Module 1

ALL THE WORLD A LITERATURE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Congratulations! You have just found your way to the exciting world of literature
and literary study. Some of you may have some apprehensions about the course –
Literary Criticism – which may be sounding rather bizarre or which may harbor some
negative thoughts in you or evoke some uneasy feelings. Well, relax… The course is
not as dreadful as it may seem. I won’t say that it’s just like learning your ABCs. Like
any other courses aimed at skills training, you need to labor through the concepts and
the activities that you will be doing in class as we go along with the course but the
intrinsic reward after having gone through all the stages in our study will afford you to
yearn for more as well as gives you the allowance to reflect on life and celebrate
humanity. If I am to use a metaphor, our study is likened to a search for a beehive in the
woods to gather honey. It’s one kind of an effort to get the hive but after you have
extracted the nectar and allow the luscious lava to drip in your tongue, there is no
stopping.

Another thing, perhaps, that besets your mind at this moment is the skeptical
question on how this study is likely to be and how different it is from the other literature
classes you have attended. Well, your study is a simple case of close focusing on texts
but using different lenses so that you can see a piece of literature in different
perspectives inasmuch as there are many ways people react to literary texts. These
responses shall be presented and explained in the form of a theory. This means you will
be applying the different concepts and principles that you will be encountering in your
study and analysis of different literary genres. Likewise, you will also learn some
principles and techniques in the teaching of literature so that you can inspire others and
collaboratively share and experience the beauty and essence of life captured in the
pages of literature.

And of course, like other courses, our study comes in the form of an inquiry so I
encourage you to be inquisitive and be questioning of the things, concepts, ideas, and
issues that will be presented and even of feelings evoked. Remember that because of
the questions man has entertained in his mind, he has advanced in the level and
sophistication of his thoughts.
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2.0 OBJECTIVES AND ALIGNMENT OF OUTCOMES

Know Definition and purposes of literature

Qualities of good literary pieces

Understand How literary artists create masterpieces

Do Discuss the relevance of literature to self, society, humanity

Communicate one’s thoughts and feelings
Evaluate the literary quality of a selected material based on
a set of criteria
Create a kernelized representation of big ideas and crucial
concepts using a preferred style of expression
Reflect on and express one’s learning experiences through a journal

Categories of Outcomes Target Outcomes

1 Philippine Education Outcomes PEO 1.1, 1.2

(Higher Education: PQF 6)
2 Teacher Education Outcomes TEO 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.5, 2.6, 2.8
(CMO # 75, s. 2017)
3 DMMMSU & CE Institutional ILO 3.2, 3.3, 3.6, 3.9
Learning Outcomes
4 BSE-English Program Outcomes EPO 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.8
(CMO # 75, s. 2017)
5 Course Learning Outcomes CLO (5) 1.1.1, (5) 1.2.1, (5) 1.5.1,
(PPST-BTIs) (5) 1.7.1, (5) 2.2.1, (5) 2.3.1,
(5) 2.5.1, (5) 3.1.1, (5) 4.5.1,
(5) 7.4.1

3.0 LEARNING TASKS

3.1 Getting Started

When was the last time you have read a story? watched a movie? or TV
series? Did you like it? What’s your basis for liking or not liking a material?

Write your answer/s on the space below:

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University Emmanuel J. Songcuan

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3.2 Gearing Up

So, what is literature? Give a definition based on your previous learning

experience or how you understand the term? Write your answer/s below:

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

Now, search in a dictionary, a book, or from the net how the word
literature is defined.

Does it have a similarity with your definition? What is common in the

definitions you have read so far?

Write your answer/s below:

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

3.3. Reading and Understanding

Our course, as a form of inquiry, is necessarily interrogative in tone. We,

therefore, begin with a basic question: What is literature?

Literature is often defined as a work of art, spoken or written in a

particular language, characterized by universality of theme and is value–laden.

Writers also define literature in many different and interesting ways.

Tolentino (1997) and Lombardi (2019) quote the following from Robert Andrews’
The Concise Columbia Dictionary of Quotations and Neil Ewart’s The Writer and
the Reader and in ThoughtCo :

Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University Emmanuel J. Songcuan

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Literature is the Literature – Literature in

art of writing the most many of its
something that seductive, branches is no
will be read the most other than the
twice; journalism deceiving, the shadow of
what will be most dangerous good talk.
grasped at once. of professions.
(Robert Louis
(Cyril Connoly, (John Viscount Stevenson,
Enemies of Morley, Critical Memories and
Promise) Miscellanies) Portraits)

Literature… is Literature is Great Literature

the union the effort of man is simply
of suffering to indemnify language
with the instinct himself charged
for form. from the wrongs with meaning
of his condition. to the utmost
possible
degree.
(Thomas Mann) (Ralph Waldo (Ezra Pound,
Emerson) How to Read)

Literature is Literature is Literature always

the orchestration creative writing anticipates life. It
of platitudes. of artistic value. does not copy it
but molds it to its
purpose.

(Thornton Wilder) (Davids) (Oscar Wilde)

Literature is Literature is where I As classic is

go to explore the something that
strewn with the highest and lowest
wreckage of places in human everybody
those who have society and in human wants to have
minded beyond spirit, where I hope to read and
find absolute truth but
reason the nobody wants
the truth of the tale,
opinion of of the imagination and to read.
others. of the heart.

(Virginia Woolf) (Mark Twain)

(Salman Rushdie)

Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University Emmanuel J. Songcuan

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However different writers or you would have defined literature, there is a

similarity in their thoughts - it being a work in fiction and exhibits linguistic artistry
and excellence.

Thousands and countless volumes of literary materials have been printed

and read throughout the literary history but one other question that we may
perhaps want clarified is: How do we determine which ones are great ones?

Songco-Pascua (2001) and Tolentino (1997) outlines the following

qualities of great literature:

1. Artistry. Great literature appeals to sense of beauty.

2. Intellectual Value – Great literature stimulates thoughts and enriches mental

life by making us realize fundamental truths about life and human nature.

3. Suggestiveness –There is an emotional power of great literature that moves

us deeply and stirs our feelings and imaginations, giving and evoking visions
above and beyond the plane of ordinary life and experience allowing us to
transcend ourselves.

4. Permanence – Great literature endures the test of time like the masterpieces;
each reading of the so-called classics still gives fresh delight and new insights
and opens new worlds of meaning and experience.

5. Spiritual Value – Great literature elevates the spirit by bringing out moral
values, which make us better persons. Good literature has the capacity to
inspire.

6. Universality – Great literature exhibits timelessness and timely; it is forever

relevant, appeals to all readers from different places or cultures since it deals
with elemental feelings, fundamental truths, and universal conditions.

7. Style – Great literature exudes as a peculiar construction way in which a

writer sees life, forms his ideas, and expresses them. There is excellence on
form and expression. Style should reflect content.

Likewise, basic in the discussion of literature is the question: Why do we read

literary texts? Tom K. McCormick offers the following reasons:

1. Reading the great texts of one’s culture gives reader a sense of history, a
sense of belonging to a tradition, a means of sharing a common inheritance.

2. Reading reveals human language at its most intense – highly charged

language stimulates or feelings and thinking in unaccustomed ways and gives
us uniquely valuable experiences.

Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University Emmanuel J. Songcuan

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Module 1 : ALL THE WORLD A LITERATURE

3. Schools use literature to discipline students, to put them under society’s

control by presenting them with its dominant values and assumptions. For
example, the young are integrated into its common ways of thinking and are
introduced to its shared beliefs and problems as well as indoctrinate people
into how reality is perceived or constructed in their society.

4. Reading literature encourages readers to question, or to try to change the

norms of their culture. The pleasure of reading literature allows people to
discover sides of themselves, or to have enriching experiences that the
dominant structures of their society try to control, repress, or trivialize.
Likewise, it opens up experiences counter to those dominant in society.

5. Literature gives readers experiences that are solely aesthetic – to escape

from the utilitarian and goal-oriented dynamics of their society – sort of saying
ordinary things in new ways.

6. It teaches readers about themselves by becoming more sensitive and more

morally or politically aware as well as sharing in the common and exciting
experiences of being humans.

In addition, Tolentino (1997) provides the following functions of literature:

1. Literature is a form of pleasure. It provides a form of escape and allows us to

experience a different world away from the harsh and forbidding realities of
the world we are in. Moreover, it also provides aesthetic satisfaction because
of the pleasure we derive from the craftsmanship of work – that is, in the
manner in which the work was written such as the form, technique, and style
of the material. To quote Augustine Birell:

Literature exists to please – to lighten the burden of men’s lives; to make

them for a short while forget their sorrows and their sins, their silenced
hearths, their disappointed hopes, their grim futures…

2. Literature is a form of engagement. This means dealing and confronting the

realities of life. Through a focused engagement, literature provides a way of
interpreting the world and a way of transforming the world. Tolentino cites
Guillaume Apollinaire who pronounced that it is the social function of great
poets and artists to renew continually the appearance nature has for the eyes
of man. Accordingly, literature always refreshes our way of seeing the world
and the world has never been the same because artists interpret it for us in
various ways. These statements he further amplified by saying that the world
becomes meaningful because great writers have allowed us to see some
sense and order in what could otherwise be a world of chaos and void.
Writers give this justification for literature saying that literature is not a mere
duplication of reality but an ordered and significant rendition of it. This means
we read literature not just for the fun of it but also for illumination allowing us
to see our world and our lives in coherent and meaningful terms. On the one
hand, some view of literature as providing a way of transforming the world
through the writers wielding their pens to effect change in the society –
politically or socially – as well as that of human consciousness. This is to say
that literature assumes educational and political roles.

Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University Emmanuel J. Songcuan

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3.4 Clearing House of Ideas

View the PowerPoint presentation, All the World a Literature, uploaded in

the class website for further discussion of the topics presented in this module.

Questions and clarifications may also be raised during the regular virtual
meeting as scheduled or in the class chat box.

3.5 Sourcing More Ideas

For more ideas, visit the following sites:

Beranda. (n.d.). Definition of literature according to experts. Retrieved from

http://syah41835.blogspot.com/2016/10/definition-literature-and-
prose.html

Booklover, M.J. (2017). Four qualities that makes great literature special. In
Read Great Literature. Retrieved from https://readgreatliterature.com/four-
qualities-great-literature/

Callanga, K. The 7 literary standards of literature. In SCRIBD. Retrieved from

https://www.scribd.com/document/352193784/The-7-Literary-Standards-
of-Literature

Lumen. (n.d.). Genre Introduction. In Introduction to Literature. Retrieved from

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/introliterature/chapter/defining-
literature/

Reference. (n.d.). What are the seven literary standards. Retrieved from
https://www.reference.com/world-view/seven-literary-standards-
da99877887b7425

Sitwe, B. (2011). Why literature has many definitions. Retrieved from

https://sitwe.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/why-literature-has-many-
definitions/

Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University Emmanuel J. Songcuan

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3.6 Checking of Understanding

Tell whether the statement is true or false. Shade the circle parallel to the
initial letter of your choice in the Answer Sheet provided.

T F

O O 1. Literature is an artistic expression.

O O 2. Reading literature may need several readings to be appreciated.

O O 3. There is such a thing as a literary language.

O O 4. Literature is a written material.

O O 5. The artistry of a material can be measured in its form and style.

O O 6. Form and content are inseparable.

O O 7. The universality of a material is achieved when it is timely and

timeless.

O O 8. A material that transforms an individual or society has intellectual

and spiritual value as well a suggestive power.

O O 9. Reading literature makes you understand your own culture.

O O 10. Society uses literature as a tool for enculturating people according

to its own biases.

O O 11. The way to achieve literary artistry is by narrating those that are
beautiful and pleasant in a culture.

O O 12. One can escape from reality through literature.

O O 13. Literature can be a tool for change in both personal and societal
levels.

O O 14. Life realities make literature.

O O 15. Literature has many faces.

Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University Emmanuel J. Songcuan

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3.7 Extending Learning

Activity 1: Appreciating the Role of Literature

Are you up for a challenge? Read through the challenge tasks

below and choose the level you want to engage in. Submit your output in
the Class Output folder in the class website or through other means as
instructed.

Challenge Level 1 (10 points)

Which of the definitions of literature given in
this module do you like best? Why?

Challenge Level 2 (12 points)

How has literature made an impact on you?
Discuss the role of literature in your personal
life. Cite specific examples based on your
experience.

Challenge Level 3 (15 points)

In what way does literature impact on society?
Discuss the role of literature to humanity. Give
support examples.

Activity 2: Communicating One’s Thoughts and Feelings

Communicate your thoughts and feelings to your chosen writer

(whom we have encountered in this module). Select your audience,
format, and topic from the given options per column.

Submit and share your output in the Class Output folder in the
class website or through other means as instructed.

Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University Emmanuel J. Songcuan

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Role Audience Format Topic

Personal Self Distinguished Letter You got me!

author/writer
Interview/ Look who’s
(Choose one Conversation talking
from the writers
mentioned Argument
above)
Song/Rap

Cartoon/
Drawing

Activity 3: Evaluating the Literary Quality of a Material

Choose ONE (1) task to accomplish from the given options

reflecting different intelligences.

Submit your output in the Student Output folder in the class

website or through other means as instructed.

•Select one short •Select a one short •Propose an

story/movie and story written by an “original story”
discuss its merits amateur writer you feel has the
based on the (e.g. Wattpad) and qualities of a good
discussed create a one-page literary material.
standards of a storyboard for a You may write a
good literature. If possible digital one-page synopsis,
the material does video project. Be storyboard, or a
NOT meet ALL the sure your flowchart based on
criteria, establish storyboard meets your choice. Be
why you believe the standards of a sure to explain or
the material is still good literary demonstrate that
a good piece. material. Make a your story
Provide specific case that your achieves these
support from the storyboard could criteria as well as
material reviewed. become a “hit” any others you
specifying the note as important.
criteria it satisfies
Practical

Creative
Analytic

in creating a
masterpiece.

Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University Emmanuel J. Songcuan

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Activity 4: Kernelizing Ideas and Concepts

Prepare a condensed representation of what you have learned in

this chapter. Choose from any of the suggested options.

Submit/share your output in the Student Output folder in the class

website or through other means as instructed.

Likewise, prepare to present your output in our virtual class.

Visual Oral Auditory Kinesthetic

•Create a •Create a set •Create a 1-3 •Create a set
PowerPoint of 5-8 open- minute news of trans-
(4-5 slides) ended item that parencies,
or a concept questions of summarizes cardboard
map that the big ideas the big ideas puppet, or
helps us and crucial and crucial short drama
understand concepts in concepts in to help us
the big ideas this chapter. this chapter. link the big
and crucial You will be ideas and
concepts in the crucial
this chapter. responder as concepts in
concepts in someone else this chapter
this chapter. reads at least
two of the
interview
questions.

Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University Emmanuel J. Songcuan

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3.8 Reflecting and Sharing

In your e-journal, write about:

a. How you feel before and after taking this module (about 50 words)

b. A challenge/problem encountered in this module and the strategies

you used to overcome them (about 50 words)

c. The most important concept you learned in this module (about 50

words)

4.0 SUMMARY

In this module, you learned that:

• there are many definitions of literature

• the quality of a literary material is judged in terms of artistry, intellectual

value, suggestiveness, spiritual value, universality, permanence, and style,
among others.

• literature is read for various reasons such as grounding to one’s culture

and history, acquiring vicarious experience, enculturating the citizens of
the beliefs and values of the society and transforming the world as well as
providing pleasure and escape from reality, and celebrating humanness.

Congratulations for the job well done!

5.0 REFERENCES

Lombardi, E. (2019). Literature Quotes and Sayings. In ThoughtCo.

Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/literature-quotes-and-sayings-
738757.

Songco-Pascua, L and Pellas-Roque, S. (2001). Literature: Reliving

Significant Human Experiences. Makati, Philippines: Grandwater
Publications

Tolentino, D. L. Jr. (1997). Literary Theory and Critical Practice. Quezon

City: UP Open University

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Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University Emmanuel J. Songcuan