Foundation of

Literature
Second Meeting
Welcome to the world of art and
beauty..

Outline
What is literature?
Why you learn literature
The history of English literature
The Division of literature

Definitions
Literature (from Latin litterae (plural); letter) is the art of
written works

Literally translated, the word literature means "acquaintance with

letters" (as in the "arts and letters").

The two major classification of literature are poetry and prose.

English Literature
English

literature

is

the

literature

written

in

the

English language, including literature composed in

English by writers not necessarily from England; for example,
Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad
was born in Poland, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was
American, V.S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad, and Vladimir Nabokov
was Russian, but all are considered important writers in the history
of English literature.

Why?

What we study literature for?

Improving our knowledge
Improving our vocabulary
Improving our pronunciation
Improving the 4 Language Skills
Improving Grammar Structure
Appreciating the Literary works
Having entertainment
Learning the culture of other nations
Learning how to analyze the literary works
Building our character

POETR
Y

PROSE

PLAY
or
DRAM
A

POETR
Y

What?
Terminologies

 Poetry may or may not use rhyme, as ordinarily it does

not in blank and free verse
It expresses a strong emotion or a lofty thought
compressed and intense utterance.
The main purpose of poetry is to provide pleasure and
delight.
It appeals to the emotion and imagination.

 Poetry may be described as rhythmic

imaginative language expressing
invention, thought, imagination, taste,
passion, and insight of the human soul.
William Wordsworth describes it as the
spontaneous overflow of powerful
feelings.

Terminologi
es

Poem
Poetry
Poet

Division of Poem

The Outline
Lyric
Sonnet
Ballad
Ode

Limerick

Narrative

Elegy

Epic

Nonsense
Epigram
Satire
Nursery Rhyme
Some useful terms

Lyric
Lyric has no particular form. It is usually fairy short written in the
simple language and has an easy moving an well define rhythm.

e.g. To daffodils (Herrick)

Sonnet
A sonnet is poem of 14 lines. Each line has 5 regular beats. There
are two main types:
1. The Italian type with the rhyme scheme: abba abba cde cde (the
rime of the last six lines can vary)
e.g. Sonnet by Milton
2. The English type with rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef
e.g. The sonnet of Shakespeare

Ballad
The traditional ballad was usually sung. It is written in short stanza
and usually tell a simple story of blighted love, battle, death or
supernatural.

Ode
Poem which is addressed to a person or thing, or written for
someone special.
e.g. Ode to duty (wordsworth)

Narrative
Poem that tells a story. Balald are often a particular type of ballad.
Many narrative poem are quite long.
e.g. the boss of the shearing sheeds

Epic
Is long narrative poem built up usually around the adventure of
central hero.

 Verse customarily told or sung to small children. Though the oral

tradition of nursery rhymes is ancient, the largest number date
from the 16th, 17th, and (most frequently) 18th centuries.
Apparently most rhymes were originally composed for adults,
many as popular ballads and songs. The earliest known published
collection is Tommy Thumb's (Pretty) Song Book (1744), including
Little Tom Tucker, Sing a Song of Sixpence, and Who Killed
Cock Robin? The most influential collection was Mother Goose's
Melody (1781), including Jack and Jill, Ding Dong Bell, and
Hush-a-bye Baby on the Tree Top.

Nursery Rhymes

Hot-cross buns!
Hot-cross buns!
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot-cross buns!
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons;
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot-cross buns!

Todays Division
Limerick
Elegy
Nonsense
Epigram
Satire
Some useful terms

Limerick
A limerick is a short humorous poem invented by Edward Lear. It has five
lines , second and fifth having three beats and the third and fourth two. The
rhyme scheme is aabba.
A limerick is a humorous poem consisting of five lines. 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 only have to have five to
seven syllables, and have to rhyme with each other and have the same
rhythm.
Limerick Friend
e.g.
Allen Steble (20/04/1987)
Value your true and closest friends
When theyre down help them to mend
Their trust do not betray
Their help do not delay
Stick with them to the very end

Edward Lear
There was an Old Man with a gong,
Who bumped at it all day long;
But they called out, 'O law!
You're a horrid old bore!'
So they smashed that Old Man with a gong

Elegy
A poem of mourning written on the death of the person
e.g. :
Requiem
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894 / Edinburgh / Scotland)

Under the wide and starry sky

Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me;
"Here he lies where he longed to be,
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill."

Nonsense
Poem that does not make any logical senses
when read. It is enjoyed for its sounds, rhythm,
sense of fun and for its pure non sense.
Nonsense verse is a form of light, often
rhythmical verse, often for children, depicting
peculiar characters in amusing and fantastical
situations. It is whimsical and humorous in tone
and tends to employ fanciful phrases and
meaningless made-up words.
Limericks are probably the best known form of
nonsense verse, although they tend nowadays
to be used for bawdy or straightforwardly
humorous, rather than nonsensical, effect.
e.g.

In some cases, the humor of nonsense

verse is based on the incompatibility of
phrases which make grammatical sense
but semantic nonsense at least in
certain interpretations
Other nonsense verse makes use of
nonsense wordswords without a clear
meaning or any meaning at all.
Other nonsense verse uses muddled or
ambiguous grammar as well as invented
words
The following poem makes even more
extreme use of word incompatibility by
pairing a number of polar opposites such
as morning/night, paralyzed/walking,

e.g.
One bright morning in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back-to-back they faced one another,
Drew their swords and shot each other.
One was blind and the other couldn't see,
So they chose a dummy for a referee.
A blind man went to see fair play,
A dumb man went to shout "hooray!"
A deaf policeman heard the noise,
And came and killed those two dead boys.
A paralyzed donkey walking by,
Kicked the copper in the eye,
Sent him through a rubber wall,
Into a dry ditch and drowned them all.
(If you don't believe this lie is true,
Ask the blind man -- he saw it too!)

Epigram
A short, witty, and often satirical poem, an epigram is usually between 2
and 6 lines long although it can be a little longer.
e.g.
Epigram For Wall Street
Edgar Allan Poe (19 January 1809 - 7 October 1849 / Boston)
I'll tell you a plan for gaining wealth,
Better than banking, trade or leases
Take a bank note and fold it up,
And then you will find your money in creases!
This wonderful plan, without danger or loss,
Keeps your cash in your hands, where nothing can trouble it;
And every time that you fold it across,
'Tis as plain as the light of the day that you double it!

Satire
A sarcastic poem that attack people or institutions such as
organized religion, political parties. etc.

Some useful terms

a.

Blank verse: verse without rime which usually has regular five
beats rhythm.

b.

Heroic couplet: two rhyming lines with five beats rhythm. The
sense is usually complete within the couplet. Much popes poetry
and that of others eighteen century poets was written in heroic
couplet.

c.

Stanza: a group of lines generally with set rime scheme, that

serve as the pattern for longer poem

Acrostic Poem

Rain drops drip drop on my shoes

And more drops fall, in ones and twos
I think of all my friends inside
Not me, I think, I shall not hide
Stormy weather makes me run
To puddles outside, so much fun
On rainy days, I'll always be
Running around for all to see
Mud and splashes cover me!