Mukhlis Tanveer Jan writer.

English Literature with Mukhlis Tanveer kurd

Welcome to class!

In today’s class, we will be talking about the sources of literature. Enjoy the class!

Sources of Literature

Sources of Literature classnotes.ng

All works of literature, whether African, European, American, English, Indian, Japanese, and so on, originated from what is called Oral Literature or tradition, that is, a literature that was passed on from generation to generation through the word of mouth. Nevertheless, as time went on, the literature in the different parts of the world started to follow another trend rather than the initial borrowing from resources of oral tradition.

In light of the above, it is evident that the pattern adopted subsequently by the writers began to focus on various issues that confronted the various parts of the world. In a nutshell, the issues in various continents of the world changed, as is evident in various writings of various writers. Examples include John Pepper Clark’s “Casualties” which is preoccupied with the devastating effects of the Civil War in Nigeria from 1967-1970, George Orwell’s Animal Farm which focuses on Russia’s Bolshevik revolution and the betrayal of the cause by Joseph Stalin, among others

Significantly, while African writers such as Ngugi wa Thiongo’o, Chinua Achebe, and so on death on issues such as Colonialism, Cultural Conflict, among other things; writers of European and other continents in the world such Shakespeare, Conrad, Dickens, Chaucer, Beckett, Woolf, Joyce, Twain, Hardy, Eliot, Hawthorne, and so on were writing about issues that were confronting their societies at various points in literary history such as the Industrial Revolution, the devastating World Wars which lasted from 1914 -1945, English traditions, moral issues, seven deadly sins, human behaviours and experiences, the American dream, among other things.

From the foregoing discussion, it is evident that the origin of literature whether drama, poetry or prose are not limited to one source but various sources.

In our next class, we will be talking about the Purpose of Literature. We hope you enjoyed the class.

Welcome to class!

In today’s class, we will be talking about the purpose of literature. Enjoy the class!

The Purpose of Literature

The Purpose of Literature classnotes.ng

Literature in English should be taught at various secondary school levels to achieve the following purposes:

Inculcate in the students the entertainment and instructive values of literature as a follow-up to the literary skill learnt in the Junior Secondary School.

Give students a rich and well rounded humanistic education. This can be achieved through broadening the cultural horizon of the students by exposing them to works that are varied in perspective and yet universal in application.

Equip the students to develop the capacity for independent thought and judgement.

Develop student’s ability to respond appropriately and independently to literary works.

Re-enforce the English language skill already acquired by the students by exposing them to language in action in literary text and works.

Expose students to healthy human values attributed.

Expose students to the beauty and potentials of language.

Encourage attempts at creative writing as a means of understanding the creative process and appreciating the principle of creativity especially for those who can benefit from it.

In our next class, we will be talking about Genres of Literature. We hope you enjoyed the class.

Welcome to class!

In today’s class, we will be talking about the genres of literature. Enjoy the class!

Genres of Literature I

The word “genre” is of French origin and it means “kind or sort”. It is the organisation of literature into categories based on the type of writing the piece exemplifies through its content, form, or style. In literature, there are three types of genre namely:

Poetry

Prose and

Drama

Poetry

According to Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth in their seminal work titled the Lyrical Ballad (1798), poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions recollected in tranquillity. Poetry is a major literary genre that can take many forms.

Some common characteristics that poetry shares are that it is written in lines that have meter and rhythm. These lines are put together to form stanza in contrast to other writings that utilize sentences that are divided into paragraphs. Poetry often relies heavily on figurative languages such as metaphors and similes to convey meanings and create images for the reader.

Types of poetry

Sonnet: This is a one stanza fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter (i.e. a line of ten syllables, which alternate stressed and undressed syllables according to the iambic rhythm).An example is “Sonnet 18” which is a poem by William Shakespeare. It is a structured poem that consists of 14 lines that follow a meter (iambic pentameter) and a rhyme scheme that is consist of Shakespearean Sonnet. Its rhyme scheme is usually “ababcdcdefefgg”.

Ode: This is a classical musical poem that is meant to be sung. It is also a lyrical poem, typically one in the form of an address to a particular subject, written in varied or irregular metre. An example is John Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn”.

Elergy/Dirge: This is a sad, mournful or melancholic poem that is recited for the dead at a funeral. An example is “Adonais” which was written in 1821 on the death of John Keats by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Epic: This is a lengthy narrative poem that is written on a serious subject to praise heroic deeds and events of the significance of a culture or nation. Examples of this include Homer’s “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey”.

Ballad: This is a narrative poem that tells a story. Ballads began as folk songs and continue to be used today in modern music. A typical ballad consists of stanzas that contain a quatrain, or four poetic lines. The meter or rhythm of each line is usually iambic, which means it has one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. In ballads, there are usually eight or six syllables in a line. Like any poem, some ballads follow this form and some don’t, but almost all ballads are narrative, which means they tell a story. An example is Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”.

Pastoral poem: This poem is seen to talk about Shepard, livestock, farmers or peasants and rural life. It also usually talks about a communal setting. An example of this is Christopher Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepard to His Love”.

Panegyric: This is a formal public speech or written verse delivered in high praise of a person or thing. An example of this is Oluwasola Abiola’s “I Am of OAU”.

Nonsense poem: This is a poem that was made popular by Edward Lear. It is a poem via speech, writing or any other communication system that lacks coherent meaning. An example is Anonymous’ “Hey Diddle Diddle”

Limerick: This type of poem is a humourous five-line poem with a rhyme scheme of aabba. It was also made popular by the popular English poet, Edward Lear. The first, second, and fifth lines must have seven to ten syllables while rhyming and having the same verbal rhythm. The third and fourth lines should only have five to seven syllables; they too must rhyme with each other and have the same rhythm. An example of a Limerick is Edward Lear’s “There Was An Old Person of Dean”.

Lyric: This is a type of short poem which expresses deep personal feelings, thoughts and emotions. It is usually sung and accompanied by the music of the lyre. An example of a lyric is William Butler Yeats’ “He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven”.

In our next class, we will be talking more about Genres of Literature. We hope you enjoyed the class.

This is a day by day account of a person’s life. It is a record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. A personal diary may include a person’s experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, including comment on current events outside the writer’s direct experience.

Essay:

This is a short non-fiction work about a particular topic called an essay. It looks at one subject in a limited way. Essays are generally short pieces of writing written from an author’s personal point of view, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of an article, a pamphlet and a short story.

Historical Document or Speech:

This is an official statement that records the social and political beliefs of groups of people, and individuals in history and exposes the readers to the language and attitude of the time.

Documentary:

It is a non-fiction form that uses primary and secondary sources.

In our next class, we will be talking about Prose. We hope you enjoyed the class.

to their audience as historically or empirically true. The memoir Night by Elie Wiesel is a memoir telling the story of Wiesel’s experience as a young Jewish boy during the h*******t.

Types of non-fiction

There are several types of non-fiction in literature and they include:

biography

autobiography

memoir

diary or Journal

essay

historical document or speech

documentary, and so on.

Biography:

This is a book about a person’s life written by someone else. It is also known as a bio. It is a detailed description or account of a person’s life. It entails more than basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death – a biography also portrays a subject’s experience of these events.

Autobiography:

This is a book that someone writes about his or her own life. It is a written account of the life of a person written by that person. It is based on the writer’s memory. It is closely associated with the memoir.

Memoir:

This is a book a person writes about a particular time in his or her lifetime. It does not cover from birth to death. It is a collection of memories that an individual writes about moments and events both public and private that took place in the author’s life. The memoir tells a story from a life, the whole autobiography tells the story of a life.

Diary or Journal:

This is a day by day account of a person’s life. It is a record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. A personal diary may include a person’s experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, including comment on current events outside the writer’s direct experience.

Essay:

This is a short non-fiction work about a particular topic called an essay. It looks at one subject in a limited way. Essays are generally short pieces of writing written from an author’s personal point of view, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of an article, a pamphlet and a short story.

Historical Document or Speech:

This is an official statement that records the social and political beliefs of groups of people, and individuals in history and exposes the readers to the language and attitude of the time.

Documentary:

It is a non-fiction form that uses primary and secondary sources.

Elements of Literature.

1. Character

The most fundamental of the literary elements, the root of all storytelling, is this: character.

No matter what species your main character belongs to, what their socio-ethno-economic background is, what planet they come from, or what time period they occupy, your characters will have innate needs and desires that we as human beings can see within ourselves. The longing for independence, the desire to be loved, the need to feel safe are all things that most of us have experienced and can relate to when presented through the filter of story.

The first step to using this literary element is easy, and what most new writers think of when they start thinking about characters. it’s simply asking yourself, who is this person? (And again, I’m using “person” in the broadest possible sense.) What makes them interesting? Why is this protagonist someone I might enjoy reading about?

The second step is a little harder. Ask yourself, what does this person want? To be chosen for their high school basketball team? To get accepted into a university across the country? To find a less stressful job?

The third step is the most difficult, and the most important. Ask yourself what they need. Do they want to join the basketball team because they need the approval of their parents? Do they want to move across the country because they need a fresh start in a new place? Do they want a new job because they need to feel that their contribution is valued?

Once you’re able to answer these questions you’ll already feel the bones of a narrative taking shape.

Character is the Most Important litry Element

Types of characters you’ll find in every story

Since character is the primary building block of all good literature, you’ll want your character to be as engaging and true to real life as can be. Let’s take a quick look at some of the different character types you’ll encounter in your story world.

Protagonist

Your protagonist is the main character of your story. Often they’ll be the hero, but not always—antiheroes and complex morally grey leads make for interesting plots, too. This is the character through which your reader goes on a journey and learns the valuable lessons illustrated in your themes (more on theme down below).

Antagonist

Your antagonist is the person standing in the way of your protagonist’s goal. These two central characters have opposing desires, and it’s the conflict born out of that opposition that drives the events of the plot. Sometimes an antagonist will be a villain bent on world destruction, and sometimes it’ll be an average person who simply sees the world in a different way.

Supporting characters

Once you have those two essential leads, your story needs its supporting cast. This is where you get to have fun with other characters like friends, love interests, family dynamics, and a whole range of character archetypes that bring your story to life. You can learn more about character archetypes in a story here.

Foil characters

As a bonus, many stories may also feature foil characters. A foil character in literature refers to two characters who may or may not be at odds with each other, but are opposite in every way. This literary technique works effectively to highlight aspects of each character. Your foil characters may be the protagonist and the antagonist, or the protagonist and one of the supporting characters, or both.

2. Setting

Your setting is where, when, and to some degree how your story takes place. It’s also your character’s relationship with the world around them. A story setting might be as small as a cupboard under the stairs, or it might be as wide and vast as twenty thousand leagues of endless grey sea. A short story might have only one setting, the heart of where the story takes place; longer works such as novels will probably have several. You can use all five senses to develop your setting.

Setting often gets overlooked as a less important literary element than character, plot, or conflict, but in reality a setting can drive all of these things. So much of who we are is shaped by the social setting we grew up, the places we spend our time, the time period we grew up in, and major events of the time that impacted our cultural awareness. Your characters are no different.

Someone who has spent their life on a sprawling country estate bordering a dark and spooky wood will naturally grow into someone very different than someone living in the narrow back alleys of a noisy, gritty city—just as someone living in the Great Depression of the 1930s will grow to develop different habits and perspectives than someone living in the technological advancements of the late 1990s.

SETTINGS IS WHERE THE REAL MAGIC HAPPEN

Layers of setting to explore in your writing

Setting isn’t just about place—it’s about building your story world from the ground up. Here are the three different layers of setting you’ll need to consider when crafting your tale.

Temporal settings

Temporal setting refers to the time in which your story is set. This means the period of history—whether that’s in contemporary times, at the turn of the century, or in a distant future—as well as the season of the year, time of day or night, and point in your protagonist’s life cycle.

Environmental settings

This is the wider world of your story—what fantasy and science-fiction writers call “worldbuilding.” It refers to the natural landscape your characters find themselves in as well as cultural, political, and socioeconomic values and the way your characters interact with those values.

Individual settings

This is the fine details of setting, and what we most often tend to think about when we consider setting in a story. These are the stages on which your story takes place: an elementary school, a police station, a city park, a pirate ship. Your story needs the support of temporal and environmental setting, but individual settings are what really bring the world to life.

3. Narrative

The way you’re telling your story to the reader is as essential as the story that’s being told. In literary terms, narrative is the perspective from which the events of the story are unfolding and the way that you, as the author, have chosen to communicate them.

Every single character brings a different perspective to the story. They may have prejudices, limitations, prior knowledge, or deep character flaws that colour the way they see the world around them.

Point of view creates the readers sense of immersion in a story

Some stories stay with only one character throughout the entire journey; others may explore the thoughts and feelings of many. As an exercise, you may want to try writing a story from multiple perspectives to gain a better understanding of your story world. You’d be surprised how much you can learn about your characters that you never imagined.

Types of PoV used in fiction writing

Point of view, or PoV, is one of the most important choices a writer makes when beginning a new work of fiction. Here’s a quick overview of the different points of view you’ll find in all narratives.

First Person Subjective

First person narratives are written from the character’s point of view (or the PoV of multiple characters) as if they were speaking directly to the reader. You’ll use statements like “I saw a shadow move from the corner of my eye,” or, “and then he told me that it was over.” First person subjective PoV takes the reader into the mind of the character and shows us everything they’re thinking and feeling.

First Person Objective

First person objective is very similar because it’s also from the character’s perspective and uses “I” and “me” statements. The difference is that the objective PoV doesn’t show the character’s internal thoughts and feelings—only their actions. This gives the reader an outside perspective and makes them feel like they’re watching video footage of the story, deducing what’s happening under the surface from the events of the plot.

Second Person

Second person PoV has a lot in common with first person, but instead of being told from the main character’s perspective, it’s told from the reader’s—this allows the reader to become the person telling the story. You may remember this from “Choose Your Own Adventure” books. In second person narration, you’ll use statements like “you turn a corner and find yourself staring at a door you’ve never seen.” This is challenging to do well, but a fun creative exercise for any writer.

Third Person Limited Subjective

Third person points of view are the most classic in literature; they use “he,” “she,” or “they” to follow the characters’ journeys. In a limited subjective point of view, you’ll allow the reader to experience the thoughts and feelings of your protagonist—but no one else. This is a common narrative choice in mystery novels.

Third Person Objective

Third person objective is pretty similar to first person objective, but it uses the third person pronouns. The reader won’t experience anything the characters are thinking or feeling except through their actions and the choices that they make, leaving the true undercurrents of the story to the reader’s imagination.

Objective and Subjective are two different types of point of View

Third Person Multiple Subjective

This perspective works like third person limited subjective, in that it takes the reader into the minds of the characters using the pronouns “he,” “she,” or “they.” The difference is that the reader gets to see into more than one character—but only one at any given moment. This might involve chapters that alternate between one character and another, or a story that shows two different timelines with protagonists for each one.

Third Person Omniscient

This perspective is very similar to third person multiple subjective, but it allows the reader to see into more than one character’s thoughts in the same moment. The third person omniscient creates a “mental dollhouse” effect in which the internal workings of everyone on stage is exposed to the reader.

4. Plot

In a literary text, the plot is the sequence of events that takes the protagonist on a journey—whether that’s a literal journey from one place to another, a journey in which they learn how something came to be, or a journey in which they learn something about themselves. Some stories may be all of these things.

How your protagonist reacts to the events around them and the choices that they make come from the things they want and the things they need—we looked at that a little bit in character, above. Most of these stories will fall into one of a few classic plot structures that have been shown to resonate with us on a deep, instinctual level. And every one of these plot structures will use several essential plot points.

In literary terms, plot is the sequence of events in a narrative work.

Important plot points every story needs

There’s a number of different ways to approach the plot of your story, but you’ll find that most of them follow the same general sequence of events from the inciting incident, or the first key plot point, to the denouement. Let’s look at the different stages that a good story will pass through from beginning to end.

Inciting incident

The inciting incident is the event that changes the protagonist’s life and sends them on a different path than the one they were on before. This will be the first major plot point of every story, and is essential for grabbing the reader’s attention. A good example might be if a mysterious new stranger enters the protagonist’s life.

Rising action

During the first half of your story, your characters will encounter several challenges on their way to achieving their goal (the one set into motion by the inciting incident). These “mini battles” form the rising action of a story.

Climax

The climax is the great showdown between the protagonist and their adversary, the moment of greatest triumph and greatest loss. Everything your characters have learned through the rising action has led to this moment.

Falling action

After the final battle, your characters need to adjust to the new landscape of their world. During the falling action, you’ll show the reader how the effects of the rising action and the climax reverberate into the characters’ lives.

Denouement

The denouement is the final scene of any story that wraps up all the lingering threads and answers any unaddressed questions. A well-written denouement will leave the reader feeling satisfied as they close the book.

5. Conflict

When looking at the events that make up your plot, all of the choices your character needs to make will be in response to the literary element we call “conflict.” This makes it one of the most essential literary elements in literature. This might be a conflict with another person, a conflict inside themselves, or a conflict with their environment. It might be all of these things. There’s a reason we close the book after “happily ever after”; once there’s no more conflict, the story has run its course and there’s nothing more to say.

In a story, your protagonist should always have something to fight for. After you’ve determined what they want and what they need most, ask yourself what’s standing in their way. What steps can they take to overcome this obstacle? And—this is a big one—what do they stand to lose if they fail?

How your protagonist reacts to these conflicts shows a lot about who they are as a person. As the story progresses and your character grows, the way they handle these conflicts will probably change—they’ll start taking an active role in moving the story along, rather than a passive one.

Types of conflict that drive your characters

Conflict is essential to a good story, but it can be so much more than simply pitting a hero against a villain. Let’s look at the different kinds of conflict that drive a story forward.

Character vs. Character

Above, we looked at how antagonists can be central characters in a good narrative. This type of conflict sets a person against another person, usually the classic bad guys of literature, and watches their opposing needs play out. These will usually be the main characters of the literary work.

Character vs. Self

Sometimes, a protagonist’s obstacle comes from within. This might be something like addiction, alcoholism, fear, or other forms of self-sabotage. This type of conflict shows the main character fighting and ultimately overcoming their central weakness.

Heroes vs Villians vs, Weakness, are common examples of conflicts

Character vs. Society

This type of conflict sets an individual protagonist against the larger world. Stories that deal in difficult themes like racism, homophobia, misogyny, or class divides often focus on this conflict. (We’ll look a little more at theme down below.)

Character vs. Nature

A beloved mainstay of hollywood blockbusters, this type of conflict sets the protagonist against an impersonal force of the natural world—an animal, a natural disaster, or illness.

6. Theme

Theme as a literary element is something that makes both readers and writers a little cautious. After all, doesn’t worrying about developing and understanding a theme take some of the enjoyment out of stories? Well no, it shouldn’t, because themes are present in all works of art whether they were put there intentionally or not. Theme is simply the sum of what the creator was trying to communicate with their work.

Neil Gaiman approached the idea of theme very nicely by asking one simple question: “What’s it about?” What’s this story really about? Underneath all the explosions and secrets and tense kisses and whatever else makes your plot go forward, maybe it’s really a story about family. Or injustice. Or maybe it’s about being there for your best friend even when they screw up really, really bad.

Stories are always about more than their literal meaning

Contrary to popular belief, your theme isn’t an extra layer you add to give depth and richness to the plot. Your theme is the story’s heart—the reason it exists.

Your central theme probably isn’t where the story comes from, at least not initially. Most likely it’s something you’ll discover along the way as the story’s central message becomes clearer through the actions of your characters. It might be an abstract idea, or a lesson you want to share with the world.

Then, once you find this idea taking shape in your mind, you can double back and add in literary devices, details, figurative language, motifs, and relationships that support this heart of the story. Voilà—now it looks like you knew what you were doing all along.

Examples of classic themes in literature

A story’s theme is the central axis of every literary work. Sometimes you’ll find you have multiple themes present in one story, each supporting and underlining the other. Here’s a list of common themes you’ll find across literature.

Central idea themes

Love

Betrayal

Rebirth

Redemption

Family

Prejudice

Disillusionment

Oppression

Revenge

Corruption

Survival

Mortality

Opposing principle themes

Good vs. Evil

Individual vs. Society

Life vs. Death

Fate vs. Free Will

Tradition vs. Change

Pride vs. Humility

Justice vs. Depravity

Morality vs. Fear

7. Voice

A writer’s voice is something that no guidebook can give you; it’s simply what’s left after everything that’s not your voice has been worn away.

Think of it this way: the work of new writers is usually a spark of an idea (sometimes original, sometimes not) encrusted with everything they’ve ever read. They may be trying to emulate writers who have written things that they’ve resonated with, or they may have simply absorbed those things subconsciously and are now watching them leak out of their fingers as they write.

.

That’s not to say that writing literature in the style of other craftsmen before you is a negative thing; in fact, it’s how we learn to master the storytelling craft of our own. This is how we try things and find them delightful, or we try things and find that, for some reason or another, they don’t quite settle into our bones the way we’d like them too. Those pieces get discarded, and we continue to grow.

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