Comprehensive Study Notes on the Genres and Elements of Literature
Etymology and Fundamental Classifications of Literature
Literature is a term derived from the Latin term litera, which translates to "letter." This field refers to preserved writings that engage with the ideas, thoughts, and emotions of humanity. Literature is broadly categorized into two major forms: prose and poetry. Prose consists of written or spoken language in its ordinary form, typically organized into sentences and paragraphs. Within prose, a primary distinction is made between fiction, which refers to stories created from the imagination of the writer, and nonfiction, which refers to factual stories based on real people and true events.
Narrative Fiction and Short Story Categories
Fiction includes several distinct genres, beginning with the short story, which is defined as a narrative involving one or more characters, a single plot, and a single impression. Specific sub-types of short narrative fiction include legends, which are narratives explaining the origin of animals or phenomena, such as "The Legend of Piña." Fables provide another category, dealing with animals and inanimate objects that speak and act like humans; their purpose is to enlighten the minds of children and mold their attitudes, exemplified by "The Monkey and the Turtle." A parable is a short tale that teaches a moral, usually derived from the Bible, such as the story of "The Prodigal Son." Anecdotes, which can feature animals or children, aim to bring out specific lessons for readers, as seen in "The Moth and the Lamp."
Other fictional forms include the folktale, described as an anonymous, timeless, and placeless story that circulates orally among people. Myths are used to explain the origin of life, religious beliefs, and forces of nature as supernatural occurrences featuring deities, such as the story of "Arachnid and Athena." Folklore represents the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group or subculture, encompassing oral traditions such as tales, myths, legends, proverbs, urban legends, and personal experience narratives. Larger works of fiction include the novel, a long narrative divided into many chapters that spans a long period of time. Dramatic fiction includes plays or drama, which are intended to be acted out on stage before an audience using acts and scenes. Plays are often categorized as either comedy, which is light and humorous, or tragedy, which concludes with an unhappy ending or disaster.
Nonfiction, Essays, and Public Discourse
Nonfiction deals with reality and factual reporting. The essay is a prominent form wherein a writer expresses their viewpoint regarding a single subject, such as an editorial. Biographical works are split into two categories: a biography deals with the life story of a person written by another individual, while an autobiography is a life story written by the subject themselves. Diaries and journals also fall under this factual umbrella. News serves as the report of everyday events in society, government, science, industry, and accidents occurring nationally or internationally. Speeches are written discourses intended for public delivery. Examples of speeches include the oration, which is a formal treatment of a subject appealing to the intellect, will, or emotions of an audience, and the eulogy, which is a speech dedicated to the dead.
The Composition and Elements of Poetry
Poetry is characterized by its use of verse, measure, rhyme, lines, and stanzas, which collectively produce a melodious tone. It is divided into three main types: narrative, lyric, and dramatic. Narrative poetry describes important real or imaginary life events. The epic is an extended narrative about heroic exploits often involving gods and supernatural control, such as "Ibalon (Bicol)," "Indarapatra and Sulayman (Maguindanao)," "Biag ni Lam-ang (Ilocos)," or the "Iliad and Odyssey." Metrical tales are narratives written in verse and can include idylls, home tales, love tales, or tales of the supernatural. The shortest and simplest form of narrative poetry is the ballad, which possesses a simple structure and recounts a single event.
Lyric poetry was originally meant to be sung to the accompaniment of a musical instrument and focuses on the feelings and emotions of the poet. This category includes folksongs (Awiting Bayan) like "Chit chirit chit," "Pamulinawen," and "Leron Leron Sinta." Sonnets are lyric poems consisting of iambic pentameter lines. An elegy expresses grief and melancholy with a theme of death, while an ode is a poem of noble feeling expressed with dignity and no set number of syllables or lines. Psalms (dalit) are songs praising God or the Virgin Mary and contain a philosophy of life. The Awit (Song) is dodecasyllabic, possessing a measure of syllables and sung slowly to a guitar or banduria, as seen in "Florante at Laura." The Corridos (kuridos) have an octosyallbic measure of syllables and are recited to a martial beat, such as "Ibong Adarna."
Dramatic poetry is intended for stage performance. Comedy in this context is light and written to amuse with a happy ending. Melodrama is used in musical plays like the opera to arouse intense emotion; while usually sad, it features a happy ending for the principal character. Tragedy involves a hero struggling against dynamic forces only to meet death or ruin. Farce is an exaggerated comedy aiming to provoke mirth through laughable lines and ridiculous situations where characters appear as caricatures. Social poems can be comic or tragic and aim to depict contemporary life or advocate for societal change.
Elements of a Story and Narrative Structure
The fundamental elements of a story include the setting (place and time), characters (the persons or animals involved), and the theme (the central idea). The plot is the series of events that form the story's structure. According to Freytag's Pyramid, the plot contains several parts: the exposition (introduction of characters and setting), the rising action (where conflict and suspense build), the climax (the peak of tension and suspense), the falling action (events following the climax), and the resolution or conclusion. Conflict is the driving force of the plot, consisting of opposing forces that move the story forward. There are two kinds of conflict: internal conflict (character vs. himself) and external conflict. External conflict includes categories such as character vs. character, character vs. society, character vs. nature, character vs. supernatural forces, and character vs. technology.
Literary Devices and the Use of Flashbacks
A flashback is a literary device used by an author to interrupt the present timeline of a story to show an event that occurred in the past. This device helps the audience recall, remember, or be reminded of previous occurrences. Authors use specific text clues to signal a transition into a flashback, such as " years ago," "He remembered," "Years before," or "His mind drifted back." The transition back to the current timeline is often signaled by phrases like "Always," "Now," "Back to the present," or "She was pulled." The purpose of a flashback is varied: it can reveal a character’s secrets that impact the present, explain why a character acts in a certain way, or show the historical significance of a specific object.