21 Century

st

Literature from the

Philippines and
from the World
Module 3
Context and Text’s Meaning
MELCS

Discuss how different

contexts enhance the text’s
meaning and enrich the
reader’s understanding.
What Is Context?
 The definition of context is the setting within which a
work of writing is situated. Context provides meaning
and clarity to the intended message. Context clues in
a literary work create a relationship between the writer
and reader, giving a deeper understanding of the
intent and direction of the writing. Literary context is
background information or circumstances you provide
to inform why something is taking place; context can
also be the backstory of a character, provided to
inform their behavior and personality.
The content is what you write. The context is
the meaning behind what you write.

Content: "There is no God."

Context: The fool says in his own
heart. "There is no God."
* The first sentence gives us the
context for the content that you write
in the second sentence.
The content is what you write. The context is
the meaning behind what you write.

 Content: Jimmy's mom woke him up early in the

morning. Jimmy protested but mum insisted he goes to
school. He dragged himself out of bed and went to
school.
Context:You will be forgiven for thinking that Jimmy is
a bad boy and a bad student, but if you know the context,
you might want to know that Jimmy is a man and the
headmaster of the school. Still a mummy's boy though, at
his age, and likely not married, from the context.
 4 Types
of Context in
Writing
HISTORICAL
CONTEXT
PHYSICAL CONTEXT
CULTURAL CONTEXT
SITUATIONAL
1. Historical context
Providing the time period and its current events can
inform the general mood of the era, setting the
stage for the tone of your piece of writing and
creating an understanding of the society at the
time. Historical context can inform the atmosphere
for your audience, giving them context for how
people felt and behaved during that period in
history, the clothing styles of the time, or even the
specific word choice (like slang) that was used in
that era.
2. Physical context:
The attributes of a place can also inform how a plot
unfolds or how characters develop. The physical
environment you establish for your writing will
influence how certain characters act and how the
audience understands them. A couple breaking up at a
football game will be a much different scene than them
breaking up during a movie. A story about characters
escaping a natural disaster in New York City will have a
different setup than if they were escaping one in
Wisconsin. Your environment can dictate how a plot
unfolds, but it’s important to provide readers with
enough detail for them to understand why.
3. Cultural context:
Beliefs, religion, marriage, food, and clothing, are all
elements of cultural context that sometimes need to be
provided in order to fully understand an author’s story. For
example, Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club includes social
context with the writer’s experience, providing
background information to those who are unfamiliar with
the traditions of Chinese-American culture, which is
integral in the reader's understanding of this family’s
traditions and beliefs. Without expressing the fears or
expectations embedded in the culture you’re writing
about, a divide is created with those unfamiliar, forming a
gap between the reader and writer and potentially losing
your audience.
4. Situational context
Situational context is why something is
happening based on the event itself. For instance,
someone on a first date might be more nervous
than they would be when out with a friend—or a
family may act more aggressively towards one
another when they’re playing a board game than
when they’re having a legitimate disagreement.
With situational context, the audience is able to
understand how the circumstances of the event
occurring affect those involved.
 3 Tips for Providing
Context in Your Writing

BE CREATIVE
REMEMBER YOUR AUDIENCE
BE MINDFUL OF OVERLOADING
 • The writer's context is knowing
about the writer's life, values,
Writer' assumptions, gender, race, race,
sexual orientation, and the political
s and economic issues related to the
author.
context
Reader's - is about the reader's previous reading
context experience, values, assumptions, political
and economic issues.
• The text's context is about its publishing history. It is part of the
larger text such as newspaper, history, events, translated in it. A
text's context is the situation in which it is written and read.

• Social context and socio-cultural of a text feature the society in

which the characters live and in which the author's text was
produced. The specific circumstance or general environment
that serves as a social framework for individual or
interpersonal behavior. This context frequently influences,
at least to some degree, the actions and feelings that occur
within it.
What is Imagery?
Imagery is the art of creating mental images
through descriptive words. Writers use either
literal or figurative language to help readers
picture or imagine a scene by engaging their
senses and evoking emotions.
This literary device describes objects, actions,
or ideas while providing readers with a
sensory experience that pulls them into a
story, allowing them to relate to the characters
and better understand the narrative.
  Figurative imagery uses
 Literalimagery descriptive language that
uses descriptive means something different
words that mean than or goes beyond the
literal definition of the
exactly what words, often through
they say. exaggeration, comparison,
or symbolism.
For example:  Forexample, “He has a
 “The grass was heart of stone” does not
mean his heart is literally
green, and the made of stone. Instead, it
flowers were is a figurative comparison
of his unkind or cruel
red.” actions to being as hard
and cold as a stone.
Imagery and Figurative
Language
 Imagery and figurative language add depth and
color to your storytelling, marketing messages, or
blog posts, making your writing inviting and alluring
to readers.
 Imagery is not automatically the same thing as
figurative language. The writer of imagery has
options: They can include just literal descriptive
language or figurative language or both.
 Figurative
language is a “tool” to be used in imagery
and other literary devices, such as metaphors,
onomatopoeia, personification, similes, and
hyperbole, to describe something.
Simple definitions and examples of these literary devices:

1. Metaphor
A metaphor compares two familiar, but unrelated, things to
suggest a likeness between them.
Example: Time is money.
2. Onomatopoeia
 An onomatopoeia is a word that sounds like the action it
describes.
Example: The soda fizzed as I poured it into the glass.
3. Personification
 Personification is when objects or animals are given human-
like qualities.
Example: Opportunity knocked at his door.
Simple definitions and examples of these literary devices:

4. Simile
A simile compares two different things, using
the words “like” or “as.”
Example: She was as happy as a clam.
5. Hyperbole
Hyperbole is an extreme exaggeration, not
meant to be taken seriously.
Example: You snore louder than a
freight train!
 Imagery is creating a picture in the reader's
mind by using words that appeal to the
senses.

There are seven major types of imagery

used in writing. Five of these pertain to the
basic senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and
touch. The remaining two pertain to physical
movement and internal sensations or feelings.
 Visual
Imagery
 Visual imagery

• produced by the use of words that appeal to

the sense of sight.
Visual imagery appeals to our sense of
sight. It describes things that we see,
such as colors, size, shapes, and
patterns.
Examples of visual imagery:
• As they sat on the soft, sugary sand beach waiting for the
sunset, the sinking sun shimmered on the water as the blue
sky transformed into various shades of purple and pink.

•Veronica was dressed to impress. The scanty scarlet lace dress

clung to every curve.

•Misty plopped down on the comfortable couch, but it was difficult

for her to relax when the room was a disaster area-toys and
shoes and books and dishes were strewn about.

*Notice that literal descriptive language is mainly used in these

examples. However, in the last example, figurative language is
used to compare the room to a disaster area.
Auditory
Imagery
 Auditory Imagery
• produced by the use of words that appeal to the sense of hearing.
 It describes sounds that we hear, such as noise, music, and
even silence.

Examples of auditory imagery:

• As she walked through the wintery woods, her teeth
chattered and the leaves crunched under her feet.
• The pitter-patter of rain and whispering breeze had
progressed into a gushing downpour and howling wind.
• The eerie silence made him stop in his tracks.
*Notice the sounds made by her teeth, the leaves, rain, and
wind-and even the silence sounds “eerie.”
Olfactory
Imagery
Olfactory Imagery
Olfactory imagery relates to our
sense of smell. It describes
different scents, such as
fragrances and odors.
Smell has the power to link us to
the past, and familiar smells can
 Olfactory Imagery
Examples of olfactory imagery:
• The sweet fragrance of honeysuckle always reminded Jenny
of her mother’s perfume.
• He woke up to the smell of burnt toast and greasy bacon,
when all he wanted was coffee.
• As she entered the warm house, she was welcomed by the
scents of hot apple cider and cinnamon.
* Notice how the honeysuckle fragrance triggers a memory for
Jenny. Also, the smells of burnt toast and greasy bacon seem
unpleasant to the man, but the scents of apple cider and
cinnamon appear to evoke pleasant feelings for the woman.
Gustatory
Imagery
Gustatory Imagery
Gustatory imagery appeals to our
sense of taste and food cravings. It
describes flavors, such as spiciness,
sweetness, sourness, savoriness, and
saltiness, and also includes the textures
and sensations we experience while
eating.
This type of imagery works well with
olfactory (smell) imagery.
 Gustatory Imagery

Examples of gustatory imagery:

• She couldn’t wait to sink her teeth into the succulent, salty
steak.
• My mouth nearly watered as I stared at the decadent
chocolate mousse and imagined the sweet, creamy dessert
rolling on my tongue.
• The boy bit into the ripe peach and smiled as the sweet, soft
fruit filled his mouth, and the juice ran down his chin.
 Are you feeling hungry now? Notice the descriptive words
being used to describe flavors and textures. We can also
relate to the experiences of the girl sinking her teeth into the
steak, and the boy having peach juice running down his chin.
 Tactile
Imagery
 Tactile Imagery

 Tactile imagery engages our sense of touch. It describes what you can
physically feel, such as temperature, movement, texture, and other
sensations.
Examples of tactile imagery:
• A gust of cold air blew over her, causing her body to shiver. After she pulled
the fuzzy blanket up to her chin, she was warm and cozy.
• His legs ached after climbing so many flights of stairs, and he could feel the
flush in his face. He couldn’t wait to get out of his sticky, sweaty clothes and
let the cool, soothing water wash over him in the shower.
• The dog yelped after stepping on a prickly burr, and then I almost yelped
when I yanked it from his paw and the prickles pierced my fingers.
 Notice the feeling of experiencing different temperatures, the textures of the
“fuzzy” blanket and the “prickly” burr, and how both the dog and human felt
pain after touching the burr.
Kinesthetic
Imagery
Kinesthetic imagery
 is unrelated to the five basic senses and instead relates to the actions
and movements of people or objects. It describes physical movement,
actions that lead to touch, and temperature.
 produced by the use of words that appeal to the actions and movement.
 This type of imagery can be similar to tactile (touch) imagery.
Examples of kinesthetic imagery:
• He rummaged through each drawer, hurling items to the floor until he
found the mysterious bracelet.
• She raked her fingers through her hair in an attempt to smooth out the
knots.
• He enjoyed watching the palm trees swaying in the wind as rain drizzled
from the sky.
 Notice the physical movements of people rummaging, hurling,
and raking. The trees and rain also show their movement.
Kinesthetic Imagery Example
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” (aka “
Daffodils”), William Wordsworth:
In this poem, he speaks of golden
daffodils that are “Fluttering and
dancing in the breeze” and “Tossing
their heads in sprightly dance.”
The way these daffodils are moving
evokes a sense of happiness or glee to
the reader.
 Organic
Imagery
 Organic imagery
isalso unrelated to the five basic senses and
instead appeals to internal sensations, feelings,
and emotions. It describes personal experiences,
such as fatigue, hunger, thirst, fear, love,
loneliness, despair, elation, and nostalgia.
Organic imagery is subjective, which contributes
to it being a more difficult and complex form of
mental imagery since the writer’s goal is to
create a specific emotion or feeling within the
reader.
 Organic imagery
Examples of organic imagery:
• Her eyes lit up the moment she saw him, and
she ran into his arms.
• He lowered his head and covered his face with
his hands. He couldn’t bear for her to see what
her words had done to him.
• She clenched her fists and then threw her hands
in the air as he continued to yell at her.
Here we can feel emotions of happiness, shame,
sadness, anger, and frustration.
 Literary Techniques are methods the author or
writer of a literary piece used to convey what
they want to impart to the reader, such as
Flashback where the events have taken place
before the present time the narration is
following.
A literary device is any specific aspect of literature,
or a particular work, which we can recognize, identify,
interpret and/or analyze. Both literary elements and
literary techniques can rightly be called literary
devices.
Literary techniques are specific, deliberate
constructions of language which an author uses to
convey meaning. An author’s use of a literary
technique usually occurs with a single word or phrase,
or a particular group of words or phrases, at one
single point in a text. Unlike literaryelements, literary
techniques are not necessarily present in every text.
 Padre Faura Witness The Execution of Rizal
Author: Danton Remoto
(Poetry)

I stand on the roof And on this day

Of the Ateneo municipal,
Shivering
With the years beginning to
On this December morning. turn,
Months ago, Salt things my eyes.
Pepe came to me In the
I see Pepe,
observatory.
I thought we would talk A blur
About the stars Between the soldiers
That do not With their Mausers raised
collide In the sky:
Instead, he asked me about And the early morning’s Star:
purgatory Still shimmering
(His cheeks still ruddy Even if millons of miles away,
From the sudden sun
The star itself
After the bitter winter
In Europe Is already dead
 EARNEST WISH
by
LYDIA S. VILLANUEVA

I will I will
Count the multitude of stars Tend the garden
The leaves in all the branches Rearrange the stones in a pile
The flock of birds perched in the Weed the grass in the field
loft Harvest the fruits in season
The blades of grass in the And do again all of these
meadow
And the cogon flowers in the air
Let us
Bring the front liners back
I will
Listen to the sound of breeze
home
To the rustling of leaves Fight the unforeseen enemy
To the chirping of birds Help the new beginning
To the buzzing of the bees Contribute to the humanity
To the flapping of butterfly’s Flatten the curve
wings. Stay at home!