --** giving non-human objects human characteristics America has thrown her hat into the ring, and will be joining forces with the British. **Foot** -- grouping of stressed and unstressed syllables used in line or poem **Lamb** [-- unstressed syllable] followed by stressed Made famous by the Shakespearian sonnet, closest to the natural rhythm of human speech **How do I love thee? Let me count the ways** **Spondee --** *[stressed stressed]* Used to add emphasis and break up monotonous rhythm Blood boil, mind-meld, well- loved **Trochee [-- ]**[stressed unstressed] Often used in children's rhymes and to help with memorization, gives poem a hurried feeling While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, **Anapest --** [unstressed unstressed] stressed **Often used in longer poems or "rhymed stories"** **Dactyls --** [stressed unstressed unstressed] Often used in classical Greek or Latin text, later revived by the Romantics, then again by the Beatles, often thought to create a heartbeat or pulse in a poem **Imagery** the author's attempt to create a mental picture (or reference point) in the mind of the reader. Remember, though the most immediate forms of imagery are visual, strong and effective imagery can be used to invoke an emotional, sensational (taste, touch, smell etc) or even physical response. **Meter** -- measure or structuring of rhythm in a poem Meter is determined by the number of feet in a line. 1 foot-monometer; 2-dimeter; 3-trimeter; 4- tetrameter; 5-pentameter, 6- hexameter etc. a. **Lambic tetrameter** Ex: O Ma/ry at/ thy win/ dow be It is/ the wished/ the try/ sted hour." -Burns, "Mary Morisson" b. **Lambic Pentameter** Ex. "When I/ consi/ der how/ my light/ is spent." - Nilton, "On His Blindness c. **Trochaic Trimeter** Ex: "Hail to/ thee blithe/ spirit Bird thou/ nevr wert. - Shelle, "To a Skylark d. **Trochaic Tetrameter** Ex. War he/ sung is/ toil and/ trouble Honor/ but an empty/bubble. J. Dryden, Alexander's Feast" e. **Anapestic Tetrameter** Ex. "At the cor/ner of wood/ Street, when day/ light appears Hangs a Trush/that sings loud/ it has sung/ for three years. -W. Wordsworth, The Reviere of Poor Susan" f. **Dactylic Dimeter** Ex. "Honor the/ charge they made Honor the/ light brigade." g. **Dactylic Hexameter** Ex. This is the/ forest pri/meval, the Murmuring/ pines and the/hemlocks - Longfellow, Evangeline" **Plot** -- the arrangement of ideas and/or incidents that make up a story **Foreshadowin**g -- When the writer clues the reader in to something that will eventually occur in the story, it may be explicit (obvious) or implied (disguised). **Suspense** The tension that the author uses to create a feeling of discomfort about the unknown **Conflict --** Struggle between opposing forces. Exposition Background information regarding the setting, characters, plot. ** Rising Action** -- The process the story follows as it builds to its Main conflict **Crisis** -- A significant turning point in the story that determines how it must end **Resolution/Denouement** -- The way the story turns out. **Point of View** -- pertains to who tells the story and how it is told. The point of view of a story can sometimes indirectly establish the author's intentions. **Narrator --** The person telling the story who may or may not be a character in the story. **First-person** -- Narrator participates in action but sometimes has limited knowledge/vision. **Second person** -- Narrator addresses the reader directly as though she is part of the story. (i.e. "You walk into your bedroom. You see clutter everywhere and...") **Third Person (Objective**) -- Narrator is unnamed/unidentified (a detached observer). Does not assume character's perspective and is not a character in the story. The narrator reports on events and lets the reader supply the meaning. **Omniscient** -- All-knowing narrator (multiple perspectives). The **Narrator** knows what each character is thinking and feeling, not just what they are doing throughout the story. **/ Rhythm** -- often thought of as a poem's timing. Rhythm is the juxtaposition of stressed and unstressed beats in a poem, and is often used to give the reader a lens through which to move through the work. (See meter and foot) **Setting** -- the place or location of the action. The setting provides the historical and cultural context for characters. It often can symbolize the emotional state of characters. Example -- In Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher, the crumbling old mansion reflects the decaying state of both the family and the narrator's mind. We also see this type of emphasis on setting in Thomas Mann's Death in Venice. **Speaker --** the person delivering the poem. Remember, a poem does not have to have a speaker, and the speaker and the poet are not necessarily one in the same. **Structure (fiction)** -- The way that the writer arranges the plot of a story. Look for: Repeated elements in action, gesture, dialogue, description, as well as shifts in direction, focus, time, place, etc. **Structure (poetry**) The pattern of organization of a poem. For Example, a Shakespearean sonnet is a 14-line poem written in iambic pentameter. Because the sonnet is strictly constrained, it is considered a closed or fixed form. An open or free form poem has looser form, or perhaps one of the author's invention, but it is important to remember that these poems are not necessarily formless. Symbolism when an object is meant to be representative of something or an idea greater than the object itself. **Cross** -- representative of Christ or Christianity **Bald Eagle** -- America or Patriotism **Owl** -- wisdom or knowledge **Yellow** -- implies cowardice or rot Tone the implied attitude towards the subject of the poem. Is it hopeful, pessimistic, dreary, worried? A poet conveys tone by combining all of the elements listed above to create a precise impression on the reader. a. **Exposition (beginning)** introduces the time, place, setting and the main characters. b. **Complication (rising action**) unfolds the problems and struggles that would be encountered by the main characters leading to the crisis. c. **Climax (result of the crisis**) part where the problem or the conflict is the highest peak of interest; the highest point of the story for the reader, frequently, is the highest moment of interest and greatest emotion; also known as the crisis or the point of no return. d. **Denouement** is the untying of the entangled knots, or the part that shows a conflict or a problem is solved, leading to its downwards movement or end. e. **Resolution (end**) contains the last statements about the story. **Qualities of the Plot** a. **Exciting** -- It should be more exciting than the everyday reality that surrounds us. b. **Good Structure** -- The episodes must be arranged effectively, but the most important element of plot structure is tying all the incidents together, so that one leads naturally to another. **C. LITERARY CRITICAL THEORY: INTERPRETIVE STRATEGIES** **Historicism** considers the literary work in light of "what really Happened" during the period reflected in that work. Historicism also "[finds significance in the ways a particular work resembles or differs from other works of its period and/or genre,"] **The forms of poetry are the following:** **[Dramatic Poetry]:-** Tragedy Comedy Melodrama Interlude Farce Allegory Historical Play Marque Saunele ***[Lyric Poetry]*:** Ode Song Sonnet Elegy Rondeau **[Narrative ]** Epic [ ] Citrary Epic [ ] Ballad [ ] Classical tic Idyll Metrical **FORMS OF POETRY** **DraMatic Poetry** is a drama written is verse telling a story usually of human con-ts and emotions by means of dialogues and actions. The story is intended to be ken and acted on the stage. **Kinds of dramatic poetry are the following:** **Tragedy** is a form of drama in which the leading characters are drawn into a di-Hemma by social and psychological forces that finally drag the story to a sad ending. **Comedy** is a form of drama in which the leading characters draw up with human follies in the light of entertaining situations and eventualities that finally lead the story to a happy ending. **Tragicomedy i**s a form of drama in which/tragic and comic scenes are intermingled. The leading characters are usually drawn into situations suggestive of a sad out-come but in the end the social forces employed therein would finally bring out a happy ending. **Melodrama** is a form of drama in which the emotions displayed are violent and extravagantly sentimental. Its plot is made up of sensational incidents character-ized by highly emotional manners or exaggerated language of important characters. **Interlud**e is a separate episode, usually light or humorous which is inserted be-tween the acts or parts of a longer performance. The story may either be allegorical or farcical in nature. **Farce** is a form of drama employing ludicrous situations which tend to produce exaggerated effects in an absurd way. This is aptly displayed by means of ridiculous gesture. **Allegory** is considered as a form of poetry if written in verse. It tells a story in which a moral principle or abstract truth is presented by means of fictional charac-ters or events. Lyric Poetry is a form of poetry thru which the poet expresses his personal thoughts and inner feelings in verse usually in the form of couplets, triplets or quatrains. A lyric poem is usually short. **The kinds of lyric poetry are:** **Poem** is generally a composition in verse, characterized by the imaginative treat-ment or experience and by concise language that is more vivid and intense than an ordinary composition in prose. **Ode is** a lyric poem with rhyme and rhythm, often in the form of an elaborate address that is usually characterized by loftiness of tone, feeling, and style. **Song is** a short lyric poem expressing personal feelings and inner thoughts usually intended to be sung **Sonnet** is a short lyric poem of 14 iambic pentameter lines. **Elegy i**s a lyric meditative poem written in honor of the dead. **Rondeau or rondel** is a form of verse that originated in France. It consists of 13 or 14 lines, in two stanzas, the first two lines being repeated as a refrain, in the seventh and eighth lines, and again in the thirteenth and fourteenth lines. **Prologue is** an introduction usually written in verse, spoken or sung before a play or opera. It is a prefatory statement to a poem, a discourse or performance. **Free verse** is usually a lyric poem in which ryhme and rhythm requirements are not strictly observed. **Narrative Poetry** is a story written in verse, in other words, it is a form of poetry that tells a story. **The kinds of narrative poetry are:** **1, Epic** is a long formal narrative poem in dignified style, typically having as its subject heroic exploits and deeds, heroic achievements or grandiose events. **2/Ballad** is a narrative poem of popular origin written in short stanzas, usually with a refrain. It is a sentimental song whose melody is usually repeated for each stanza. A singer of ballads is called a balladeer. **3. Idyll** is a short poem depicting simple scenes of pastoral, domestic or country life. 4**. Metrical tale is** a narrative poem in which recognized metrical patterns are observed. It must conform with the requirements of rhyme and rhythm. The common meters in versification are the following: **Monometer** is a line of verse consisting of one foot. **Dimeter** is a line of verse consisting of two feet. **Trimeter is** a line of verse which consists of three feet. T**etrameter** is a line of verse which consists of four feet. **Pentameter** is a line of verse composed of five feet. **Hexameter** is a line of verse composed of six feet **Heptameter** is a line of verse composed of seven feet. **Octameter** is a line of verse containing eight feet. **Nonameter** is a line of verse containing nine feet, **Decameter** is a line of verse which contains ten feet. A unit of metrical pattern in a line of verse is **called foot.** The number of feet in a line of verse to meet the required number of syllables for a metrical pattern is also Known as meter. Code: accented (1); unaccented (\~). The common forms of metrical patterns are the following: **Lamb or iambus**. An iambic foot consists of two syllables, one unaccented and the other accented. Example: The bud/is green / and gold. 2**.. Trochee.** A trochaic foot consists of two syllables, one syllable, one accented followed by the unaccented. It is the opposite of an iambic foot. Example: Now the / sun has/risen. **Anapest.** An anapestic foot consists of three syllables, two unaccented followed by the accented. Example: Then the boy / and the girl/were alone **Dactyl A** dactylic foot consists of three syllables, one accented followed by two unaccented. It is an opposite of the anapestic foot Example. Now on this / part of the/world iss is set **Pyrrhic.** A pyrrhic foot consists of two unaccented syllables. Example: Psst... psst/ bye bye. **spondee.** A spondaic foot consists of two accented syllables. It is the opposite of a pyrrhic foot. Example: Come one / come all, / though old / be young **Scansion,** as illustrated above, is the process of determining the metrical pat-terns of the verses in a poem. A poem written without strict adherence to the require-ments of rhyme and rhythm is called a free verse **A sonnet is a lyric poem of 14 iambic pentameter lines.** Sonnets are of two kinds: **Shakespearean** or English sonnet with the rhyme scheme as follows: ababcdcd efefgg. **Petrarchan or Italian** sonnet with rhyme scheme as follows: abbaabba cdcdcd (or cdecde) **A sonnet has two parts:** **Octave embraces** the poet's problems, inquiries or proposals. **Sestet presents** the poet's resolutions, judgments or conclusions. Example of a Shakespearean or English Sonnet: Shakespeare's Sonnet No. 29 When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state, And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, Desiring this man's art and that man's scope, With what I most enjoy contented least, Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising. Haply I think of thee, and then my state, Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate, For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings. **Octave.** The poet expresses his disappointment over his being less fortunate. He cries over such frustration enviably wishing to be like him who must have more material things in life, **Sestet** If given, however, the chance to live and to love and to be loved as free as the lark that could freely sing, move, and fly even to heaven's height, the poet would then refuse to exchange his status with those who live like kings. Example of the Petrarchan or Italian Sonnet This is one of the 44 sonnets written by Elizabeth Barret Browning during that span of period when she was being courted by Robert Browning. The latter came to know only about the existence of these sonnets after their mar-riage. Having noted the rarity of such fineness in the sonnets, Robert initiated its publication and entitled it as the "Sonnets From The Portuguese", an epithet he ac-corded to his wife, Elizabeth, who had manifested her great admiration for Camoens, the great epic poet of Portugal. **OTHER LITERARY FORMS** The following forms of literature may either be in prose or in poetry: Aphorism Adage Apothegm Dedication Epigram Preface Epilogue Prologue Epitaph Proverb Maxim Saying Monologue Soliloquy **A VERSE** is a single line of poetry. A group of closely related verses is called a **STANZA.** A stanza of two rhyming lines is a **COUPLE**T; a stanza of three rhyming lines**. A TRIPLET**; a stanza of four lines is **a QUATRAIN**. A quatrain's lines may or may not be rhyming together. **Rhyme r**efers to the regular recurrence or occurrence of similar sounds at the end of the lines of verses. Rhythm which may otherwise be called meter, refers to the measured arrangement of syllables according to stress **Play**. Also called drama, it is written to be performed on stage. **Diary.** It is the daily record of events and experiences in the author's life and tends to reveal and reflect the private per-sonality of the writer. **POETRY** **Poetry is** divided into three types: narrative, lyric, and dramatic. Narrative Poetry is poetry that tells a story. **Epic**. This is an extended narrative of heroic adven-tures and exploits usually under supernatural control. **Ballad.** This is the shortest and simplest narrative poem. It used to be a song accompanying a dance. Examples are war ballads, love ballads, historical ballads, or mythi-cal ballads. **Lyric Poetry** is any type of poetry that expresses the feelings and emotions of the writer. Originally, it refers to that kind of poetry intended to be sung to the accompani-ment of a lyre. **Folk songs (awiting-bayan).** These are short poems intended to be sung. Different kinds of folk songs include love folk songs, work and activity songs, religious folk songs, etc. More detailed discussion is found on pages 127-138. **Sonnet.** It is a lyric poem of fourteen iambic pentam-eter line with a formal rhyme scheme or pattern. There are two types: the English or Shakespearean sonnet and the Italian or Petrarchan sonnet. The English or Shakespearean sonnet (invented by the English poet Surrey) is divided into three quatrains and a conclud-ing couplet, riming abab cdcd efef gg; the Italian **Sonnet or Petrarchan sonnet** is divided usually between eight lines called the octet (octave) using two rimes ar-ranged abbaabba and six lines called the sestet, using any arramgement of either two or three rimes: cdcdcd and cdecde are common patterns. (See pages 453-454) 1. **Ode.** It is the most majestic type of lyric poetry, exalted in tone and and expresses lofty praise for some person, place object, or event. 2. **Psalm. This** is a song praising God or the Virgin Mary and contains a philosophy of life. 3. **Elegy.** This is a poem expressing lamentation or mourn-ing for the dead or loss of a loved one. 1. **Song (awit).** It has a measure of twelve syllables or dodecasyllabic lines. An example of the awit is Florante at Laura by Francisco Balagtas. Excerpts are found in the book on pages 146-151. 2. **Corrido (kurrido).** It has a measure of eight syllables or octosyllabic lines and often recited to a martial beat. An example of corrido is Ibong Adarna. Excerpts are found in the book on pages 152-153. **C. Dramatic Poetry is meant to be performed on stage.** **Comedy.** The word comedy comes from the Greek term komos meaning festivity or revelry. This type is usually light and written to amuse or entertain; it in-volves a human conflict that ends happily. **Tragedy.** It involves the main character struggling mightily against some dynamic forces; it has a sad end-ing with the protagonist meeting death or ruin. **Melodrama.** Also called soap opera, it consists of Highly emotive or emotion-packed stories with a predictable happy ending. This is related to tragedy just as farce is to comedy. This kind of play generally has the following characteristics: a) the characters are either extremely good or extremely bad; b) the ending is happy (the villain is defeated, the hero marries the heroine, etc); c) a strong appeal is made to the the audience's emotions, although in a rather shallow way: i.e., the audience may tend to like or dislike the various characters strongly, though these characters, may not be very realistic. (Recall the many melodramas that we watch on television nowadays) **4. Farce or sainete.** This is an exaggerated comedy. It is Built around a ludicrous situation or a situation too ridicu-lous to be true, with a predictably happy ending. Some-times the characters seem to be caricatures and the mo-tives undignified and absurd. **TYPES OF POETRY** 1. Narrative Poetry a. Epic a long narrative poem of the largest proportions. A tale centering about a hero concerning the beginning, continuance, and the end of events of great significance -- war, conquest, strife among men who are in such a position that their struggles take on tribal or national significance. Example: BIAG-Ni-Lam-Ang by Pedro Bukaneg Metrical Romance -- a narrative poem that tells a story of adventure, love and chivalry. The typical hero is a knight on a quest. Metrical Tale a narrative poem consisting usually of a single series of connective events that are simple idylls or home tales, love tales, tales of the supernatural or tales written for a strong moral purpose in verse form. Ballad -- the simplest type of narrative poetry. It is a short narrative poem telling a single incident in simple meter and stanzas. It is intended to be sung. **Popular Ballad** A **ballad** of wide workmanship telling some simple incidents of adventure, cruelty, passion, or superstition, an incident that shows the primary instincts of man influenced by the restraint of modern civilization. **Modern or Artistic --** created by a poet imitation of the folk ballad, makes use (sometimes with considerable freedom) of many of its devices and conventions. **Metrical Allegory** -- an extended narrative that carries a second meaning along with the surface story. Things and actions are symbolic. 2. Lyric Poetry **Ode**-a lyric poem of some length serious in subject and dignified in style. It is the most majestic of the lyric poems. It is written in a spirit of praise of some persons or things. Example: Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" **Elegy** -- a poem written on the death of a friend of the poet. The ostensible purpose is to praise the friend, but the death prompts the writer to ask, "If death can intervene, so cruelly in life, what is the point of living?" By the end of the poem, however, we can expect that poet will have come to terms with his grief. Example: The Lover's Death by Ricardo Demetillo **Song --** a lyric poem in a regular metrical pattern set to music. These have twelve syllables (dodecasyllabic) and slowly sung to the accompaniment of a guitar or banduria. Example: Florante at Laura by Franciso Balagtas **Corridos (kuridos**) -- these have measures of eight syllables (octosyllabic) and recited to a material beat. Example: Ibong Adarna by Jose Dela Cruz (Huseng Sisiw) **Sonnet** -- a lyric poem containing fourteen iambic lines, and a complicated rhyme. Example: Santang Abad by Alfonso P. Santos Lesson 1 **LITERARY GENRES** POETRY **Narrative poetry** tells a story in richly imaginative and rhythmical language. **Epic** is a long narrative poem divided into distinct parts and episodes bound together by a common relationship to some great hero, action and time. **[2 kinds of epic]** a\. f**olk** or popular epic it does not have a known author but evolved gradually from the people's ancient tradition just like Beowolf and Nibelungenlaid. a.2. **Literary epics** have distinct authorship just like Paradise Lost by John Milton. a.3. **Classical epic** has standard conventions such as an underlying theme of human problem, the hero embodying national, cultural, or religious ideals, the style being lofty and earnest, and beginning in medias res etc. **Metrical Romance** is a long, rambling love story in in verse. Ideals of chivalry, romantic love, and religious element predominate in this type of literature most characteristic of the middle ages, "when the knighthood was in the flower" **Balad** is a short narrative poem intended to be sung. Types can either be folk or literary as in the epic. **Metrical Tale** is a poetry what the short story is to prose. It deals with any emotion or phrase of life and its story is told in a simple, straightforward, and realistic matter. II\. Lyric Poetry expresses personal thoughts and feelings. **Ode an** extended poem usually complicated in meter and stanza forms and always deal with a serious theme such as immortality **Elegy** is generally a poem of a subjective and meditative nature. It is a poem that is strictly distinguished by its subject-death. It contains the authors personal grief for a loved one or a loss affecting the public as a whole or it may simply the meditation on death such as Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a country Churchyard" he song is a short lyric poem intended to be sung: it has that particulary melodious quality required by the singing voice. 1. **Secula**r songs have nonreligious themes and examples are the prothalamiums and epithelamiums (marriage songs) 2. **Sacred** songs are songs in praise of god such as oratorios and cantatas. A. **Simple lyric is** any short poem where the verse is especially musical or where there is a marked subjective or emotional tone. B. **Sonnet** is a lyric poem distinguished by its exact form- 14 iambic pentameter lines. It produces a single emotional effect. The lines are arranged in two waves of thought, the rising in the octave and the falling in the sestet. 1. **Italian sonnet** contains an octave where the theme, problem, hope or desire is presented and a sestet where a resolution or conclusion is reached. Its rimes are abba-abba-cdecde 2. S**hakespearian** (English) sonnet, iambic pentameter-bab-cdcd-efef-gg. Its tpical form, the sonnet, presents and develops its theme in the first here quatrains and states a conclusion in the couplet, or the last two lines. However, there are some variance of these. A. **Vers de societe** is light verse or occasional and complementary verse which deals in a witty and polished fashion with subjects that on the surface at least are not very serious. **HELPS IN LEARNING POETRY** The Ornaments of Poetry: 1. **Line or Verse**: a single line of poetry 2. Stanza: a group of verses forming a single unit. 3. Rhythm: the arrangement of words so that the accented syllables come at regular intervals. 4. Meter: the regular recurrence of accented and unaccented syllables. 5. Feet: groups of regularly recurring accented and unaccented syllables. 6. Rhyme: similarily of sound, usually at the end of lines. It is a matter of pronunciation, not of spelling. **7 Scansion: dividing a verse into its feet.** **Assonance:** vowel rhyme or a similarity of vowel sounds. The Groves of Blarney, they look so charming. And snowy summits old in story. **Alliteration**: repetition of a sound at or near the beginning of words i. e. **Onomatopoeia:** fitting the sound to the meaning. i. e. buzz, roar, howl, splash, cackle, whistle, whizz, rumble **Free verse:** poetry which does not follow a regular pattern of rhythm **Sonnet:** a poem of fourteen iambic pentameter lines. **FIGURES of Speech:** **Figures of speech:** intentional deviations from the usual forms of expression to make the ideas concrete, vivid, beautiful, forceful or amusing. **Simile:** a figure of speech in which unlike objects are compared using the words like and as. **Metaphor:** a comparison of unlike objects without the use of as or like. E. He wolfed down his breakfast. **Personification**: a kind of metaphor which consists of giving personal attributes to inanimate objects or abstract ideas. **Apostrophe**: an address to the absent as if present or the inanimate as if human. Milton! Thou shouldst be living at this hour: England had need of thee- Wordsworth. **Metonymy**: a figure of speech in which one word is put for another which it suggests. Please address the chair (chairman). We are reading George Eliot (her novels). He is an Ayala (a rich man). There is death (poison) in the cup. **Antithesis:** a contrast of words or ideas. It makes ideas more emphatic and is most effective if the phrasing of the contrasted ideas is parallel. His body is active, but his mind is sluggish. **Hyperbole:** an exaggeration not intended to deceive. Some humorists use this freely for making people laugh. At the party, I drank buckets of punch. The movie bored me to death **Irony:** this involves a contrast of what is expected and what actually happens. It was very kind of you to remind me of my humiliation-when said in a tone that shows that the other person has been very unkind instead of very kind. Kinds of irony: **Irony of statement:** (as mentioned above) **Understatement:** saying much less than what is meant To an overdressed woman -- I think she needs more dressing up. **Paradox:** saying something apparently untrue but ( may prove to, have some sense or truth Example: We are our own parents. **irony of situation**: a reverse development of what was planned or expected. A girl spurns her hometown sweetheart only to find untold suffering in a marriage with foreigner. **Dramatic irony:** happens when an actor is not aware of facts and says something which the audience or some other actors see otherwise. i.e. Julius Ceasar asks, "Are we all ready?" (just as the conspirators gather around him ready to assassinate him). **Synecdoche**: a figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole. i.e. "marching feet" may signify army. **a synecdoche is often confused with themetonymy** **ELEMENTS OF POETRY** **Sense --** is revealed through the meaning of words, images and symbols. **Diction** -- denotative and connotative meanings/symbols. Images and sense impression -- sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, motion, and emotion. Figure of speech simile, metaphor, personification, apostrophe, metonymy, synecdoche, hyperbole, irony, allusion, antithesis, paradox, litotes, oxymoron, onomatopoeia. **Sound-**is the result of a combination of elements. Tone color alliteration, assonance, consonance, rhyme, repetition, anaphora. **Rhythm** -- ordered recurrent alteration of strong and weak elements in the flow of the sound and silence: duple, triple, running or common rhyme. **Meter** -- stress, duration, or number of syllables per line, fixed metrical pattern, or a verse form: quantitative, syllabic, accentual and accentual syllabic. **rhyme scheme** -- formal arrangement of rhymes in stanza or the whole poem. **Structure** -- refers to (1) arrangement of words, and lines to fit together, and (2) the organization of the parts to form a whole. **a.Word order** -- natural and unnatural arrangement of words **b.Ellipsis** -- omitting some words for economy and effect **c.Punctuation** -- abundance or lack of punctuation marks **d.Shape** contextual and visual designs: jumps, omission of spaces, capitalization, lower case. A **METAPHOR i**s a comparison of unlike things or particulars without using as, like or as if. Obel is a walking calculator. Maikan was a bullet during the race. Magi is a walking encyclopedia. Intan has a heart of gold. Paolo was a lion in defense of his friends. Dezjohn is the jewel of the family. Procrastination is the thief of chance. Industry is a diamond of life. He wolfed down his breakfast. My life is an open book for everybody. No man is an island. The motor boat plows the sea HI**. IRONY** expresses the opposite of what is said. It is a couted sarcasm. The intended meaning of the word is the direct opposite of its usual essence. Examples: 1. It was very kind of you to remind me of my failures. 2. Crying like a baby speaks well of a real McCoy. 3. You've just retired. You are too young to start a new job 4. Perhaps, your advantage over other applicants is the fact that you still do not have a civil service eligibility. 5. It was polite of you to have answered back your parents. 6. Your score in the examination was low, You must have reviewed well for that test. 7. When he left his aging parents, Conrad gave a fine example of his kindness. 8. 8 In giving a good deal of examples violative of celibacy, Fr. Difuntorum was excommunicated. 9. If you want to win the game, do not play as a team. 3. We are very sad for the good showing you made in the unified test. We made it second to the lowest class rate. 4. We are being honored for being the last in the recently concluded provincial athletic meet. 5. Our newsletter was adjudged the school publication of the year, for it was laden with so many mistakes. **IV.APOSTROPHE** is a figure of speech in which one addresses the absent as if present or that in which one addresses the dead as if alive. Examples: Dr. Jose Rizal, come and help the government leaders put in place the economy of the country today! Christmas, will you be generous enough to bring about the fulfillment of the children's dreams? "Hail! Alma Mater, dear, to thee we, thy children, sing" My beloved, arise from the dungeon and be with me! Oh! Moon, the grace of my life, bestow upon the unfortunate thy innate beauty. **V PERSONIFICATION** gives human characteristics and capabilities to things which are inanimate or non-human. Examples: 1. The hungry flames ate all the houses of wooden materials. 2. The perspiring sun keeps on beating the workers in the fields. 3. As the gentle breeze strikes, the leaves send greetings to one another. 4. The big waves galloped to the seashore. They splashed and washed away the shells. 5. Typhoon "Saling" wrestled down and uprooted many trees within the refor-ested area. 6. Last summer, the weak and thirsty plants in our farm died a natural death. - The flash flood swallowed all the squatters' huts along the river bank. 7. The tornado ransacked and devoured all houses of light materials in the area. 8. The bamboos in the field helplessly knelt down and succumbed to the will of typhoon 'Aguida'. 9. The angry flames in that conflagration charred the victims beyond recogni-tion. VL**HYPERBOLE** is an overstatement or an exaggeration which is solely intended to emphasize and not to mislead. Examples: 1. I could not join today; for, I have a thousand things to do. 2. The earthquake on July 16, 1990, pulverized a building in Cabanatuan City into mere debris. 3. I will offer you a truckload of roses on your birthday. 4. I crossed seven rivers and mountains just to see you. 5. Her desire to see you was bigger than herself. 6. When Mary accepted my proposal to marry her, I jumped for joy a thou-sand times. 7. We extend our arms a mile out of our sleeves to accommodate you and your family. 8. My love for you is deeper than the sea that flows forever. 9. As I scampered for safety, I knowingly carried my feet to the limbo of uncertainty. 10. 10-1 almost died laughing at his mistake. ILLUSTRATION: I could not join you today; for I have a thousand things to do. Explanation: "I have a thousand things to do" means that I am very busy. "A thousand things to do" does not literally signify 1000 things to do. Figura-tively, the phrase emphatically implies that the person making the assertion is so busy that he has no material time to spend for other functions. **VII. PARADOX** expresses an idea that's seemingly absurd or somewhat contradic-tory in essence but factually it is true and operationally logical. Examples: 1. There is nothing more constant than change. 2. Common sense is sometimes the most common. 3. The truly important things in life are those which seem to be useless. 4. What I receive is lost: what I give is mine forever. 5. Those who die young would certainly not become old. 6. If you have nothing to do, do not do it here. 7 To die is to rest. 11. A problem is better remembered by forgetting it. 12. It is only in death where man can hope to live again. 13. It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. ILLUSTRATION: There is nothing more constant than change. Explanation: Constant means continually recurring while change is the natural process of transformation that also recurs continually; hence, it could logically be deducted that change is also constant. (It is apparently absurd but it is true.) **VIII. ALLUSION** makes a clear-cut attribution or direct reference that someone has the characteristics or quality of the person named or thing mentioned. Examples: 1. Paolo is the Jaworski of Cabanatuan City. 2. I am pleased to present to you. Ma. Gabriela Isabel, the Jolina Magdangal of the class. 3. Please, welcome Maikan, the modern Bin Laden of Asia. 4. I take pleasure to acknowledge the presence of Intan, the living Hercules of the Philippines. 7. We feel privileged to announce the arrival of Dez John, the Ferdinand Marcos of the current generation. 8. With Rosabel, the Venus of Nueva Ecija, our delegation to the forthcom-ing Search for Miss Asia will bring home the bacon. 9. I believe one of the contestants in the University singing contest could be the Regine Velasquez of the future. 10. Here comes Ichabod Crane. 11. Gloria is the Pandora of the administration. 12. Wilfredo, a budding playwright, will in due time become the Shakespeare of the modern times. ILLUSTRATION: Paolo is the Jaworski of the Nueva Ecija Patriots. Explanation: The sentence signifies that Paolo possesses skills and talents at par with that of Jaworski in basketball where the latter distinctly excelled during his younger days with the PBA. It simply attributes that Paolo's characteristics and agility in basketball approximate that Robert Jaworski as a player. IX\. LITOTES asserts or stresses the negotiation of its opposite. Examples: 1. The President's presence at the meeting was of no little importance to the formation of a new political party. 2. What took for lunch yesterday was not a bad meal for twenty pesos. 3. The social function could not be made more fitting than with the presence of the Mayor as the Guest of Honor and Speaker. 4. The Rosary is by no means a symbol of one's unfading faith in God. 5. The newspaper one-page advertisement was no small move and break for the development of goodwill and public confidence in the business. ILLUSTRATION: The President's presence at the meeting was of no little importance to the formation of a new political party. Explanation: The assertion that the presence of the President at the meeting was very important was made more emphatic by the negation of the phrase "of no little importance" which simply means that the President's presence at the meeting was of great importance to the formation of a new political party. **ΜΕΤΟΝΥYMY OR SYNECDOCHE** uses a word as a substitute of another Word. It is used to describe an object, an idea or an identity of a person with the use of other terms closely denoting the same. **Examples:,** I saved the crown. (King or Queen) I enjoy the theater. (movie or motion picture) Please, address the chair. (chairman) We enjoy reading Shakespeare. (books of Shakespeare) There is death in the cup. (poison) Please, report to the Office at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. (Principal, Dean or Presi-dent) I'm determined to bring her to the altar. (church for marriage) The table is now open for the nomination of candidates for President of our Club. (the process of making entries into a list of candidates) She is an Ayala. (wealthy) -The pen is mightier than the sword. (pen represents writings, works like books and articles in print media; sword represents the armed forces) She marked her 18^th^ summer. (year) You have to respect gray hairs. (age) I am committed to serve you from the cradle to the grave. (cradle represents childhood; grave signifies death) You must learn to earn your bread by the sweat of your brow. (bread implies means of livelihood; sweat pertains to work or labor.) All hands must be mobilized to defend the country from foreign invasion. (men) She has a very warm heart. (heartily accomodating) Whenever you come across of a difficult word, do not hesitate to consult Mr. Webster. (the dictionary) When he comes home, my son finds a guitar a source of comfort. (playing music with a guitar) Two heads are better than one. (persons) To find the solution to the problem, you have to put your heads together. (work as a team) **XI. ANTITHESIS** contrasts words and ideas in a balanced sentence. It is effective if the phrasing of the contrasted ideas is parallel. It is commonly expressed in com-pound sentences. Examples: 1.It's better to serve in heaven than to reign in hell; for hell is the camp of sinners. His body is active, but his mind is sluggish. To err is human; to forgive, divine. The pen makes man hearty; the gun makes man risky. Man is the lion that roars; woman is the bird that sings. "Youth is blunder; manhood, a struggle; and old age, a regret...(Disraeli) "Youth is impulsive; age is prudent and tempered." (Nida) "In love, age does not matter; for love is blind." Don't buy all that you want; buy only what you need. You have to eat in order to live, not live in order to eat. **XII.OXYMORON** is a special kind of paradox. It is a figure of speech in which two or more contradictory words are joined for emphasis Examples: She could hardly bear the sweet sadness of bidding farewell. It is impossible to defeat an ignorant by argument (McAdoo) The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it. (Carnegie) The most beautiful things in the world are the most useless (Ruskin) Critics are the people who failed in the art of critiquing. Education is what is left after everything has been forgotten. A promise, when not given, could not be broken. No man is more cheated than the cheater. Mercy to someone may be cruelty to somebody. To be cruel is to be kind with her. ILLUSTRATION: She could hardly bear the sweet sadness of bidding farewell. **PARADOX and OXYMORON are almost synonymous. Both are Paradoxic**al in form and in substance; for oxymoron is a special kind of para-dox. The contradiction presented in a paradox is seemingly absurd, but it is true; the contradiction presented in an oxymoron appears equally absurd, but it is apparently logical. The contradictory words or phrases are joined pur-posely for emphasis. **ΧΙΙΙ. ΟΝΟΜΑΤΟPOEIA** makes use of words whose sounds closely resemble the ob-ject or action denoted. Examples: "Cannon to right of them; cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them, volleyed and thundered." The world trembled, the buildings crumbled. The people cried and shouted for help. Men, women, and children trapped in crushed walls moaned to death. This is the face of the killer eathquake on July 16, 1990. **LITERARY DEVICES IN POETRY** **Figures of Speech** Personification -- gives human traits to inanimate objects or ideas. Example: The bullet said to the heart: From now on we shall never part (Lines from Communion by Gerson M. Mallillin) Apostrophe -- is a direct address to someone absent, dead, or inanimate. Example: Little sampaguita With the wandering eye Did a tiny fairy Drop you where you lie? (Lines from The Sampaguita by Natividad Marquez) Metonymy -- substitutes a word that closely relates to a person or a thing. Examples: 1. The pen is mightier than the sword. 1. He lives through the bottle 2. I have read all of Shakespeare. 3. By the sweat of our brow, you will earn your food. Litotes -- makes a deliberate understatement used to affirm by negating its opposite. Example: War is not healthy for children And other living things Oxymoron -- puts together in one statement two contradictory terms. Examples: 1. Resident -- alien 2. Silent scream 3. Living dead 4. Clearly misunderstood 4. Butt head **Onomatopoeia** the formation or use of words which imitate sounds, but the term is generally expanded to refer to any word whose sound is suggestive of its meaning whether by imitation or through cultural inference. Examples: **Cadence**-refers to the natural rise and fall of the voice. **Chiasmus** a figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of two parallel clauses is reversed in the second. It may repeat the same words. For example: "Pleasure's a sin and sometimes sin's a pleasure-Byron. **Connotations** all the meanings, associations, or emotions that a word Suggests. **Consonance** the repetition of final consonant sounds after different vowel sounds. For example; pitter-patter, pish-posh, cling-clang **Couplet-two** consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme. A couplet that presents a completed thought is called closed couplet. For example: For thy sweet love remebere'd such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with king's. **Sonnet XXIX William Shakespeare** 1. **Dissonance** -- a harsh, discordant combination of sounds. It is the opposite of euphony. Dissonance is created by the repetition of harsh consonant sounds. It is also known as cacophony. 2. **Denotation** -- the literal dictionary definition of a word. 3. **Dramatic irony** -- occurs when readers know more about a situation in a story than the characters do. 4. **Dramatic monologue** a poem in which a character addresses one or more listeners who remain silent or whose replies are not revealed. The occasion is usually a critical one in the speaker's life. 5. **Elegy** a poem mourns the death of a person or laments something lost. Elegies may lament the passing of life or beauty, or may be on the nature of death. A type of lyric, an elegy is usually formal in language and structure, and solemn or even melancholic in tone. 6. **Epica long** narrative poem that relates the great deeds of a larger-than-life hero who embodies the values of a particular society. Most epics include elements of myth, legend, folklore, and history. Their tone is serious and their language grand. For example: Paradise Lost 7. **Epigram**-is a brief, clever, and usually memorable statement. 8. E**piphany** is a moment of sudden insight or revelation that a character experiences. 9. **Epitaphan** inscription on a tombstone, or a commemorative poem written as if for that purpose. **Welcame to the World of Literature** **Epithet** is an adjective or other descriptive phrase that is regularly used to characterize a person. It is a phrase that describes one person, place or thing. **Figure of Speech** a word thing in terms of another and is not meant to be understood on a literal level. It always involves some sort of imaginative comparison between seemingly unlike things. **Free verse** I -- is a poetry that has no regular meter or rhyme scheme. Free verse usually relies instead on the natural rhythms of ordinary speech. Free verse may use alliteration, internal rhyme, onomatopoeia and other musical devices to achieve their effects. **Hyperbole** a figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion or create a comic effect. For example; "And fired the shot heard 'round the world. The Concord Hymn- Ralph Waldo Emerson. **Iambic pentameter --** a line of poetry made up of five iambs. Lyric poetry that focuses on expressing emotions or thoughts, rather than on telling a story. Most lyrics are short, and usually imply rather than directly state a single strong emotion. Metaphor a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two seemingly unlike things without using the connective words "like, as, than, or resembles." For example; Romeo exclaims over Juliet, "But soft what light though yonder window breaks. It is the east and Juliet is the sun" Romeo and Juliet- Shakespeare. An extended metaphor is a metaphor that developed over several lines of writing or even through the entire poem. A dead metaphor is a metaphor that has become so common that it was already unnoticeable that it is a figure of speech. A mixed metaphor is the inconsistent mixture of two or more metaphors. **Mete**r a generally regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry. **Metonymy** a figure of speech in which something closely related to a thing or suggested by it is substituted for the thing itself as in calling the judiciary the "bench", the king "the crown." **Octave** an eight-line stanza or poem, or the first eight lines of an Italian **Odea complex,** generally long lyric poem on a serious subject. a the use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning. For example; "Mildred rose and began to move about the room. Bang! Smash! Wallop! Bing Bong Boom." Fahrenheit 451 -- Ray Bradbury **Oxymoron** a figure of speech that combines apparently contradictory or incongruous ideas. "Bitter sweet," "cruel kindness," are examples of oxymoron. **Personification** -- a kind of metaphor in which a nonhuman thing or quality is talked about as if it were human. For example: I think that I shall never see A poem as lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth's sweet flowing breast; trees Joyce Kilmer **Rhyme** scheme is a pattern of rhyme lines indicated by giving each new rhyme a new letter of the alphabet. For example: Simile a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two seemingly unlike things by using a connective word such as like, as, than or resembles. For example: Charles Dickens", "There was a steamy mist in all the hollows, and it had roared in its forlornness up the hill, like any evil spirit" **Soliloquy** -- a long speech in which a character who is usually alone on stage expresses his or her private thoughts or feelings. For example, "To be or not to be, that is the question." Shakespeare **Sonnet is** a fourteen-line lyric poem, usually written in iambic pentameter that has one of several rhyme schemes. The Italian sonnet is the oldest sonnet and also known as the Petrarchan sonnet as popularized by Francesco Petrarcha. The Petrarchan sonnet is divided into an octave (eight lines). It usually presents a problem, poses a question, or expresses an idea. These are resolved, answered, or driven home by the sestet (six- lines). **The Shakespearean sonnet or English sonnet** is popularized by William Shakespeare. It has three four-line units or quatrains, followed by a concluding two-line unit or couplet. The three quatrains often express related ideas or examples, while the couplet sums up the poet conclusion or message. **The Spenserian sonnet** was developed by Edmund Spenser. It is similar to the Shakespearean sonnet having a quatrain and a couplet. The first eight lines are in iambic pentameter, and the ninth line is an alexandrine- lines of iambic hexameter. **Stanza a group** of consecutive lines in a poem that form a single unit. It is similar to the paragraph in a prose that often expresses a unit or thought. Stanza is an Italian word for "stopping place". **Song is** a short lyric poem with a particular melodious characteristic and intended to be sung. It could be sacred or religious, and secular. **Synecdoche** a figure of speech in which a part of a thing stands for the whole, as in "lend a hand". **Tone** is the writer's attitude toward his or her subject. A writer's tone may be respectful, angry, amused, and the likes. It can be communicated through word connotations, choice of details, and direct statements of a writer's position. Prose t**he essay is** a short literary composition in prose dealing with a single matter usually from a personal point of view. Thus, it is revelatory of the author's taste, opinions, prejudices, moods, and, in general, his personality. Essays may either be formal or informal but there are more specific subdivisions namely: **Reflective essays** are serious and dignified and usually employ aphorisms, i.e., wisdom couched in memorable sentences. **Narrative or story** essay makes use of an incident to illustrate an idea or a theme. **Descriptive essay** has some narrative elements as well as color, vividness, and realistic portrayals. **Biographical essay** sketches life or presents char-acter analysis. **Nature essay** attempts to picture the world of God's creation and may do so in a graphic, pictorial vein or a more thoughtful, philosophical manner. **Critical essay** includes biographical criticism, lite-rary criticism, and book reviews. It is a record of an analytical mind weighing the virtues and faults of a literary piece, for instance, which it fully understands. **Periodical essays** are generally published in period-icals, hence, they are also called journalistic. **Didactic essays** enforce a moral and, therefore, the tone is serious and didactic (instructive). **THE ESSAY** The essay is a brief, expository prose composition, usually devoted to reflection on life and man's ideas about human exist-ence. The word essay comes from an Anglo-French word, assayer, meaning "to try or test Essays are formal or informal. **formal essay** is a composition written in a conventionally restrained, thoughtful, and objective style. According to Genoveva Edroza-Matute, it is discussed with appropriate seriousness based on research and a thorough analysis of data on which the writer's conclusions are founded. An informal essay, with its chatty, colloquial style, its friendly air, suggests confidential talk, even confession; suggests relaxation and entertainment. It is often spoken of as the personal essay. Other than formal and informal essays, other classification includes: 1. **Narrative or story essay** (incidents or events are nar-rated to present the ideas of the writer, though the essay is expository in nature); 2. **Descriptive essay or nature essays** (about flowers, rivers, fields, mountains, and birds and other animals); 3. **Speculative essays** (theorizes or poses questions on a wide variety of subjects); 4. **Biographical essay** (an informal essay which may por-tray character or sketch a life instead of simply narrating it; it is analytical and interpretative in tone); 5. **Critical essay** (includes literary criticisms, book reviews, and other prose compositions which aim to analyze and judge); 6. **didactic essay** (it is similar to a sermon which explains, persuades and concentrates on giving valuable lesson in life); 7. **Periodical essay** (also called a journalistic essay, it ap-pears in newspapers, magazines and journals and discusses current issues). **ESSAY** An essay is a writing in prose with a focused subject. It was popularized by a French writer, Michel Montaigne. Essay comes from the word "essais" which means "to try or to attempt." **Learning the Language of an Essay** **Aphorism** A concise witty saying that expresses a principle, truth, or observation about life such as "To err is human, to forgive is divine." **Archetype** recurrent designs, patterns of action, character types, themes or images which are identifiable in a wide range of literature; for example, the "femme fatale," the female character who is found throughout literature as the one to be blame for the downfall of a significant male character. **Asyndeton** a style in which conjunctions are omitted, usually producing a fast-paced, more rapid prose. For example: "I came, I saw, I conquered" Julius Caesar. **Dictiona** writer's or speaker's choice of words. It is an essential element of a writer's style. **Style** a distinctive manner of expression. Style is expressed through the writers' diction, rhythm, imagery, etc. It includes word choice, tone, and degree of formality, figurative language, grammar structure, sentence length, organization, and others. **Paradox**-an apparent contradiction that is actually true. It may be a statement or a situation. For example; "Fight for Peace" **Parallelism** The use of similar grammatical forms or sentence patterns to express ideas of equal importance. It generally makes both written and spoken expression more concise and powerful. **Parody** the imitation of a work of literature, art, or music for amusement or instruction. It usually uses exaggeration or inappropriate subject matter with keen perception, especially of the incongruous. **Wit a** quality of speech or writing that combines verbal cleverness. **The Drama** Comes from the Greek word "**dran"** which means **to do.** Drama imitates life. Drama is not the same as play production, drama is the literary text, when performed, it is called a play. **KINDS OF THEATER** **Arena** is the theatre style of early Greeks. The actors are surrounded on all sides by the audience and they make exits and entrances though the aisles. This type of arrangement brings the audience into a special kind of intinacy. **Medieval** -- is the theatre which uses playing areas called mansions inside the churches and portable wagons wheeled about outside the churches. In some performances, the actors came into the audience, breaking the sense of distance or the illusion of separation. Their drama was integrated with their religion and both helped them express their sense of belonging to the church and the community. **Elizabeth-is** the theatre which was a wooden structure providing an enclosed space around a country open sky. The enclosed structure generated intimacy and involvement between actors and audience. Actors were in the habit of speaking directly to members of the audience, and the audience rarely kept polite silence. **Proscenium** was the stage of the nineteenth century. This type of stage distances the audience from the play, providing a clear frame behind which the performances act out their scenes. The audience is a silent observer witnessing an action, while the actors are in the world of their own, unaware of the audience's presence. **Theatre of Cruelty --** was developed in France. This type of theatre closes the gap between the actor and audiences. Its purpose was to confront the members of the audience individually to make them feel uncomfortable and force them to deal with the primary issues of the drama itself. **TYPES OF DRAMA** **Tragedy** -- a serious drama in which the protagonist, traditionally of noble position, suffers a series of unhappy events that lead to a catastrophe such as death or spiritual breakdown. **Comedy** a type of drama intended to interest and amuse the audience rather than to make them deeply concerned about the events that happen. The characters experience difficulties, but the always overcome their ill fortune and find happiness in the end. **Comedy of Humors or Old Comedy** -- resembles farce and often pokes fun at individuals who think of themselves as very important. The characters' disposition are exaggerated and stereotyped. **Comedy of Manners or New Comedy** -- is realistic and satirical is concerned with the manners and conventions of high society. **Tragicomedy** -- a play that does not adhere strictly to the structure of tragedy. This is usually a serious play that also has some of the qualities of comedy. It may be a commentary on the society's raucous behaviour that draws laughs and ends happily, yet there is a sense of discomfort in the sardonic humor; thus, leaving the audience wondering how they can laugh at something that is ultimately frightening. An example is the theatre of the absurd which presents the human condition as meaningless, absurd and illogical. **ELEMENTS OF DRAMA** **Plot**-a term for the action of drama. The function of the plot is to give action a form that helps the audience understand the elements of the drama in relation to one another. The plot depends largely on the conflict of the characters. Characters as the conflict unfolds, so are the characters revealed. In many plays, the entire shape of the action derives from the character's strengths and weaknesses thus, they create their own opportunities and problems. Characters are revealed through their own words, their interaction with other characters, their expression of feelings, and their presence on stage expressed in movement and gesture. **Setting-**as it is fiction, setting refers to the time and place in which the action occurs. It also refers to the scenery and physical elements that appear on stage to vivify the author's stage directions. Some plays make use of very elaborate settings, while others make use of simplified settings, even an empty stage in absurdist play. **Dialogue** the speeches that the characters use to advance the action. Since there is no description or commentary on the action, as there is in fiction, the dialogue must tell the whole story. A highly efficient dialogue reveals the characters, unfolds the action and introduces the themes of the play. **Soliloquy --** a speech in which an actor, usually alone on stage, utters his or her thoughts aloud, revealing personal feelings. Aside a short speech made by a character to the audience which, by convention, the other characters onstage cannot hear. 1. **Music**-is an occasional dramatic element in a play. This may either be sung live by the characters or provided as background during the performance. 2. **Theme i**s the message, the central action, or what the play is about. Many plays contain several rather than just a single theme. **The drama is** a presentation made up of words, sights, sounds, motions, noise, stillness, relationships, and responses. It has two aspects, drama as script and drama as play. The script is the dialogue and stage directions for actors and stage technicians. **The elements of the drama are plot, character, conflict, language and Idea, and spectacle.** **Plot, the "soul of drama" (**Aristotle), is more tightly knit in the drama than in the novel. Nothing extraneous should occur as in fact, classical tragedy insisted on unities of time, place, and action. The plot is divided into: exposition (infor-mation regarding antecedent action, characters, their rela-tionships, and the initial situation); inciting action which moves toward a point; rising action which is part of the complication; crisis or turning point, where choices and decisions lead to the inevitable; falling action in which incidents follow from the turning point without diminution of the intensity; and the denouement or resolution which clarifies and relaxes the tension. Someone calls it the bridge to reality. **Character or dramatis** personae presents protagonists and antagonists whose personalities, temper of mind, and morality trigger conflicts, developments, changes, problems, actions, and reactions. Characters are partly types and partly individuals. **Conflict.** Since struggle is the essence of drama, we find a clash of wills, or moral, psychological, and sociological conflicts. Discovery and reversal are results of conflicts. Discovery fulfills our expectations of events. The Greek word is peripeteia while ignorance (anagnorisis) is a situation where the audience knows but the character does not or both do not know certain things vital to the play. A development of conflict is reversal where events or actions make a turnabout because of a discovery and this leads to shock or surprise. **Irony (from eironeia** which means feigning ignorance) is an important element of the dramas in all literature. It arises from a recognition of a discrepancy between the expected and actual, the apparent and the real. There are irony of state-ment (paradox, understatement) and irony of the dramatic situation which results from the occurrence of discovery, igno-rance, and reversal. Ironic perception of the dramatic situa-tion heightens tension and suspense and is essentially what drama is all about. **Language and Idea**. Some plays emphasize theme and idea and quality of language, or attempt to present a thesis. Hence, the dramatic situation is an illustration of ideas although the story which may be taken from the Bible, myth, legend, or history may be familiar to the audience.**Spectacle or theater** conventions are part of the total appeal of the drama which shows the relationships of script, actor, audience, author, producer, society, genre, stage, and theatre to each other. Limitations of the Drama 1. Description 2. Narrative progression 3. Comment 4. Direct penetration into a character's mind Registers, stresses, pauses, inflection, pitch, volume, body movements, position, gestures, and movement. **The Tragedy and Comedy** **Mood**. The mood of tragedy is serious, thoughtful, philo-sophical, and more emotional. Comedy is mirthful, satiric, and more intellectual. **Kinds of Actions** In the tragedy, the hero is overcome by forces he is op-posed to or tries to oppose. In the comedy, incongruity springs from the gap between intentions and actuality. **Resolution of Action** The tragic hero loses in the end and the play ends in catastrophe, death, a sense of sadness, and futility. The main character in the comedy triumphs over obstacles. E**ffect** The tragedy produces catharsis (makes us pity the hero and fear with him in a sense of identification) while in the comedy, the amusement makes us feel superior to the hero because of his imperfections and ignorance. **THE PLAY** A drama is a literary type written to be acted on stage. The term drama comes from the Greek word dran, meaning "to do" Also called play, drama is similar to fiction (short stories and novels) in several ways. Both have a plot (what happens), charac-ters (who are involved in the action), setting (where and when the action takes place) and theme (what is the meaning and signifi-cance of the story) However, fiction is written to be read while drama nearly always to be acted. In a short story or novel, we read what characters say and do. In an acted play, we hear what characters say and see what they do. In other words, in fiction nar-rative generally tells about the characters, while drama makes the characters tell. According to Aristotle, **drama is imitation of action**. The imi-tated action is reality. The language of drama Is dialogue. In soliloquies, characters are presented to be speaking to themselves -- that is, they think out loud. In asides, characters turn from the persons with whom they are conversing to speak directly to (or for the benefit of) the audience, thus letting the audience know what they are really thinking or feeling as opposed to what they pretend to be thinking or feeling. The last element or the theatre element whichh makes for viewing or spectacle consists of the inanimate aspects of pro-duction: set, light and sounds, costumes, and blocking. **THE PLAY** **A drama is** a literary type written to be acted on stage. The term drama comes from the Greek word dran, meaning "to do" Also called play, drama is similar to fiction (short stories and novels) in several ways. Both have a plot (what happens), charac-ters (who are involved in the action), setting (where and when the action takes place) and theme (what is the meaning and signifi-cance of the story) However, fiction is written to be read while drama nearly always to be acted. In a short story or novel, we read what characters say and do. In an acted play, we hear what characters say and see what they do. In other words, in fiction nar-rative generally tells about the characters, while drama makes the characters tell. Certain values are implicit in a effective play: These are iden-tified by by Professor Fred B. Millet, in his book, Understanding Drama: **Factual values.** What elements in the play are familiar? Which are unfamiliar. Are any of these elements important in life? **Technical values.** This is the division of the play into acts and scenes. Otherwise the reader should divide it himself, indicating the time, place, and content of each part. Is the structure of the play designrd to bring out its theme? **Psychological values.** As a reader, do you identify with (strongly sympathize with or favorably react to) any one character in the play? Why? **Symbolic values.** Every worthwhile dramatic effort re-lies to some extent on the use of symbols. Identify and describe the major symbols: persons, objects, actions. Are their significant meanings clear? **Thematic values**. Every play states or implies an ethical or philosophical theme. A theme is ethical if it is in accordance with acceptable standards of right or wrong. It is philosophical if it is reasonable and wise. Welcome to the World of Libera **DRAMA** **LEARNING THE LANGUAGE OF A DRAMA** **Catastrophe** refers to the final sequence of a drama either comedy or tagedy. **Comedy i**s a story that ends happily. The hero or heroine of a comedy is usually an ordinary character who overcomes a series of obstacles that block what he or she wants. Comedies are often, but not always, intended to make us laugh. **Farce i**s the counterpart of melodrama in a comedy where highly exaggerated character types are placed in a ridiculous and improbable situations to create a broad and boisterous laughter. There is a predominance of physical action called slapstick. **Nemesis** -- refers to the agent of retribution/ a person who punishes. **Tragedy play,** novel or other narrative depicting serious and important events, in which the main character comes to an unhappy end. In a tragedy, the main character is usually dignified, courageous, and often high ranking. This character downfall may be caused by a tragic flaw- an error in judgment or character weakness or may be from forces beyond his or her control. **Tragic hero --** is the man of high status and the action usually ends unhappily in his death or in decision, judgment which may play a great role to his downfall. **Serious drama --** refers to a drama with tragic overtones by having a hopeful ending or conclusion. **Anecdote is** a brief account of an interesting or entertaining incident where usually a known person figures in for the purpose of bringing about an amusing lesson. **Apologue** is a story about a fictional person of an event purposely to teach or illustrate amoral principle. **Allegory** is a story in which a moral principle or abstract truth is presented by means of fictional characters or events. The moral lesson is not directly stated. It is left for the reader or bearer to discover. An allegory is usually long. **Parable** is like an allegory in which the moral is presented by fictional characters or events typically showing the application of a moral precept to a familiar situation, A parable is usually short. **Fable is** a short story which aims to present a moral lesson thru fictional situations where animals or inanimate objects are made to speak like human beings. **Contemporary** drama is a drama in prose telling a story usually of human conflicts and emotions by means of dialogues and actions. It is intended to be spoken and acted on the stage. **Fairy tale** is a highly imaginative story about imaginary beings/fairies ordinarily of diminutive human form capable of doing good or ill to mankind. **Farce** (in prose) is a comedy play employing ridiculously exaggerated actions which are satirical in effect. **Folktale** is a story about the tradition, customs, superstitious, and habits of a particu-lar group of people. **Legend** is an unauthenticated story dealing with the origin of animate or inanimate things preserved by tradition and popularly thought of to be historical in nature. **Myth** is a traditional story usually dealing with the deeds of gods, goddesses or heroes explaining the occurrence of a natural phenomenon. **Novel** is a fictional narrative in prose of considerable length, relating a series of events drawn from the actualities of life in corporating a pattern or plot and displaying the thoughts, the sensations and acts of the characters. A short novel is called a novelette. **Parody** is a humorous imitation of a serious literary work. It is an attempt to copy a literary composition by infusing amusing impulses. **Short story** is a story presenting a central theme with a simple plot characterized by a pattern of events which are true to life usually intended to entertain or educate. **Autobiography** is the story of a person's life written by himself. **Biography** is the story of a person's life written by another. **Diary** is a personal record of one's daily activities, experiences, observations or im-portant events. **Editorial is** an article in a newspaper or magazine presenting the periodical's official opinion or stand for or against an important current issue. **Essa**y is a short composition dealing with a single topic exhorting the reader on the writer's opinion, judgment or insight. **Eulogy** is a speech of high praise written or spoken publicly in honor of the dead usually delivered during necrological services. It may also be referred to as an enco-mium or panegyric. Encomium implies warmer and more spontaneous praise akin to applause; panegyric refers to an extravagant speech of praise, usually expressed in flowery words. **History is** a long record of past events particularly those concerning the nation's suc-cesses and failures which gave birth to the turning points of social, educational, eco-nomic, and political status of a country and its people. **Journal** is an official record of the daily or periodical proceedings of any deliberative body. **Letter** is a handwritten or printed messages which may be personal in nature concern-ing a specified subject and directed to a specific person or group of persons. **News** is any information about a recent, present or future event which may be note-worthy to a particular reader or hearer. **Syllabus** is a concise description of a course of study on a particular subject, usually containing course objectives, subject-outline, evaluative measures, time-frame, and bibliography. **Treatise** is a formal composition dealing with a particular subject systematically writ-ten in accordance with an established method, model or formal. **Thesis** is a formal treatise on a particular subject which draws up findings from defi-nite problems presented as requirement by a candidate for an academic degree. **Dissertation** is an extended formal treatise or discourse on a particular subject or proposition. Like a thesis, a dissertation is defended before a panel of competent evaluators. This is presented as requirement by a candidate for a doctorate degree. Prose **Prose Drama-** a drama in prose form. It consists entirely of dialogues in prose, and is meant to be acted on stage. **Essay** a short literary composition which is expository in nature. The author shares some of his thoughts, feelings, experiences or observations on some aspects of life that have interested him. Example: Carmen Guerrero Nakpil's "Where is the Patis?" **Prose Fiction** (something invented, imagined or feigned to be true) **Novel** a long fictitious narrative with a complicated plot. It may have a main plot and one or more sub-plots that develop with the main plot. Characters and actions representative of the real life of past or present times are portrayed in a plot. It is made up of chapters. Example: Without Seeing The Dawn by Stevan Javellana. **Short Story --** A fictitious narrative compressed into one unit of time, place and action. It deals with a single character interest, a single emotion or series of emotions called forth by a single situation. It is distinguished from the novel by its compression. Example: Dead Stars by Paz Marquez -Benitez. 1. Other Prose Forms: 1. **Historical Prose --** a prose from dealing with historical events. 2. **Scientific Prose** -- a prose form that deals with the subject science. 3. **Satirical Prose** a prose form that ridicules the vices and follies of men. 4. **Current Publications books**, magazines or newspapers that are commonly known or accepted or in general usage at the time specified or, if unspecified, at the present time. 8.5 **Literary Criticism** the analysis, interpretation and evaluation of literary works; it does not mean "finding fault with" **8.6 Book Review** -- an article dealing with the contents, literary worth, etc. of a book especially a recently published book. 7. **Philosophy** -- a prose form that deals with the processes governing thought and conduct. It also deals with the theory of the investigation of the principles or laws that regulate the universe and underlie all knowledge and principles or laws that regulate the universe and underlie all knowledge and reality. 8. **Travel** -- A written account of trips, journeys, tours, etc. taken by the writer. 9. **Parody an** imitation of another author's work, where ridicule is the main objective. 10. **Anecdote incident**. A brief narrative concerning a particular individual or Example: The Moth and The Lamp 11. **character Sketch** -- a short description of the qualities and traits of a person. 12. **Parable-**a short tale that illustrates principle, usually by setting forth the application of the principle to something familiar to the hearer or reader. 13. **Pamphlet** -- a small book of topic of current interest. 14. **Eulogy**-writing in praise of a dead person, event or thing. 15. speech the general word for a discourse delivered to an audience Whether prepared or impromptu. 8.15.1 Address implies a formal, carefully prepared speech and usually attributes importance to the speaker or the speech 8.15.2 Oration -- suggests an eloquent, rhetorical sometimes merely bombastic speech, especially one delivered on some special occasion. 8.15.3 Lecture a carefully prepared speech intended to inform or instruct the audience. 8.15.4 Talk suggests informality and is applied either to an impromptu speech or to n address or lecture in which the speaker deliberately uses a simple conversational approach. 8.15.5 Sermon -- a speech by a clergy man intended to give religious or moral instruction and usually based on Scriptural text. **Prose** 1. **Prose Drama-** a drama in prose form. It consists entirely of dialogues in prose, and is meant to be acted on stage. 2. **Essay** a short literary composition which is expository in nature. The author shares some of his thoughts, feelings, experiences or observations on some aspects of life that have interested him. Example: Carmen Guerrero Nakpil's "Where is the Patis?" 3. **Prose Fiction** (something invented, imagined or feigned to be true) a. **Novel** a long fictitious narrative with a complicated plot. b. **Short Story** -- A fictitious narrative compressed into one unit of time, place and action. It deals with a single character interest, a single emotion or series of emotions called forth by a single situation. It is distinguished from the novel by its compression. Example: Dead Stars by Paz Marquez -Benitez. 4. **Biography and Autobiography** - Biography a story of a certain person's life written by another who knows him (the former) well. Example: Cayetano Arellano by Socorro O. Alberto - Autobiography -- a written account of man's life written by himself. Example: A Woman with No Face by Ms. Pilar Pilapil. - Letter -- a written message which displays aspects of an author's psychological make-up not immediately apparent in his more public writings. It is a prose form which by the force of its style and the importance of its statement becomes an object of interest in its own right. - Diary a daily written record or account of the writer's own experience, thoughts, activities or observations. - Journal -- a magazine or periodical especially of a serious or learned nature. Other Prose Forms: **Historical Prose** -- a prose from dealing with historical events. **Scientific Prose** -- a prose form that deals with the subject science. **Satirical Prose** a prose form that ridicules the vices and follies of men. **Current Publications** books, magazines or newspapers that are commonly known or accepted or in general usage at the time specified or, if unspecified, at the present time. **Literary Criticism** the analysis, interpretation and evaluation of literary works; it does not mean "finding fault with" **Book Review** -- an article dealing with the contents, literary worth, etc. of a book especially a recently published book. **Philosophy** -- a prose form that deals with the processes governing thought and conduct. **Travel --** A written account of trips, journeys, tours, etc. taken by the writer. **Parody** an imitation of another author's work, where ridicule is the main objective. A**necdote** incident. A brief narrative concerning a particular individual or Example: The Moth and The Lamp **Character Sketch** -- a short description of the qualities and traits of a person. **Parable**-a short tale that illustrates principle, usually by setting forth the application of the principle to something familiar to the hearer or reader. **Pamphlet** -- a small book of topic of current interest. **Eulogy**-writing in praise of a dead person, event or thing. S**peech** the general word for a discourse delivered to an audience. Whether prepared or impromptu. **Address** implies a formal, carefully prepared speech and usually attributes importance to the speaker or the speech. **Oration** -- suggests an eloquent, rhetorical sometimes merely bombastic speech, especially one delivered on some special occasion. **Lecture** a carefully prepared speech intended to inform or instruct the audience. **Talk** suggests informality and is applied either to an impromptu speech or to n address or lecture in which the speaker deliberately uses a simple conversational approach. **Sermon** -- a speech by a clergy man intended to give religious or moral instruction and usually based on Scriptural text. **Fiction** is the literary production of man's imagination finding shape in stories of people or events. A. **Prose allegory** is a prose form in which the characters, ideas, and actions stand for something else or for a system of ideas with meanings implied. Concrete characters are personifications of abstract ideas. B.. **Fableisa sh**ort allegorical tale conveying a moral or principle of behavior. The characters are usually animals talking like human beings but keeping their animal traits. Often, the moral is appended in the form of a proverb. C. **Myths are** traditional tales common to the mem-bers of a tribe, race, or nation usually involving the supernatural and serving to explain natural phenomena or suggest a religious or moral truth D. **Legends** are stories of some wonderful events popularly believed to have some historical basis and passed down through the ages. **B. Prose romances** are types of stories in which some supernatural or magical events, fantastic, and un-realistic, occur. 2\. **Folk tales** are part of folklore (traditions trans-mitted through memory and practice rather than by the printed page). A folk tale is a story which consists of one or a combination of many folk-lore themes (motifs). Folk tales easily pass from language to language and spread all over the world; hence, they are sometimes called "migra-tory tales." E. **Fabliau (Plural: Fabliaux**) is a short, amusing tale often bawdy or obscene, cynically and slyly satirical directed against women, the clergy, and marriage. F. **Novels** are prose narratives on a large scale (book-length) and can be divided into three types, fantasy, love, and adventure novels. They are further broken down into such varieties as: Epistolary Detective Religious Picaresque Science-fiction Sociological Gothic Naturalistic Romantic Utopian Psychological Sentimental Western Stream-of-consciousness Realistic surrealistic **Novelettes a**re prose narratives that are interme-diate between the short story and the novels. It is about 50 to 150 ordinary pages long, but no exact limits can be given as to length. It is more elaborate than a short story but can be read in a single sitting and can produce a single, concentrated effect. Hem-ingway's The Old Man and the Sea (1952) is an excel-lent example of a novelette. **III. Prose drama** is a literary work written in dialogue and intended for presentation by actors. The essence of drama is the make-believe by which an actor impersonates a character of the play. Dramas of any period have their different sets of conventions and the playgoer must be conscious of them. The same divisions under poetic plays apply to prose drama: A. Comedy B. Tragedy C. Melodrama D. Farce E. History Play 1**. Closet drama** which, though written in dramatic form, is intended for private reading rather than stage performance. 2\. T**ragicomedy** is a combination of the elements of a tragedy and comedy. 3\. **Problem** plays are neither comedies nor tragedies but deal with middle-class life and problems. **4. Comedy of manners** is a type of play which satirizes the extremes of fashion and manners the acquired follies of a highly sophisticated society. 5\. **Comedia del l'arte** was a type of comedy deve-loped in 16^th^-century Italy and its essential characteristics was that it was based on a plot (scenario) outlined in advance, but the dialogue was improvised during performance. Charac-ters who wore masks were stock types as the silly old man, the pedant, the lover, etc. **IV. Non-fiction prose types:** A. Biography and Autobiography B. Letters (Epistles), Diaries, Journals C. Book Review D. Literary Criticism E. Scientific and Current Publications **Fable**. It is a fictitious story the characters of which are ani-mals with human attributes; they may be called beast tales; it is intended for children to entertain them and to teach them some useful truth or **Parable.** It refers to stories usually Biblical in nature and gives spiritual and moral values. **Folktale.** It refers to a prose narrative told for amusement and instructional value, dealing with events set in an indefinite time and place. (Examples of different types are found on pages 33-68). **Anecdote.** A brief narrative of an interesting, amusing inci-dent generaqlly characterized by human interest intended to give a moral lesson. **Chronicle.** A historical account of facts or events in the or-der of time and usually continuous and detailed but without analysis or interpretation. **Biography.** It records the facts and events of a person's life and recreates his personality. It is written by another person. **Autobiography.** It deals with facts and events of a person's life written by the person himself. **Essay.** It is an analytical, interpretative, critical literary com-position about a topic or subject, from a limited often per-sonal point of view. **News.** It is an account of everyday events in society, govern-ment, science and industry, etc. happening locally, nationally or internationally. **Oration.** This is a formal treatment of a subject and is in-tended for delivery in public. It appeals to the intellect, the feelings or emotions of the audience. It is often contrasted to the essay by its structure and purpose. II\. **Fiction** is the literary production of man's imagination finding shape in stories of people or events. A. **Prose allegory** is a prose in form in which the characters, ideas, and actions stand for something else or for a system of ideas with meanings implied. Concrete characters are personifications of abstract ideas. **The Study of Fiction** **Dramatic discrepancy** between meaning intended by fictional character and another meaning that the audience or reader finds in the same words; **Situational discrepancy** between expectation and result, intention and outcome, illusion and reality; and **Verbal discrepancy between** what is said and what is meant, often a vehicle for sarcasm, sadness, affection. **Symbolism** doubles as the designation of something concrete in the story and something intangible an