Essential Knowledge

Understand the essential knowledge below so that you can perform the aforesaid big picture (unit
learning outcomes) for the first three (3) weeks of the course. You are not limited to exclusively refer to the
resources provided. You can use other books, research articles and other resources available for you.

1. Literature. There are vast definitions of literature. Its definition varies on concepts and notions.
1.1 It is anything that is written.
1.2 It is derived from the Latin term litera (letter).
1.3 It can also mean spoken of art that are typically creative.
1.4 It reflects the civilization of a particular country.
2. Divisions of literature. Poetry and Prose are the two divisions of literature.
2.1 Poetry originated from Medieval Latin term ‘poetria’, from Latin ‘poeta’ means poet and from
Greek ‘poiesis’ means for a making.
2.2 Prose came from the Latin term ‘prosa’ which means straightforward discourse. It is divided into
two, fiction and non-fiction.

COMPARISON POETRY PROSE

Form Verse Paragraph
Language Metrical, Formal, Common flow of
Rhythmical, Use of conversation, Words
Figurative Languages and rhythms are based
on normal languages
and usual languages
Appeal Feelings and Emotions Mental/Intellect
Aim To stir one’s mind, to To influence, to give
show what’s ideal of information, to educate
how life should/can be and inculcate

3. General types of Prose. Short stories, factual prose, letters, novels, diaries, journals, testimonies
and personal essays are the different types of prose.
4. Elements of prose. A good story is composed of six elements; plot, character, conflict, setting,
point of view, and theme.
4.1 The sequence of events in a story is called plot.
The diagram above is based on the plot of the story by Gustav Freytag
6.1.1 Exposition or Introduction expresses the beginning of a story.
6.1.2 The rising action is where the conflict starts to occur.
6.1.3 The turning point or the highest point of a story is the climax.
6.1.4 The part where the conflict starts to be resolved is the falling action.
6.1.5 The end part of a story is the Resolution or Denouement.
6.2 The people that perform the action of the plot are the characters.
6.2.1 The two classifications of character according to personality are the dynamic and static.
6.2.2 The three classifications of character according to role are the protagonist, antagonist, and
minor characters.
6.3 The force that creates the struggles between two or more characters in a story is called the
conflict. There are two general types of conflict: the external and the internal.
6.3.1 External conflict
6.3.1.a Man vs. man is an external conflict which a character struggles with another
character, e.g. protagonist vs. the antagonist.
6.3.1.b The struggle of a character with a force of nature like natural disasters is Man vs.
Nature.
6.3.1.c Man vs. Society is a conflict that makes a character or a group of characters fight
against social traditions or rules of the society in which they live.
6.3.2.Internal conflict
6.3.2.a If the character is in conflict with his own mind, his own choices, feelings or
emotions, that is called Man vs Himself/Herself.
6.4 Setting. It refers to the time and locale of the story. It answers the question “Where?” and
“When?” This is where and when a story takes place. Writers regularly employ imagery of scenery,
sceneries, buildings, and seasons to give a strong sense of setting. The setting helps the reader
understand the mood and tone of the story.
6.5 Point of View. It is the voice that is talking the story to the readers. It has three types.
6.5.1 First Person. One of the characters tells the story, talks directly to the reader.
6.5.2 Third Person Limited. The narrator centers on the thoughts and feelings of just one
character. Readers experience the events of the story through the memory and senses of
one single character
6.5.3 Third-Person Omniscient. It is called “all-knowing” point of view. An all knowing
narrator is the one who refers to all the characters as “he” and “she.” He/she knows and
identifies the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters.
6.6 Theme. It is the central idea or belief in a short story. It is what the author is saying through the
story (a deeper truth about reality). It may be the author’s belief about a topic or view of human
nature. Also, it entails that a short story has a secret message that can be decoded, if only people
can read the clues or possess the secret key. It is considered as a holdover from the expectation
that stories must have a lesson to teach.
5. General Types of Poetry. Lyric poetry, narrative poetry, and dramatic poetry are the three types of
poetry.
5.1 Lyric Poetry- It is any fairly short poem, consisting of the utterance by a single speaker, who
expresses a state of mind or a process of perception, thought and feeling. Many lyric speakers are
represented as musing in solitude. It conveys the thoughts and emotions of a single speaker of a
poem. It normally creates a short, single, unified impression. It does not tell a story. It includes
lyric poem, Personal lyric, sonnet, dramatic lyric, dramatic monologue, elegy, and ode.
5.2 Narrative Poetry- This refers to poems which are usually non- dramatic. It is a form of poetry
that has similar structure to that of a novel or short story but in verse form. Such poetry has a
 beginning, middle and an end, together with the usual literary devices like character and plot. It
is more concentrated than prose. There sub-categories of narrative poetry are epics and ballads.
5.3 Dramatic Poetry- This refers to a verse or verses which are written to be spoken, typically by a
character made-up by the author himself. As contrasting to lyric and narrative poetry, dramatic
poetry is narrated by the characters themselves. This type of poetry often includes emotional
conflict. It is closely related to drama because it is written in some kind of dramatic form, or uses
a dramatic technique it also suggests a story, but there is more emphasis on character rather than
on the narrative. The term is also used to refer to plays written in verse, such as the famous
Shakespearean plays. Dramatic monologue, soliloquy and character sketch are the three types of
dramatic poetry.
6. Elements of Poetry.
6.1 Sense- It is revealed through the meaning of words, image and symbols.
8.1.1Diction- It is the denotative and connotative meanings or symbols of a poem.
8.1.2 Images and sense impressions- These are the senses such as sight, sound, smell, taste, touch,
motion and emotion that can be pictured out in a poem.
8.1.3 Figure of speech- Common examples of these are the simile, metaphor, personification,
apostrophe, Metonymy, synecdoche, allusion, antithesis, paradox, litotes, Oxymoron,
onomatopoeia and etc.

6.2 Sound- It is the result of the combination of elements.

8.2.1 Tone color- This refers to the repetition of sounds in a poem such as alliteration,
assonance, consonance, rhyme, repetition, and anaphora.
8.2.2 Rhythm-This is the order recurrent alteration of strong and weak elements in the flow of
the sound and silence: duple, triple, running or common rhyme.
8.2.3 Meter- This refers to stress, duration, or number of syllables per line, fixed metrical
pattern, or a verse form: quantitative, syllabic and accentual syllabic.
8.2.4 Rhyme scheme- This is the formal arrangement of rhymes in a stanza or the whole poem.
8.3 Structure- This refers to the arrangement of words and lines of a poem or the organization of
the parts to form a whole.
8.3.1 Word order- It is the natural and unnatural arrangement of words.
8.3.2 Ellipsis- It is about omitting some words for economy and effect.
8.3.3 Punctuation- It is the abundance or lack of punctuation marks.
8.3.4 Shape- This pertains to the contextual and visual designs: jumps, omission of spaces,
capitalization and lower case.
8.4 Speaker- This is the voice that talks to the reader. In some poems, the speaker has a clear identity,
using I and me. In other poems, the speaker remains in the background. The speaker is not
necessarily the same as the poet.
8.5 Sensory/Poetic Images- by using sensory poetic images or words and phrases that appeal to the
five senses, a poet recreates an experience (Marasigan, N.) Poetic images have been classified in
different figurative languages namely:
a. Simile- It is comparing two things by using the words “like” or “as”. blept.blogspot.com
b. Metaphor- It direct comparison of two unlike things or ideas without using the words “like”
or “as”.
c. Personification gives human traits to inanimate objects of ideas. blept.blogspot.com
d. Apostrophe- This is the direct address to someone absent, dead, of inanimate.
e. Metonymy- It substitutes a word that closely relates to a person.
f. Synecdoche- It uses a part to represent the whole
g. Hyperbole- This is an overstated and exaggerated expression.
h. Irony- It says the opposite of what is meant.
i. Allusion- It is any literary biblical, historical mythological, scientific event, character or
place.
 j. Antithesis-This involves a contrast o words or ideas.
Paradox- This is a phrase or statement that on surface seems contradictory, but makes some kind of
emotional sense. blept.blogspot.com

Self-Help: You can also refer to the sources below to help you further understand
the lesson: