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World Literature – LIT 101A
I. Misconceptions about Literature
1. Literature is a minor course/subject and merely a
“filler course” in the curriculum particularly in the
Sciences.
2. Literature is purely subjective and deals only with
feelings and emotions.
3. Literature is meant only to be appreciated.
4. Literature is purely entertainment since reading is
considered a form of pastime or entertainment.
5. Literature is about plot, setting, characters,
conflict, climax, and teaching a moral.
II. What Literature is –
A highly creative and critical discipline. It interrogates
and debunks established ideas and concepts.
III. Literary Criticism – to evaluate or critique
literary works through the use of certain
standards considering the following questions:
a. Under what circumstances was the work of art
created?
[millieu – period when literary work belonged]
3 Schools of thought:
 Always influenced by millieu
 Might be personal
 Even if personal, still affected by millieu
b. What did the artist intend to create?
 Preconceived – the idea
 Actual – the work itself
[Plato – “Imagination is perfect while the
reality is a poor copy of the imagination”] = The idea is
superior to the work itself
c. How successfully did he accomplish it?
d. By what standards should it be judged?
Literary Standards:
 Artistry – beauty
i. Language: impeccable
ii. Characters: multi-dimensional
iii. Dialogue: crisp
iv. Craftsmanship
v. Organic unity: parts mutually
support each other
 Intellectual Value – make the readers
think and realise fundamental truths
about life and human nature
 Suggestiveness – stir feelings and
emotions
 Spiritual Value – must elevate the spirit
and promote moral values
 Permanence – can be read again and
again
 Universality – timely and timeless;
forever relevant
 Style – unique, peculiar way a writer
presents his ideas
e. What is the value of these standards?
A literary critic must have taste, impartiality,
sympathy-empathy, sensitivity,
scholarship, creativity, wide knowledge,
broad-mindedness. He must offer
judgments and not pre-judgments.
 Taste: can be innate, acquired or
developed or all at once present
 Impartiality: Objectivity
[Can never be 100% Objective]
 Sympathy-Empathy: Critic must be everyone
(in the shoes of all writers) and no one
(impartial)
 Sensitivity
 Scholarship: able to appreciate the
jargon/language of discipline
 Creativity: own voice of writer
IV. The three-fold role of the Critic
1. As individual – responds to literary works
intuitively
2. As interpreter – bridges the gap between the
reader and writer
3. As judge – give value judgments
V. Kinds of Critics:
1. Radical – utilizes many theories to evaluate but
no definite stand
2. Dogmatic – an expert of one theory; at gunpoint,
is better than Radical
3. Dogmatic but Catholic – combined radical and
dogmatic; combines the best elements of each
then comes up with his own scheme therefore
having a positive stand.
VI. The problem of literary criticism lies in the
possible diversities and conflicts among critics as
regards their views on the nature of literature
as well as its functions and effects. For instance,
diverse approaches consider literature as any of
the following:
 As Mimesis – art imitating life
 As Artistic Expression – art for art’s sake; art has
its own universe subjected to its own rules
 As Communication – readable
VII. According to W.C. Brownell, there must be a
correspondence between the idea and the
expression of the idea as well as the value or
significance of the idea itself.
Content – the idea of the work, it cannot be judged
Form – the expression of the idea; it is how it is
written; it is the only criterion where you can say that
one work is better than the other
VIII. There should be no conflict between the creative
and the critical because a creative work is in itself
a critical study. They need not oppose each
other. “Criticism is as inevitable as breathing”
(T.S. Elliot). “Criticism is a genre or a primary
text” (Geoffrey Hartman)
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IX. Obscurity – a device of art; ambiguity of art

(requires interpretation)
to give the close attention that XIV. Critical/ Literary Theories:
literary work requires.
1. Formalism – ‘intrinsic’; emphasis on the “form”… the
X. Kinds of Truth: “how”
a. Imaginative – (insert Plato Line) a. Language
b. Philosophical b. Choice of Images
c. Scientific – Only objective truths; not i. Visual – Mind’s Eye
everything can be done with science ii. Auditory – Minds’s Ear
d. Historic – Fiction made of facts; can never iii. Olfactory – Minds Nose
be that accurate iv. Gustatory – Mind’s Tongue
[The order of presentation signifies the v. Tactile – Mind’s Skin
importance from most to least] vi. Thermal – Hot or cold images
vii. Erotic – Sensual images
XI. Regarding the use of Sin in Literary Works viii. Synesthesia – combination of two
difference images to convey image
“The ethical consideration of an ethical situation is e.g. Shrill Grass, Screaming Roses,
different from the literary consideration of an ethical Furry Flame
situation.” c. Craftsmanship
d. Strategies, techniques, or approaches
Truth in reality is different from truth in art e.g. Flashbacks, Allusions (guy walking out
slowly in rain = BIG SAD), Planting (planting must
Committing a crime in real life means punishment. In have a purpose)
literary works, committing the crime itself is the 2. Russian Formalism – came before formalism;
punishment for the criminal will lose many things, most of “defamiliarization” : make the familiar unfamiliar;
all his humanity. purpose is to leave something for the imagination
|Victor Schlovsky|
[Within the seven sins, the most pathetic is pride 3. Structuralism – there is a structure |Ferdinand de
because it only involves the self, unlike the others which Sausseur| = Father of Structural Linguistics;
either involve a desire?, or other people] “language is composed of a signifier and a signified”
Every word has a referrent
XII. Approaches to Literature ‘Language limits us’
4. Post-Structuralism – A signifier can have a nimber
a. Extrinsic: Moral, Sociological, Psychological, of referrents
Archetypal e.g. ‘baby’, ‘yummy’, ‘beefcake’
Post Structuralism > Deconstruction > Look
i. Moral – for Rupture > Make reader think otherwise
ii. Sociological – involves the milieu 5. Deconstruction
iii. Psychological – applying 6. Phenomenology
psychological theories such as 7. Reader-Response Theory
Freud’s, Jung’s, etc. 8. Psychoanalytic Theory
iv. Archetypal – different tropes or 9. Post-Colonial Theory
characters based on something 10. Feminism/ Body Politics
(e.g. greek god archetypes, damsel 11. Queer Theory
in distress, knight in shining armor) 12. Marxist Theory
13. New Historicism
b. Intrinsic: Formalistic 14. Hermeneutics
Everything is found in the text/ literary 15. Post Modernism
work
Difference Between Poetry and Prose
XIII. Principles to remember concerning moral Poetry Makes time stop (talking about an instance)
evaluation: Prose Makes time move (story progresses)

What is to be judged is the author’s work, Elements of Fiction: (short stories and novels)
not the author
I. Plot (Aristotelian Structure)
A morally defective part does not 1. Exposition
invalidate the other merits of the book 2. Rising Action
3. Climax
4. Falling Action
5. Denouement – Epiphany, Moment of Illumination,
Key Moment

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II. Characters
- A short story usually has one major character while a
novel has several major characters.
- Harder to write a short story because of the limitations
on how much to write
- Harder to write a novel because of the length, and
energy and time required to write.
III. Setting
- The place and time of the story; requires prior
research for plausibility and consistency
IV. Conflict
1. Man vs. Nature
2. Man vs. Man
3. Man vs. Self
V. Point of View
1. 1st Person POV – “I”; more personal and only
shows one perspective.
2. 2nd Person POV – “YOU”; can be an idea,
reader, other character, self.
3. 3rd Person POV – “THEY”; more objective and
impersonal, makes it seem like an observer.
4. Omniscient – ALL KNOWING; They jump from
one event from another, with different characters
5. Central Intelligence – ALL TOLD IN
PERSPECTIVE OF ONE CHARACTER
6. Multiple – Game of Thrones
VI. Themes (Issues)
VII. Voice – the voice of the author; the tone he takes
VIII. Atmosphere – MOOD
POEMS:
Sonnet XXIX
- Persona falls to disgrace because of being an outcast
and shows jealousy to a certain male individual, but
does not want to feel such jealousy and said male
individual had shown persona sweet love that brought
them wealth
She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways
- Persona speaks of a hidden beauty in an environment
not fit for her. She lives neglected and unknown.
Persona expresses admiration towards her as shown
in the stanza where it speaks of her death implying
that it is such a waste for her to be unknown or since
that she was the only beautiful person within said
setting.
My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold
- Excitement felt whenever they see a rainbow, from
childhood til death. Emphasis on the impact of
childhood on the adulthood of a person. Love for
rainbow possibly equates to love for nature.
The River Duddon: After-Thought
- Speaks of the eternal significance of the river and
compares it to man’s legacy. Man feels they are
greater than they know because they can leave
behind a legacy but it only a mere feeling, since the
river is eternal and man is merely mortal.
Ode on a Grecian Urn
- Filled with ironic statements. Speaks of the eternality
of the art found on the grecian urn depicting a story.
Incorporates the line of Plato that mentions reality is
merely a copy of imagination. People grow old but the
urn remains the same for all the generations it may
pass. Beauty is truth, and truth beauty but Edgar Allan
Poe mentions that the demands of Truth is severe so
it cannot be said that truth is merely beauty.
The Conqueror Worm
- A play being watched by heavenly beings such as
angels; a play involving man and the worm. The man
deludes himself with grandeur and even portrays
himself as a god, as beings that are at the top, doing
the same things over and over again. But at the end
of it all, the worm conquers the man in his death. Man
is the Tragic Hero of the play and the Worm conquers
the Man
Richard Cory
- Richard Cory is a well mannered, civilised,
sophisticated, and a well respected citizen. Persona is
a commoner observer that would want to live the life
of Richard Cory. At the end of the poem, he kills
himself. The reason is not divulged for the persona
has no idea since he sees Richard Cory as a man
who has it all.
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
- The title itself pertains to the resistance of people on
their deathbeds from succumbing to eternal slumber.
It speaks of Wise men, Good men, Wild men, and
Grave men. Finally, it also pertains of the father of the
persona, trying to resist for his father, to the point of
inviting and curse or blessing from him just to have
confirmation that he is still there, raging agains the
dying of the light.
I’m Nobody
- Nobody means being a bad different, like a criminal or
something undesired by the vast majority, due to the
line “They’d banish us , you know”. Frog is used as
comparison to somebodies because frogs announce
their presence by croaking loudly. Announced to an
admiring bog, people they don’t actually know.
Patterns
- Patterns speak of a victorian lady with a fiance who’s
a duke fighting in the war. She was supposed to break
the pattern of being single but her fiance died in the
war which made her go back to her old pattern. Hates
being constricted to a pattern. But ironically, if they
were wedded, she would just enter into a new pattern
that she could possibly get bored of after a while.
Girl Disappointed in Love
- Persona lectures the girl that is disappointed in love,
person that thinks they are at the center of things, that
God experiences the same because of the sins of
man. The human heart measures love, and possibly
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emotional pain, while a thermometer may only

measure temperature, only physical pain

Gryphon

The Use of Force

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