DIMENSION OF
LITERARY TEXT
PRETEST
• Read the questions carefully and write your answers in another sheet of paper.
1. What critical approach in analyzing literary text focuses on the elements of a work-its language, structure, and tone?
a. Feminist Approach b. Formalist Approach c. Reader’s Response Approach.
2. When and where the literary text takes place is considered in appreciating the _________ dimension of the text.
a. Linguistic b. ethnic c. geographic
3. conveys what the literary piece is about.
a. Imagery b. Theme c. Symbol
4. A formalist believes that a literary work is shaped by ______ and __________.
a. history and politics b. author and his/her biography c. words and image
5. Who is the one telling the story in a literary piece?
a. narrator b. author c. character
READ THE POEM
• Read the short poem below from Ivatans. Read it carefully and answer the questions by writing your answers in a separate sheet of paper.
Whose Face Do I Behold
(Translation by Florentino H. Hornedo from Muyin Paru Ñinu, An Ivatan Laji)
Whose face do I behold mirrored
Upon the warm water I am about to drink?
I dare not drink that the vision I may
Prolong!
If I die, bury me not
at the Cross of San Felix: bury me
under your fingernails, that I may
be eaten along with every food you eat;
that I may
be drunk along with every cup
of water you drink.
GUIDE QUESTIONS
• And now answer the questions below based on the poem read.
1. Who is the speaker in the poem? ________________________________
2. Who is being addressed in the poem? ____________________________
3. What situation is being anticipated by the narrator?
___________________
4. What situation is being anticipated by the writer? ___________________
ACTIVITY
• Choose one geographical information about the Ivatan that excites you to
explore and explain your excitement.
interesting information:
__________________________________________________________
reason:
__________________________________________________________
• Do you agree with the Ivatan’s saying that “Nobody can steal your
knowledge”, express your ideas in two sentences.
FORMALIST CRITICISM
• Formalist Critics (or New Critics) focus on the formal elements of a words – language, structure, and
tone; they offer intense examinations of the relationship between form and meaning within a work,
emphasizing the subtle complexity of how a work is arranged.
• i.e.: how such things as diction, irony, paradox, metaphor, symbolism, plot, characterization, rhyme, or
narrative technique develop the overall meaning of the piece.
• A formalist reads literature as an independent work of art rather than as a reflection of the author’s state
of mind or as a representation of a moment in history. Such things as biography, history, politics, and
economics, for example, are considered far less important than the writing’s form.
• Words and image shape the work itself.
• DICTION
- the choice of words and phrases in speech or singing
- Style of enunciation in speaking or singing
IRONY
- expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, usually for humorous
PARADOX
- statement that seems to say two opposite things but may be true
METAPHOR
- word or phrases that is applied to an object or action which is literally unapplicable
SYMBOLISM
- use of symbols to express or represent ideas or qualities
PLOT
- series of events that form a story
• CHARACTERIZATION
- the way a writer makes a person in a story seem like a real person
RHYME
- one or two words/phrase whose lines end in the same sound
NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE
- as to what technique was used, is it in paragraph form or stanza form
GROUP ACTIVITY
GROUP YOURSELVES INTO THREE
PROVIDE EXAMPLE FOR THE FOLLOWING:
1. IRONY
2. PARADOX
3. METAPHOR
4. SYMBOLISM
