Genre of Literature

Subject: Literature-in-English

Theme: Genre of Literature

Topic: General Introduction To Prose

Sub Topic:

Date: dd/mm/yyyy

Class: S.S 1

Average Age: 14 years and above

Duration: 35 Minutes

No of Learners: 40

Learning Objectives:

DEFINE/MEANING OF PROSE:

‘Prose’ refers to the literary or written form of the language of ordinary speech. It is a work of art that is written in narration, and comes in chapters and paragraphs.

It is a branch(genre) of Literature which presents an events or character in a story form. The work of prose is the novels we read (story books) Novels are written and arranged in chapters and paragraphs. They are written in narrative form. Prose contains plot, theme, style, setting.
Prose texts are usually written in plain writing that is free from rhythmic patterns or technical arrangements. The writer takes time to describe characters, events and settings. Prose is written in sentence and chapters.
A person who writes prose is called a novelist.

Some plays are written in prose (e.g.) Sheridan’s The Rivals, Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer, the plays of Ene Henshaw, etc.
Although fictional writings largely come under the umbrella of prose, fictional works could be written in poetic prose.
In a modern sense, fiction refers to a work in which an invented tale/story is presented in the form of a narrative in prose. In other words when we say ‘narrative in prose’, we do not include plays and poems. The reason is that the story conveyed in a play is enacted while the story in a narrative poem is narrated in verse rather than in prose.

Examples of Prose writing are:
SHORT STORIES-these are short written stories about imaginary situation and characters
NOVEL: this a long written story in which the character and event are usually imaginary. E.g
The Adventures of Solomon by Lizzy Unamba,
'A Hungry Private eye', by Oluseye Okediji.
Above the Mirage written by Gyang Precious.

List and explain forms/types of Prose:

FICTION: This is a story which is not real but imagined. A story which is not true or has not happened in real life. The writer (Novelist) creates a story out of his/her imagination. It is also known as creative writing.

NON –FICTION: This is a story which is true/real. The writer (novelist) presents an experience which he/she witnessed or told by someone. This can be regarded as a true life story.

NARRATIVE PROSE: This is a story which is presented through out by narration. It takes the use of past tense (Verbs) from the beginning to the end of the story.
Narrative prose is a form of writing in which the work is written in prose, rather than in poetry, and tells a definite story through actions. Many written works are written in this form, including a great deal of literary work and most modern pieces of fiction. The narrative aspect of this style comes from the fact that events occur and are narrated within the work, rather than having events occur outside of the framework of the story. Narrative prose also means that the story is told in a prose format, which is basic language, rather than a poetic format that may deal with meter and rhyme.
Passages in a story which endeavour to tell well-defined story is referred to as narrative prose.

DESCRIPTIVE PROSE: This is a story which presents a description of a person, place or an object. A novel may contain a description in the course of the story (presentation).
Descriptive Prose is a type of writing used to depict imagery to create a clear picture in the mind of the reader. This method helps the readers become more connected to the writing by appealing to their senses.
Passages in a story which provide a full description of persons, places, things or events are known as descriptive prose passages.

List and Explain Differrent Kinds of Prose: Friction:

1. Fable: It is a story with a surface denotation that bears a deeper meaning (connotation). It aims to explain a problem in a very simple manner by pointing out a moral truth in an offensive way. Some of the characters in fables are animals that are made to talk and converse as if they were human beings (e.g.) George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”.

2. Allegory: An allegory and a fable share more in common except that whereas the fable almost always presents animals as characters, the allegory has characters that depict ideas such as Hope, Love, Pride, Despair, etc. (e.g.) John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress Parable: This shares something in common with the fable in that it is a simple, brief story used to demonstrate a moral truth or lesson; Examples are the biblical parables of ‘The Sower’, ‘The Prodigal Son’, ‘The Good Samaritan’ etc.

3. Novel: It is a long/lengthy prose narrative in which imaginary characters and events are presented to us as if they happened real or true-to-life. It is usually long, from thirty thousand words and above.

4. Romance: This term is not derived from the word, ‘romance’ (amorousness) as commonly used among today’s youths. In literature, romance refers to a fantastic story whose settings, incidents and even characters are removed from real-life possibilities or achievements. Romances are meant to delight, shock or chill the blood of the reader (e.g.) Horace Walpole’s Castle of Otranto. These days, modern romance is no more than a fantastic love story.

List and Explain Differrent Kinds of Prose: Non-Friction:

1. Biography: This is the account of the life of someone written by another person. The biographer obtains his/her facts through research, interviews, visits, and by goings through lots of documents and files (e.g.) Chinua Achebe: A by Ezenwa-Ohaeta.

2. Autobiography: This is the account of the life of someone written by him/her. Modern autobiographies tend to adopt narrative styles used in writing novels which is why these days, some critics insist that they be classified as fiction (e.g.) Camera Laye’s “The African Child”, Wole Soyinka’s Ake: Years of Childhood, Chike Momah’s “The Shining Ones,” etc.

3. The Essay: Generally, the essay is a fairly short composition in prose that enables the writer to express his/her thoughts on a single subject or topic. However, some essays are in verse rather than in prose e.g. Alexandra Pope’s ‘An Essay on Criticism’ and ‘An Essay on Man’.

4. Criticism: This shares everything with the essay except that criticism tends to evaluate or pass judgement on works of literature and art (e.g.) Stylistic Criticism and the African Novel by Emmanuel Ngara.

List and Explain Elements/Characteristics of Prose Fiction:

Explain Features of Prose:

Rationale:

Prerequisite/ Previous knowledge:

Learning Resources:

Reference Materials:

Lesson Development: