The National Teachers College

629 F. Nepomuceno St., Quiapo, Manila

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF TEACHER EDUCATION

ENG 302 – LITERARY THEORY AND CRITICISM

TASK 1

Submitted by : QUIÑANOLA, MIA P.

PROSE

1. The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant

The story is a young middle-class woman dreams of a lifestyle far beyond her reach. One day,

her husband comes home with tickets to attend a very affluent party, and she is excited to

attend, but upset that she will look dowdy. Her husband gives her money to buy a dress, but

she is not satisfied until she asks a wealthy friend for a necklace to borrow. At the ball, she is

a hit but upon leaving she notice the necklace is missing. After days of searching, she and her

husband decide to replace it with a one that looks identical and it takes them ten years to pay

it off. Ten years later, the couple pays off all their debts. One day Mathilde is walking to the

market and sees the friend that she borrowed the necklace from. She decides to tell her what

happened. The friend Mme. Forestier, tells Mathilde that the necklace she lent her was, worth

at most five hundred francs.

2. Three Rats by Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero

Nita and Adrian began an affair, Gonzalo finds out and seeks revenge. It is when Adrian

came over and chatted with the married couple after he asked his best friend, Gonzalo, for

some money. The chat went pretty long until Gonzalo offered Adrian some coffee but

unknowingly he slipped some cyanide on it. Nita was alarmed by this action and stopped

Gonzalo and his scheme, but to no avail. The poison slowly crept in and Adrian died. Nita

asked Gonzalo why he did not kill her instead. He answered that he wants to see her live her

life miserably and in shame, and the story ends with him phoning the police.

3. The World is an Apple

This is about a man, named Mario, who endured in extraordinary neediness, thus, he

strolled through the corrupt street. As Mario got home one night, his wife Gloria asked for

money to buy a food for their daughter, Tita. He told his wife that he has no money and he

was fired from his job because he stole one apple for Tita which he thought she would like

it. After few arguments, Pablo, his old crime buddy came in and was looking for Mario.

Gloria was mad seeing Pablo cause she knew that Pablo was Mario's old pal who taught

him how to steal. But Mario left with Pablo, even if Gloria pleaded very hard for him not

to go with the man. She cried beside Tita not knowing if Mario can still return to them or

not.

4. Sapay Coma by Jhoanna Lyn Cruz

The short story talks about marriage, love, culture and tatoos. This revolves around a

Manileña girl who found an Ifugao boyfriend which is younger than her for about 10 years

and they got married and eventually has to live in the province. It talks about a girl and her
 ex-husband, their experience as a marriage couple. The story tells about the hardships,

hindrances, problems that came to their marriage life but in the end of the day their

marriage fail. Sapay Koma is a Ilocano word for “sana” it is a both a wish and a prayer.

5. Footnote to Youth by José García Villa

This story is about how a boy and a girl experienced what real life is at an early age

because of their naiveness and stubbornness. They followed their heart and did what they

thought was right which is to marry at an age of 17 and had a children of their own.

Because of this, they have encountered hardships in making their lives stable. And just

like how history repeats itself, their son also had the same situation as them. It presents the

value of being hard-working as how the father of the main character was described and

also the main character as well.

POETRY

1. Florante at Laura by Francisco Balagtas

This secular poetry is about the struggle and love of the Duke Florante and Princess Laura

of Albania during the war between the Christian Albanians and the Moros (Muslim

people). This is written in a literary form called awit (song, but in truth, is in a poetic

form) and has 399 stanzas having the following characteristics: 4 lines per stanza (each
 stanza being a complete grammatically-correct sentence), 12 syllables per line, and a

slight pause on the 6th syllable—each stanza filled with figures of speech.

2. The Road not Taken by Robert Frost

This narrative poem is about decision making. The speaker arrives at a point where he

must decide which of two equally appealing or equally intimidating choices is better one.

He examines one choice as best he can, but the future prevents him from seeing where it

leads. This poem consists of 4 stanzas of five lines each. With the rhyme scheme as

'ABAAB', the first line rhymes with the third and fourth, and the second line rhymes with

the fifth. The meter is basically iambic tetrameter, with each line having four two-syllable

feet, though in almost every line, in different positions, an iamb is replaced with

an anapest.

3. All Things Bright and Beautiful by Cecil Frances Alexander

The poem is about praising Almighty God because of all the beautiful creatures whether

they are bright, beautiful, small or great, wonderful or wise, beautiful or ugly, tall or short

seasons, colors, seen or unseen has been made by God. This poem has 5 stanzas; 4 lines

per stanza(each stanza being a complete grammatically-correct sentence), 5 syllables per

line, and a slight pause on the 6th syllable.

4. Biag ni Lam-Ang by Pedro Bucaneg

undertakings start with his quest for his dad who was executed by the Igorot (upland

individuals) of the Cordillera Mountains. In his battle, there was a young woman named
 Ines Kannoyan whom Lam-ang wanted to woo. Then he met his enemy Sumarang, another

suitor of Ines whom he fought and readily defeated. Lam-ang found the house of Ines

surrounded by many suitors all of whom were trying to catch her attention. But his rooster

expressed the love of Lam-ang. The parents agreed to a marriage with their daughter if Lam-

ang would give them a dowry valued at double their wealth. Lam-ang had no problem

fulfilling this condition and he and Ines were married. Due to Ines tribe’s tradition, Lam ang

had to swim in the river for the rarang fish. Unfortunately, Lam-ang dove straight into the

mouth of the water monster Berkakan. Ines had Marcos get his bones, which she covered

with a piece of cloth. His rooster crowed and his dog barked and slowly the bones started to

move. Back alive, Lam-ang and his wife lived happily ever after with his white rooster and

gray dog.

5. Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa by Andres Bonifacio? 

country and home of his fellow country man will be on his heart because he love his

country so he want to make the country free to Spaniards so he need to lead the Filipinos

to join the crusade for Philippine independence.