Republic of the Philippines

MARINDUQUE STATE COLLEGE

Module 2.1

Chapter 2: Literary Genres

Learning Objectives:

 Differentiate/compare and contrast the various 21st century literary genres and the ones
from the earlier genres/periods citing their elements, structures and traditions.
 Infer literary meaning from literal language based on usage.
 Analyze the figures of speech and other literary techniques and devices in the text.
 Explain the literary, biographical, linguistic and sociocultural contexts and discuss how
they enhance the texts meaning and enrich the reader’s understanding.

Introduction

Understanding Prose, Poetry, and Drama

Prose is expression (whether written or spoken) that does not have a regular rhythmic
pattern. Prose does have rhythm, but its rhythm lacks any sustained regularity and is not meant to
be scanned.

Poetry is expression that is written in verse, often with some form of regular rhythm. The
basis of poetic expression is a heightened sense of perception or consciousness.

Both prose and poetry share many elements. As a result, prose and poetry can be seen as
two levels or planes, each going in opposite directions, but partially overlapping at their common
ends. Eventually prose pulls elements from poetry and poetry Pulls elements from prose until
each reaches a finite point at which prose becomes poetry and poetry becomes prose.

Consider this prose poem (a poem without traditional line divisions or lengths) by
Charles Baudelaire. Notice the prose elements at work, such as both left and right margin
justification (each line starts and finishes at the same point) and paragraph identification.

And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful
solitude of your room, you wake again, drunkenness already diminishing or gone, ask the wind,
the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything that is groaning,
everything that is rolling. everything that is singing, everything that is speaking ask what time it
is and wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you: "It is time to be drunk! So as not to be the
martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you
wish."

Obviously, you need to be constant alert to the poet use of prose techniques and the prose
writers borrowing of poetic devices. The divisions between poetry and prose aren’t clear cut, but
here are some generally accepted differences.

PROSE POETRY
Most everyday writing is in prose form. Poetry typically reserved for expressing
something special in an artistic way.
The language of prose is typically The language of poetry tends to be more
straightforward without many decorations. expressive or decorated, with comparisons,
rhyme, and rhythm contributing to a different
sound and feel.
Ideas are contained in sentence that is arranged Ideas are contained in lines that may or may
into paragraphs. not be sentences. Lines are arranged in stanzas.
There are no line breaks. Sentence run to the Poetry uses line breaks for various reasons- to
right margin. follow a formatted rhythm or to emphasize an
idea. Line can run extremely long or be as
short as one word or letter.
The first word of each sentence is capitalized. Traditionally, the first letter of every line is
capitalized, but many modern poets choose not
to follow this rule strictly.
Prose looks like large blocks of word. The shape of poetry can vary depending on
length and the internet of the poet.

Drama is a story intended to be acted out on a stage. Some critics include pantomime
(silent acting), but others specify that drama requires dialogue. Drama also requires a plot, a
setting, and characters.

Drama is divided into two very broad categories: tragedy and comedy, each with its own
characteristics.

Tragedy is one of the oldest forms of drama. The theme of a tragedy usually revolves
around the ruins of a dynasty, downfall of man, emotional betrayals, moral setback, personal
loss, death, and denials. Protagonists often have a tragic flaw-a characteristic that leads them to
their downfall. This form of drama rarely has happy endings.

Comedy, on the other hand, is lighter in tone than tragedy, and provides a happy ending.
The intention of comic playwrights is to make their audience laugh. Hence, they use highly
improbable situations, stereotyped characters, extravagant exaggeration, and violent horseplay.
 An Overview of Literary Elements and Techniques
Literature holds hidden treasures, filled with mysteries to be revealed and intrigues to be
discovered. As a reader, you are an adventurer or on a quest-to find what treasures are buried
within the literary selection. Interpretative skills are the tools that are essential to finding these
treasures, and the reader who develops and practices interpretative skills will uncover the many
secrets of meaning and experience literature has to offer.

Interpretative skills involve learning to examine and analyze the literary elements and
techniques that work together in a text. These literary elements and techniques include meaning,
form, voice and tone, characters and characterization, and language (uses and meanings).

Meaning

Ask these questions to help you identify and understand meaning.

1. What is the work about? What is the theme?

2. What effect or impression does the work have on the reader?

3. What is the argument or summary of the work?

4. What is the writer's intent?

Form

Ask these questions to help you identify and understand form.

1. How has the writer organized the literary work to achieve the effect or express the meaning?

2. How is the work structured or planned? As prose or poetry? As topics or scenes? As a long
narrative, several short stories, or episodes?

3. Into what genre could the work be placed?

4 What method of organization or pattern of development was used within the structure of the
work?
Voice and Tone

Ask these questions to help you identify and understand voice and tone.

1. Who is telling the story?

2. How is the speaker or narrator characterized or his character revealed? By action or by

3. From what perspective is the story told? By a person outside of the story or by someone
actually involved in the narrative?

4. Is the speaker (the one telling the story) and the author or writer of the work the same person?

5. If the writer and the speaker are two different individuals, are their attitudes toward the
subject, events, and readers the same or different?

6. What is the author's attitude toward the material, subject, or theme?

7. What is the speaker's attitude (if different from the author) toward the material, subject, or
theme? Toward the reader?

8. Is the tone playful? Serious? Angry? Formal? Pleading? Joyful?

9 What is the atmosphere of the work (the way in which the mood, setting, and feeling blend
together to convey the prevailing tone)?

Character and Characterization

Ask these questions to help you identify and understand character and characterization.

1. Who are the people in the work?

2. How do dialogue (what he or she says) and action (what he or she does) reveal a character's
personality traits?

3. Is there a principal character?

4. What is the character's motivation?

5. Is the character's personality revealed directly by the speaker telling the reader or indirectly by
the character's own words and deeds (requiring the reader to come to conclusions about the
character based on dialogue and action)?

6. In a non-narrative work, how would you characterize the speaker or the writer? How would
you characterize the work itself?
Language (Uses and Meanings)

Ask these questions to help you identify and understand language.

1. Does the selection include any imagery (the use of sensory images to represent someone or
something)?

2. What figures of speech does the writer use, and what effect do they have on the meaning of
the selection?

3. How does the writer use diction (word choice) to convey meaning?

4. What is the impact of the words, phrases, and lines as they are used in the selection?

5. Did the writer intend the words used to convey the meaning normally assigned to those words
(denotations)?

6. Did the writer intend that some words would imply additional, associated meanings for the
reader (connotations)?

7. What is the significance of those implications to the meaning of the selection and the intent of
the writer?

8. How does the use of denotation, connotation and syntax (how the words are structured and
grouped to form meaningful thought units) relate to the style of the selection?

9. Does the language of the selection include any elements of propaganda?