LITERATURE

TOPIC INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE

Revision exercise 1

Answer the following questions in your exercise book.

1. What motivated you to study literature?

2. Explain the key terms in defining literature.

3. Why is literature a form of art?

4. Describe how literature differs from other forms of art.

5. Why are literature and language inseparable?

6. With vivid examples, differentiate the following literary terms:

(i) Simile and metaphor

(ii) Irony and satire

(iii) Plot and style

(iv) Theme and message

(v) Literary devices and figures of speech

(vi) Ordinary language and literary language

(vii) Oral literature and written literature

7. With examples, describe at least five literary devices and their importance.

8. Explain any element of literature you know.

9. Describe the relationship between elements of form and those of content.

10. With the aid of literary devices and elements of literature learnt in this chapter, compose a
short story about any social reality of your choice.
Answer the following questions in your exercise book.

1. Explain the features of oral literature.

2. Differentiate the following terms as applied in oral literature:

(i) Fable and myth

(ii) Proverbs and riddles

(iii) Work songs and praise songs

(iv) Tongue-twisters and sayings

(v) Lullabies and courtship songs

3. Explain the roles of each of the following terms as used in your society;

(i) Sayings (ii) Proverbs

(iii) Legends

(iv) Riddle

(v) Fables

(vi) Fairytales

(vii) Folktales
4. With examples from your society, explain the general functions of oral literature.

5. Write five riddles that you know and provide their answers.

6. Choose two oral narratives from the following and prepare a story for each:

(a). Legend

(b). Myth

(c). Fable

(d). Fairytale
(e). Folktale

7. Choose two types of oral poetry from the following and compose a poem/ song for each:

(a). Lullabies

(b). Dirges

(c). Courtship songs

(d). Sacred songs

(e). Wedding songs

8. "Oral literature is said to be out of date". Argue for or against this statement. Apart from
enabling learning more about ourselves, other people and the world

TOPIC 3, WRITTEN LITERATURE

Activity 3.3

(a) Read the following statements which describe types of plays: Comedy, tragedy, tragic-
comedy and melodrama.

(i) Characters engage the audience's attention and make them feel confident that no great
disaster will occur.

(ii) The main character undergoes suffering but ends with victory.

(iii) It is a type of play with a sad or unhappy or disastrous ending, such as death, suffering,
poverty and hatred.

(iv) It is a type of play that involves both sad and funny events.

(v) It utilises music extensively.

(vi) It contains both elements of comedy and tragedy.

(vii) Destruction of an antagonist's character brings about a happy resolution to a play.

(viii) Its protagonist faces internal and external challenges.

(ix) Actions are exaggerated.

(x) It reflects some social groups in a society in both a happy and sad way with humorous and
painful elements.

(xi) It is intentionally funny either in its characters or actions.

(xii) It includes circumstances that get out of control.

(xiii) The protagonist receives assistance from other characters or the situation to win against
the antagonist.

(xiv) It is a type of play that focuses on pleasure and entertainment with a happy ending.

(xv) Usually actions turn out in favour of the main characters.

(xvi) It is a play that has serious actions caused by an antagonist's character.

TOPIC 4, UNDERSTANDING LITERARY ANALYSIS

Activity 3.3

(a) Read the following statements which describe types of plays: Comedy, tragedy, tragic-
comedy and melodrama.

(i) Characters engage the audience's attention and make them feel confident that no great
disaster will occur.

(ii) The main character undergoes suffering but ends with victory.

(iii) It is a type of play with a sad or unhappy or disastrous ending, such as death, suffering,
poverty and hatred.

(iv) It is a type of play that involves both sad and funny events.

(v) It utilises music extensively.

(vi) It contains both elements of comedy and tragedy.

(vii) Destruction of an antagonist's character brings about a happy resolution to a play.

(viii) Its protagonist faces internal and external challenges.

(ix) Actions are exaggerated.

(x) It reflects some social groups in a society in both a happy and sad way with humorous and
painful elements.

(xi) It is intentionally funny either in its characters or actions.

(xii) It includes circumstances that get out of control.

(xiii) The protagonist receives assistance from other characters or the situation to win against
the antagonist.

(xiv) It is a type of play that focuses on pleasure and entertainment with a happy ending.

(xv) Usually actions turn out in favour of the main characters.

(xvi) It is a play that has serious actions caused by an antagonist's character.

TOPIC 5, APPRECIATING AND APPRECIATING OF PLAYS

Questions

1. In your own words, explain the meaning of a playwright.

2. Mention the playwrights you know by writing down the titles of their plays (do not repeat the
playwrights already mentioned in the passage).

Exercise 5.1

Answer the following questions by writing in your exercise book.

1. Fill in the gaps of the following sentences with an appropriate term associated with plays.

(i) The instructions written in the script of a play that tell the actors what to do and feel,
including when to enter and exit are called

(ii) or drama. is a conversation between two or more people in a play

(m) separates an audience and the stage during a performance.

(iv) refers to the place and period of the actions and events in the play.

(v) A is the one who creates and writes plays.

2. Differentiate the following terms as used in a play:

(i) Curtains and costumes

(ii) Dialogue and script

(iii) Stage direction and theatre

(iv) Acts and scenes

(v) Play and drama

TOPIC SIX 6, APPRECIATING AND ANALYSING OF NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES

1.Write a short story on a theme of your choice based on the following

(i) Select an appropriate title.

(ii) Create imaginary characters.

(iii) Use creative and artistic language.

(iv) Choose a point of view.

(v) Select an imaginary setting.

(vi) Make the story relevant to contemporary Tanzanian society.

Revision exercise 6

Answer the following questions in your exercise book.

1. Explain the common terms used in a novel. Give examples.

2. With reference to a novel or short story you have read in class, suggest the best ways of
raising children up.

3. How does form in the novel facilitate the development of its themes?

4. With reference to a novel or a short story you have read in class, explain how the author uses
figurative language to deliver the intended messages.

5. "When an author has to say something negative but of significance before the authorities to
be affected by the message, sometimes he or she has to find means to disguising the
message." With reference to a novel or short story you have read in class, validate this
assertion.
6. We learn a lot of things through characters. Choose two main characters, one from each
novel, and explain the lessons you learnt from them. Use two novels you have read in class to
justify your answer.

7. How has the theme of the position of women in society been portrayed in any two novels
you have read in class?

8. Using two characters from two novels or stories you have read in class, show how they are
affected by conflicts in their societies.

9. How have the characters in the novel you have read managed to deliver the intended
message to the readers?

10. If you were given an opportunity to advise two characters in a novel or short story you have
read in class, what would you say to such characters so that they become better citizens in
society?

11. State how the theme of consciousness/awareness has been portrayed in the
the class.

TOPIC 7:APPRECIATING AND ANALYSING OF POETRY

Revision exercise 7

Answer the following questions in your exercise book.

1. Briefly, explain the following poetic terms:

(i) Rhyme

(ii) Elegy

(iii) Persona

(iv) Rhythm

(v) Ode

(vi) Refrain
2. Differentiate the following terms:

(i) musical device and structural device

(ii) epic and ballad

(iii) tone and mood

(iv) verse and stanza

(v) ballad and sonnet

(vi) refrain and anaphora

(vii) poetic licence and poetic diction

(viii) assonance and consonance

5. With evidence, differentiate poetry from other genres of literature.

6. Choose four poems that you have read in class and then analyse them based on the
following:

(a) Poetic device

(i) Musical devices

(ii) Structural devices

(iii) Language devices

(b) Setting

(c) Persona

(d) Mood

(e) Tone

(f) Themes
(g) Messages

(h) Relevance

8. Poetry, like other genres of literature, does not exist in vain. Justify the statement using four
poems you have read in class.

9. Choose two poems you have read in class and show their relevance to the Tanzania society.

10. "The effectiveness of poetry depends on language choice by the poet/ poetess." Verify this
statement using four poems you have read in class.

11. Choose two of the following topics and then compose a poem on each of them:

(i) Children with disabilities

(ii) Drug abuse

(iii) Child labour

(iv) Gender equality

(v) Road safety