LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET IN

READING AND WRITING

Lesson 1, Quarter 4
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS: Read, understand and answer the activities in this
learning module. Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper.

INTERTEXT
I. LEARNING SKILLS

A. Most Essential Learning Competency

The learner identifies the context in which a text was developed.

B. Objectives
✓ Identify the different types of intertext;
✓ Identify the different types of allusion;
✓ Use intertext to develop text’s context.

II. INTRODUCTORY CONCEPT

What is an Intertext?
Every writer is a reader; a writer’s work is inevitably shaped, inspired and
influenced by the readings he or she has. The borrowing or transformation of ideas
from previous works gives layers of meaning to the text. Julia Kristeva, French
semiotician and literary theorist, introduced the idea of intertextuality in 1966. She
believed that there is a complicated dependence of literary works on all the literature
that has come before them.

The term ‘intertextuality’ refers to the literary discourse strategy utilized by

writers in novels, poetry, theater and even in non-written texts.1 Intertextuality creates
‘interrelationship between texts’ and generates related understanding in separate
works through different ways like borrowing from a previous text, transforming or
repackaging a previous text or referencing from other texts. However, this does not
require citing of the sources hence it is often mistaken as plagiarism.2

1
“Intertextuality - basicknowledge101.Com.” Accessed September 9, 2019.
http://www.basicknowledge101.com/ pdf/literacy/Intertextuality.pdf.
2
ibid

1
 An ‘intertext’ refers to a work whose meaning is shaped by referencing or
calling to mind other texts.3 According to Roland Barthes, “Every text is an intertext;
other texts are present within it to varying degrees and in more or less recognizable
forms. Every text is a new tissue of recycled citations.” Several texts may be put
together to add meaning to another text therefore creating interrelationships. As Julia
Kristeva calls it, intertextuality is ‘a mosaic of quotations; any text is the absorption and
transformation of another.’4
Types of Intertextuality: Pastiche, Allusion and Parody.5
Pastiche. This is related to the Italian word for 'paste.' Pastiche is a collage of words,
phrases, or entire passages from one or more authors that creates a new literary
work.5 This type parallels or models a current text with another text by borrowing the
latter’s setting, plot or storyline, characters and the like. Sometimes an old text is
repackaged into a newer version by reimagining it.
o One good example is the famous love story of Romeo and Juliet by
William Shakespeare was said to be a pastiche of the plotline in an older
Greek story entitled Pyramus and Thisbe. Romeo and Juliet’s
relationship is hindered by their rival families. They tried to fight for their
love but they met their demise in the end. The very same fate happened
in the story of Pyramus and Thisbe although with notable modifications.

o Intertextuality is also very much alive in contemporary literature. Harry

Potter novel series first introduced in The Sorcerer’s Stone the
threeheaded dog Staffordshire Bull Terrier hellhound demon dog named
Fluffy owned by Rubeus Hagrid. A notable parallelism can be seen in
the character of Fluffy with Cerberus in Greek mythology as the actual
three-headed guard dog of The Underworld; the domain of the Greek
god Hades. In the Aeneid, Virgil describes Cerberus as loud, huge, and
terrifying (with snakes rising from his neck); to get by Cerberus, the Sibyl
(Aeneas' guide) feeds him a honey-cake that makes him immediately fall
asleep. This character is further identified in Dante Aligieri’s Divina
Comedia, particularly in Circle 3, Canto 6 or the place in Dante’s hell
where the gluttons are punished. Dante placed Cerberus as the
guardian of this part of hell since he saw Cerberus as synonymous to the
sin of gluttony.

3
Vanessaabboud. “HYPERTEXT LECTURE.docx| Course Hero. Accessed September 10, 2019.
https://www.coursehero.com/ file/41871438/HYPERTEXT-LECTUREdocx/.
4
“Intertextuality Examples and Definition.” Literary Devices, May 11, 2016. http://www.literarydevices.com/
intertextuality/. 5ibid
5
Wimmer, Joshua. “Intertextuality in Literature: Definition & Examples.” Study.com. Study.com. Accessed
September 10, 2019. https://study.com/academy/lesson/intertextuality-in-literature-definitionexamples.html.

2
 o Rick Riordan is another contemporary writer whose works are great
manifestations of intertextuality in literature. He is famous for novel
series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which have a lot of intertextual
connections to Greek Mythology; Heroes of Olympus – Greek and
Roman Mythologies; Kane Chronicles – Egyptian Mythology, and;
Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard – Norse Mythology. Riordan
repackages and reimagines the timeless tales and characters of these
mythologies into the contemporary settings and contexts making them
more appealing to the present generation of readers and learners.

o Intertextuality is also present in motion pictures such as movies and TV

shows. For instance, the classical fairytale of Cinderella has been
adapted into several movies: A Cinderella Story (2004), Ella Enchanted
(2004), Ever After (1998), and Happily Ever After (1990).
Allusion. An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to people, places,
events or literary works directly or indirectly by implying them. This is also considered
a type of intertextuality.6 This technique in writing helps the reader understand new
information by connecting it to something already known or familiar. The reader is
invited to tap his or her prior knowledge in order to establish the connection from a
current text to an older one, thereby facilitating comprehension.
Allusion has four types: Literary, Cultural, Biblical and Historical.7
o The literary allusion is a statement that indirectly refers to known literary
works. An example is Edgar Allan Poe’s line: ‘the face that launched a
thousand ships’ is a statement referring to Helen of Troy in the Homer’s
epic. In this utterance, an evident literary allusion can be spotted: “Stop
joking around! You’re like the boy who cried wolf!” This is in reference to
one of Aesop’s fables titled “The Boy who Cried Wolf” which is famous
with the story of a shepherd boy who repeatedly tricks nearby villagers
into thinking a wolf is attacking his town's flock. The villagers thinking it
is true come to the aid of the boy only to find out it was only a hoax. When
a wolf actually does appear and the boy again calls for help, the villagers
believe that it is another false alarm. By this time,
the sheep are then eaten by the wolf. The moral of the story calls
to mind that people should refrain from making light a supposed
serious situation in order to make the situation credible and
believable.

6
Wimmer, Joshua. “Intertextuality in Literature: Definition & Examples.” Study.com. Study.com. Accessed
September 10, 2019. https://study.com/academy/lesson/intertextuality-in-literature-definitionexamples.html.
7
“Allusion - Examples and Definition of Allusion.” Literary Devices, March 30, 2015. https://literarydevices.net/
allusion/.

3
o Biblical allusion is a statement that refers to the Bible without clearly
mentioning it. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, there is an identifiable
biblical allusion in the following statement of
Claudius: “O my offence is rank; it smells to heaven; it hath the
primal eldest curse upon’t – a brother’s murder!” The line has
reference to the story found in Genesis where Cain murdered his
brother Abel. Another biblical allusion can be identified in Nicki
Minaj’s song “Your Love.” The lyrics go this way: “Anyway I think
I met him some time before,in a different life of where I record.
Imean he was Adam, I think I was Eve but my vision ends with an
apple on the tree.”

o The third type is the historical allusion, which is a statement that refers
to history. Julia Kristeva believed that there is a cohesive force in
literature that connects all the various traditions, past and present,
hence, writers usually refer to history in the shaping of their works. Cirilo
Bautista’s Song of the Teargassed Man bears a lot of these allusions.
The ‘teargassed man’ in the very title of the poem is already an allusion
in itself. There was a time in the history of the Philippines that the spirit
of activism is so strong and the authorities already resorted to spraying
teargas to these activists in order to control them. This is what Bautista’s
poem alludes to when he wrote: “Get a load of it, brother, while it's free.”

In the original version of the song “Candle in the Wind” by Elton John,
there is an apparent cultural allusion in the lines:
“Hollywood created a superstar/ And pain was the price you paid/ Even
when you died/ Oh the press still hounded you/ All the papers had to say/
Was that Marilyn was found in the nude.” This paid tribute to Marilyn
Monroe’s turbulent life destroyed by stardom.

o The last type is the cultural allusion, which has reference to a person,
place, event or thing within a specific culture. This kind of allusion deals
with a particular time or mileu. Only few individuals who form part of the
culture or with knowledge of that culture can figure out what is alluded
to. People share a wide variety of experiences in literature, and
intertextuality occurs where authors use these shared experiences to
communicate their ideas with their audiences. In the statement: “my
spidey sense is tingling,” there is a notable allusion to pop culture. This
is in reference to the feeling that Spiderman gets whenever he senses
danger around.

4
 In Charlie Puth’s song entitled “One Call Away,” the first few lines bear
another allusion to one of pop culture’s famous heroes: “I'm only one
call away/ I'll be there to save the day/ Superman got nothing on me/ I'm
only one call away.” In relation to this reference, here’s another song
“One Thing” by One Direction: "Shot me out of the sky, you're my
kryptonite, you keep making me weak yeah frozen and can't speak." It
is known that green kryptonite weakens superman and other
Kryptonians. Long exposure to it may eventually kill them. The common
allusion:
“You’re my kryptonite” means the person or object being referred to is
that person’s weakness.
Parody. This third type of intertextuality is similar to pastiche as it reappropriates
another’s work. A parody is a funny imitation of a piece of literature, writing or music. 8
This is satirical in nature and its purpose is to put humor, to poke fun and to mock
something in order to express a certain desire for a social or political change.
o One example for this type is Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote that
parodies the romances. This is a story of a man who became so
obsessed with reading chivalric romances and became delusional by
thinking he is a knight who tries to defend the helpless. As he tries to
comically portray his pretend role as a knight, he makes the chivalrous
ideals of knighthood comical and humorous.

o Another literary work that can be considered a parody is Jonathan Swift’s

“Gulliver’s Travels” in which the warring neighbors Lilliputians and
Blefuscu stand for England and France which are rival countries.

o Parodies are also very common in motion pictures and even in the music
industry. “The Great Dictator,” for instance, is an American political satire
comedy-drama film where Charlie Chaplin impersonated Adolf Hitler. It
was praised as a historically significant film and an important work of
satire, making it Chaplin’s most commercially successful film.

o In the Philippine setting, there are some well-known content creators

who make song parodies like Parody King and Nurse Even. They make
parodies of popular songs in Tiktok. Here’s a comparison and contrast of
a popular parody by Nurse Even of Money by Lisa:

8
“Parody Examples and Definition.” Literary Devices, October 31, 2015.
http://www.literarydevices.com/parody/.

5
 Money by Lisa (Excerpt) Money by Nurse Even (Excerpt)

Dollar bills, dollar bills Daming bills, daming bills

Watch it falling for me, I love the way Tubig, kuryente, wifi, groceries, and
that feels wheels
Dollar bills, dollar bills Daming bills, daming bills
Keep on falling for me, I love the way Bahay, insurance, I think I need Kuya
it feels Wil

I came here to drop some money, Ako ay wala nang money, pahiram ng
dropping all my money money
Drop some money, all this bread so Wa nang money, takbo na kay
yummy yeah mommy yeah

III. ACTIVITIES

A. Practice Tasks

PRACTICE TASK 1. Behind the Music.

Directions: Read and analyze the lyrics of the song below, then answer the questions
that follows. You may listen to the whole song to understand it better.
Love story by Taylor Swift (Excerpt)

We were both young when I first saw you

I close my eyes, and the flashback starts
I'm standing there
On a balcony in summer air
See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns
See you make your way through the crowd
And say, "Hello"
Little did I know
That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles
And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet"
And I was crying on the staircase
Begging you, "Please don't go, "

Questions:
1. What references were you able to identify in the song?
2. What is the importance of these references in forming the theme of the song?
3. Why do people reuse or borrow statements and phrases to create new ideas?
4. How are these new ideas linked to their previous references?

6
PRACTICE TASK 2. What has been alluded?
Direction: Identify the type of allusion present in the following items.
1. Here lives Juan Tamad. The place is so dirty and smelly!
2. He was a good Samaritan yesterday. He helped the old lady cross the street.
3. Are you sure you didn’t do it? It seems like your nose is growing.
4. Good thing the classes were suspended due to tropical depression; or else,
we’re going to need an arc to go home.
5. He is as ruthless as Adolf Hitler.
6. Sometimes, I feel like Atlas carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders!
7. If you will not invite me to your party, I will cast a sleeping spell on you!
8. Please don’t trigger her anger or you’ll find yourself fighting a civil war.
9. Thank you so much for helping me. You’re like my fairy godmother!
10. Look how she has grown! She is no longer the ugly duckling in the family!

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Another way to develop context in text is through a hypertext. A hypertext is
an electronic text format where content is interconnected using hyperlinks. The
hypertext is used in the process called hypertextuality --- a non-linear or non-
sequential way of presenting information. The hyperlinks are embedded in a text by
the writer. Instead of reading the text continuously, hypertexts link the main text to
other texts giving the option to the readers to jump from one information to another.
According to Bolter, hypertext is “…a network of interconnected writings…” of pages
of information that “…may be of equal importance in the whole text…” It helps create
new knowledge by prompting the reader to explore more and recreate the ways of
learning and thinking. Hypertextuality is said to be a great innovation with the use of
computer to transcend the linearity of the text by building a series of imagined
connections. Almost all texts that you can click in the World Wide Web or the internet
is a hypertext.

(This lesson was not discussed in detail in this module since most activities involve
the use of gadgets and internet connectivity. Please just read and learn more about
it.)

7
ASSESSMENT: Song Parodies
Directions: Select a popular song to work on with your respective houses.
Change or substitute parts of the song lyrics to add humor. Your parody should
cover only the intro to the first chorus of the song. Ensure that the lyrics are in
English and avoid the use of profanities. You may use minimal props and
costumes if you prefer, though it's not required. Be creative! Presentations will
be on Monday.

Note: Please provide a printed/written copy of the original song lyrics and the
parody.