Pasig Catholic College

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

School Year 2020-2021
PCC@108: “Bringing the Good News to all Faiths in all Seasons amidst Life’s Challenges”

Subject: 21st Century Literature from the Subject Teacher: Miss Dia Sielo D. Carabaña
Philippines and the World

MODULE 1: INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE

OBJECTIVES

By the end of this module students will have completed the following objectives:

1. define literature;
2. distinguish the difference between prose and poetry; and
3. discuss how different contexts enhance the text’s meaning and enrich the reader’s understanding.

LEARNING EXPERIENCES

o Literature
o Prose and Poetry
o Types of Prose
o Elements of Poetry

LECTURE NOTES

LITERATURE
• “littera” – Latin word referring to an acquaintance to a written word
• Written works based on the ideas, emotions, and experiences of people
• A piece of written work which is undying
• As an art, literature might be described as the organization of words to give pleasure.
• The story of man

7 Literary Standards
The seven literary standards are: artistry, suggestiveness, intellectual value, spiritual value, permanence,
universality and style. These are a set of characteristics to determine whether or not a work is literary. The criteria
were developed by writer William J. Long in his textbook “English Literature: Its History and Its Significance for
the Life of the English-speaking World.”

1. Universality – It appeals to everyone regardless of culture, race, sex, and time which are considered
significant.
2. Artistry – It has an aesthetic appeal to everyone and thus possesses a sense of beauty.
3. Intellectual Value – It stimulates critical thinking that enriches the mental processes of abstract and
reasoning, making man realizes the fundamental truths of life and its nature.
4. Suggestiveness – It unravels and conjures man’s emotional power to define symbolism, nuances, implied
meanings, images and message, giving and evoking visions above and beyond the plane of ordinary life
and experiences.
5. Spiritual Value – It elevates the spirit and the soul and thus have the power to motivate and inspire, drawn
from the suggested morals or lessons of the different literary genres.
6. Permanence – It endures across time and draws out the time factor: TIMELINESS, occurring at a
particular time, and TIMELESSNESS, remaining invariably throughout time.
7. Style – It presents peculiar ways on how man sees life as evidenced by the formation of his ideas, forms,
structures, and expressions which are marked by their memorable substance.

Significance of Literature
1. Understanding of social milieu, culture, and human nature and behavior
2. Reflection of our history
3. Literature helps readers develop many skills
4. Provide vicarious experiences that directly influence readers’ lives
5. Gain a greater understanding
6. Real exercise of the brain for empathy
General Types of Literature
I. Prose – is a form of language that exhibits a natural flow of speech and grammatical structure, rather
than a rhythmic structure as in traditional poetry. Prose comes from the Latin “prosa” which means
“straightforward.”
a. Novel – This is a long narrative divided into chapters. The events may be taken from true-to-life
stories and spans for a long period of time. There are many characters involved.
Examples: Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling)
Para kay B (Ricky Lee)
b. Short Story – This is a narrative involving one or more characters, one plot and one single
impression.
Examples: The Necklace (Guy de Maupassant)
How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife (Manuel Arguilla)
c. Play – This is presented on a stage, is divided into acts and each act has many scenes.
Examples: Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare)
Ang Huling El Bimbo (Dingdong Novenario)
d. Legends – These are fictitious narratives, usually about origins. It provides historical information
regarding the culture and views of particular group of people or country.
Examples: Legend of Pineapple
Legend of “Makahiya”
e. Parable – This illustrates one or more lessons or principles
Example: Parable of the Good Samaritan - Luke 10:25-37
Parable of the Mustard Seed - Matthew 13:31-32
f. Fables – These deal with animals and inanimate things who speak and act like people with the purpose of
enlightening children.
Examples: Aesop’s Fables
The Lion and the Mouse
g. Anecdotes – It is a short story about a real person or event, usually serving to make the listeners
laugh or ponder over a topic. Generally, the anecdote will relate to the subject matter that the group
of people is discussing.

If a group of coworkers are discussing pets, and one coworker tells a story about how her
cat comes downstairs at a certain time every night, then that coworker has just shared an anecdote.
Examples: The Moth and the Lamp (Dr. Jose Rizal)
The Best Advice I ever Had (Mahatma Gandhi)

In the midst of each story, the characters might share little anecdotes with one another. It's
a nice opportunity for the character to blossom and for the reader to learn more about them.

Oh, I would never dream of assuming I know all Hogwarts' secrets, Igor. Only this
morning, for instance, I took a wrong turn on the way to the bathroom and found myself in a
beautifully proportioned room I had never seen before, containing a really rather magnificent
collection of chamber pots. When I went back to investigate more closely, I discovered that the
room had vanished.
- Dumbledore to a visiting headmaster in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K.
Rowling

h. Essay – This expresses the viewpoint or opinion of the writer about a particular problem or event.
Example: Of Studies (Francis Bacon)
On Doors (Christopher Morley)
i. Biography – It is simply an account or detailed description about the life of a person. It entails
basic facts, such as childhood, education, career, relationships, family, and death.
Example: Cayetano Arellano (Socorro O. Albert)
j. Oration – This is a formal treatment of a subject and is intended to be spoken in public. It appeals
to the intellect, to the will or to the emotions of the audience. A skilled public speaker is known as
an orator. The art of delivering speeches is called oratory.
Examples: Gettysburg Address (Abraham Lincoln)
I have A Dream (Martin Luther King)

II. Poetry – It is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language – expressions
in verse, with measure, stanza, and tone. It is an imaginative awareness of experience expressed
through meaning, sound, and rhythmic language choices as to evoke emotional response.
A. Narrative Poetry – This form describes important events in life either real or imaginary.
 Epic – It is an extended narrative about heroic exploits under supernatural control. It may
deal with heroes and gods. The hero/heroine usually has the following characteristics:
idealism, courage, wisdom, beauty, endurance, chivalry and justice.
 Popular or Ancient Epic – often without a definite author and is of slow growth.
 Modern Epic – with a definite author.
 Examples: Biag ni Lam-ang (Pedro Bucaneg)
Hinilawod (F. Landa Jocano)
 Metrical Tale – It is a type of poem which follows a narrative format; featuring characters,
a plot, setting and a theme. This kind of compositions conveys practical, apparent and
straightforward storylines of either real or fictional event. The topics vary from romance,
the quest for adventure, love, and various phases of life.
Example: The Lady of Shallot (Lord Alfred Tennyson)
 Ballad – It is a type of poem that is sometimes set to music. Ballads have a long history
and are found in many cultures. The ballad actually began as a folk song and continues
today in popular music. Many love songs today can be considered ballads. A typical ballad
consists of stanzas that contain a quatrain, or four poetic lines.
Example: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

B. Lyric Poetry – Originally, this refers to that kind of poetry meant to be sung to the accompaniment
of a lyre, but now, this applies to any type of poetry that expresses emotions and feelings to the
poet. They are usually short, simple and easy to understand.
 Folksongs (Awiting Bayan) – These are short poems intended to be sung. The common
theme is love, despair, grief, doubt, joy, hope, and sorrow.
Example: Sitsiritsit
Leron, Leron Sinta
 Sonnets – It is a lyric poem of 14 lines dealing with emotions, feelings, and ideas.
Example: Sonnet I (Jose Garcia Villa)
 Elegy – This is a lyric poem which expresses feelings of grief and melancholy, and whose
theme is death.
Example: Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (Thomas Gray)
 Ode – This is a poem of a noble feeling, expressed with dignity, with no definite number
of syllables or definite number of lines in a stanza.
Example: Ode to the West Wind (Percy Bysshe Shelley)
 Psalm – This is a song praising God or the Virgin Mary and containing a philosophy of
life.
Example: Psalm 23: A psalm of David.
 Awit (Song) – These have the measures of twelve syllables (dodecasyllabic) and slowly
sung to the accompaniment of a guitar or banduria.
Example: Florante at Laura (Francisco Balagtas)
 Corridos – These have measures of eight syllables (octosyllabic)and recited to a martial
beat. The songs are often about oppressions, daily life of peasants, and other socially
important information.
Example: Ibong Adarna

C. Dramatic Poetry – This is an emotional piece of literature which includes a story which is recited
or sung. Soliloquy and dramatic monologues are the main instruments of this form of poetry.
 Comedy – This word comes from the Greek term “Komos” meaning festivity or revelry.
This form usually is light and written with a purpose of amusing, and usually has a happy
ending.
Example: Daddy Fell into the Pond (Alfred Noyes)
 Melodrama – This is usually seen in musical play with the opera. Today, this is related to
tragedy just as the farce to comedy. It arouses immediate and intense emotion and is usually
sad but there is a happy ending for the principal character.
Example: Annabel Lee (Edgar Allan Poe)
 Tragedy – This involves the hero struggling mightily against dynamic forces; he meets
death or ruin without success and satisfaction obtained by the protagonist in a comedy.
Example: Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare)

REFERENCES

Biography. (2017, October 22). Retrieved from https://literarydevices.net/biography/

ELCOMBLUS. (2019, August 17). The 7 literary standards — ELCOMBLUS. Retrieved from
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m%20J

Examples of anecdotes. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-anecdotes.html

Herrin, M. (n.d.). What is a ballad? - Definition & examples. Retrieved from

https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-a-ballad-definition-examples-quiz.html

Metrical tale. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.poetrysoup.com/dictionary/metrical_tale

Nordquist, R. (2020, February 4). Orations in classical rhetoric. Retrieved from

https://www.thoughtco.com/oration-classical-rhetoric-
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y.&text=The%20term%20oration%20sometimes%20carries,%22%20(Oxford%20English%20Dictionary)

Rexroth, K. (n.d.). Literature | Definition, scope, types, & facts. Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/art/literature

Tresvalles, R. (2012, November 7). Types of literature. Retrieved from

https://www.slideshare.net/regine_22/types-of-literature-15077386