The Elements

of Literature
Prose and
Poetry
Prose
 Setting
The TIME and PLACE when the
story takes place.
Setting
How the World Was Created
In the beginning, there were no creatures yet…
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Paris, 1842
 How Odin Lost His Eye
Asgard the kingdom of the god where
there is a rainbow bridge and a magical
well thats waters are clear and still like a
mirror.the waters hold explanations of the
past and tell the future.
 Characterization
Protagonist Antagonist Foil

The main The character A character who

character in the or force that provides a
story. opposes the contrast to the
protagonist protagonist
 King Arthur
 King
 Noble
 Wise
 Kind
Sir Mordred
 Knight
 Traitor
 Cold
 Vicious
 and determined to get the greatest
personal advantage
Sir Bedivere
 Knight
 Trustworthy
 Characterization
Major Character
Almost always round or three –
dimensional characters. They have good
and bad qualities. Their goals, ambitions and
values change.
A character who changes inside as a
result of what happens to him is referred to
in literature as a DYNAMIC character.
 Characterization
Major Character

Odin
Ruler of Asgard,
wisest and most
powerful of
Asgardian Gods
 Characterization
Minor Character
Almost always flat or two – dimensional
characters. They have only one or two
striking qualities. They predominant quality
is not balanced by an opposite quality.
Flat characters are sometimes referred
to as STATIC characters because they do
not change in the course of the story.
Minor Character

Mimir
the wise one
 Point of View
The mode of narration that an author
employs to let the readers “hear” and “see”
what takes place in a story, poem, essay,
etc.
 Point of View
First Person
The narrator is a character in the story
who can reveal only personal thoughts and
feelings and what he or she sees and is told
by other characters. He can’t tell us thoughts
of other characters.
First Person
• The Centipede by Rony V. Diaz
• The Little Prince
 Point of View
Third – Person Objective
The narrator is an outsider who can
report only what he or she sees and hears.
This narrator can tell us what is happening,
but he can’t tell us thoughts of the
characters.
 Point of View
Third – Person Objective
The Three Musketeers
 Point of View
Third – Person Limited
The narrator is an outsider
who sees into the mind of one
of the characters.
Third Person

• The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

• Beowulf
Point of View
Omniscient
The narrator is an all –
knowing outsider who can
enter the minds of more than
one of the characters.
Omniscient
• The Mats by Francisco Arcellana
• Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
 Conflict
Man versus Man
Conflict that pits one person against
another.
Man versus Man
• The Centipede
• Soul of the Great Bell
• King Arthur
• The Song of Roland
 Conflict
Man versus Nature
A run – in with the forces of nature. On
the one hand, it expresses the insignificance
of a single human life in the cosmic scheme
of things. On the other hand, it tests the
limits of a person’ strength and will to live.
Man versus Nature
• Daedalus and Icarus
• The Tale of the Woodcutter and the
Tiger
 Conflict
Man versus Society
The values and customs by which
everyone else lives are being challenged.
The character may come to an untimely end
as a result of his or her own convictions.
Man versus Society
• The Wedding Dance by Amador t. Daguio
Awiyao and Lumnay have to follow
tribe’s tradition.
•The Hunchback of Notre Dame

•Dekada 70
 Conflict
Man versus Himself
Internal conflict. An internal conflict is a
good test of a character’s values.
Man versus Himself
• The Last Leaf by O. Henry
The major character doesn’t want to
live anymore
•The Tale of Two Brothers
•Orpheus
•Pangako Sa’yo
•Iron man
 Plot
This refers to the sequence of events
inside a story which affect other events
through the principle of cause and effect.
Plot
 Plot
Exposition
the introductory material which gives
the setting, creates the tone, presents the
characters, and presents other facts
necessary to understanding the story.
 Plot
Rising Action
A series of events that builds from the
conflict. It begins with the inciting force and
ends with the climax.
 Plot
Climax
This is the result of the crisis. It is the
moment of the highest interest and greatest
emotion. The point at which the outcome of
the conflict can be predicted.
 Plot
Falling Action
The events after the climax which close
the story.
 Plot
Resolution ( Denouement)
Rounds out and concludes the action.
Plot
Plot: The Wedding Dance

The story opens with

Awiyao entering his
and Lumnay’s house.
Plot: The Wedding Dance

Things start to heat

up when Lumnay
says she does not
want any other
man.
Plot: The Wedding Dance
There is more
intensity when
Awiyao says he
does not want any
other woman.
Plot: The Wedding Dance

But they
both have
to follow
their tribe’s
tradition.
Plot: The Wedding Dance
Awiyao has
to go back to
the wedding
dance.
 Tone and Mood
Tone
The author’s attitude, stated
or implied, toward a subject. An
author’s tone can be revealed
through choice of words and
details.
 Tone and Mood
Mood
The climate of feeling in the
literary work. The choice of
setting, objects, details, images
and words all contribute towards
creating a specific mood.
 Symbolism
A person, place or object
which has a meaning in itself
but suggests other meaning
as well.
Symbolism
The Wedding Dance
• Darkness symbolizes the sadness in their
hearts
• Embers in the fire logs signify their strong
and deep love for each other
 Theme
The main idea or underlying
meaning of a literary work. A theme
may be stated or implied. Theme
differs from the subject or topic of a
literary work in that it involves a
statement or opinion about the
topic.
Theme: The Wedding Dance

True love never dies.

Poetry
 STANZAS
• Stanzas are a series of lines
grouped together and separated
by an empty line from other
stanzas. They are the equivalent
of a paragraph in an essay. One
way to identify a stanza is to
count the number of lines.
 STANZAS
 couplet (2 lines)
The Sea by Natividad Marquez
 tercet (3 lines)
Haiku
The Eagle
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-92)
He clasps the crag with crooked hands:
Close to the sun it lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, it stands.
 STANZAS
 quatrain (4 lines)
Stopping by the Woods on Snowy Evening
 cinquain (5 lines)
Dinosaurs
Lived once,
Long ago, but
Only dust and dreams
Remain
 STANZAS
 sestet (6 lines) (sometimes it's called a
sexain)
Carpe Diem, by William Shakespeare
O mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O stay and hear! your true-love's coming
That can sing both high and low;
Trip no further, pretty sweeting,
Journey's end in lovers' meeting—
Every wise man's son doth know.
 STANZAS
 septet (7 lines)
Annabel Lee, by Edgar Allan Poe
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we,
Of many far wiser than we,
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
 STANZAS
 octave (8 lines)
Annabel Lee, by Edgar Allan Poe
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
 FORM/ STYLE
1. Lyric Poetry
It is any poem with one
speaker (not necessarily the poet) who
expresses strong thoughts and
feelings. Most poems, especially
modern ones, are lyric poems.
Subcategories of Lyric Poems
A. The Sonnet
Two types of sonnets:
1. The Italian and
2. The English or
Shakespearean.
Subcategories of Lyric Poems
Both types follow a similar
structure, with the main variation
being a different rhyme scheme (the
pattern of end rhyme).
Sonnets have 14 lines usually
written in iambic pentameter (five
pairs of stressed and unstressed
syllables).
 Subcategories of Lyric Poems
B. The Elegy
a formal lament for the death of a
particular person (for
example Tennyson’s In Memoriam
A.H.H.). More broadly defined, the
term elegy is also used for solemn
meditations, often on questions of
death, such as Gray's Elegy Written
in a Country Churchyard.
 Subcategories of Lyric Poems
C. Ode
a long lyric poem with a serious subject
written in an elevated style. Famous
examples are Wordsworth’s Hymn to
Duty or Keats’ Ode to a Grecian Urn.
 FORM/ STYLE
2. Narrative Poem
It is a poem that tells a story; its
structure resembles the plot line of a story
[i.e. the introduction of conflict and
characters, rising action, climax and the
denouement].
 Subcategories of Narrative Poetry

A.Epics
usually operate on a large scale,
both in length and topic, it tends
to use an elevated style of
language and supernatural
beings take part in the action.
 Subcategories of Narrative Poetry

B. Ballad
song, originally transmitted orally,
which tells a story. The ballad
stanza is usually a four-line
stanza, alternating tetrameter
and trimeter.
FORM/ STYLE: Narrative Poetry
• Biag ni Lam – Ang
• The Battle with Grendel
• The Seven Ages of Man
 FORM/ STYLE
3. Descriptive Poem
It is a poem that describes the world
that surrounds the speaker. It uses elaborate
imagery and adjectives. While emotional, it
is more "outward-focused" than lyric poetry,
which is more personal and introspective.
 FORM/ STYLE
4. Didactic poem is primarily to
teach something. It imparts moral,
theoretical or even practical
knowledge; Horace famously
demanded that poetry should
combine prodesse (learning) and
delectare (pleasure).
 SOUND PATTERNS
• RHYME
Rhyme is the repetition of similar
sounds. In poetry, the most common kind
of rhyme is the end rhyme, which occurs
at the end of two or more lines. It is usually
identified with lower case letters, and a
new letter is used to identify each new end
sound.
 SOUND PATTERNS
• RHYTHM AND METER
Meter: the systematic regularity in
rhythm; this systematic rhythm (or sound
pattern) is usually identified by examining
the type of "foot" and the number of feet.
 SOUND PATTERNS
• RHYTHM AND METER
The most common meters are as follows:
1. Iambic – two syllables, with the short or
unstressed syllable followed by the long or
stressed syllable.
2. Trochaic – two syllables, with the long or
stressed syllable followed by the short or
unstressed syllable. In English, this meter is
found almost entirely in lyric poetry.
3. Pyrrhic – Two unstressed syllables
 SOUND PATTERNS
• RHYTHM AND METER
The most common meters are as follows:
4. Anapestic – three syllables, with the first
two short or unstressed and the last long
or stressed.
5. Dactylic – three syllables, with the first
one long or stressed and the other two
short or unstressed.
 SOUND PATTERNS
• RHYTHM AND METER
The most common meters are as follows:
6. Spondaic – two syllables, with
two successive long or stressed
syllables.
Some forms have a combination
of meters, often using a different
meter for the refrain.
 SOUND PATTERNS
• RHYTHM AND METER
Meter
1. Poetic Foot: The traditional line of metered
poetry contains a number of rhythmical units, which
are called feet. The feet in a line are distinguished
as a recurring pattern of two or three syllables
("apple" has 2 syllables, "banana" has 3 syllables,
etc.). The pattern, or foot, is designated according to
the number of syllables contained, and the
relationship in each foot between the strong and
weak syllables
 SOUND PATTERNS
• RHYTHM AND METER
Meter
2. Blank Verse: Any poetry that does
have a set metrical pattern (usually
iambic pentameter), but does not have
rhyme, is blank verse. Shakespeare
frequently used unrhymed iambic
pentameter in his plays; his works are
an early example of blank verse.
 SOUND PATTERNS
• RHYTHM AND METER
Meter
3. Free Verse: Free verse has no
rules about meter or rhyme. [In
other words, blank verse has
rhythm, but no rhyme, while free
verse has neither rhythm nor
rhyme.] Free verse can also apply
to a lack of a formal verse structure.
 WORD SOUNDS
 Alliteration: the repetition of initial sounds
on the same line or stanza

 Assonance: the repetition of vowel

sounds (anywhere in the middle or end of
a line or stanza)

 Consonance: the repetition of consonant

sounds (anywhere in the middle or end of
a line or stanza)
 WORD SOUNDS
 Onomatopoeia: words that
sound like that which they
describe

 Repetition: the repetition of

entire lines or phrases to
emphasize key thematic ideas
FIGURATIVE DEVICES
• Simile
• Metaphor
• Symbol
• Allegory
• Personification
• Irony
 The Seven Ages of Man
• An example of narrative poem
• The tone of this poem is fairly calm
and soft.
• The structure of this poem is that of
free verse.
• rhythm of iambic pentameter, but the
structure is not limited to ten syllables
of stressed and unstressed accents.
 The Seven Ages of Man
• Poetic devices used:
metaphor : "all the worlds a stage"
"and all the men and women
merely players"
personification : "even in the cannon's
mouth"
 The Seven Ages of Man

Imagery: “with spectacles on nose and

pouch on his side”
alliteration: "for his shrunk shrank"