Literature in English · Lesson 4

Prose: types, narrative technique and point of view

JAMBWAECNECO

What the syllabus asks

JAMB: Prose: types (fiction: novel, novella/novelette, short story; non-fiction: biography, autobiography, memoir; faction); narrative techniques/devices; point of view (omniscient/third person, first person); textual analysis of prescribed texts

WAEC: Prose: types of prose, narrative techniques, point of view, characterisation, setting, plot, theme, style; unseen prose (Paper 1); essays on African and non-African prose (Paper 2)

NECO: Prose: types of prose, narrative techniques, point of view, characterisation, setting, plot, theme, style; unseen prose (Paper 1); essays on African and non-African prose (Paper 2)

What you will learn

Define prose and distinguish it from drama and poetry.
Classify fiction and non-fiction prose forms.
Explain plot structures and narrative techniques.
Identify and evaluate points of view, including unreliable narrators.
Analyse characterisation, setting, style and theme.
Answer unseen prose questions and plan prose essays.

Key points

Prose: sentences and paragraphs; prose fiction narrates.
Fiction forms: novel, novella, novelette, short story, fable, parable.
Non-fiction: biography, autobiography, memoir, diary, essay; faction blends fact and fiction.
Novel kinds: historical, picaresque, epistolary, bildungsroman, gothic, satirical, allegorical.
Plot: cause and effect; linear or non-linear (flashback, in medias res, circular, episodic).
Point of view: first person; third-person omniscient, limited, objective; second person rare.
Unreliable narrators create irony; child narrators are often naïve.
Characterisation: direct (telling) and indirect (showing); round/flat; dynamic/static.
Setting: place, time, society; creates atmosphere, shapes character, supports theme.
Unseen prose: passage evidence only; WAEC passage about 120–150 words.

Start here: What is prose?

Most of what you read is prose: newspapers, textbooks, letters. In literature, prose refers to imaginative or artistic writing in continuous sentences and paragraphs, as opposed to the lines of verse used in poetry.

Prose is literary writing in ordinary sentences and paragraphs, without the metrical line arrangement of verse. Prose fiction is an imaginative story told in prose by a narrator.

Features of prose fiction

Narration: a narrator tells the story (this is the JAMB principle “narration of people’s experiences”).
Plot, setting, characters, theme, point of view, style.
Description of people, places and feelings in detail.
Dialogue within the narration, in quotation marks.
Division into chapters (or parts or sections).

How prose differs from drama and poetry

Prose	Drama	Poetry
Narrator tells	Actors show	Speaker expresses
Paragraphs, chapters	Speeches, scenes, acts	Lines, stanzas
Can enter characters’ minds freely	Mind shown through soliloquy	Concentrated feeling
Usually long	Length of a performance	Usually short

Worked example 4.1

Original extract: “Ngozi had never seen the sea. When the bus finally turned onto the Bar Beach road and the grey water rose up in front of her, she held her breath, as if the sea might hear her and run away.” Give two features that mark this as prose fiction.

A narrator (third person) tells the story in continuous sentences.
It describes a character’s experience and inner feeling (“held her breath”).

Narration in sentences/paragraphs; description of character, setting and feeling

Try it yourself. Which JAMB literary principle is most associated with prose?

Show solution

Narration of people’s experiences.

Continue this lesson in the free app →

Practice questions

1. The literary principle most associated with prose fiction is

narration of experience
versification
direct imitation in play
scansion

Show answer

A: narration of experience
Prose tells a story through a narrator.

2. A long work of prose fiction with a complex plot is a

short story
novelette
fable
novel

Show answer

D: novel
A novella is shorter than a novel.

3. A novel written as a series of letters is

allegorical
autobiographical
epistolary
picaresque

Show answer

C: epistolary
Epistle means letter.

4. A novel that follows the growth of a young person into adulthood is a

epistolary novel
bildungsroman
picaresque novel
gothic novel

Show answer

B: bildungsroman
It is also called a novel of formation.

5. A novel about a roguish wanderer’s adventures is

picaresque
epistolary
gothic
historical

Show answer

A: picaresque
The episodes are loosely linked.

Key words

Prose: Literary writing in sentences and paragraphs.
Novel: A long work of prose fiction.
Novella: Prose fiction between a short story and a novel in length.
Short story: A brief prose fiction with a single main effect.
Biography: A life story written by another person.
Autobiography: A life story written by its subject.
Memoir: An account of part of the writer’s life and experiences.
Faction: A blend of fact and fiction.
Epistolary novel: A novel told in letters.
Picaresque: About a roguish hero’s episodic adventures.
Bildungsroman: A coming-of-age novel.
Point of view: The perspective from which a story is told.

Learn Prose: types, narrative technique and point of view step by step, free.
The Cara's Tips app teaches every topic from the very basics, with quick checks, worked examples and exam practice. It works offline.
Open this lesson in the free app Download for Android