2. Lesson 1. Literary Genres
•Poetry- literary work in which special
intensity is given to the expression of
feelings and ideas using distinctive style
and rhythm, poems collectively or as a
genre of literature.
•Prose- written or spoken language in its
ordinary form, without metrical structure.
3. Classification and Definitions of Literary
Types
• Poetry
• I. Narrative poetry tells a story in richly imaginative and rhythmical
language.
A. Epic is a long, narrative poem divided into distinct parts and
episodes bound together by a common relationship to so great hero,
action, and time. There are two kinds; folk or popular epic (Beowulf
and Nibelungenlied) does not have a known author but evolved
gradually from the people’s ancient traditions. Literary epics have
distinct authorship (Paradise Lost by Milton). Classical epics have
standard conventions such as an underlying theme of human problem,
the hero embodying national, cultural, or religious ideals, the style
being lofty and earnest, and beginning in medias res, etc.
4. B. Metrical romance is a long, rambling love story in
verse. Ideals of chivalry, romantic love, and religious
elements predominate in this type of literature most
characteristics of the Middle Ages, “when knighthood
was in flower.”
C. Ballad is a short narrative poem intended to be
sung. Types can either be folk or literary as in the epic.
D. Metrical tale is to poetry what the short story is to
prose. It deals with any emotion or phase of life and its
story is told in simple, straightforward, realistic manner.
5. II. Lyric Poetry
A. The ode is a rather extended poem usually
complicated in meter and stanza forms, and always
deals with a serious theme such as immortality. Said to
be most majestic of lyric types, the ode expresses
enthusiasm, lofty praise of some person or thing. In it,
the author is in an exalted manner mood and he feels
deeply what he says; hence, the subject matter can
never be trivial. The ode dates to the ancient times, to
Pindar of Greece, so called “the poet of the athlete.”
6. B. Elegy is generally a poem of a subjective and
meditative nature. Strictly, it is a poem that can be
distinguished by its subject---death. It contains the
author’s personal grief for a loved one or loss affecting
the public as a whole or it may simply be a meditation
on death such as Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a
Country Churchyard.” Although the elegy is a poem of
lamentation, it embodies suggestions of hope and faith
which tend to allay and soothe the sorrow of the poet.
7. C. The song is a short lyric poem intended to
be sung: It has that particularly melodious
quality required by the singing voice.
1. Secular songs have non-religious
themes and examples are prothalamium and
epithalamiums (Marriage songs).
2. Scared songs are songs in praise
of God such as oratorios and cantatas.
8. D. Simple lyric is any
short poem where the
verse is especially
musical or where there is
a marked subjective or
emotional tone.
9. E. Sonnet is a lyric poem distinguished by its exact form-
fourteen iambic pentameter lines. It produces a single
emotional effect. The lines are arranged in two waves of
thought, the rising in the octave and the falling in the sestet.
1. Italian sonnet contains an octave where the theme,
problem, hope, or desire presented and a sestet where a
resolution or conclusion is reached. Its rhymes are abba-abba-
cdecde.
2. Shakespearian (English) sonnet, iambic pentameter-
bab-cdcd-efef-gg. Its typical form, the sonnet, presents and
develops its theme in the first three quatrains and states a
conclusion in the couplet, or the last two lines. However, there
are some variants of these.
11. • F. Vers de societe is light verse
or occasional and complimentary
verse which deals in a witty and
polished fashion with subjects
that, on the surface at least, are
not profoundly serious.
12. III. Dramatic Poetry portrays life and character
through action in powerful, emotion-packed lines
such as those in Shakespeare’s plays.
A. Poetic plays
1. Comedy is a type of drama which aims
primarily to amuse, and which ends happily. The
comedy
presents incongruous aspects of human speech,
character, and conduct as they are displayed in
social life.
13. 2. Tragedy is a type of drama in which the
chief character undergoes a morally
significant struggle which
ends disastrously. The tragedy assumes
that humanity has a sense of its own dignity
and free will, a
sense of a moral law, and forces which lie
outside of and are bigger than an individual.
14. 3. Farce is an exaggerated comedy based
broadly on humorous situations.
4. Historical play is a drama which materials are
taken from the lives of outstanding figures in
history.
5. Melodrama is a play with sensational actions,
sentimental love story, extravagant emotions,
and, generally, a happy ending.
16. B. Masque is a form of court pageantry that flourished in England in the
16th century but was not revived
later. It had a prologue serving to introduce a group of actors who
came in a sort of decorative float. Later
the literary element became more important. Settings,
costumes, music, and scenery were lavish.
C. Dramatic monologue is a poem in which one character speaks
throughout, but the presence, actions, and even
the words of other characters are implied. Caught at a dramatic
moment or crisis in his life, the speaker unconsciously, even ironically,
reveals his innermost character---his “soul in action”—and tells much of
his story, social position, and relationships to the persons present.
17. PROSE
I. The essay is a short literary composition in prose dealing with a
single matter usually from a personal point of view. Thus, it is
revelatory of the author’s taste, opinions, prejudices, moods, and in
general, his personality. Essays may either be formal or informal but
there are more subdivisions namely:
A. Reflective essays are serious and dignified and usually employ
aphorisms, i.e. wisdom couched in memorable
sentences.
B. Narrative or story essay makes use of an incident to illustrate an
idea or theme.
C. Descriptive essay has some narrative elements as well as color,
vividness, and realistic portrayals.
D. Biographical essay sketches life or presents character analysis.
18. E. Nature essay attempts to picture the world of God’s
creation and may do so in graphic, pictorial vein or a more
thoughtful, philosophical manner.
F. Critical essay includes biographical criticism, literary
criticism, and book reviews. It is a record of an analytical
mind weighing the virtues and faults of a literary piece, for
instance, which it fully understands.
G. Periodical essays are generally published in periodicals;
hence they are also called journalistic.
H. Didactic essays enforce a moral and, therefore, the tone is
serious and didactive (instructive).
19. II. Fiction is the literary production of a
man’s imagination finding shape in stories of
people or events.
A. Prose allegory is a prose form in which
the characters, ideas, and actions stand for
something else or for a system of ideas with
meanings implied. Concrete characters are
personifications of abstract ideas.
20. 1. Fable is a short allegorical tale conveying a moral or principle of behavior.
The characters are usually animals talking like human beings but keeping
their animal traits. Often, the moral is appended in the form of a proverb.
2. Myths are traditional tales common to the members of a tribe, race, or
nation usually involving the supernatural and explaining natural phenomena
or suggest a religious or moral truth. Myths are often given literary
treatments. Myths of a people when taken all together from a mythology. All
peoples everywhere have always had their mythologies to explain such
things as the origin of the world and man and woman, the rising and setting
of the sun, birth and death, the alternation of the seasons. One almost
universal mythical figure is the culture-hero, the man who soon after the
beginning of things, first invented or discovered necessities of mankind
such as fire, the art of weaving, and gave these to people.
21. •3. Legends are
stories of some
wonderful events
popularly believed to
have some historical
basis and passed
down through the
ages.
22. B. Prose romances are types of stories in which some
supernatural or magical events, fantastic, and unrealistic,
occur.
1. Fairy tales, which make use of folklore motifs,
commonplace expressions, and typical themes are those
which develop from stock characters such as cruel king,
cruel stepmother, naughty sister, substitute bride, magic,
supernatural changes, and restorations. Once the strange
element in the situation is accepted, fairy tales assume a
reality of their own. Virtue is rewarded and fairytales always
end happily.
23. 2. Folk tales are part of folklore (traditions transmitted
through memory and practice rather than by the
printed page). A folktale is a story which consists of
one or more combination of many folklore themes
(motifs). Folk tales easily pass from language to
language and spread all over the world; hence, they
are sometimes called “migratory tales.”
3. Also Myths and Legends
24. C. Prose satires are stories in which human vices and
follies are held up to ridicule. e.g. Fabliau (Plural: Fabliaux)
is a short, amusing tale often bawdy or obscene, cynically,
and slyly satirical directed towards women, clergy, and
marriage. The humor arises from the plot, an intrigue, or
practical joke told in a rapid succession of events that form a
single episode. Among standard characters are the jealous,
stupid husband, the braggart, and the unfaithful wife.
Boccaccio’s Decameron contains brilliant illustrations of this
type.
25. D. Novels are prose narratives on a large scale (book-length) and can
be divided into three types, fantasy, love and adventure novels. They
are further broken down into such varieties as:
Epistolary Detective Religious
Picaresque Science-fiction Sociological
Gothic Naturalistic Romantic
Utopian Psychological Sentimental
WesternStream of consciousness realistic
surrealistic
The novel is the dominant literary form present, both in quality and
quantity.
26. E. Short story is a prose narrative of limited length
which must have characterization, unity, cumulative
interest, climax, and a resolution. In a less exclusive
sense, short stories should include the earliest forms
of short narratives---stories of gods and demons,
anecdotes, fables, mythical tales, lives of saints
(hagiography), parables, and folk tales. Although we
know the short story as a genre that was invented in
the 19th century, loosely speaking, the oldest story in
an Egyptian tale, The Brothers, was already written
about 3,200 B.C.
27.
28.
29. F. Novelettes are prose narratives that are
intermediate between the short story and the
novels. It is about 50 to 150 ordinary pages long,
but no exact limits can be given as to length. It is
more elaborate than a short story but can
be read in a single sitting and can produce a
single, concentrated effect. Hemingway’s The Old
Man and the Sea (1952) is an excellent example
of a novelette.
30. III. Prose drama is a literary work written in a dialogue and intended
for presentation by actors. The essence of drama is
the make-believe by which an actor impersonates a character of
the play. Dramas are of any period have their different sets of
conventions and the playgoer must be conscious of them. The same
divisions under poetic plays apply to prose drama:
A. Comedy
B. Tragedy
C. Melodrama
D. Farce
E. History play
31. However, there are scores of special types such as:
1. Closet drama which, though written in dramatic form, is intended for private
reading rather than stage performance.
2. Tragicomedy is a combination of the elements of tragedy and comedy.
3. Problem plays are neither comedies nor tragedies but deal with middle-class
life and problems.
4. Comedy of manners is a type of play which satirizes the extremes of fashion
and manners---the acquired
follies of a highly sophisticated society.
5. Comedia del l’arte was a type of comedy developed in 16th-century Italy and
its essential characteristics was that it was based on a plot (scenario) outlined in
advance, but the dialogue was improvised during the performance. Characters
who wore masks were stock types as the silly old man, the pedant, the lover, etc.
32. IV. Non-fiction prose types:
A. Biography and Autobiography
B. Letters (Epistles), Diaries, Journals
C. Book Review
D. Literary Criticism
E. Scientific and Current Publications
