Traditional Literature Handout PDF

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Summary

Student created handout summarizing the importance, use and benefits of different genres. ...

Description

Traditional Literatur Literature e Jacob’s part: Definition and Description ● A genre of ancient stories that have been passed down orally from generation to generation before eventually being written down. ● These stories have no original authors. ● Some may contain factual elements but most are believed to be make believe and not based in real historic events. ● Since these stories have been told in many different time periods, they give us information on many different cultures. ● Traditional literature often provides the basis for many works of modern literature so it is important for children to have background knowledge in the stories. Evaluation ● Traditional literature has many different types of stories, but they all have many things in common like: ○ Plot- short, simple and direct. ○ Action- fast paced ○ Characters- two dimensional, easily identifiable as good or bad ○ Setting- unimportant and vague ○ Literary style- standard beginnings and endings (“once upon a time”), motifs (recurring themes and images), and repeated refrains (mirror, mirror on the wall) ○ Themes- limited ○ Ending- almost always happy. Sonia’s part: Folktales ● Stories that have origins in the imaginations and lives of people (aka folk) ● Ideal for children ages 3 and up ● Types of folktales: ○ Cumulative tales: Use repetition and rhythm to seem interesting but have a basic plot ○ Humorous tales: Center on a character’s stupid and funny mistakes ○ Beast tales: Have talking animals, and usually humans interact with them (ex. “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”) ○ Fairy tales: Possess aspects of magic and enchantment ○ Pourquoi tales: Discuss and explain natural phenomena

○ Tall tales: Highly exaggerated stories of people and events ○ Realistic tales: Have to do with things that could have possibly happened Fables ● Simple stories that feature characters that are typically animals, which teach a moral lesson or show a universal truth ● Ideal for all ages--children and adults! Could be used in any grade level ● Example: “The Tortoise and the Hare” ● A great resource for fables: http://read.gov/aesop/001.html

Religious Stories ● Either based on or taken directly from religious writings ● Parables: a piece of religious teaching in the form of a narrative ● May have roots in ancient mythology Jarrid’s part: Myths: ● Stories to explain origins and nature ● Sometimes referred to as creation stories ● Best-known myths are of Greek, Roman and Norse. ● Characters are mainly gods and goddesses with occasional mentions of humans. Epics: ● Epics are stories of human adventure and heroism retold in episodes, sometimes in verse. ● Grounded in mythology, characters can be both human and divine. ● But the hero is always human or sometimes superhuman. Legends: ● Based on real or supposedly real people and their miraculous deeds. ● Legendary settings ● Feats of these heroes defy belief today but in ancient times stories were considered fact. ● Ex: King Arthur and Merlin ●

Traditional Literature Books...