FEATURES OF WRITTEN LITERATURE

LESSON 3

THEORY OF LITERATURE
The second type of literature is called written literature; is a literature that is presented through writing and it includes poetry, novels and plays.

5 Features of written literature
◼It is presented through writing and this is its main feature.
◼It suits educated only as they can read and understand
◼The narrator of the story is invisible (not seen)
◼it is individually owned unlike oral literature that is owned by the society
◼It is very expensive compared to oral literature

5 Advantages of written literature
◼It is very difficult to fabricate it since it is recorded in writing
◼It can be used as a reference when talking or presenting something.
◼It fits in today's world of technology as it can be

restored in electronic devices
◼It increases vocabularies to the reader hence language development
◼it is a source of employment to writers

4 Disadvantages of written literature
🔹It is expensive, it can't be afforded by readers with low income
🔹It takes some time to correct if some errors occurred during its production
🔹It fits educated people only, thus it is segregative in nature
🔹Audience and readers can't see each other and get the reality of emotional narration

Let's see the types of written literature, there are three main types of written literature as follows;
1 . Poetry
Poetry, is a general collection of poems like growing up with poetry, Selected poems, Summons etc

 Poem is a piece of writing in which words are carefully chosen for sounds, (Rhymes) meaning (messages) and image (mental picture that will make a reader understand deeply what is written)

6.Characteristics of a poem
🔹It is imaginative, it's uses a lot of images like visual image, olfactory, gustatory, Kinesthetic, organic etc

🔹it employs a lot of figures of speech(It is rich in figures of speech) than any literary works like Hyperbole, satire, barbarism etc

🔹It is condesed in nature(economical), this means,it uses few words with great effect to the reader.

🔹It uses rhymes(it is rhythmical) as it goes back to its origin: that poems were composed to be sung.

🔹Poetic characters are not named in the poem

🔹It reflects experience and ideas of the people in a particular society / community

Important terms to know when reading/analyzing a poem
▪Poet:A male composer of poems
▪Poetess:A female composer of poems
▪Verse:is a single line in a poem
▪Stanza:A group of lines in a poem/arrangement of verses in a poem.
▪Rhyme:is a repetition of similar sounds at the end of each verse in a stanza
▪Persona:an invisible character in a poem

A good poet/Poetess of a poems posseses the following characteristic

I. He/she must have a good knowledge of poems

II.He/she should know the human nature in depth.

III.He/she must know understand the problems of the society

IV.He/she must write to educate first rather than entertaining the society

Some one asked a question on music ▶️Is music a kind of literature?
Yes! it is a kind of literature and music belonged to oral literature originally since poems were composed to be sung but also in written form since they are written to be recited, or recorded

The next lesson will be on types of poems
🙏🏾
shabanhu@gmail.com