3. Chinese Literature is one of
the major literary heritages
of the world. It profoundly
influenced the literary
traditions of other Asian
countries, particularly Korea,
Japan, and Vietnam
4. • The body of works was
written in Chinese, including
lyric poetry, historical and
didactic writing, drama, and
various forms of fiction.
• Chinese classical literature
has many forms of
expression
5. HISTORY OF CHINESE
LITERATURE
Chinese literature has a rich
history which stretches back
thousands of years where they all
started on different Dynasties.
6. 0
1
Dynasties of
China
0
2
0
3
0
4
XIA DYNASTY
(2070-1600 BC)
SHANG DYNASTY
(1600– 1050BC)
Development of
Chinese Writing
ZHOU DYNASTY
(1046 – 256 BCE)
Basic Philosophical and
Religious literature
QIN DYNASTY
(221 -206 BC)
Literary disaster and
legalism
8. HAN DYNASTY
(206 – 220 AD)
Scientific and Historical text
Combining Essays and
Prose Writings and Rhymes
New Format ‘Fu’ as the
mainstream format of
Literature
PROSE WAS FURTHER
DEVELOPED!
9. Tang Dynasty
(618 – 907 CE)
Early woodblock printing
and poetry
POETRY:
Became popular
Concise
Consist magnificent words
Has Phrasing
Has certain rhythms and
rhymes
10. Song Dynasty
(960 – 1279 BCE)
Early woodblock printing, travel literature,
poetry, scientific text and Neu Confucian
classics
Poetry evolved
into a genre
called ‘Ci’
Which was essentially song poems
composed for Banquet and such
events
Strict rules:
Number of sentences
Number of words
Intonations of each
words
“Song Ci is considered
as a kind of music
literature whose
musicality is of high
aesthetic value.”
11. Yuan Dynasty
(1278 – 1368 BCE)
Drama and great fictional novels
Known for:
Drama Literature
Yuan Qu
Literally Song
Poetic drama
Various songs
Dramas and Plays are:
Rich in subjects and characters
Flexible and diverse in creation
12. Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644)
Qing Dynasty (19th Century)
With the development of the
economy, there were increasing
cultural needs and demand.
Hence, novel as a literary genre
prevailed.
16. It was believed to be compiled by Confucius, Shih Ching
or “Book of Odes” is a collection of 305 poems, dating
from 1000 to 600 BC. These are believed to be the
oldest existing examples of Chinese poetry.
“Book of Odes”
17. The collection includes refined folk songs, ritualistic
poems, dynastic legends and hymns for ancestral
temples. All were intended to be sung, although the
musical accompaniments are long lost. The subject
matter centers on daily activities such as farming,
gathering plants, farming, courting, feasting and going to
war. The imagery is concrete and the poems themselves
focus on youth, beauty and vigor. The tone is wide, from
festive and lighthearted to bitter and satirical.
“Book of Odes”
18. The construction of the poems is very consistent. Each
line contained four characters (note: a Chinese
character is not equivalent to an English word; Chinese
characters often encompass an entire phrase or idea).
The lines are arranged in stanzas of four, six or eight
lines. Rhyming occurs infrequently.
“Book of Odes”
Economy of expression is predominant. Most begin with
an image of nature, which oftentimes leads to a parallel
in human life, or, just as often, a contrast.
19. GWAN! GWAN! CRY THE FISH
HAWKS!
(a wedding song for the royal family)
Gwan! gwan! cry the fish hawks
on sandbars in the river:
a mild-mannered good girl,
fine match for the gentleman.
A ragged fringe is the floating-heart,
left and right we trail it:
that mild-mannered good girl,
awake, asleep, I search for her.
20. I search but cannot find her,
awake, asleep, thinking of her,
endlessly, endlessly,
turning, tossing from side to side.
A ragged fringe is the floating-heart,
left and right we pick it:
the mild-mannered good girl,
harp and lute make friends with her.
A ragged fringe is the floating-heart,
left and right we sort it:
the mild-mannered good girl,
bell and drum delight her.
21. Another one of the most famous and
meaningful poems in Chinese is called 悯农
(mǐn nóng). Most young children in China,
even from the age of three or four know this
poem. It traces its origins to ancient Chinese
so the language is not typical of modern
Mandarin.
22. 锄禾日当午，
汗滴禾下土，
谁知盘中餐，
粒粒皆辛苦！
Hoeing grain in the blaze of
noon,
Sweat drops fall — grain to
earth,
Who knows food in the plate,
How toilful each granule is!
By: Tang dynasty politician and poet Li Shen (772 – 846 C.E.)
悯农 (mǐn nóng)
Sympathy for the Peasants
23. The writer expresses his compassion toward the plight of the
peasants who toiled away on their lands yet led an impoverished
life. The poem was composed of two parts, but it is the second
part that is more circulated today; Chinese parents tend to use it
to educate their children to cherish food.
25. Indian Literature
The Indian Literary tradition is the oldest in
the world. It is primarily one of verse and
essentially oral. The earliest works were
compose to be sung or recited. And we're
transmitted for many generations before
being written down.
26. Sanskrit
Literature
• India has 22 officially recognize
language, and a huge variety of literature
has been produce in these languages
over the years.
• Hindu Literary Traditions dominate a
large part of Indian culture
27. Indian Literature
Apart from the Vedas which are a sacred form of knowledge
there are other woks such as the Hindu epics Ramayana and
Mahabharata
29. Indian Literature
The most famous works in SANSKRIT are the Hindu holy text
such as vedas, Upanishads and Manusmriti .
30. a collection of poems or hymns
composed in archaic Sanskrit by
Indo-European-speaking peoples
who lived in northwest India during
the 2nd millennium BCE. The hymns
formed a liturgical body that in part
grew up around the soma ritual and
sacrifice and were recited or chanted
during rituals.
Vedas
31. The Upanishads are the philosophical-
religious texts of Hinduism (also known
as Sanatan Dharma meaning “Eternal
Order” or “Eternal Path”) which develop
and explain the fundamental tenets of the
religion. The name is translated as to “sit
down closely” as one would to listen
attentively to instruction by a teacher or
other authority figure.
Upanishads
32. The Manu-smriti is the set of obligations incumbent on
each as a member of one of the four social classes
(varnas) and engaged in one of the four stages of life
(ashramas). It contains 12 chapters of stanzas, which
total 2,694. It deals with cosmogony; the definition of the
dharma; the sacraments (samskaras); initiation
(upanayana) and the study of the Vedas (the sacred texts
of Hinduism); marriage, hospitality, funeral rites, dietary
restrictions, pollution, and means of purification; the
conduct of women and wives; and the law of kings
Manusmriti
33. Tamil Literature
Another Popular literature , Tamil
Literature has a rich literary traditions
spanning over 2000 years and is
particularly known for its poetic nature
in the form of epics and philosophical
and secular works.
34. Famous Literary
Indian Figures
Kālidāsa (circa 400) was a classical
Indian poet and playwright, widely
regarded as the greatest poet and
dramatist in the Sanskrit language.
His plays and poetry are primarily
based on the Indian Puranas.
35. Famous Literary
Indian Figures
Abhijanam Shakuntalam drama
by Kalidasa composed about the
5th century CE that is generally
considered to be the greatest
Indian literary work of any period.
36. Famous Literary
Indian Figures
• Rabindranath Tagore was a well-
known Indian poet, philosopher,
composer, painter and writer.
• He is said to re-shape the Bengali
literature, music and as well as the
Indian art with Contextual
Modernism during the early 19th
and the 20th centuries.
37. Famous Literary
Indian Figures
R.K Narayan was compared to
William Faulkner for his simple and
unpretentious English writing style.
He is one of the most widely read
indian novelist. His stories were
grounded in a compassionate
humanism and celebrated the humor
and energy of ordinary life.
38. Famous Literary
Indian Figures
• Among the best-received of Narayan's 34 novels are
• The English Teacher (1945)
• Waiting for the Mahatma (1955)
• The Guide (1958)
• The Man-Eater of Malgudi (1961)
• The Vendor of Sweets (1967)
• A Tiger for Malgudi (1983)
39. Indian Literature
The most famous works of Indian Literature can be trace in the
vernacular languages of the northern Indian cult of Krishna and
of Rama.
Literature was also produce in the form of Bhakti (a personal
devotion to a god) address to Rama (an avatar of Vishnu) most
notably in the Avhadi (eastern Hindi) works of Tulsi Das; his
Ramcharitmanas.
40. Hindi Literature
Hindi Literature started as religious and philosophical poetry
in medieval periods in dialect like Avadhi and Brij.
The most famous figures from this period are Kabir and
Tulsidas
41. Hindi Literature
In modern times , the khadi Dialect
became more prominent and a variety of
literature was produce in Sanskrit
Chandrakanta written by Devaki Nandan
Khatri is considered to be the first work of
prose in Hindi
44. MEGHADUTA
By: KALIDASA
For you the women look through tangled
hair
with men-folk travelling and take their
cheer
from unions urged on by your path of air,
while I still distant and to blame appear
a hapless prisoner to another’s care.
45. Where The Mind Is Without Fear
By: Rabindranath Tagore
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held
high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into
fragments
By narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards
perfection;
46. Where the clear stream of reason has not
lost its way;
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee;
Into ever-widening thought and action;
Into that heaven of freedom,
My Father, let my country awake.
49. Two holy cities found in
Saudi Arabia.
Mecca Medina
Holidays:
Ramadan -Holiest season of the Muslims and marks fasting.
50. Arabian Literature
- Arabian Literature is rich and varied, mostly made
of poems, anecdotes, tales or romances, historical
accounts and philosophies.
- Arabs possess a highly develop poetry transmitted
ORALLY from generation to generation.
51. THREE PERIODS OF WRITTEN
ARABIC
UMAYYAD PERIOD (A.D 661-750)
- Arabic prose was limited primarily to grammatical treatises,
commentaries of the Koran and the compiling of stories about
Mohammed and his companions.
Famous Poets
Al – Akhtal
Al – Farazdaq
Dhu Rumma
Jarir
52. THREE PERIODS OF WRITTEN
ARABIC
GHAZALS – or love lyric, wine songs and hunting
poems rose during this period. These describe the
conditions and manners found in places conquered by
Islam.
UMAYYAD PERIOD (A.D 661-750)
53. THREE PERIODS OF WRITTEN
ARABIC
ABBASID PERIOD (A.D 750-1258)
- Regarded as the GREATEST PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT AND
ACHIEVEMENT.
ADAB – an Arabic prose sprinkled with poetry and utilized rhyme prose
known as “saj”.
- The style of Koran came to existence.
ARABIAN NIGHTS (THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS)
- Contains inventive type of folk literature, which based on the recitation
of Rawi.
54. THREE PERIODS OF WRITTEN
ARABIC
MODERN PERIOD (19th century to present)
- Arabic Literature declined during the Ottoman Turkish
domination, however the Renaissance period took place, so
then the Arabs revived their classical genres and they came
into contact to Western Literature and Civilization.
55. THREE PERIODS OF WRITTEN
ARABIC
THE 20TH CENTURY witnessed the real birth of
modern Arabic Literature.
- short story and novel came to being in this period.
56. Story
Telling
Another favorite form of artistic expression, but in
keeping with Islamic Law, guidelines govern public
performances and artists can’t make “graven
images”. Hand lettered Qur’an are considered
sacred art that’s to be respected and kept safe for
generations.
57. ARABIAN LITERATURE
- A written Arabic literature began to be known with the
collection of Qur’an in 17th Century A.D.
- Arabian Language soon became major world language.
58. ARABIAN LITERATURE
- The most famous examples are the elaborated odes or QASIDAHS
(Mu’allaqat) of Imru’Alqais and others.
- These poems reflected and praised the customs and values of the
desert environment in which they arose.
- The earliest known literature emerged in Western.
60. نبك قفا (Let us Stop and Weep)
By: Imru' al-Qais
Stop, oh my friends, let us pause to weep over the
remembrance of my beloved.
Here was her abode on the edge of the sandy desert
between Dakhool and Howmal.
The traces of her encampment are not wholly
obliterated even now.
For when the South wind blows the sand over them
the North wind sweeps it away.
The courtyards and enclosures of the old home have
become desolate;
The dung of the wild deer lies there thick as the seeds
of pepper.
61. On the morning of our separation it was as if I stood in the
gardens of our tribe,
Amid the acacia-shrubs where my eyes were blinded with
tears by the smart from the bursting pods of colocynth.
As I lament thus in the place made desolate, my friends
stop their camels;
They cry to me "Do not die of grief; bear this sorrow
patiently.“
Nay, the cure of my sorrow must come from gushing tears.
Yet, is there any hope that this desolation can bring me
solace?
62. Do Not Live Half a Life
By: Gibran Khalil
Do not love half lovers
Do not entertain half friends
Do not indulge in works of the half talented
Do not live half a life
and do not die a half death
If you choose silence, then be silent
When you speak, do so until you are finished
Do not silence yourself to say something
And do not speak to be silent
If you accept, then express it bluntly
Do not mask it
63. If you refuse then be clear about it
for an ambiguous refusal is but a weak acceptance
Do not accept half a solution
Do not believe half truths
Do not dream half a dream
Do not fantasize about half hopes
Half a drink will not quench your thirst
Half a meal will not satiate your hunger
Half the way will get you no where
Half an idea will bear you no results
64. Your other half is not the one you love
It is you in another time yet in the same space
It is you when you are not
Half a life is a life you didn't live,
A word you have not said
A smile you postponed
A love you have not had
A friendship you did not know
To reach and not arrive
Work and not work
65. Attend only to be absent
What makes you a stranger to them closest to you
and they strangers to you
The half is a mere moment of inability
but you are able for you are not half a being
You are a whole that exists to live a life
not half a life.
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REPORTERS’ TASK:
Select a line/s from the poem Do Not Live Half a Life by
Gibran Khalil and make a reflective essay about it.
