MODULE 1-2

NATURE OF LITERATURE

I. INTRODUCTION
Literature represents the culture and tradition of a language or a people. They provide a kind of blueprint of
human society in different era. Aside from literature’s contribution in the society, students who study
literature and read for pleasure have a higher vocabulary, better reading comprehension, and better
communication skills. Thus, it also gives contribution in the development of the students’ skills and knowledge.

II. OBJECTIVES. Specifically, after working on this module, you should be able to do the following:
1. Describe the nature of literature including its function, importance, genre, and language.
2. Communicate ideas effectively.
3. Demonstrate understanding on the different literary devices.

III. PRELIMINARY ACTIVITY

Watch and Share!
1. Watch a short video in this link https://youtu.be/Awc1h20Ja94?feature=shared
2. Take note five relevant ideas you have taken from the video.
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IV. LESSON PROPER

What is the Nature of Literature?

✓ Literature can be defined as an expression of human feelings, thoughts, and ideas whose medium is
language, oral, and written.
✓ It is not only about human ideas, thoughts, and feelings but also about experiences of the authors.
✓ It can be medium for human to communicate what they feel, think, experience to the readers.

Literature in Different Point of Views

✓ Literature is art.
✓ Literature is language.
✓ Literature is aesthetic.
✓ Literature is fictional.
✓ Literature is expressive
✓ Literature is affective
✓ Literature is everything in print.
Function of Literature

1. Entertainment Function – known as “pleasure reading”. In this function, literature is used to entertain its
readers.
2. Social and Political Function – literature shows how society works around them.
3. Ideological Function – shapes our way of thinking based on the ideas of other people.
4. Moral Function – literature may impart moral values to its readers.
5. Linguistic Function – literature preserves the language of every civilization from where it originated.
6. Cultural Function – literature orients to the traditions, folklore and the arts of our ethnic group’s heritage.
7. Educational Function – literature teaches many things about the human experience.
8. Historical Function – Ancient texts, illuminated scripts, stone tablets, etc. keep a record of events that
happened in the place where they originated.

Importance of Literature

✓ Literature improves your command of language.

✓ It teaches you about the life, cultures, and experiences of people in other parts of the world.
✓ It gives you information about other parts of the world which you may never be able to visit in your
lifetime.
✓ It entertains you and provides useful occupation in your free time.
✓ It makes you a wiser and more experienced person by critiquing the characters being read about.

Genres of Literature

1. Poetry – A poem is a piece of literature that makes use of rhythmic qualities such as phonesthetics, sound
symbolism, and meter to convey meaning. Phonesthetics examines the aesthetic appeal of the sounds of
certain words or parts of words. Sound symbolism refers to the non-arbitrary relationship between the
sounds of speech and their meaning. A meter is the fundamental rhythmic structure of a poem or lines of
poetry.
• Epic – long-verse narratives retelling the heroic journey of an individual or a group of individuals. It
typically features superhuman feats, extraordinary adventures, highly stylized language, and a
combination of lyrical and dramatic elements.
• Narrative – a narrative poem tells a story through poetic techniques, such as rhyme, rhythm, and
figurative expressions. Narrative poems are longer than other forms of poetry and contain a
complete story similar to a novel.
• Lyric – short poems, highly musical verses that express powerful emotions. A lyric poem is a
personal expression of emotion written by a single individual.
• Dramatic – a poetry that’s written in verse for public recitation or performance. The purpose of
dramatic poetry is often to express one’s thoughts aloud to another actor, oneself, or an audience.

2. Fiction – Its purposes include entertaining, inspiring, informing, and persuading the audience. Fiction
writers create stories using their imagination. Fiction writer use figurative language to create stories of
completely untrue events, characters, and setting to stimulate the imaginations of their readers.
• Mystery – mystery novels provide readers with plots that explore mysteries from beginning to
end. One of the main characters in a mystery is typically a detective or a private investigator who
solves the mystery with the reader.
 • Historical fiction – it uses real-life events to support its plot and key details. A work of historical
fiction engages readers by retelling a historical event in creative ways that alter minor details,
such as character’s names or the setting.
• Realism – it depicts familiar objects, people, and places without dramatizing or romanticizing the
story. Literary realism emphasizes realistic characters and settings, detailed descriptions of
everyday occurrence, and depictions of social classes.
• Magical realism – it is a genre of literature that depicts reality with a sense of fantasy or magic. A
magic realism story is a variation of realism fiction.
• Fantasy – mythology and ancient folklore are some sources of inspiration for fantasy novels.
Fantasy novels usually depict imaginary settings, being, and universes that are non-existent in the
real world.
• Romance - Love stories are the dominant theme of romance novels. Although romance is also a
prominent element of other forms of fiction, romance novels emphasize the development of a
romantic relationship.
• Science fiction - There are several themes that are characteristic of science fiction, including space
exploration, futuristic species, and time travel. Most of the stories revolve around scientific
concepts, such as physics, astronomy, anthropology, chemistry, and astrophysics.
• Dystopian - A dystopian story envisions a world that's in a state of cataclysmic decline. A
dystopian fiction can depict societies with perpetual wars, social and economic class divisions,
mass poverty, environmental destruction, anarchy, and loss of individuality.
• Horror - The primary goal of horror fiction is to shock and frighten readers. A horror story involves
characters, settings, and plots that create suspense and tension for the reader.
• Fable - It typically teaches a moral lesson to the reader or illustrate a moral dilemma that the
protagonist overcomes. An author may use inanimate objects or animals as protagonists who act
like humans to resolve conflict in a manner that demonstrates character development.
• Mythology - The mythological genre reveals elements of human behavior through the use of
symbols. Mythology includes themes such as gods, goddesses, and cultural phenomena.
3. Nonfiction – It aims to inform or inspire the audience by using actual events, people, places, or facts.
• Autobiography – It is a personal narrative of one's life. Autobiographies may serve a variety of
purposes, such as helping the author overcome a difficult situation, assisting people in
overcoming similar challenges, or simply conveying stories.
• Biography – It is an account of a person's life, written by someone else. Many biographies
feature notable individuals, such as celebrities, athletes, business leaders, and politicians.
• Essay – It is a short piece of writing in which the author elaborates on an idea or topic after
conducting thorough research. An essay may aim to engage its readers, influence their thinking,
get them involved in its ideas, or persuade them to adopt the same point of view.
4. Drama – These are representations of fiction that involve dialogue and performance. Dramatic literature
includes epic poetry, lyric poetry, and novels. The performance of a dramatic piece of literature may occur
on stage in front of a live audience or through radio, film, and television. There are many sources of
inspiration for drama pieces, including novels, short stories, poems, and real-life events. A drama contains
dialogue, and the actors portray the characters through their impersonations. A dramatic piece of
literature contains acts or scenes that rely on props or imaginative dialogue to create a visual experience.
• Tragedy – It focuses on hardships that can cause emotional distress to the protagonists of the
story. Tragedies contain details that illustrate the challenges that the protagonist experiences.
 • Comedy – It is a type of drama with a humorous tone that depicts amusing events in which the
characters ultimately prevail. A comedy features a lighthearted tone, clever wordplay, turns of
phrase, and humorous discussions of serious topics.
• Musical – It can be an original work or an adaptation of a longer literary work. Musical dramas
tell a story through music and include direct expressions of themes through song.
• Melodrama – These are pieces of dramatic literature that depict serious stories. A melodrama
may contain heroes, heroines, villains, and mentors with flaws who overcome their limitations to
achieve success.
5. Prose - The prose is a literary genre with no formal metrical structure. Instead of relying on rhythmic
structure, as in traditional poetry, it relies on a natural flow of speech and ordinary grammatical structure.
It involves clear, concise paragraphs that may be fiction or nonfiction. When writing prose, writers divide
the text into paragraphs and use regular grammar that can be serious or humorous.

Literary Devices
These are techniques and strategies authors use to enrich their writing and take it beyond the literal
meaning of words. They serve various purposes and can operate at the sentence level or even permeate an
entire literary work. Here are some common literary devices with definitions and examples.

Literary Device Definition Example

Alliteration Repetition of the initial consonant Three thin tigers throbbed through
sound in nearby words the thicket.
Allusion A passing reference to a well- Ice cream is my Achilles’ heel.
known person, event, or literary
work
Euphemism Replacing a harsh or offensive They were all let go. [they were all
word with a milder one fired]
Foreshadowing Hinting at things that will happen A violent thunder blasts as
later in a story to create the protagonist arrives at a run-
anticipation down mansion.
Hyperbole Deliberate exaggeration for comic I’ve seen this move a hundred times.
or rhetorical effect
Idiom An idiom is a phrase that conveys a I can't go out to play today – I'm
figurative meaning that is difficult feeling a bit under the weather.
or impossible to understand based
solely on a literal interpretation of
the words in the phrase.
Imagery Descriptive language that appeals A blanket of sparkling white snow
to the reader’s senses covered the mountains.
Irony A contradiction between the A police station getting broken into.
apparent and underlying meaning
of words or situations
Juxtaposition Placing two elements side by side A juxtaposition of virtue and vice.
for comparison or contrast
Metaphor An implicit comparison between Laughter is the best medicine.
two dissimilar things
Onomatopoeia A figure of speech in which words The bee buzzed in my ear.
evoke the actual sound of the thing
they refer to or describe.
Paradox A statement or situation that The enemy of my enemy is my
seems illogical at first and yet friend.
makes sense
 Point of view The perspective from which a story The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! is
is told a retelling of the story from the
wolf’s point of view.
Satire Using humor, irony, or ridicule to South Park is a satire of American
criticize flaws in human behavior life and culture.
and society
Simile An explicit comparison between She is like a rainbow.
two dissimilar things using “like” or
“as”

V. PRACTICE EXERCISE
1. What is the role of literature in education?
2. Is literature a reflection of life? Explain.
3. Explain this line, “Literature is the mirror of society.”

VI. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• https://www.findcourses.co.uk/inspiration/hobby-fun-leisure-articles/the-importance-of-literature-in-
modern-society-17411
• https://study.com/academy/lesson/literary-genres-definition-types-characteristics-examples.html
• https://www.britannica.com/art/literature

VII. ASSESSMENT
• To be given in class

VIII. REFERENCES
• https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/literary-genres
• https://www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-terms
• https://quillbot.com/blog/rhetoric/literary-devices/