Creative Nonfiction Q1 M1
Creative Nonfiction Q1 M1
Creative Nonfiction Q1 M1
HIGH
SCHOOL
Creative Nonfiction
Quarter 1 – Module 1:
A Close Look at the Literary Genres
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Creative Nonfiction
Quarter 1 – Module 1: A Close Look at the Literary Genres
Republic Act 8293, Section 176 states that: No copyright shall subsist in any work
of the Government of the Philippines. However, prior approval of the government
agency or office wherein the work is created shall be necessary for exploitation of
such work for profit. Such agency or office may, among other things, impose as a
condition the payment of royalties.
Borrowed materials (i.e., songs, stories, poems, pictures, photos, brand names,
trademarks, etc.) included in this book are owned by their respective copyright
holders. Every effort has been exerted to locate and seek permission to use these
materials from their respective copyright owners. The publisher and authors do not
represent nor claim ownership over them.
Francia T. Briones
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QUARTER 1, MODULE 1
Learning Competencies:
1. Identify dominant literary conventions of a particular genre;
2. Compare and contrast how the elements are used in the different genres.
Learning Targets:
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:
1. Distinguish the major literary genres;
2. Compare and contrast the use of literary elements in different sample genres.
KEY WORDS
other literary
drama
genres
VOCABULARY LIST
1. Literature is an art form, usually written. It includes prose and poetry.
2. Fiction uses ordinary language that depicts significant human. It has its
elements such character, setting, plot, and point-of-view. Its kinds are short stories
and novels.
3. Poetry uses figurative language. It may be lyric, narrative or dramatic.
4. Drama refers to a life story of actors and actresses, usually is performed on a
stage.
5. Other literary genres are speeches, diary entries, memoirs, etc.
PRE-TEST
Directions: Let’s see how well you can recall some important facts about literature.
In your notebook, write AGREE if you think the statement is true and DISAGREE if it
is not.
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3. A poem could have an unusual shape on the page.
4. A drama is intended to be performed before an audience.
5. Speeches are not literary works.
6. Both poetry and fiction utilize the same literary elements.
7. There are various literary genres.
8. Journals and diaries are also considered literary genres.
9. Any artistic literary work can be considered literature.
10. Since nonfiction work is based on truth, it makes use of different literary elements
when written.
LEARNING ABOUT IT
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Fiction
Fiction Defined
Fiction refers to a literary work which comes from the author’s imagination.
Through the fictional narrative, a writer may inform, entertain, inspire, or even
persuade (Littlehale, 2020). Fiction has three categories: realistic, non-realistic, and
semi-fiction. MasterClass (2019) classifies fiction into 14 different forms including the
following:
1. Literary Fiction. It refers to literary works with artistic value and literary merit.
Political criticism, social commentary, and reflections on humanity are most
often the content of literary fiction. Contrary to plot-driven works, they are
typically character-driven, and places emphasis and focus on the inner story
of the character.
2. Mystery. Also known as detective fiction, mystery often follows a plot with a
detective as character or someone playing detective and tries to solve a case
with a sprinkling of clues here and there, giving the readers a feel for
suspense, creates anticipation, and ultimately bares the truth with some
unexpected turns with nonetheless satisfying conclusions.
4. Horror. Written to shock, startle, scare, and even repulse the readers, horror
fiction creates a horrifying sense of dread and may include characters like
ghosts, vampires, werewolves, witches, and monsters. Horror themes may be
of death, demons, evil spirits, the afterlife, and even fear itself.
5. Historical. This type of fiction involves the creative use of research to be able
to transport readers to another time and place. This time and place may be
real, imagined, or a combination of both. Some historical fiction may utilize
characters who were historical figures and use real events in history.
7. Western. Stories of this type often portray characters and setting of the
western frontier like cowboys, outlaws, and settlers of the American Old West.
One distinct feature of this form is that it relies mostly on the specific locale,
culture, and language of that era in history.
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9. Speculative fiction. This type may be a combination of different fiction forms
like dystopian, science fiction, and fantasy, or any other combination. The
setting may be in a world so unlike the world we live in. Considered as a
supergenre, writers of speculative fiction have limitless use of the possibilities
beyond the human imagination.
10. Science Fiction. Classified under speculative fiction, sci-fi uses elements that
do not exist in the real world. Inspired by both natural science (physics,
chemistry, and astronomy) and social sciences (psychology, anthropology,
and sociology), sci-fi stories may focus on time travel, space exploration, and
societies of the future.
11. Fantasy. Another type of speculative fiction, fantasy has imaginary characters
and worlds and may have influences of mythology and folklore which can be
appealing to both children and adults alike.
12. Dystopian. In contrast to utopian fiction which portrays a world better than the
one we have, dystopian fiction depicts a society that is worse than ours.
Dystopian fiction is also another type of science fiction.
13. Magical realism. The world portrayed in magical realism is similar to our real
world but with added magical elements which are considered “natural” in
which the story takes place.
14. Realist literature. This type of fiction portrays a world very much like ours,
with all the elements created as truthful as it can be as it happens in our
world.
On the other hand, some academics also classify fiction into sub-genres which
include the following:
1. Short Story. Shorter in length than a novel, a short story is a fictional prose
work which usually focuses on one plot, one main character (with a few
additional minor characters), and one central theme. It aims at unity of effect
and creation of mood rather than on plot. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Philosophy
of Composition” describes a short story as one that “should be read in one
sitting, anywhere from a half hour to two hours. In contemporary fiction, a
short story can range from 1,000 to 20,000 words.”
A novel is also characterized by the following: (1) written in prose form, (2)
considerable length or word count, (3) fictional content, and (4) individualism;
that is, it appeals to an individual audience as a reader rather than to a group.
3. Myth. Derived from the Greek mythos, which has a range of meanings from
“word,” through “saying” and “story,” to “fiction,” a myth is a symbolic narrative
of unknown origin and tells events which are partly traditional and associated
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with religious beliefs. Myths are specific accounts with gods or superhuman
beings as characters involved in extraordinary events or circumstances in a
time that is unspecified but which is understood as existing apart from
ordinary human experience. Mythology, on the other hand, refers to both the
study of myth and the body of myths belonging to a particular religious
tradition.
Poetry
Poetry Defined
Poetry is a means of sharing experiences, telling a story, or expressing
feelings or ideas through the use of language in a particular way. As opposed to
prose writing, poetry in written form has a distinct structure and words may form
patterns of sound, verse or thought. The creation of pictures with words is very
important in poetry, hence poets carefully choose words which will appeal to the
imagination of the readers and create vivid visual images.
There are some distinctive characteristics of poetry which sets it apart from
prose:
A. the visual patterning of lines of unequal and shorter length,
B. the frequent division into stanzas (verses),
C. the possibility of unusual shapes, and
D. the distinctive use of white space which draws our eye into the compressed
essence of feelings and ideas.
Poems are usually shorter than novels, may come in many shapes and forms,
and are often (but not always) divided into stanzas (or verses). But just like prose,
poems also share similar features like subject (what it is about), theme (what it says
about the subject), and a mood/feeling/tone (how the author feels about this or how
the author wants the readers to feel).
To make meaning out of poems, two broad approaches can be used:
Poems also come in many forms. These forms are distinguished from the
other by the choice of structural units (couplets, quatrains, and their arrangement
with the overall poem), the layout of a poem on the page, and the organization of the
lines of the poem. Here are some of them:
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1) Acrostic. It is a poem which consists of vertical first letters name of the
topic while the horizontal words describe the topic.
2) Ballad. It is a narrative poem which tells a dramatic story in four-line
stanza with a regular beat. A ballad was originally set to music and sung.
Characterized by simplicity of language, repetition of epithets and phrases, simple
rhyming schemes (usually abcd, sometimes abab) and refrains, topics are often
drawn from community life, local and national history, legend and folklore; while the
verse tales are usually of adventure, war, love, death and the supernatural
3) Chant. Dating to prehistoric time, hence one of the earliest forms of
poetry, chant is a poem of no fixed form, but in which one or more lines are repeated
over and over. It is usually meant to be spoken aloud.
4) Cinquain. It is a five line poem that follows a pattern and does not rhyme.
The cinquain consists of five lines of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 2 syllables respectively.
5) Comic Verse. It is a poem that involves humor and makes sense.
6) Diamante. It is a seven line poem in which the first and last lines are
opposites or contrasts. It is written in the shape of a diamond.
7) Elegy. It is a poem of mourning to someone’s death.
8) Epic. It is a long narrative poem on a subject which is thought to be great
and serious.
9) Epigram. It is a short and pointed poem, often a witty statement in verse
or prose which may be complimentary, satiric or aphoristic.
10) Epitaph. It is a poem with a short inscription carved on a tombstone (or
written with that context in mind). It usually rhymes and lends itself to imitation and
distortion. While the epitaph in a cemetery is often serious, the form can be made
humorous.
11) Free verse. It is a poetry that does not conform to particular schemes or
patterns of rhyme, meter or form because it doesn’t follow strict rules it has flexibility.
Its rhythm is created by the natural flow of the poet’s thoughts and emotions. Each
line is based on speech rhythm which is often a mixture of iambic and anapestic feet
- sometimes with a regular number of stressed syllables in each line. Each line is a
meaningful unit in its own right, and in relation to other lines. There is pattern and
rhythm, though not in the traditional, regular form. Form is even more important to
free verse than to traditional verse, and it is usually quite subtle.
12) Haiku. Originated in Japan and often tells about nature, it consists of three
unrhymed lines containing 17 syllables (5, 7, 5) and portrays a single idea or feeling
while having a strong visual imagery.
13) Light verse. It is a poem that is cheerful, airy and light-hearted, it often
describes everyday events and uses language of the speaking voice.
14) Limerick. This is usually brief and lends itself to comic effects. The
limerick consists of three long and two short lines rhyming aabba. Rhyme and
rhythm are used to enhance the content.
15) Lyric. Concerned with feelings and thoughts rather than action or
narrative, it usually represents and reflects on a single experience, is intensely
personal, and its rhythms often have a musical flexibility. It does not have to tell a
story, and is often short (eg haiku, cinquain, shape, tongue twisters, rhyming
couplets, acrostic poems).
16) Narrative. It tells a story with an orientation, complication and resolution
eg nursery rhymes. It can be short or long, serious, humorous, personal or
impersonal. It may come in the form of allegories, fables or accounts of everyday
events.
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17) Nonsense verse. Categorized as light verse that has structure and rhyme
and invented words, it is characterized by fantastic themes, absurd images, artificial
language and humor.
18) Nursery rhyme. Usually having regular rhymes, strong rhythms and
repetition, it could be described as jingles for children, forming part of the oral
tradition of many countries.
19) Ode. Usually celebrating a person, animal or object, an ode is often written
without the constraints of formal structure or rhyme.
20) Riddle. It indirectly describes a person, place, thing or idea and can be
any length and usually has a rhyming scheme.
21) Song lyric. It is a poem that has been set to music. The word ‘lyric’ comes
from the Greek word lyre, a kind of harp that was often used to accompany songs.
22) Sonnet. It is a lyric poem that has fourteen lines of five beats each. Rather
than tell a story. It usually explores a feeling or state of mind or expresses a fixed
idea. It first appeared in Italy in the 13th century. Many sonnets have an alternating
rhyme scheme and usually have a ‘turning point’ at the eighth line.
23) Tanka. A type of Japanese poem similar to haiku, it consists of five lines
with the first and third lines usually having five syllables and the others seven,
making it a total of 31.
24) Villanelle. It is a fixed form, usually containing five three-line stanzas and
a four-line stanza, with only two rhymes throughout.
Drama
A drama is a composition in either verse or prose presenting a story through
pantomime or dialogue. It contains conflict of characters, particularly the ones who
perform in front of the audience on the stage. The person who writes drama for stage
directions is known as a “dramatist” or “playwright.” The term “drama” is also used
for the type of play written for theater, television, radio, and film.
Because of the combination of performance, music, dance, props, and others
which enable the audience to feel like a part of the action, drama is considered a
unique and distinctive genre of literature.
B. Tragedy. One of the oldest forms of drama, tragedy exposes the plight and
suffering of humans to the audience. Common tragic themes include ruins of a
dynasty, downfall of man, emotional betrayals, moral setback, personal loss, death,
and denials. A tragedy when composed and enacted well can touch the audience
deeply. These rarely have happy endings.
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become monotonous. On the other hand, a superbly-executed melodramatic plot can
absorb the audience’s attention completely. This happens when it effectively depicts
the good and evil aspects of the characters involved.
D. Musical drama. In a musical drama, the story is told through acting and
dialogue, as well as through dance and music, as well. The story may be comedic,
though it may also involve serious subjects.
Diaries/Journals
Diaries and journals both contain records of experiences by its writer. A diary
records events, transactions, or observations daily or at frequent intervals. A journal,
on the other hand, contains one’s experiences, ideas and reflections but not
necessarily on a daily basis.
Memoirs
A memoir is an author’s narrative of his or her experiences, which makes it
similar to an autobiography, but with certain distinguishable characteristics. In terms
of focus, memoirs highlight what the writer has witnessed, more than the telling of his
or her own life, character, and developing self. Secondly, while a memoir talks about
how one remembers one's own life, an autobiography is history, requiring research,
dates, and facts double-checked.
Speeches
Merriam-Webster defines speech as “the communication or expression of
thoughts in spoken words.” Although speeches are not primary genres of literature,
its significance lies in the fact that these are important historical documents or
moments and literature. A formal address meant to be given to an audience,
speeches can be found in prose, drama, and poetry, and their primary goals are to
persuade, inform, demonstrate, or entertain a reader, an audience, or other
characters. They can also be used in nonfiction or fiction, depending on their
purpose and use. Some of the primary speech forms include persuasive,
informational, demonstrative, special occasion speech, and debate.
Task 1
Directions: Can you recall some literary works which you have read? Can you tell
the genre form of those works? Try recalling some of them and fill in the table below
with the titles of sample genres that you know. Write your answer in your notebook.
Fiction
Short Story
Novel
Myth
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Legend
Fable
Poetry
Narrative
Lyrical
Drama
Comedy
Tragedy
Melodrama
Musical Drama
Task 2
Directions: Read the following excerpts from literary works and try to guess its
genre form- whether it is fiction, poetry, or drama. Then give a reason for your
answer. Write your answer in your notebook.
1.
“And it drives me to certain street corners, damp houses,
towards hospitals where skeletons leap from the window,
to cobbler's shops stinking of vinegar,
to alleys awful as abysses.
I pass by calmly, with eyes and shoes,
with anger and oblivion,
pass by, cross through offices, orthopedic stores,
and yards where clothes hang down from wires:
underpants, towels, and shirts, that cry
slow guilty tears.'”
-Pablo Neruda
Literary genre:_______________________________________________________
Reason(s):__________________________________________________________
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2.
SCENE IV.
Another part of the field
Excursions. Enter RICHARD and CLIFFORD
Literary genre:_______________________________________________________
Reason(s):__________________________________________________________
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3.
On the morning of August 8, 1965, Robert Kincaid locked the door to his small
two-room apartment on the third door of a rambling house in Bellingham,
Washington. He carried a knapsack full of photography equipment and a suitcase
down wooden stairs and through a hallway to the back, where his old Chevrolet
pickup truck was parked in a space reserved for residents of the building.
Another knapsack, a medium-size ice chest, two tripods, cartons of Camel
cigarettes, a Thermos, and a bag of fruit were already inside. In the truck box was a
guitar case. Kincaid arranged the knapsacks on the seat and put the cooler and
tripods on the floor. He climbed into the truck box and wedged the guitar case and
suitcase into a corner of the box, bracing them with a spare tire lying on its side and
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securing both cases to the tire with a length of clothesline rope. Under the worn
spare he shoved a black tarpaulin.
-Robert James Waller, excerpt from “The Bridges of Madison County
Literary genre:_______________________________________________________
Reason(s):__________________________________________________________
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Task 3
Directions: Write two (3) forms of poetry from the choices: diamante, tanka,
cinquain, epigram, epithat and haiku about your experiences of lockdown due to
COVID-19 scare. Compose a title of your poem and identify its form. [eg. The
Frontliners (Haiku)]. Write your verse in your notebook.
1.
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2.
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3.
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*Rubrics
5 – Correct use of language/grammar; correctness of the verse used;
sufficient use of words that describes lockdown; clarity of ideas; positive views in life
3 – Minor errors on language/grammar; correctness of the verse used;
minimal use of words that describes lockdown; clarity of ideas; positive views in life
1– Major errors on grammar; no use of word regarding lockdown; clarity of
ideas
POST-TEST
Directions: Now let us see how well you can compare and contrast the different
genre forms by filling in the table below with the correct description of each form. On
the third column, enumerate and write a brief description for each element. Write the
answers in your notebook.
Fiction
Poetry
Drama
ASSIGNMENT
Literature had been given various meanings by various authors and writers
from all over the world. In the same way, humans have also produced vast amounts
of literature out of which some had perished while some have survived and had been
handed down to us. In addition to these, mankind is also continuously creating
literature which reflects the world that we have so that the present generation could
also hand them down to the next. This body of literature does not only reflect the
truth but also mirrors our aspirations, dreams, and longings.
If you could write something for the next generation, what would it be?
Publish your written output in your notebook.
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*Rubrics
5 – Correct use of language/grammar; clarity of ideas; presence of
words/expressions about the aspirations, dreams and longings of man; positive
views in life
3 – Minor errors on language/grammar; clarity of ideas; presence of
words/expressions about the aspirations, dreams and longings of man; positive
views in life
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1– Major errors on grammar; unclear presentation of ideas; absence of
words/expressions about the aspirations, dreams and longings of man; views in life
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References
Masterclass. (July 2, 2019). What are the different genres of literature? From
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-are-the-different-genres-of-literature-a-
guide-to-14literary-genres#the-14-main-literay-genres
Gutkind, L. (2019). What’s the Story #6” The 5 Rs of Creative Nonfiction. From
https://www.creativenonfiction.org/online-reading/whats-story-6
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ANSWER KEY
Warming Up
1. Disagree
2. Agree
3. Agree
4. Agree
5. Agree
6. Disagree
7. Agree
8. Disagree
9. Disagree
10. Agree
Task 1
Answers vary.
Task 2
1. Literary Genre: Poem
Reasons: Answers vary.
2. Literary Genre: Play
Reasons: Answers vary.
3. Literary Genre: Fiction
Reasons: Answers vary.
Task 3
1. Answers vary.
2. Answers vary.
3. Answers vary.
Post-Test
Answers vary.
Assignment
Answers vary.
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