LITERATURE
Topic: Technical Literature Lect
Figure 1
SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF LITERATURE
Activity 1
Name: _________________________________ Date: _____________________
Year & Section: __________________________
KWL TEST
INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE
Definition of Literature
Literature is life. It presents human experience. But unlike the great news photo, literature presents life and experience not only by telling you what they are, but also by showing them to you through a medium called language. Language, as you know, is composed of words that are combined into sentences to express ideas, emotions or desires.
Literature presents human experience in various forms such as sensations, feelings, moods, attitudes, thoughts and events interrelated series. In presenting all these varied human experiences, the writer of literature chooses a specific vehicle or artistic structure to convey his meaning or value of the experience. Then, he selects a particular angle of vision to present this human experience to his reader in such a way that his readers become truly and personally involved in the experience, for, when they assume this angle vision, they actually feel that they are the people performing the experience being shown to them.
Among the best ways to spend one’s leisure profitably is to read literature. What is literature? It is defined as the “faithful reproduction of life, executed in an artistic pattern. It is the orchestration of the manifold experiences of man, blended into harmonious and desired patterns of expression.” The definition focuses on two aspects: content and form. The content of literature is life presented in an artistic form. Man’s various experiences expressed in his thoughts, ideas, emotions, attitudes and behavior told in vivid, well-chosen words are the main concern of literature. The reader thus identifies himself in these varied experiences in words that harmonize with his thoughts.
The term Literature is derived from the Latin word, “Litterae”, meaning letters. In this sense, essays, novels, shorts stories, poems, biographies, autobiographies and journals are considered literature. In its broadest sense, literature is everything oral and written. The medium of literature is language. The words are combined into sentences to express ideas, thoughts, feelings, desires and values.
It is the total of the preserved writings belonging to a given language or people. Literature consists of those writings, which interpret the meanings and nature of life, in words of charm and power, touched with the personality of the author, in artistic forms of permanent interest.
Literature appeals to our higher nature and its needs – emotional, spiritual, intellectual and creative. Like all other forms of art, literature entertains and gives pleasure; it fires the imagination and arouses noble emotions. It enriches us to reflect on life by filling us with new ideas and concepts.
Therefore, the study of literature gives us the ability to cope with life because of the understanding of human nature which it imparts.
Why we read and study Literature
We read literature for a variety of reasons. We read for information and knowledge about people, places and events. We also read for pleasure, entertainment and enlightenment. We read poetry because the beautifully expressed thoughts appeal to our feelings. We also read stories and novels to meet characters who teach us moral values and serve as role models.
Significance of Literature
1. It has provided man lasting effective expression to his thoughts and feelings.
2. It has contributed to the development of society and civilization.
3. It has helped preserve a heritage which gives meaning to a people’s ideas.
4. It has pictured the level of a country’s culture and manifests the creative genius of the race.
5. It has engendered ideas that could have a great effect on the readers. Some books or writings have started a revolution like Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.
Reading literature makes us well informed about various areas of knowledge that have accumulated through the years. It informs us about man’s progress as well as the mistakes and successes of human endeavors.
Reading is a worthwhile form of literature.
Reading good pieces of literature provides a source of inspiration. It encourages and motivates us to improve our present lot to attain our ambitions in life.
Reading is a form of therapy. The books we read can provide a substitute object for draining-off our bad or unpleasant emotions like anger and hatred, grievances and frustrations. Shouting or sympathizing with the villain in the story is one way of releasing our tension.
Reading of literary work is not merely recognizing the words on a page. It is experiencing the writer’s artistic efforts expressed in various forms. By reading, we experience joy and pleasure, as well as learn the desirable values about the beautiful, the noble, the distinguished, the lonely, and the unusual, which can influence our lives.
Reading literature can be fun when we are able to capture the beauty of the passages of the literary works by reacting and responding to the author’s thoughts, emotions and beliefs and by relating writer’s experiences in life to our own.
The inspiration we derive from reading, listening or seeing a literary masterpiece can mend or improve our ways. It can influence our philosophy of life. We can become more humane in our thoughts and behavior through constant reading and study of literary works of art.
Earmarks of Literature
1. It has universality of thoughts and feelings. Through experiences which every man may encounter, he creates an impression of life.
2. It is conditioned by the physical environment and the social and economic organization of a people. Nations fighting for freedom breed intensely patriotic writings.
3. It is conditioned by the presence or absence of great intellectual and sensitive souls.
Classification of Literature
1. Base on mode of transmission, it may be oral, written (and lately electronic).
2. Base on area, it may be provincial, national or international
3. Base on form, it may be prose, poetry or drama
Reasons for the study of the World Literature
If we wish to understand a people fully, we will find the historical account alone inadequate for our purpose. Though history will tell us the battles won by people among nations and what they have had in the progress of the world, it has little to say on their innermost thoughts and feelings – their real life. This information can be obtained from the literature, which they themselves have written. Literature is the treasure house of ideals. The man who is not guided by an ideal is worthless, and even dangerous, to society. Literature not only stores up the noblest ideals that the world has known, but it inspires and fosters these in men.
Since literature reveals the deepest thoughts and feelings of the human race, cherishes the ideals that lie at the basis of all that we hold to be most precious in our world today and helps us to understand more fully this complex life that we have to live, it is one of the most valuable and really practical subjects that a student can pursue.
“Literature makes comprehensible the myriad ways in which human beings meet the infinite possibilities that life offers” Louise M. Rosenblatt
Knowledge of literature is not something to be found, not something the teacher can give to the students. Rather it is to be created by the individual through exchanges with texts and other readers
Activity 3
Name: _________________________________ Date: _____________________
Year & Section: _________________________
CORNELL SUMMARY
TERMS DEFINITION
SUMMARY
Activity 7
Name: _________________________________ Date: _____________________ Year & Section: __________________________
ONE-PAGER
I. Illustration
II. Quotation
III. Interpretation
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Activity 8
Name: _________________________________ Date: _____________________ Year & Section: __________________________
LEARNER’S BOX
(.) ASSERTION
(?) QUESTION
(,) CONNECTION
(!) REACTION
(-) IMPLICATION
(.) Assertion - refers to the main idea (?) Question - refers to clarification
(,) Connection - refers to an associate idea (!) Reaction - refers to reader’s opinion
(-) Implication - refers to application in reality ©mbueno2000
Activity 9
Name: _________________________________ Date: _____________________ Year & Section: __________________________
PROCESS LESSON SHEET
KNOW WANT LEARN
Personal Connection Text Preview Learner’s Box
(.)
(?)
Background
Connection
(!)
Reading
Connection (,)
(-)
TERMS DEFINITION
SUMMARY
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