ENG200- Prelims

• Literature is derived from the Latin term litera, which means letter.
• Brother Azurin said that “literature expresses people’ s feelings to society, the government, to his surroundings, to his fellowmen and his Divine Creator.”
• For Webster, literature is anything that is printed, as long as it is related to the ideas and feelings of people, whether it is true or just a product of one’s imagination.
• In PANITIKING PILIPINO, it says that “true literature is a piece of written work which is undying. It expresses the feelings and emotions of people in response to his everyday efforts to live, to be happy in his environmental, after struggles, to reach his Creator.”
• Different Views of Literatures:

  • Literature is art,

  • literature is language,

  • literature is aesthetic,

  • literature is fictional,

  • literature is expressive, and

  • literature is affective
• Dr. Rod Ellis- known as the "Father of Second Language Acquisition.
• Dr. Rod Ellis defines literature as:

  1. the verbal expression of human imagination and
  2. one of the primary means by which a culture transmits itself.
• IMAGINATIVE LITERATURE - is highly ‘connotative 'which means words that used in literary works have feeling and shades of meaningthat words totendtoevoke.
• NON-IMAGINATIVE LITERATURE - means that the words refer to meaningindictionary
• IMAGINATIVE LITERATURE —or “literature of power” includes poems, short stories, novels, and plays. It interprets human experience by presenting fictitious persons, incidents, or situations, not by actual truths aboutparticular events.
• NON-FICTICTIONAL LITERATURE –or “literature of knowledge” includes biographies and essays which presents actual facts, events, experiences andideas.
• Functions of Literature:

  1. Entertainment Function
  2. Social and Political Function
  3. Ideological Function
  4. Moral Function
  5. Linguistic Function
  6. Cultural Function
  7. Educational Function
  8. Historical Function
• ENTERTAINMENT FUNCTION – known as “pleasure reading.” Literary works are consumed for the sake of one’s enjoyment.
• SOCIAL AND POLITICAL FUNCTION – literature helps the readers “see” the social and political constructs around them and shows the state of the people and the world around them.
• IDEOLOGICAL FUNCTION – it helps our way of thinking based on the ideas of other people. Also, it displays a person’s ideology placed in the text consciously and unconsciously.
• MORAL FUNCTION – it may impart moral values to its readers. The morals contained in a literary text, whether good or bad, are absorbed by whoever reads it, thus helps in shaping their personality
• LINGUISTIC FUNCTION – literature preserves the language of every civilization from where it originated. They also evidence that a particular civilization has existed by recording the language and preserving it through wide spans of time.
• CULTURAL FUNCTION – literature orient us to the traditions, folklore and the arts of our ethnic group’s heritage. It preserves entire cultures and creates an imprint of the people’s way of living for others to read, hear and learn.
• EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION – literature teaches us many things about the human experience. It portrays the facets of life that we see and those that we would never dream of seeing. Literature, therefore, is c conduit for the chance to experience and feel things where we can learn something about life.
• HISTORICAL FUNCTION – ancient texts, illuminated scripts, stone tablets etc., keep a record of events in the place where they originate. Thus, they serve as time capsules of letters that scholars and researchers of today study
• SETTING – this is the place and time in which the story unfolds or takes place.
• CHARACTERS – these are persons or animals involved in a story to entertain and show us some truth about human experience and ourselves.
• Types of Characters: Protagonist, Antagonist, Support Characters
• Hero – a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal.
• Anti-Hero – a protagonist who has the opposite of most of the traditional attributes of a hero. An antihero makes a movie complicated and exciting. He lacks heroic qualities.
• Tragic Hero – a person of noble birth with heroic or potentially heroic qualities. A tragic hero is a character destined for downfall, suffering or defeat.
• Caricature – a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification. It is a drawing that makes someone look silly or funny, and sometimes it is expressed exaggeratedly.
• An antagonist is the one who makes conflict for the main character
• Nemesis – an opponent or enemy that is very difficult to defeat. It is the source of harm and ruin.
• Shape-Shifter – shapeshifters can be cursed into a different form. They can be born with transfiguring capabilities.
• Change Agent – used in literature to encompass phenomena and events which drive change. They can interact with many groups. They form ties and make changes
• Romantic Angle – a novel or other prose narrative depicting heroic or marvelous deeds, pageantry & romantic exploits. It is a made-up story full of romantic spirit and excitement.
• Sidekick – a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies
• Mentor – a wise and trusted counselor or teacher. It is someone who guides the character throughout the story
• Foil – a character whose values differ from those of protagonist. It is a character who contrasts the protagonist.
• Comic relief – a character whose primary role is to relieve tension with oddball or hysterical antics. It is usually the funny character in the movie.
• Extras – a performer in a film, who appears in a nonspeaking (silent) usually in the background, i.e. busy street.
• Chorus – it is a group of singers and dancers participating in plays.
• FLAT CHARACTERS (STATIC) – are two-dimensional in that they are relatively uncomplicated and do not change throughout a work. They do not change/grow in the story.
• ROUND CHARACTER (DYNAMIC) – are complex and undergo development, sometimes sufficiently to surprise the reader. They are the characters that change as the story goes by