LESSON 5

Popular Literature

At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

1. Acquaint themselves with the nature, appeal, and social functions of popular
literature.
2. demonstrate an appreciation for the cultural diversity and historical significance
of literature by participating in a class discussion about how literature reflects
different cultures and historical events
3. create a short piece of imaginative literature (such as a poem, short story, or
play) using appropriate literary techniques

Popular literature contains writings that are intended for the masses and those that find favor
with large audiences.

In this lesson, you will be acquainted with the nature, appeal, and social functions of
popular literature.

UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE, VALUE, AND FUNCTION OF LITERATURE

How Dr. Ellis describes Literature

Dr. Rod Ellis – known as the “Father of Second Language

Acquisition” (ASL)

He defines Literature as:

1. The verbal expression of human imagination and

2. One of the primaries means by which a culture

transmits itself.

I. NATURE 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 BASED ON 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.
• It means any writing can be categorized as literature.

LITERATURE AS ART FORM

1. IMAGINATIVE LITERATURE
▪ Highly ‘connotative’ which means words that used in literary works have feelings
and shades of meaning that words tend to evoke.
▪ Imaginative literature or “literature of power” includes poems, short stories, novels,
and plays. It interprets human experience by presenting actual truths about
particular events.
Examples:
• Fantasy – Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings

• Fairytale – Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella

• Myth –Orpheus and Eurydice, Daedalus and Icarus

 • Legend – King Arthur and the Round Table, Robinhood

• Fable – The Old Lion and the Fox, The Country Mouse a nd the City Mouse

2. NON-IMAGINATIVE LITERATURE
▪ Means that the words refer to meaning in dictionary.
▪ Non-fictional literature or “literature of knowledge” includes biographies, and
essays which present actual facts, events, experiences and ideas.
Examples:
• Steve Jobs (Walter Isaacson)
• Churchill: A Life (Martin Gilbert)

STEVE JOBS CHURCHILL: A LIFE

THERE ARE TWO CATEGORIES OF LITERATURE, NAMELY:

A. LITERARY TEXT consists of textual meaning and referential meaning and;

B. NON-LITERARY TEXT only consist of referral meaning.

TEXTUAL MEANING is the meaning that is produced by the relationship of text itself.
• Subjective and connotative (what is written has a particular meaning for each person).
• Ambiguous and polysemic (it has more than one meaning).
• It lacks a pragmatic purpose.
• It is not aimed at a specific audience.
• It is original and fictional, even if it is based on real events.
• It is self-referential, it presents complete worlds in themselves.
• Use rhetorical resources to express and provoke emotion.
• There is no defined or particular audience.
• It becomes long-lived and can be accessed in different contexts.
Examples: Odes, stories, Christmas carols, plays, novels, songs, fables and sacramental cars,
among others.

REFERENTIAL MEANING it is produced by the relationship between internal text and

external text (word beyond the text)
• Objective and denotative (what is written refers to reality and is not freely
interpretable).
• It has a practical purpose.
• Your audience is defined.
• It may not be an original work.
• It is referential and its message is more important than any poetic sense.
• Its content is based on reality.
• Its objective is to inform, instruct, or direct people’s behavior.
• Valid within a specific context.

Examples: Conferences, journalistic notes, manuals and instructions, legal documents,

dissertations, academic articles, philosophical texts, opinion articles and advertising messages,
among others.
 LITERARTURE DIFFER FROM ORDINARY SPOKEN OR WRITTEN LANGUAGE
▪ Literature uses special words, structures, and characteristics. Primarily the language
of literature differs from ordinary language in three ways:

1. Language is concentrated and meaningful.

2. Its purpose is not simply to explain, argue, or make a point but rather to give a
sense of pleasure in the discovery of new experience, and;
3. It demands intense concentration from the readers. It indicates the language of
literature has originality, quality, creativity, and pleasure.

LITERARY FROM THE USE OF LANGUAGE AND THE EXISTENCE

▪ From the use of language and the existence of meaning in literary works, it can be
concluded that poetry, prose, and drama are put in literary work article, journalism,
news, bibliography, memoir, and so on can be categorized as non-literary works.

II. APPEAL
▪ Something that makes the viewers or readers attracted and interested in the literary
piece.
▪ Popular Literature is crafted primarily to entertain the reader, as entertainment is a
quality that attracts and appeals to a wide audience. To promote a pleasurable reading
experience, works of popular fiction are usually written in a simple and straightforward
style.

III. SOCIAL FUNCTION

FUNCTIONS OF LITERATURE

A. ENTERTAINMENT FUNCTION
- Known as “pleasure reading”. In this function, literature is used to entertain
its readers. It is consumed for the sake of one’s enjoyment.
B. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL FUNCTION
- Literature shows how society works around them. It helps the reader “see”
the social and political constructs around him and shows the state of the
people and the world around him.
C. IDEOLOGICAL FUNCTION
- Ideological function shapes our way of thinking based on the idea of other
people. Literature also displays a person’s ideology placed in the text
consciously and unconsciously.
D. MORAL FUNCTION
- Literature 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.
E. LINGUISTIC FUNCTION
- Literature preserves the language of every civilization from where it
originated. They are also evidences that a certain civilization has existed by
recording the language and preserving it through wide spans of time.
F. CULTURAL FUNCTION
- Literature orients 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.
G. EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION
- Literature teaches us of many things about the human experience. It is
used to portray the facets of life that we see, and those that we would
 never dream of seeing. Literature therefore, is a conduct for the chance to
experience and feel things where we can learn things about life.
H. HISTORICAL FUNCTION
- Ancient texts, illuminated scripts, stone tablets, etc. keeps a record of
events that happened in the place where they originated. Thus, they serve
as time capsules of letters that are studies by scholars and researchers of
today.

References:

Betts, J. (2021). What Is a Legend? Story Examples & Common Characteristics.

Yourdictionary.com. https://www.yourdictionary.com/articles/examples-legend-story-
characteristics

Crews, B. (2013, February 21). Imaginative Literature Genres. Prezi.com.

https://prezi.com/l9gtgrbjgsjm/imaginative-literature-genres/

Cunningham, J. (2023). Popular literature | History, Definition, Examples, Books, & Facts |
Britannica. In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/popular-
literature

Javed, A. (2021, June 5). Difference between Literary text and non-literary text/types.
EngloPedia; EngloPedia. https://englopedia.com/difference-between-literary-text-and-
non-literary-text/

Kittelstad, K. (2014). Examples of Fables. Yourdictionary.com.

https://www.yourdictionary.com/articles/examples-fables

Moncawe, S. M. (2023, January 24). POPULAR LITERATURE.pptx.

Slideshare.net. https://www.slideshare.net/SherryMaeMoncawe/popular-
literaturepptx- 255491332?fbclid=IwAR2QTs-
KtM_hlacpDvTl2ewNUnjXdBFAqFdUJtpteV6jlWVMrYOOudJIo7c

Tearle, O. (2020, December 2). 12 of the Best Stories from Greek Myth. Interesting Literature.
https://interestingliterature.com/2020/12/best-stories-from-greek-mythology
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