LITERATURE DEFINED

Literature Viktor Borisovich Shklovsky

- is defined as books and other written - Russian literary critic and novelist. He
works, especially those considered to was a major voice of Formalism, a
have creative or artistic merit or lasting critical school that had great influence
value in Russian literature in the 1920s.
- a body of written works.
According to Aristotle
- has traditionally been applied to those
imaginative works of poetry and prose - other activities through religion,
distinguished by the intentions of their science and philosophy
authors and the perceived aesthetic
A. Lefevere
excellence of their execution.
- may be classified according to a - a description of human experience that has
variety of systems, including language, dimensions of personal and social as well as
national origin, historical period, genre, the knowledge of humanity that is parallel to
and subject matter. the form of life itself.

Panuti Sudjiman Literature is an expression of the significant

human experiences (SHE), life, through the
- an oral or written work that has various use of a beautiful and dignified language.
characteristic features such as
originality, artistry, beauty in content Significant Human Experience
and expression
▸love ▸ hatred
Mukarovsky, E.E. Cummings), and
▸ justice▸ injustice
Sjklovski
▸ joy▸ sorrow
- a work of fiction that is the result of
creation by a spontaneous surge of ▸ success▸ failure
emotion that is capable of expressing
▸ life▸ death
the aesthetic aspects of both the
aspects of language as well as ▸ affluence▸ poverty
aspects of meaning
Importance of Studying Literature
Mukarovsky
1. Literature makes us better thinkers
- Czech literary, linguistic, and aesthetic 2. It promotes empathy as it develops in the
theorist. child a greater understanding of the
human condition.
Edward Estlin Cummings
3. We learn to appreciate words and their
- he is attributed in many of his power. We travel to other realms and
published works, was an American times through the texts we read.
poet, painter, essayist, author, and 4. We learn to consider multiple perspectives
playwright and understand the complexity of human
- He wrote approximately 2,900 poems, nature
two autobiographical novels, four 5. Students develop a sense of individuality
plays, and several essays and creativity, as they develop their own
opinions about issues in their texts
LITERARY STANDARDS insights and opens a new world of
meaning and experience.
ARTISTRY
- Its appeal is lasting.
- Literature has an aesthetic appeal and
UNIVERSALITY
thus possesses a sense of beauty
- It must be of high artistic quality, at - Literature appeals to everyone,
least for the time in which it was regardless of culture, race, gender,
written and times which are all considered
significant.
INTELLECTUAL VALUE
- Forever relevant, it appeals to one and
- A great work of literature stimulates all, anytime, anywhere, because it
thought. deals with elemental feelings,
- It enriches our mental life by making fundamental truths and universal
us realize fundamental truths about life conditions.
and human nature.
Universal themes found in literature include:
- Literature stimulates critical thinking
that enriches mental processes of ➢ individual struggle towards a personal goal,
abstract and reasoning, making man
➢a person's struggle with humanity,
realize the fundamental truths of life
and its nature ➢falling in love,

SUGGESTIVENESS ➢life cycles,

- Associated with the emotion of a ➢karma,

literary piece
➢coping with tragedy,
- Great literature moves us deeply and
stirs our feeling and imagination, giving ➢adolescence, and
and evoking visions above and beyond
➢discovering the world around us.
the plane of ordinary life and
experience STYLE
SPIRITUAL VALUE - Literature presents peculiar way/s on
how man sees life as evidenced by the
- Literature elevates the spirit and the
formation of his ideas, forms,
soul and this has the power to
structures, and expressions which are
motivate and inspire drawn from the
marked by their memorable
suggested morals or lessons of the
substances
literary genres
- The capacity to inspire is part of the Features of style include the following:
spiritual value of literature
• diction (word choice)
PERMANENCE
• sentence structure and syntax (arrangement
- A great work of literature endures of words)
across time and draws out the time
• nature of figurative language
factor: timeliness, occurring at a
particular time, and timelessness, • rhythm and component sounds
remaining invariable throughout time.
• rhetorical patterns (e.g. narration,
- It can be read again and again as each
reading gives fresh delight and new description, comparison-contrast, etc.)
 - are polite, mild phrases which
substitute unpleasant ways of saying
something sad or uncomfortable.

Figures of Speech
SYNECDOCHE
- a word or phrase which is used to
- a figure of speech in which a part is
describe something in a non-literal
made to represent the whole or the
sense
whole is used in place of one of its
Classifications of figures of speech parts
A. Those that show a relationship or ALLITERATION
resemblance (Simile, metaphor, metonymy,
- when there is a repetition of initial
personification, euphemism, and
sound in two or more words within a
synecdoche)
phrase or a sentence.
B. Those that show phonetic resemblances
ASSSONANCE
and representing sounds (alliteration,
assonance and onomatopoeia) - identical vowel sounds preceded and
C. Those that show emphasis or followed by differing consonant-sounds
unimportance (Hyperbole, antithesis, in words in proximity
oxymoron, irony and litotes) ONOMATOPOEIA
SIMILE - Occurs when the sound of a word
- an explicit comparison between echoes or suggests the meaning of the
essentially unlike things, introduced by word
a connective
METAPHOR

- a figure of speech that implicitly

compares two unrelated things,
typically by stating that one thing is
another
METONYMY

- a figure of speech that is formed by the

use of a term (the name of an object or
an idea) to substitute another term that
is closely related to the thing or idea.
PERSONIFICATION

- occurs when the author or speaker

gives human characteristics to non-
human objects
EUPHEMISM

- derived from the Greek euphēmismos,

meaning “to sound good.”
 Marxism and Critical Theory

- It focuses on the representation of

class conflict as well as the
reinforcement of class distinctions
Assessment through the medium of literature
Directions: Identify what literary theory is New Criticism
being described in the following statements:
- It emphasized close reading,
Psychoanalytical Criticism particularly of poetry, to discover how a
work of literature functioned as a self-
- This criticism centers on the
contained, self-referential aesthetic
psychology of the characters and
object.
analyzes character motivation,
behavior and actions. Traditional Literary Criticism
Reader Response Criticism - It takes the humanist view, and looks
for both technical skills and significant
- This theory holds that there are many
content, for a re-representation of
different ways to interpret the text
themes that belong to the great
based on the reader’s cultural,
common places of human existence.
religious, economic, etc. background.
Formalism

- This approach views each piece of

literature that possesses all of its
meaning inside the text.
Post-Colonial Criticism

- Using this critical method, you will

analyze issues that are caused by
centuries of colonialism
New Historicism Criticism

- This criticism makes use of the

historical time period and discusses
the work within its historical context.
Gender Studies and Queer Theory

- It emphasizes practical concerns with

the rights of women in contemporary
societies, women’s identity, and the
representation of women in media and
culture.
Structuralism

- It makes use of analyzing linguistic

conventions in analyzing literary works
and by examining underlying
structures within the text.