Forms of literature

Different forms of literature. ..
1. Written literature 

a. Fiction : drama, novel, poetry, short story and frame narrative

b. Non - fiction : autobiography, biography, essay, journal, dairy, travelogue, literary criticism, media and outdoor literature 
2. Oral literature 

Epic, folklore, mock epic, hymns, psalms, ballad.

******************
I   WRITTEN LITERATURE:

FICTION: 

It is a literary work with creative imagination rather than on fact. The Latin word fictus means "to form". Since the word fiction means something which is formed in the imagination.

1. Drama: It is a mode of fictional representation through dialogue and performance.According to Aristotle drama consists of 6 elements plot, diction, character, thought, spectacle and song.
 Different types of drama

a) Tragedy : It is a mode of fictional writing which focuses on the ruin of the leading characters by using darker themes such as disaster, pain and death.
Eg. Hamlet

b) comedy : Comedies are lighter in tone and have a happy ending by overcoming a problem.
Eg. Importance of being Earnest

(i) Farce: means in Latin to fill or stuff. It is a nonsensical genre of drama, which often overacts or engages.
Eg. The Canterbury Tales

(ii) Comedy of manners: The play makes you laugh due to the representation of class, fashion, manners of the characters.
Eg. The school for scandal

C) Melodrama : It is an exaggerated drama, which is sensational and appeals directly to the senses of audience.
Eg. Uncle Tom's Cabin

d) Tragicomedy : Begins with a serious mode and has a happy ending.
Eg. The visit
(i) Euripidean tragicomedy
(ii) Renaissance tragicomedy

e) Musical Drama: The dramatists not only tell their story through acting and dialogue, nevertheless through dance as well as music. Often the story may be comedic, though it may also involve serious subjects
Eg. Of Thee I Sing (1931)

f) Problem Play : A play that focuses on current political, social, or economic issues in a fictional manner.
Eg. A Doll's house

2. Novel
It can be comic, romantic, detective, adventurous, political, etc.

a) Allegory : Revolves around more than one meaning
Eg. Animal farm 

b) Epistolary : a novel is said by a collection of letters. Eg. Pamela 

c) Feminist : written by women abale dominated society.
Eg. The second sex 

d) Gothic: a novel with mix of horror and romance
Eg. The castle of otranto

e) ironic: It is a satire on contemporary society about their culture, social and political issues.
Eg. A tale of two cities

f) Realism : It is all about the truths of society and their problems.
Eg. Pride and prejudice

g) Romance : It was added with the favour of love and relationship.
Eg. Wuthering Heights 

h) Narrative : here the writer becomes the third person.
Eg. Wuthering Heights

i) Naturalism : through the novel the author tells the impact of environment on human beings.
Eg. The sun also rises

j) picaresque : The main character always became a social victim or face the social issues.
Eg. Great Expectations

k) Psychological : the inner voice of the main character was heard though the novel. The author always use stream of consciousness, flashback, soliloquies, etc such technics to bring the psychological effect.
Eg. The portrait of a lady

l) Bildungsroman: the novel deals with the development (mental and physical )of the main character.
Eg. David copperfield

m) Historical : The novelist take an event from the past and attempt to reconstruct a bygone age.
Eg. War and peace

n) Educational : In this type of novels the novelist writes to give education to society morally and intellectually for a desirable self reliant individual.
Eg. Fool of quality

o) Detective : It is also called crime fiction or investigation fiction, here the plot revolves around the investigation and solving of a crime.
Eg. The hound of the baskervilles

p) Science fiction : The novel focuses on the science and technology and its effort on people.
Eg. The time machine

q) Metafiction: also known as Sur fiction or it is beyond fiction that means it pose question about the relationship between fiction and reality.
Eg. Orlando  

r) Antinovel: also known as anti-roman or nouveau roman. In these type of novel traditional novelistic elements are rejected.
Eg. Tristram shandy 

s)  Subterranean fiction : It is a subgenre of adventure focuses on the underground settings, sometimes at the center of the earth or otherwise deep below the surface. This genre is based on and has in turn influenced the Hollow Earth theroy.

3. Poetry
a) Sonnet: It is a poem written in a strict poetic form with 14 lines.

b) Elegy: It is a mournful poem, usually written to praise and express sorrow for someone who was absent or dead.

c) Ode: It is a formal long poem, which was serious in nature.

d) Allegory: It is a type of poem that interpreted to reveal a hidden mening, typically a moral or political one.

e) Lyrics: It is a short poem in a formal style, which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person.

f) Limerick: a five-line witty poem with a distinctive rhythm. The first, second and fifth lines, the longer lines, rhyme. The third and fourth shorter lines rhyme. (A-A-B-B-A).

g) Free verse: these type of poems do not follow any rules. It was written according to the poet's wil. That is verses without regular rhyme, rhythm, or meter.

h) Narrative poems: It tells the story of an event in the form of a poem.

i) Blank verse: It is a poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines,almost in iambic pentameter. Best form adapted to dramatic verse.

j) Pastoral: The type of poem that deals in an idealized way with shepherds and rustic life.  

k) Idyll : It is a lyric poem describing the life of the shepherd in pastoral, bucolic, idealistic terms.

l) Haiku: Japanese poem of 3 lines and 17 syllables often depicting a delicate image.  

m) Dramatic Monologue: a poem that reveals “a soul in action, through the speech of one character in a dramatic situation.  

n) Sestina : 39 lines with six-line stanzas and a closing stanza of 3 lines called an envoy. Set rhyme and repetition.  

o) Prose Poetry: a short work, written in prose, but employing the methods of verse such as imagery, for poetic ends.  

p)Villanelle: a closed poetic form of 19 lines, composed of five triplets and a quatrain. The form requires that whole lines be repeated in a specific order and that only two rhyme sounds occur throughout

q) Dirge: a wailing song sung at a funeral or in commemoration of death. A short lyric of lamentation.

4. Short stories: It is a form of brief literature in prose which focuses on a single incident in variety of length.  

a) Drabble: It is a short work of fiction of around one hundred words in length. 

b) Fables : a short tale to teach a moral lesson, often with animals or inanimate objects as characters. 

c) Parable: It is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. 

d) Anecdote: A story on account of real person or incident.  

e) Feghoot: It is also know as short pun or a poetic joke. Written for a humorous pun in a very short form. 

f) Flash Fiction: It is also called quick fiction where the writer writes the essence of the most important actions in a different improved form into a few pages. 

g) Frame Story: It is a nested narrative story that is placing a story within a story for a purpose of introducing a main story.  

h) Vignette : It is a brief description of the incident which focuses on the single scene, character, thought or idea.                                                                                                          NON FICTION : It is a prose writing about real incidents that is informative to the audience.  

a) Autobiography : It is a self-written account of the life of a person. 

Eg. Wings of fire 

b) Biography : It is an account of someone's life written by someone else.

Eg. Steve jobs by walter isaacson  

c) Essay : It is a short piece of writing on a particular subject. 

Eg. Francis bacon's essays   

d) Journal : There are different types of journals. 

i) Academic journals :It is a research or dissertation on a particular subject. 

ii) Dialectical journal : It is written in a double column notebook. 

iii) Creative Journal : Imaginative writting of a story poem or narrative in type. 

iv) Trade journal : It is written for a practical information. 

e) Diary : It is a discreet entries arranged by date as a record on what had happened over the course of a day.(originally in handwritten format) 

Eg.Anne frank's Diary of a young girl 

f) Travelogue : A piece of writing about someone's experience while travelling.      Eg. In the land of Negroes ( 1951-Kappirikalude Nattil ) 

g) Literary criticism : It is a study of a piece of literature wherein critics apply different theories, evaluation, discussions and explanations to any other works.                Eg. Poetics 

h) Media: Newspaper,  magazines, interviews, internet or audio 

i) Outdoor literature : It is a literally of adventure devoted to the whole exploration of an event writting about leisure time, hobbies, trekking.

II   ORAL LITERATURE :It is also called orature. 

a) Flow lore : It is generally superstitious and religious stories.                                          i) Fairy-tale: cindrella, Tom Tumb 

ii) Parables: Religious moral stories 

iii) Myth: scared deep meaning 

b) Epic: It is a narrative verses in style which conveys moral and cultural of a particular period.                                             Eg. Illiad 

c) Mock epic: It is also know as mock-heroic the poety that draws the techniques of satire by exaggeration or by sarcasm to mock the original subject.                                               Eg. Rape of the lock 

d) Proverbs: a short saying stating a general truth or a piece of advice.                              Eg. Time and tide waits no man. 

e)Hymns: It is a verses for pleasing or to praising God.                                                    Eg. Prayer 

f) Psalms : scared songs used to worship especially by Christians and Jewish.            Eg. The Bible 

g) Ballad: It is a narrative poem sung by the poet or a group of singers to tell a story. Generally it is an oral form but now written literature.

So these are the literary forms that you will come across most often in your reading and life but one caution before we end that I have wrote about for each of these literary form there in general because literature is wide and varied, and there is always an exception to the rule but in general this will help you to identify what type of literary form that you are looking at.☺

English as a Global language

English as a global language 

In today’s global world, the importance of English cannot be denied and ignored since English is the most common language spoken everywhere. With the help of developing technology, English has been playing a major role in many sectors.

The English language spread across the globe and is more influential in the world of media, medical, communication, trade, technology, Internet, business etc. It is the language of maritime communication and international air traffic control.

The first reason for why english should be the medium of instruction at universities, colleges or educational centres because it help the knowledge seekers to find every bit of knowledge through communicating with the international world. That is why some says it is the language of network society.

Now that english had more or less fully developed itself. Today english is incredibly wide spread and it is constantly expanding. The function of this language has become more powerful enough that, it, advanced from its colonial use to meet global demands.

Important features of human language

Important features of human language

1. Creativity :
Human beings can talk about anything by combining sounds with new expression to describe new objects or situation.  This features is also called productivity.  That is human language is infinite,  but in case of other creatures they are not able to produce new sounds to express new objects or situation.
2. Arbitrariness :
There is no natural connection between sounds and image or its linguistic form and with its meaning. .
Eg. The word 'tree'
There is no logical relationship between the word 'tree' and the word symbolises. That is why different languages use different words for same object.
But there are some words in language called onomatopeic words. They are the words which imitate the sound of particular activity or object. Eg. The snake hissed.
3. Reflexivity :
Only human being can reflect or express the entire experience to others.
4. Displacement :
Human can communicate about a person or things  which was absent and present or tell about past and future.
5. Duality  or double articulation:
Human beings can combine different sounds in different combinations to produce large number of words.
6. Cultural transmission :
The process by which a language is passed on from one generation to the next generation. We acquire a particular language as a part of culture. That a person cannot be accomplished unless we were endowed with an innate language faculty, which requires careful learning. So not can be learned in isolation.
7. Patterning :
Every sound can be combined with certain pattern otherwise we can't produce the particular word. Eg.  Ktpb
So certain types of patterns or rules are followed to produce a word or sentence.
8. Spontaneous :
Human use sounds, words and sentence not with compulsion. Once he/she mastered the language means it can be used fluently or spontaneously.

Reading literature. ... why?

Reading .... For what?

In these days, when I ask  students what they like to read, they look at me as if I’m mad. “Do you mean books?” they often ask, in their low voices.

It’s true that in today’s world, the average teenager reads less when we compare with the past. Reading is now has become a task which has been set and prescribed, by a parent, or a teacher.

When I was a child, entertainments options were limited. Thats why, may be, I spent some hours of my childhood absorbed in books.  But then also, I feel sorry for today’s young people, who have the vast area of entertainment options competing for their time, and they thinks that reading is relegated to a homework task.

The interesting thing is that, if a young person tries to read means, they select the books, which have been commercially successful, or which have high profile or which received a lot of publicity. Book like Harry Potter might have done much to sell the joys of reading to the younger generation but once those books are finished, it is often the case that the reader is finished with books.

So what is the current view and trend on the idea of reading and studying the Literature? I think that those classic stories deal with themes and issues which are universal and therefore, the reading and studying of them provides an excellent opportunity to understand the value of humanity. Which was now simply used in "words". 

So, for instance, read such books those are rare with a fulfilling , at the same time thought provoking ending. Recently one such book to read is Lloyd Jones' Mister Pip was a book about reading Dickens’s Great Expectations to a group of Pacific Island children in the 1990s. The novel suggests that Dickens’s theme of wanting to escape and better oneself  was a universal one.

Then, such as Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet is a book of 26 prose poetry  fables, which says  about the life and human condition. Another expamles to read is Lord of the flies, which tells about the true nature of the human condition. The work also shows the present condition in the world ,where there are child soliders and children facing the realities of war each day.

These types of book make us to think that where we are ? and what to do for a bright future? And what should not be done ! I think that there is much to be gained from recommending these type of books to children. Studying and reading some of the great works of literature, which have stood the test of time and which have messages for the modern reader, should be encouraged.

There are people all over the world who have gained many hours of pleasure from the simple act of reading.  A reader is always able to fill in a spare hour or entertain themselves.  This is a very important skill and one which I would hope to install in as many of my students as possible.

A brief history of English language

A brief history of English language






The history of English language can be understand as by going through different stages of English language - following from its Indo-European origins, through Old English - Middle English - Modern English to the present English.





So, now we can go through Indo European languages families, it is far the largest family because almost more than the half of the modern world’s languages were derived from Indo European languages and only a few such as Russian languages are not from the Indo-European languages. The Indo-European languages are descendants of a single prehistoric language, reconstructed as Proto-Indo-European, spoken sometime in the Neolithic era.

The Indo-European languages subdivided as:

1. Albanian

2. Anatolian

3. Armenian

4. Balto-Slavic

5. Celtic

6. Germanic

7. Hellenic

8. lndo-Iranian

9. Italic

10. Tocharian


Here English language is related to the Germanic language, but at the same time differs plainly from all the other Indo-European languages. History tells us that english came to Britain as a language of invaders - the Angles, Saxon and jutes, who conquered the island in the fifth century. The oldest records of English, in eighth and ninth centuries confirm this, for their language closely resembles that of the oldest records of continental Germanic speech. So it is assumed that such systematic similarities are not accidental. With the passage time migration took place and varieties of dialect raised which are sufficiently different from each other.





The Anglo - Saxon were originally the inhabitants of Sleswick and the surrounding areas between Germany and Denmark. They were three tribes Angles, Saxons and Jutes. Romans called them Saxons, ethnologically they all three belonged to the Low German branch. Their attacks became more powerful and frequent when they understood that the Romans power showed definite signs of decay and thus made Britain their permanent home. The natives of Britain were reduced to minority groups. The Romans were already left and with them their culture. Thus the ground was clear for the Saxons to build up a civilization of their own. Because of these reasons we can say that English history begins with the arrival of Anglo -Saxons. So Anglo-Saxon is the ancestor of Old English, for us it is a strange language, because we cannot make even a single line of the so called Old English. For us it is an inflexible language like Latin or Sanskrit.

Anglo-Saxon had mainly 4 dialects. They were

1. Northumbrian- language of North of England

2. Merican- language of Midlands

3. Kentish - language of the south -east

4. West saxon - language in west and south, language of King Alfred, which became the standard form of Old English.


Old English period : 500 - 1066 AD.

Anglo Saxon literature : manuscripts during their period is both in Latin and their vernacular.

Some of literaryworks were

1.Beowulf - in 3182 lines, illustrating the Germanic heroic code, which deals with the battle of good verses evil.

2. Widsith- 142 lines tells the Germanic history, the title means far journey.

3. The fight at finnsbury- heroic poem.

All these were written in Alfred's English, an unmodified germanic english language.


Middle English period :1066 - 1500

Began with the Norman conquest and french became offical language of England. Norman spoke rural French and Anglo -Norman french became the language of the kings anf nobles of England for more than 300 years. At that time Latin was used in written language, specially in church and the government French official records. Eg. The doomsday book is written in Latin to emphasis its legal authority. But 95% vast majority peasants and low class spoke English. And it is the time of collaboration of old english with Anglo Norman and it is referred to as middle English. It was the period of making of English language. The english vocabulary is enriched with many French word relating to religion government art and war. Totally 10 thousands words are adopted in that 75% are still in current use.

Some literary works in the period

1. Layamon's Brut

2. Orm's Ormullum

3. Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

4. Dunbar's Two married women and a widow


Early Modern English period :1500- 1700

It is the period of Tudor and the period is remembered for the significant translation of the Bible, by a group of clerics in between 1604-1611because it was done in the period of james I, so it is also called King James Bible.




The vocabulary of english expanded

Greatly, during the period. Writers were in favour of loanwords to express new concepts, especially from Latin. Others advocated the use of existing words. Some advocated the revival of obsolete words and the adoption of regional dialect. The Elizabeth age (1558-1603), age of Renaissance and reformation and age of intense partoistism. So at this period English language began to acquire traditions of its own and gave up unhealthy Latin tradition. The different branches of literature grew up rapidly.
Some famous writer in the period
1. Edmund spenser
2. William Shakespeare
3. Christopher marlowe
4. Sidney
5. Sir Philip Sidney , etc.





Modern English period : 1700 to 1900


This period is also known new english period. In this period the great vowel shift happen. Spelling reforms were undertaken, dictionarieswere composed and english is transplanted to other lands giving rise to new, non- native varities of English. Rise of English novels and it reached almost the stage of perfection.

Some great author 's of this period were

William wordsworth

William Blake

S. T. Coleridge

P. B. Shelley

Jane austen

Present English period : 1900 on wards

The world wide presence have made english as a common language. And has more non native speakers than any other language. Standardised and settled down as an analytical language and made it an appropriate vehicle for science. Dictionaries were composed and transplanted in other lands that gave rise to new varities of English.

The details of the rise of the English language is in its earlt stages as a local dialect and later as a provisional type, the speech which laterbecame a standard language, have borrowed widely and as it gains in prestige. This movement for a universal language is an attempt to make language more useful extensively. This descriptive information about language is a pre- requisite for historical understanding also.starting from a common parent language, we find modern english with greatly shortened words and simple morphology.

The languages of the world

The languages of the world  

                                   

There are roughly 6500 languages are spoken today. Among them many have inadequate information, and greater number has been disappearing. It is only within the present century or so, that language has been studied in a scientific way or just took seriously in studying the relationship between language and its culture. So the knowledge it has gained has not yet become part of our traditional education. 
Anyway, languages are not at all uniformly distributed around the world. For instance out of 6500 languages, only around 220 are spoken in Europe, 311 in U.S, while 2150 are spoken in Asia, 2100 in Africa- (this is not accurate figures). Among them 130 to 136 are considered as major languages. The top 9 languages that are spoken by more than 100 million to 1000 million people are Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, English, Hindi /Urdu, Arabic, Portuguese, Bengali, Russian, Japanese.

Origin of language

Origin of language

 Language, is something made us to think, imagine, act and express so spontaneous and natural way - where we pay no more attention to it. The most important possession of mankind is language, because it is the primary tool of human progress and civilization that led to the development of all other tools.
 C. L. Barber defines language as a signalling system -which operates with-symbolic vocal sounds-and which is used by some group of people -for the purpose of communication and social cooperation. This definition emphasis the different characteristics of language such as voluntary, symbolic,vocal system, communication,arbitrary sound signal,etc.
Oxford advanced learner's dictionary - "Language is a system of sounds, words, patterns, etc. used by humans to communicate thoughts and feelings "
The origin of language :
For a brief while, try and imagine what our life would be without language. Extremely difficult!  How then this unique thing, language,  originated. Like the origin of earth, is still shrouded in mystery. Several speculation and theories which are pseudo-scientific to explain the probable origin of language.
Evidence are gathered from:
1. Language of children.
2. Language of primitive socities.
3. Behaviour of animals like chimpanzees.
4. Behaviour of suffering from speech defects.
These throw some light on some point of origin of language, but no one knows exactly how language originated.
Language origin theories:
Over the centuries, many theories have been put forward but almost all of them have been challenged one another. All these theories shows the emergence of language in human societies.some of them are:
1. Divine theory : Every society has a divine story to tell about the origin of its language.
2. Natural sound theory : Suggests that first words were imitation of the natural sounds. That is onomatopeic or echonic words.
3. The pooh-pooh theory : The theory traces to the emotional imperfection evoked by pain, pleasure, wonder, etc.
4. The ding dong theory : This theory says that there is a mystic relationship between sound and meaning.
5. The yo-he-ho theory : The theory emphasis on the collective muscular effort with rhythmic chants for loading or unloading such as grunting and groaning noices.
6. Contact theory : Use of sounds were preceeded by calls, cries, etc.
7. The gesture theory : The theory says that visible bodily actions communicate particular messages with others. And the gesture were accompanied by a corresponding movement of the tongue , lips and jaws.
The multiplicity of the theories shows that we are still not reached the definite conclusion. Each theory claim some merit in explaining some aspects of language or words. So it is a big puzzle as to how language originated.But one thing is clear that the language must have been evolved because human needed it to give information, to convey commands, emotions, feelings, maintain social contact and finally to relieve nervous tension.

Literature

What is literature?
Sometimes simple questions  confuse us so much that we do not know how to explain it,because we take certain things and ideas cannot be asked by anyone. And this question is also belongs to that category. One of the easy,always known,and yet difficult to answer it,isn't it ?
The term "literature",referred to any written printed matter on any subject.It is from this source that the term,"literate" was derived.Mattew Arnold (1822-1888) gave final meaning to the term literature:it includes all imaginative writting-poetry,fiction and drama.The rapid rise of literature is intimately related to the growth of the print industry along with another allied concept of culture.
So finally, Literature means writtings with expression in connection with ideas, universal interest and creative imagination through poetry, drama,fiction, nonfiction, history, biography, essays,etc.