1st Semester Preliminary Reviewer in  To appreciate why individuals are the way

they are
World Literature  To exercise our brain
MODULE 1:  To encourage us to question “accepted”
WHAT IS LITERATURE? knowledge
1. Deriving from the Latin littera, “a letter of the  To appreciate the contributions literature has
alphabet,” literature is first and foremost made to history
humankind’s entire body of writing.  To see human tragedy
2. It is a “slice of life”.  To strengthen our master of the language
3. It is a body of written works.  To recognize language devices and appreciate
4. Writings having excellence of form or their emotional power
expression and expressing ideas of permanent  To see the admirable in everyday life
or universal interest  To know that we are not alone
5. It is a body of work, either written, oral, or  To refine our judgement
visual containing imaginative language that  To learn to support our points of view and
realistically portrays thoughts, emotion, and trust our own interpretations.
experiences of the human condition.  To develop our empathy for those who are
6. It is a product of a particular culture that unlike us
concretizes man’s array of values, emotions,  To expand our vocabulary
actions and ideas.  To improve our writing skills
7. It is a creation of human experiences that  To learn to use our language well
tells about people and their world.
 To improve our reading comprehension

LiteraryStandards
 Literature is an art that reflects the works of 1. Universality
imagination, aesthetics and creative writing
 Literature appeals to everyone,
which are distinguished for the beauty of style
regardless of culture, race, gender
or expression
and time.
 What is the importance of Literature? 2. Artistry
 Studying Literature is like looking at the mirror  Literature has an aesthetic appeal
of life where man’s experiences, his innermost and thus possesses a sense of
feelings and thoughts are reflected. beauty.
 Through Literature, we learn the cultureof 3. Intellectual
people across time and space.  Value Literature stimulates critical
 Through Literature, we understand not only the thinking that enriches mental
past life of a nation but also its present. processes of abstraction, and
 We become familiar not only with the culture of reasoning.
neighboring countries but also with that of 4. Subjectiveness
others living very far from us.  Literature unravels and conjures
“Perhaps what makes literature a more delightful man’s emotional power to define
andenriching study than the rest that deal with the symbolisms, nuances, implied
past is its potential of making readers identify meaning and images.
with what they read through values 5. Spiritual Value
learned.”  Literature elevates the spirit and
the soul and thus has the power to
-JF Loria motivate and inspire, drawn from
 To benefit from the insight of others suggested morals of different
 To open our minds to ambiguities of meaning literary genres.
 To explore other cultures and beliefs 6. Permanence
  Literature endures across time and CLASSIFICATION OF LITERATION
draws out the time factor: timelines There are 2 Key Words in this topic:
and timelessness.
 Genre; and
7. Style
 Literature
 Literature presents peculiar way/s
on how man sees life as evidenced What is Literature?
by the formation of his ideas, forms,
structures and expressions which  Literature, in its broadest sense, consists of any
are marked by their memorable written productions.
substance.  It refers to those deemed to have artistic or
intellectual value, or which deploy language in
How are we going to study Literature? ways that differ from ordinary usage.
 In Western Europe prior to the eighteenth
- Through the help of Literary Approaches
century, literature as a term indicated all books
1. Formalistic Approach and writing. (Leitch et al., The Norton Anthology
 Literature is viewed intrinsically, of Theory and Criticism, 28)
independent of the author, age or any  The value judgment definition of literature
extrinsic factor. It focuses more on considers it to cover exclusively those writings
“literary elements”. that possess high quality or distinction, forming
2. Moral or Humanistic Approach part of the so-called Belles-lettres ('fine writing')
 Literature is viewed to discuss man and tradition. (Eagleton, Literary theory:
its nature. It naturally presents man as introduction, 9) an
essentially rational, endowed with  This sort of definition is that used in the
intellect and freewill. Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition
3. Historical Approach (1910-11) where it classifies literature as:
 Literature is seen both as a reflection o "the best expression of the best
and product of the times and thought reduced to writing”
circumstances in which it was written.  Problematic in this view is that there is no
4. Sociological Approach objective definition of what constitutes
 Literature is viewed as the expression of "literature".
man within a given social situation  Anything can be literature, and anything which
which is reduced is universally regarded as literature has the
5. Cultural Approach potential to be excluded, since value judgments
 Literature is seen as one of the can change over time.
manifestation and vehicle of a
What is Genre?
nation’s/race’ culture and tradition.
6. Psychological Approach  is any category of literature, music, or other
 Literature is viewed as the expression of forms of art or entertainment, whether written
“personality” of “inner drives” or or spoken, audio or visual, based on some set of
“neurosis”. It includes the psychology of stylistic criteria.
the author, characters, and even the  Genres form by conventions that change over
psychology of its creation. time as new genres are invented and the use of
7. Impressionistic Approach old ones is discontinued.
 Literature is viewed to elucidate  Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of
“reacting-response” which is considered borrowing and recombining these conventions.
as something very personal, relative  Genre began as an absolute classification
and fruitful. It seeks to see how the system for ancient Greek literature. Poetry,
piece has communicated. prose, and performance each had a specific and
MODULE 2:
 calculated style that related to the theme of the From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with
story object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
There are 3 Genres of Literature
But I, with mournful tread, Walk the deck my
 Poetry Captain lies,
 Prose Fallen cold and dead
 Drama b. Ode

Poetry Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of

Early Childhood by William Wordsworth.
 ‣ is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and
rhythmic qualities of language. There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
 e.g. The earth, and every common sight
o Shall I compare thee to a summer's
day? Thou art more lovely and more To me did seem
temperate: Rough winds do shake the Apparelled in celestial light,
darling buds of May And summer's
lease hath all too short a day The glory and the freshness of a dream.

Poetry has 3 different kinds: It is not now as it hath been of yore;--

 Lyric Poetry; Turn wheresoe'er I may,

 Narrative Poetry; and
By night or day,
 Descriptive and Didactic Poetry
1. Lyric Poetry The things which I have seen I now can see no more
 It is a comparatively short, non- narrative poem,
c. Sonet
in which a single speaker presents a state of
mind or emotional state Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
 It has 4 kinds:
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
a. Elegy a poem of serious reflection, typically
a lament for the dead. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
b. Ode - a poem in which a person expresses a
strong feeling of love or respect for And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
someone or something. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
c. Sonnet - a fourteen-line poem written in
iambic pentameter, which employ one of And often is his gold complexion dimmed
several rhyme schemes and adhere to a And every fair from fair sometime declines,
tightly structured thematic organization.
d. Dramatic Monolouge - a poem in the form By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
of a speech or narrative by an imagined
But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose
person, in which the speaker inadvertently
possession of that fair thou ow'st,
reveals aspects of their character while
describing a particular situation or series of Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
events
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
 Example of Lyric Poetry
a. Elegy So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
O Captain! My Captain!
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale
and still; My father does not feel my arm, he d. Melodic Drama
has no pulse nor will; The ship is anchor'd safe
and sound, its voyage closed and done;
 And indeed there will be time To wonder, 'Do I dare?'  The purpose of a didactic poem is primarily
and, 'Do I dare? to teach something.

Time to turn back and descend the stair, Descriptive Poetry

With a bald spot in the middle of my hair-- Smoke

(They will say: 'How his hair is growing thin!') Light-winged Smoke, Icarian bird, Melting thy pinions in
thy upward flight, Lark without song, and messenger of
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin
dawn, Circling above the hamlets as thy nest; Or else,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple departing dream, and shadowy form Of midnight vision,
pin-- gathering up thy skirts; By night star-veiling, and by day
Darkening the light and blotting out the sun; Go thou
(They will say: 'But how his arms and legs are thin!') my incense upward from this hearth, And ask the gods
Do I dare to pardon this clear flame

Disturb the universe? Didactic Poetry

In a minute there is time Tis hard to say, if greater Want of Skill Appear in Writing
or in Judging ill,
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse
But, of the two, less dang'rous is th' Offence, To tire our
2. Narrative Poetry Patience, than mis-lead our Sense: Some few in that,
 It is a form a poetry that tells a story, often but Numbers err in this, Ten Censure wrong for one
making use of the voices of a narrative and who Writes amiss; A Fool might once himself alone
of characters as well. The entire story is expose, Now One in Verse makes many more in Prose.
usually written in metered verse.
 It has 3 kinds: An excerpt from An Essay on Criticism by Alexander
a. Epics - A long narrative poem Pope
written in elevated style, in which 4. Prose
heroes of great historical or  written or spoken language in its ordinary
legendary importance perform form, without metrical structure.
valorous deeds. (e.g. Beowulf)  e.g.
b.Mock-epic are typically satires or
parodies that mock common "The woods look lovely against the setting darkness and
Classical stereotypes of heroes and as I gaze into the mysterious depths of the forest, I feel
heroic literature. (e.g Alexander like lingering here longer. However, I have pending
Pope's The Rape of the Lock) appointments to keep and much distance to cover
c. Ballad a poem or song narrating a before I settle in for the night or else I will be late for all
story in short stanzas. Traditional of them."
ballads are typically of unknown
There are 2 kinds of Prose:
authorship, having been passed on
orally from one generation to the  Fiction
next as part of the folk culture. (The o It is a literature written in a form of
Second Coming William Butler Yeats prose, especially short stories and
(1865-1939)) novels, that describes imaginary events
3. Descriptive and Didactic Poetry and people.
 Both lyric and narrative poetry can contain o There are 2 kinds of Fiction literature:
lengthy and detailed descriptions 1. Realistic Fiction - is a genre
(descriptive poetry) or scenes in direct consisting of stories that could
speech (dramatic poetry) have actually occurred to
 people or animals in a 1, um- I thought you would be different. I said to
believable setting. myself, go ahead. Take a chance. Hire the smart, fat
2. Fantastic Fiction -a type of girl. I had hope. My God. I live on it. Anyway, you
fiction that ideologically and ended up disappointing me more than, um- more
aesthetically subordinates than any of the other silly girls.
reality to imagination by - Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada,
depicting a world of marvels 2006)
that is contrasted to everyday  There are 6 kinds of Drama:
reality and to accepted views of 1.Comedy;
what is credible  Comedies are lighter in tone
 Non-Fiction than ordinary writers, and
o Prosed writing which is based on facts, provide a happy conclusion.
real events, and real people such as The intention of dramatists in
biography and history comedies is to make their
o There are 4 kinds of Non-fiction audience laugh. Hence, they
literature: use quaint circumstances,
1. Biographies - is a detailed unusual characters and witty
description of a person's life. It remarks.
involves more than just the 2.Tragedy;
basic facts like education, work,  Tragic dramas use darker
relationships, and death, but themes such as disaster, pain
also portrays a subject's and death. Protagonists often
experience of these life events. have a tragic flaw-a
2. Autobiographies - is a written characteristic that leads them
account of the life of a person to their downfall
written by that person. 3.Farce;
3. Essays is, generally, a piece of  Generally, a farce is a
writing that gives the author's nonsensical genre of drama,
own argument but the which often overacts or
definition is vague, overlapping engages slapstick humor.
with those of an article, a  It's basically, what you call
pamphlet, and a short story. "Parody"
4. Articles a piece of writing 4.Melodrama;
included with others in a  Melodrama is an exaggerated
5. newspaper, magazine, or other drama, which is sensational
publication. and appeals directly to the
6. Humour - situations, speech, or senses of audience. Just like
writings that are thought to be the farce, the characters are
humorous of single dimension and
5. Drama simple, or may be
 a piece of writing that tells a story and is stereotyped
performed on a stage. 5.Fantasy; and Musical.
 e.g  It is a complete fictional work
Miranda Priestly: Do you know why I hired you? I where characters virtually
always hire the same girl- stylish, slender, of display supernatural skills. It
course... worships the magazine. But so often, they is more appealing to children
turn out to be- I don't know- disappointing and, as fairies, angels,
um... stupid. So you, with that impressive résumé superheroes, etc., are
and the big speech about your so-called work ethic- embedded in the plot. Use of
magic, pseudo science,
horror, and spooky themes
through various kinds of
technical devices create a MODULE 3:
perfect world of fantasy. The ELEMENTS OF FICTION
modern version of drama There are 2 Key Words in this topic:
incorporates a great deal of
Fiction
special effects.
 Literature in the form of prose, especially short
stories and novels, that describes imaginary
events and people
 it uses imaginary events and characters. In the
21st century, they are usually adopted into
movies

Example of Novels

1. Title: The Perks if Being a Wallflower Author:

Stephen Chbosky
 This is a story about a typical teenager
from school who experiences a coming-
of-age upon meeting a schoolmate
2. Title: Everything, Everything Author: Nicola
Yoon
 This is a novel about a sick teenager
who finds meaning in life through love
and the appreciation of everything
around her
3. Title: A Rose for Emily Author: William Faulkner
 It is a story about Emily, an aristocrat
who has a hard time accepting new
trends and still chooses to live in the old
ways of aristocratic life. She alienates
herself from other people, which also
affects even demography. She is soon
found dead and after a few days, a
locked door is forced open. There they
found a decaying body of a man who is
believed to be the love of her life, but
there is more. They found an
indentation of a head on the pillow and
a long strand of hair that they believe
belonged to Emily
4. Title: Rashomon Author: Ryunosuke Akutagawa
 This is a story about a samurai who had
just gave up his title and is having a
hard time getting over it. He then meets
an olf woman who tests his valiance
and chivalry
Elements of Fiction • Gary watched his little brother for two
hours while their mother was ill, taking
1.Characters
care of his every need. He did this
 They are the people whom the story revolves
without being asked and he did not ask
around.
for anything in return.
 They are usually the recipients and cause of
 "The next thing I know, Gary was tearing up my
different conflicts
rose garden," said Beatrice his elderly
 They can be good and bad
grandmother as she gave her statement to the
 Some stay and some go away during any part of police. She was still badly shaken after the
the story attack.
Why are characters important?  Telling

 Something to invest in Two major types of Characters:

 Someone to care about 1.Protagonist
 Someone to root for  It is one of the major characters in the
 It is the creation or the construction of a story. It receives the blow from the
fictional character. antagonist.
 It is how characters are described. 2.Antagonist
 It is the description of the character’s features,  It is the one in conflict with the
attitudes or as a whole. protagonist. It give the protagonist the
 It is the description of the character’s features, sense of terror and realization. It can be a
attitudes or as a whole. single person or a group.
Two Types of Characterization The Four Aspects of Characterization
Direct Characterization 1.Static Character VS Dynamic Character
 the writer makes direct statements about a i. STATIC OR DYNAMIC
character's personality and tells what the  A Static Character remains the same
character is like throughout the story
 Think adjectives.  This character undergoes no change
 Descriptions in thought or personality when
involved in conflict
Indirect Characterization ii. A Dynamic Character
1. undergoes a change as a result of
 the writer reveals information about a character
learning from conflict
and his/her personality through that character's
2. o A dynamic character starts the
thoughts, words, and actions, along with how
story one way and then will have
other characters respond to that character,
a revelation that changes his or
including what they think and say about
her views
him/her.
2.Flat Character VS Round Character
 Think verbs.
i. FLAT
 Actions
 A Flat Character is one who has
Examples of Characterization only 1 or 2 character traits
 These characters have no depth
Direct Characterization
and usually fit a simple role
 Gary is a nice and caring person.  Examples: Bad guy. class clown, cute
 Gary can sometimes be very mean or rude. girl, etc.
 Showing ii. ROUND
 A Round Character is one who has
Indirect Characterization many character traits
  His personality has various qualities
and is complex, more like a real
person
 Most main characters are round

Why is characterization important?

 It helps the readers visualize and relate to the

characters.
 It gives the readers a time to examine the
characters, thus creating “healthy bias”.
 It helps the readers understand the actions of
the characters deeply.
 It gives the readers understand the different
motivations and downside of the character

Setting

 It is where the story takes place.

 It helps the readers give context in analyzing the
text.
 Can be large and all encompassing
 Can be very intimate areas.
 Can be any time of the day.
 Can be any season (natura)
o Large and all
o Very intimate areas
o Any time of the day
o Any season
o Any season (man-made
o Any type of climate
o Abstract setting

Why is Setting important?

 It shapes the tone and mood of the story.

 It gives the readers a vivid mental picture of the
world your characters move in.