21st Century Literature

Week Three
Compiled by: Brad Ajoc
 Module 3:
Reading and Analyzing Literary Texts 1
Grade Level and Strand: 12 ABM/STEM
Duration: One Week

Essential Topic:

1. The Basic Principles in Analyzing Literary Texts

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this module, students are expected to:

1. Identify the various elements, techniques, and literary devices in

literature
2. Determine specific forms and conventions of any literary text

Expected Output:

1. iGadget Review
2. Practice annotation of the poem „Buoyancy‟
 You are a vlogger. You are tasked to review this latest
phone from “iGadget”. To prepare for the review, list
down at least 5 aspects of the product that you think
you need to discuss in your vlog (e.g. durability).

Instructions: Write a sample script of your vlog

highlighting the 5 aspects of the product that you
think will make this iGadget special. The script can be
just short, to be written in paragraph form.

In your product review, you probably consider talking about the phone‟s
“specs”. You may want to comment on its speed by checking its processor, battery life,
display, RAM, and camera. You want to give your audience relevant information that
will help them decide if it fits their needs.

This is also how we do an “analysis”. Analysis is the process of examining

something critically by looking at its separate parts. Similarly, when we are tasked to
analyze a literary piece, we examine its different parts. We do not just say, “I love the
poem” but we need to substantiate our stand by asking ourselves why we love it.

In this lesson, you will learn to analyze a literary piece and to write a literary
analysis.
Guidelines in Approaching a Literary Text:

1. Read the piece.

2. Re-read using the ‘literary lens’.
3. Annotate your observations, tentative analysis, or questions in the printed
copy of the text.
4. Write a thesis statement, or identify the theme.
5. Back up with evidence from the text.
6. Comment on how the piece reflects or not reflects reality.
7. Evaluate the piece‟s significance to the reader, the society, and the world.

In analyzing a piece of literature, you should be able to identify the techniques,

devices, forms used by the author so you can sufficiently annotate a text. Read
the following concepts.

The Literary Lens

1. Form
Prose and poetry are the two common forms of literature; wherein prose
is written work, which contains sentences and paragraphs, and does not have
any metrical structure. As against, poetry is a genre of literature which is based
on a particular form, that creates a rhyme.

2. Theme
Theme is:
• the central, underlying, and controlling idea or insight of a work
of literature.
• the idea the writer wishes to convey about the subject—the
writer‟s view of the world or a revelation about human nature.

Theme is NOT:
• expressed in a single word
• the purpose of a work
• the moral
• the conflict

Identifying the Theme in Five Steps

To identify the theme, be sure that you‟ve first identified the story‟s
plot, the way the story uses characterization, and the primary conflict in the
story.
Use these steps to determine the theme for a work:

1. Summarize the plot by writing a one-sentence description for the

exposition, the conflict, the rising action, the climax, the falling
action, and the resolution.
2. Identify the subject of the work.
3. Identify the insight or truth that was learned about the subject.
• How did the protagonist change?
• What lesson did the protagonist learn from the resolution
of the conflict?
4. State how the plot presents the primary insight or truth about
the subject.
5. Write one or more generalized, declarative sentences that state
what was learned and how it was learned.

Theme Litmus Test

• Is the theme supported by evidence from the work itself?
• Are all the author‟s choices of plot, character, conflict, and tone
controlled by this theme?

e.g. In the movie Godzilla, the theme can be something like this:

“Nature is a powerful force to be reckoned with.”

3. Repetition
• Repetition of Words
My dreams are dreams of thee, fair maid. -Rural Maid
• Repetition of Sentences or Phrases
I dream that one day our voices will be heard
I dream that one day our hope becomes worth. - Paraiso

4. Devices

• Flashback is the writer‟s use of interruption of the chronological

sequence of a story to go back to related incidents which occurred prior to the
beginning of the story.

e.g. Carolyn Forché‟s poem Blue Hour. Blue Hour begins in the present:

The moon slips from its cerement, and my son, already disappearing into
a man, moves toward his bed for the night, wrapped in a towel of lake scent.

In the next section of the poem, we are launched into the past with a
flashback. We know this because her son, now a man, is just being born:

My son rows toward me against the wind. For thirty-six years, he rows. In
1986, he is born in Paris.
 Foreshadowing- the writer‟s use of hints or clues to indicate events that will
occur later in the story. The use of this technique both creates suspense and
prepares the reader for what is to come.

e.g. Some of the most famous examples of foreshadowing in literature can

be found in Shakespeare‟s works. Romeo and Juliet is brimming with lines that
foreshadow future events in the play. For example, in the famous balcony scene,
Romeo expresses that he wouldn‟t mind being caught by Juliet‟s guards, stating
that,

life were better ended by their hate, / Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.

In simple terms, Romeo would rather die than live his life without Juliet‟s love.
His words foreshadow Romeo and Juliet‟s suicides, and the family conflict that
precedes their deaths.

 Juxtaposition- the placement of two or more things side by side, often in order
to bring out their differences. Imagine a man walking a well-groomed dog on a
pink leash on one hand and a rough Rottweiler on a spiked collar on the other
hand. The juxtaposition could be shocking, humorous, or just plain strange.
Regardless, this literary term calls attention to two distinctly different things by
placing them right beside one another, or juxtaposing them.

e.g. For a short and simple example of juxtaposition, read Joseph Bruchac‟s
poem “Prints”:

Seeing photos
of ancestors
a century past
is like looking
at your own
fingerprints—
circles
and lines
you can’t
recognize
until someone else
with a stranger’s eye
looks close and says
that’s you.

 Symbol- an image that becomes so suggestive that it takes on much more

meaning than its descriptive value. It urges the reader to look beyond the literal
significance of the poem‟s statement of action: the connotations of the words,
repetition, placement, or other indications of emphasis. It is considered as the
richest and at the same time the most difficult of all the poetical figures.
 e.g. In Greek mythology, the Gods are all symbols for forces of nature –
for example, Poseidon is a symbol for the sea. He is extremely powerful, but also
wrathful and unpredictable. By telling stories of Poseidon’s vengeful fury, the
Greeks (who were not great shipbuilders) symbolically delivered a message
about how dangerous the sea can be.

 Imagery- the use of sensory details or descriptions that appeal tone or more of
the five senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell; senses of the mind

o Visual Imagery
This the most frequent type of imagery used to recreate a certain image.
e.g. The crimson liquid spilled from the neck of the white dove,
staining and matting its pure, white feathers.

o Auditory Imagery
This is the mental representation of any sound and it is vital in imagining
and feeling a situation.

e.g. "....Which has its sounds, familiar, like the roar

Of trees and crack of branches, common things,
But nothing so like beating on a box"
(From 'An Old Man's Winter Night' by Robert Frost)

o Kinesthetic Imagery
It is a broader term used to describe the sense of movement or tension.

e.g. "The clay oozed between Jeremy's fingers as he let out a

squeal of pure glee."
e.g. "Tossing their heads in sprightly dance" (from 'Daffodils' by W.
Wordsworth)

o Olfactory Imagery
It is related to smell and this imagery helps summon and deliver the
smells to the reader.
e.g. "I was awakened by the strong smell of a freshly brewed
coffee."

o Tactile imagery
It appeals to the sense of touch by presenting attributes like
hardness, softness or hot and cold sensations.
e.g. 'The bed linens might just as well be ice and the clothes
snow.' From Robert Frost's "The Witch of Coos"

o Gustatory imagery
It illustrates and recreates the tastes of food or many other things.

e.g. "I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which
you were probably saving for breakfast. Forgive me they were delicious
so sweet and so cold" (From the poem "This Is Just to Say" by William
Carlos Williams)
 Annotating Poetry

When studying poetry, you need to be able to analyze it. The best way to do
this is by reading it several times and by annotating it. Use the guide below to help
you make notes on the theme, mood, structure and literary devices used in the poem.

The most effective way to annotate a poem is by writing all over the poem -
the old-fashioned way with a pen!

Questions you should be able to answer after annotating a poem:

1. What is the theme of the poem?
2. What kind of strategies does the author use to point out the theme?
3. What is the mood/tone of the poem?
4. What kind of strategies does the author use to make the mood clear?
5. How does the figurative language affect the poem as a whole?
6. How does the punctuation/ rhyming scheme affect the poem as a whole?

From: https://librarypiusx.wixsite.com/piusxstudyhub/annotating-a-poem

Sample Annotation:
 Annotation on a Literary Text
Read Karlo Olym A. Carin’s Buoyancy and annotate the poem using highlighters, colored
pens, pencils, erasers, etc. Utilize your knowledge on literary concepts in this activity.

Buoyancy
Poetry by Karlo Olym A. Carin | October 1, 2017

Love starts
as a drop
of water.
It stays still
until it gathers
more of itself
to flow, to gush,
to become a force
that no dam can contain.

You are a body

of water.
Love will claim
every inch of you, too.
It is pointless to resist its rapids.

(Even time stood witness

on how the tallest of mountains
have lowered their bodies
before the crashing waves of
untamable oceans.)

Love submerges,
drowns us deep,
but it is the same thing
that keeps us
afloat.

________________________________________
Koko is a BSED-English graduate Ateneo de Davao University. He teaches in a
public school in Davao City.
Weight Criteria (x 4) Score
The text is extensively annotated. The annotations demonstrate a comprehensive and
thoughtful reading. The margin notes show that the reader has proficiently analyz ed the
5 text, made insightful connections and drawn valid conclusions. Notations are balanced and
show deep reading and thinking. All of the text is addressed.
The text is adequately annotated. The annotations demonstrate that the reader understands
the text beyond the literal level. The margin notes show that the reader has analyzed the text,
4 made some connections and drawn some conclusions. Notations are balanc ed and show
some deep reading and thinking. Most to all of the text is addressed.
The text is annotated. The annotations are basic and consist mainly of plot driven questions
or literal ideas. Annotations indicate a basic understanding of the text. T he reader has been
3 able to make one or two connections, but has been unable to use the text to draw valid
conclusions. Notations are unbalanced and only half of the text is addressed.
The text is underlined in a few places. Notes are illogical and not balanced. Only one
2 quarter of text has been glossed. Insufficient length and depth in comm ents
1 Significant parts of the text are completely unmarked. Limited underlined texts only.
TOTAL