21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World

Themes in Literature 5. Discovering Love

- Fundamental and often universal ideas - The most prevalent subject in
explored in a literary work literature
6. Exploring Filipino Humor
Common Themes - Regardless of what the situation
- Love is, Filipinos love making things
- Loyalty humorous
- Betrayal - Filipinos use humor as a quick
- Identity escape from serious or even dire
situations that bring negativity
Maybe Explored 7. Interrogating Gender Relations and
- Characterization the Filipino Gender Studies and
- Setting Queer Theory
- Dialogue - Looked into gender issues as the
- Plot and Other Literary Devices latter are often frowned upon by
more traditional people
Theme 8. Representing Death and The Filipino
- Recurring idea or message found within - Filipinos are optimistic and
a work of literature shun this topic
- Universal Truth - We imbue religions and
- A concept that speaks to superstitious beliefs and
humans practices regarding death
- Filipinos have great respect for
Meaning the dead
- Can be seen as an expression of an 9. Understanding Spirituality and the
author’s values and beliefs Filipino
- Personal opinions - Religion plays a huge role in
Filipinos’ lives
In The Philippines, we have different themes - We also use such to deal with
to explore: difficult situations
1. Imaging the Filipino Man 10. Discovering Filipino Aesthetics
- The role of Filipino Man is - Colonization affects the
Essentialized Filipino’s concept of beauty; it
2. Imaging the Filipino Woman is diversified
- The Idea of Men are Superior - We have no standard of beauty
and Women are Inferior ● In literature, aesthetics in writing are
3. Representing Filipino Family based on Western construct
- We learn fundamental truths, ● In cinema, mestizo and mestiza are more
perspectives, and beliefs favored
4. Exploring Filipino Traditions
11. Looking at War and the Filipino 4. Gender and Sexuality
- We’ve had wars throughout - Gender refers to the socially
history both literally and constructed roles, behaviors,
metaphorically expressions, and identities of
● In literature, some writers imbue with girls, women, boys, men, and
history to reflect gender-diverse people.
12. Exploring Class Relations in the 5. Tradition and Change
Philippines 6. Faith and Religion
- Social stratification is mirrored 7. Ecology and the Environment
in Philippine Culture 8. Migration and Diaspora
● Write about the consequences of class 9. Literature and Justice
stratification 10. Making and Keeping Peace
13. Imaging the Filipino Migrants
- Leaving or returning to the Literary Elements, Techniques, and Devices
homeland is one of the relevant
situations for Filipinos in the Fiction
present - Anything made up or shaped (Roberts
- Characteristic of a migrant is and Jacob, 2007)
their ability to stay rooted - Any literary piece that is prosaic untrue
despite being exposed to other - May be long or short
culture
14. Revisiting Philippine History Elements
- Knowing what the country has 1. Characters
been through - Verbal presentation of a person
(aliens, objects, or animals)
World Literature
Types of Characters
Themes - Round
1. Self-Discovery/Recovery - Fully developed thoughts,
- Self is the starting point of feelings, complexities
knowledge - Relatively flawed
- Discovering and recovering the
self in a world full of hardships, - Flat
confusion, and struggles - No interiority (no character
2. Initiation to Social Process and development)
Institution - No changes
- From family to church, social - No flaws to resolve
media, and school, we are
influenced by our way of - Dynamic
thinking and doing - Their morals and personality at
- Concept of power, control, and the end of the story will change
surveillance - Usually primary characters
3. Love and Romance
- Static 3. Point of View
- The character does not change - Refers to the speaker, narrator,
throughout the story or the voice created by the
- Mostly secondary characters author to tell the story

Similarities Types of Point of View

- Both can be protagonist and antagonist, a. 1st Person POV
dynamic or static characters - Pronouns: I/me
- Influence the course of the story - Primarily main characters
- May confront difficult dilemmas
b. 2nd Person POV
2. Plot - Pronouns: you/he/her
- Arrangement of events in a - Primarily not the main character
story
c. 3rd Person POV
Parts of the Plots - Pronouns: we/us
a. Exposition
- Introduction of characters, the Types of 3rd Person POV
plot, and sometimes, even the a. Limited
conflict of the story - sticks closely to one character in
the story
b. Complication or Rising Action
- Complication is the onset b. Omniscient
development of the major - shows us what many characters
conflict in the story are thinking and
feeling
c. Climax - Knows everything but is not
- Where the conflict reaches its part of the story
greatest tension, where the
character faces the conflict 4. Setting
- “Where and when did the story
d. Falling Action take place?”
- The outcome of the climax or
the conflict 5. Conflict
- Problem or struggle that the
e. Denouement or Resolution character faces in the story
- Ending of the story
- May be open-ended Types of Conflict
(cliffhanger) or closed-ended a. Internal Conflict
(fixed ending) - Self-struggle of a character

Example
- Character vs. Self
b. External Conflict c. Dramatic Irony
- Conflict that is something - When the characters in the story
beyond their control do not know what will happen,
but the readers do
Example
- Character vs. Character d. Cosmic Irony
- Straightforward conflict - When fate seemingly intervenes
between 2 characters with what happens to the
- Character vs. Nature characters
- The character is set in
opposition to nature 3. Flashback
- Character vs. Supernatural - Technique in which you
- Such as ghosts, Gods, or interrupt the forward motion of
monsters the narrative to recount or recall
- Character vs. Technology earlier events
- Character vs. Society
- In placed in opposition to 4. Symbolism
society, government, or societal - Using an object to represent
norms something like a rose for love
and a dog for freedom
Theme
- Refers to meaning, interpretation, or 5. In Medias Res (Latin)
explanation - “In the midst of things”
- Significance of the literary text
6. Allegory
Literary Techniques and Devices - Used to express large and
1. Foreshadowing complex ideas
- Narrating the story may be - Similar to metaphors
employed, which is a hint of - Complete stories
what may happen in the story
Types of Allegory
2. Irony a. Biblical Allegory
- The idea of what is expected is - Themes from the bible
different from what happens - Explores struggles and good and
bad
Types of Irony
a. Verbal Irony b. Modern Allegory
- The idea of what is said is - Includes many instances of a
different from what is meant phenomenon called “allegory”

b. Situational Irony c. Classical Allegory

- The idea of what is expected to - One of the most well-known
happen is different from what allegories
really happens
7. Allusion - a poet uses only fewer words, that is
- Figure of speech that refers to a why more meaning is implied, rather
famous person, place, or than stated.
historical event - either directly
or through implication Elements of Poetry
1. Diction and Syntax
Types of Allusion
a. Biblical Allusion Diction
- Refers to any event or character - Author’s choice of words
from the bible
Types of Diction
b. Literary Allusion a. Formal
- To reference to another work of - Author’s use of elegant and
literature standard words
b. Neutral
c. Historical Allusion - Based on how people talk about
- Referencing to any event, mundane situations
person, or place in history c. Informal
- The use of colloquial language
d. Mythological Allusion or slang expressions
- Referencing to any event, d. General
person, or place in mythology - The writer speaks in broad class
- e.g. “All animals are adorable”
8. Motif e. Specific
- Literary technique that consists - When a writer speaks of a
of repeated elements specific type or category based
on the given classification
9. Satire - e.g. “Cats are adorable”
- This type of social commentary f. Concrete
pokes fun - The author’s use of qualities of
immediate perception
10. Cliffhanger - e.g. “Her touch is cold on my
- Refers to a story with an skin”
unresolved ending g. Abstract
- Author’s use of broader, less
Literary Elements, Techniques, and Devices palpable qualities
- e.g. “Her touch tells me she
Poem loves me.” Love is an Abstract
- Greek - poiein “to create or make”
- It varies in length, it may be long or Syntax
short like fiction - Word order and sentence structure in a
poem.
Poetry
- Written in verses (lines and stanzas)
- The normal word order in English is c. Olfactory
subject-verb-object, but other authors - Appeals to the sense of smell
use the reverse word order d. Gustatory
- Appeals to the sense of taste
2. Character e. Tactile
- Mainly the persona and the - Appeals to the sense of touch
addressee f. Kinetic
- Appeals to movement created
Persona by objects
- The persona in a poem is the speaker, g. Kinesthetic
often mistaken for the author, hiding - Appeals to movements created
their identity through a character. by humans or animals
- The author may be a wife, student,
oppressed citizen, or woman fighting for 5. Figures of Speech
freedom. - Terms “describing organized
- Persona - Mask patterns of comparison that
deepen, broaden, extend,
Addressee illuminate, and emphasize
- Whom the speaker is talking to in the meaning (Roberts and Jacobs,
poem. 2001).
- A common mistake is that people
mistake the reader for the addressee, Types of Figures of Speech
which is not true “all the time” a. Simile
- The addressee can be a husband, - Uses the words “as” and “like”
teacher, government, or even men who b. Metaphor
oppress women - Direct comparison
c. Paradox
3. Setting - Something wrong is shown to
- Answer the question ”Where is be truthful
the persona?” and when d. Anaphora
specifically is the poem situated - Repetition of the same word or
in phrase throughout a work
e. Apostrophe
4. Imagery - The speaker addresses either a
- The use of words that trigger dead person or an abstract idea,
one’s imagination by triggering like love or death
one’s senses f. Personification
- Attribution of actions or
Types of Imagery emotions typically associated
a. Visual with humans to objects or
- Appeals to the sense of sight abstract ideas.
b. Auditory g. Synecdoche
- Appeals to the sense of hearing - In which a part stands for the
whole or a whole for a part
h. Metonymy 12. Cacophony
- Substitutes one thing for another - Use of percussive and choppy
with which it is closely sounds make for vigorous and
identified with noisy pronunciation
i. Pun or Paronomasia
- Wordplay stemming from the 13. Rhyme
fact that words with different - Contributes also to the prosody
meanings have surprisingly in poem
differing and even contradictory - Pertains to the repetition of end
meanings sounds of a stanza in a poem

6. Tone 14. Form

- The attitude of the author in a - What does a poem look like?
poem - Does it follow a specific form,
or is it written freely?
7. Prosody - Closed Form refers if the writer
- Describing the study of poetic of a poem is using a specific
sounds and rhythms. form
- Identification of metrical feet - Open Form refers to the written
used by a poet freely poem
- Feet are associated with the
pattern of stress and unstressed 15. Blank Verse
syllables in a line in a stanza - “Unrhymed Iambic Pentameter”
- A poem with 14 lines, and each
8. Assonance line has five (5) sets of iambs
- Repetition of vowel sounds in
different words 16. Couplet
- A stanza with two (2) rhyming
9. Alliteration lines
- Repetition of the same letter
sound across the start of several 17. Tercet
words in a line of text - A stanza with three (3) rhyming
lines
10. Onomatopoeia
- Imitation or suggestions of a 18. Quatrain
situation or action - A stanza with four (4) lines

11. Euphony 19. Sonnet

- Refers to words containing - A poem with 14 lines
consonants that permit an easy
and smooth flow of spoken 20. Song
sound - Meant to be sung
21. Ode
- Meditative or philosophical Symbolism and Allusion

22. Elegy Symbolism

- About death and mortality - Using an object to represent something

23. Ballad Allusion

- Narrative description with - Figure of speech that refers to a famous
dramatic dialogue person, place, or historical event - either
- Originated in folk literature directly or through implication

24. Hymnal Poem Theme

- In quatrain which is similar to - The theme is what the text is about.
the ballad stanza
Literary Elements, Techniques, and Devices
25. Haiku
- Japanese poem tercet Drama
- 5-7-5 syllable, pattern in its - Written in script format
original form but may vary - Has similarities to both fiction and
when translated to english poetry
- Like fiction, drama has a story revolving
26. Epigram around a character(s) in it
- Short and witty poem that - Like poetry, it develops a situation
usually makes a humorous or through speech and action. In fact, it
satirical point somehow adapts the terseness of poetry

27. Limerick ● Drama and Play are different

- Five-line poem popularized by Drama
Edward Lear - is written in script and meant to be read
- It is a comic and bawdy
Play
28. Free Verse - when a drama is adapted on stage, it
- Doesn’t have a specific structure becomes a play

29. Visual Poetry Elements of Drama

- Concrete Poetry, a poem that 1. Dialogue
has a specific shape or figure, 2. Stage Directions
visually speaking - Refers to the playwright’s
(script writer) instructions about
30. Blackout Poetry facial and vocal expressions,
- Constructed by reduction of movements, action, gestures,
words from a newspaper or a “body language,” stage
paper with words using a appearance, and lighting
marker - It is often italicized
3. Diction, Imagery, and Style - About terror, whose main
- Diction objective is to scare the readers
- Author’s choice of
words 4. Utopian Fiction
- Imagery - A world that is ideally perfect in
- Use of words to trigger all aspects of society
imagination
- Style 5. Dystopian Fiction
- Shaping of the story, - Futuristics, an imagined world
setting, theme, costume, in which there is only an
and vibe illusion of a perfect society, but
it is in fact one which is
4. Characters oppressed through corporate,
a. Realistic bureaucratic, technological,
b. Non-realistic moral, or totalitarian control
c. Stereotype/Stock Character
d. Ancillary 6. Apocalyptic Fiction
e. Symbolic - The end of civilization either
through nuclear war, plague, or
5. Plot and Structure some other general disaster
6. Point of View
7. Tone and Mood 7. Post-Apocalyptic Fiction
8. Theme - The set in a world or civilization
after such disaster
Major Genres of Literature
8. Alternate History
Speculative Fiction - Set in worlds where one or more
- The broad genre encompasses stories historical events unfold
that take place in imaginary worlds differently based on how they
because of one or more “what if(s)?” did in reality

Types of Speculative Fiction 6 Word Story

1. Science Fiction - Where the entire story was told in 6
- Impact of actual or imagined words
science upon society or - A short narrative
individuals
Flash Fiction
2. Fantasy - Very short stories
- Uses magic and supernatural - Under 1000 words (microstories)
elements in plot, themes, and - Dribble (under 50 words)
setting - Drabble (under 100 words)
- Trabble (under 300 words)
3. Horror Fiction
Metafiction
- Self-Conscious Literary Style 8. Gutter
- In which the characters, authors, 9. Thought Bubble
or narrators acknowledge the 10. Dialogue Balloons
fact that they are part of a
fiction. Literary Approaches
- A work of fiction within a world of
fiction Literary Criticism
- The comparison, analysis, interpretation,
Theatrical Adaptation and/or evaluation of works of literature
- An adaptation is not merely a copy of an - Essentially an opinion, supported by
original copy: novel or film is rewritten evidence, relating to theme, style,
according to the needs of a theatrical setting or historical or political context.
character or stage
Literary Approach
- Can be understood as the set of concepts
and intellectual assumptions on which
Graphic Novel rests the work of explaining or
- Novel that tells a complete story via interpreting literary texts.
illustrations
Literary Theory
Parts of a Graphic Novel - any principles derived from internal
- Introduction analysis of literary texts or from
- Body knowledge external to the text that can
- Conclusion be applied in multiple interpretive
situations.
Manga
- A wide variety of comic books Theory
- Black and White in terms of color - Greek - Theoria
- Right to left way of reading - A view or perspective in greek
- weekly/monthly release of chapters stage
- Originally from Japan
Types of Literary Approaches
Comics 1. Formalism
- Larger serialized narration that is told - focuses on a text’s use of
via illustrations structure.
- analyzing the use of grammar,
Parts of Comics word choice, syntax, and how
1. Publisher all the elements work together.
2. Main Title
3. Credits Characteristics of Formalism
4. Subtitle ● Focus on a literary work’s formal
5. Cover Image elements
6. Caption ● Analysis of grammar, word, choice,
7. Panel syntax
● Disregard to cultural or historical - Structuralists seek universal
influences systems by analyzing the
"grammar" of a text,
2. Marxism highlighting contrasting ideas to
- Marxism centers on class understand their role in the
struggle as the foundation of overall structure.
history, economics, politics,
culture, and social conflict. 4. Post-Structural: Deconstruction
- Marx and Engels formulated - A philosophy that emerged in
their theories in 19th-century response to the limitations of
Europe, asserting that capitalism structuralist criticism.
unjustly favored the wealthy, - It did not simply reveal
and predicted its eventual connections; it emphasized the
collapse due to its profit-driven instability and plurality of
nature. meanings.
- It shows that meaning is
The Three Class of Marxism indefinite and undecidable.
Aristocracy
- The traditional notion of nobility thinks 5. New Historicism
of a feudal society with kings and - Popularized in 1980s
queens whose power is built up through - It is historical, but it does not
the acquisition of land control over view history in the same way
political structures and the labor of the that it has been viewed
working class. traditionally-that is as a
chronicle of past events that
Bourgeoisie "truly" happened.
- The bourgeoisie is the ruling class in - New Historicists believe history
Marxist theory, which reinforces its is a narrative influenced by
power by exploiting the proletariat and personal biases and culture,
appropriating the value of their labor. making "absolute truth" in
history unknowable.
Proletariat
- The Proletariat is the working class in 6. Feminism
the Marxist theory, which is the - Literature has historically been
subservient and exploited class. male-dominated, with female
writers outnumbered in many
3. Structuralism anthologies.
- The critical approach you're - The 20th century saw efforts to
describing is rooted in combat discrimination against
structuralism, which examines women, with early feminist
texts within broader social and voices like Simone de
cultural contexts, emphasizing Beauvoir, Rosa Luxemburg,
intertextual connections and and Hannah Arendt.
patterns.
- In the Philippines, women's
empowerment has advanced
with gender equality measures
and increased female
participation in once
male-dominated areas.
- Similar to other literary
approaches, Feminist criticism
contextualizes texts within
society and focuses on
analyzing how women are
represented, addressing issues
like stereotyping and
"objectification" of
womanhood.

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Yotsuba