The Main Literary Genres
By Francesca Luppino
LITERATURE
POETRY
PROSE
DRAMA
Poetry is language written
with rhythm, figurative
language, imagery, sound
devices and emotionally
charged language
Prose is the ordinary form
of written language.
It imitates the spoken
language.
Drama is a story written to be
performed by actors. Although
a drama is meant to be
performed, one can also read
the script, or written version,
and imagine the action.
POETRY

A type of literature that expresses ideas, feelings,
or tells a story in a specific form (usually using
lines and stanzas)
Major Types of Poetry
Lyric Poetry
Narrative Poetry
Concrete Poetry
POINT OF VIEW IN POETRY
POET

The poet is the author
of the poem.
SPEAKER

The speaker of the
poem is the ―narrator‖
of the poem.
POETRY FORM

FORM /LAYOUT-

LINE

STANZA
the appearance of the
words on the page
A group of words together on
one line of the poem
A group of lines arranged together
KINDS OF STANZAS
Couplet
=
a two line stanza
Triplet (Tercet)
=
a three line stanza
Quatrain
=
a four line stanza
Quintet
=
a five line stanza
Sestet (Sextet)
=
a six line stanza
Septet
=
a seven line stanza
Octave
=
an eight line stanza
SOUND
EFFECTS
Rhythm

The beat created by the sounds of the
words in a poem

Rhythm can be created by meter, (A
pattern of stressed and unstressed
syllables), rhyme, alliteration and refrain.
Rhyme

Words sound alike
LAMP
because they share
STAMP
the same ending
vowel and consonant
sounds.
 Share
vowel sound
 Share

(A word always
rhymes with itself.)
the short ―a‖
the combined
―mp‖ consonant sound
End rhyme

A word at the end of one line rhymes with a word at
the end of another line
Hector the Collector
Collected bits of string.
Collected dolls with broken heads
And rusty bells that would not ring.
Internal rhyme

A word inside a line rhymes with another word on
the same line.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered
weak and weary.
From ―The Raven‖
by Edgar Allan Poe
Rhyme scheme

A rhyme scheme is a pattern of rhyme (usually end
rhyme, but not always).

Use the letters of the alphabet to represent sounds
to be able to visually ―see‖ the pattern. (See next
slide for an example.)
Sample rhyme scheme
What is this life if,full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
a
a
No time to stand neneath the boughs
And stare as long, as sheep or cows.
b
b
No time to see,when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
c
c
Onomatopoeia


Words whose sound illustrates their meaning:
Ex: bang, crack,splash,…
Alliteration

Consonant sounds repeated at the beginnings of
words
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
Assonance

Repeated VOWEL sounds in a line or lines of
poetry.
(Often creates near rhyme.)
Lake
Fate Base
Fade
(All share the long ―a‖ sound.)
Refrain/repetition

A sound, word, phrase or line
repeated regularly in a poem
to create a musical effect.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
Simile
A comparison of two things
using ―like, as than,‖ or
―resembles.‖
―She is as beautiful as a
sunrise.‖
Metaphor

A direct comparison of two unlike things

“All the world’s a stage, and we are
merely players.”
- William Shakespeare
Personification

An animal given

Personification can be
human-like qualities
recognised by the use of
or an object given
the capitol letter of
life-like qualities.
personal pronouns,
adjectives or verbs.
OTHER POETIC DEVICES
Symbolism

When a person, place,
=
Innocence
=
Peace
thing, or event that has
meaning in itself also
represents, or stands for,
something else.
Imagery/sense impressions

Language that appeals to the senses.

Most images are visual, but they can also appeal to
the senses of sound, touch, taste, or smell.
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather . . .
from “Those Winter Sundays”
SOME TYPES OF POETRY
Lyric

A short poem

Usually written in first person point of view

Expresses an emotion or an idea or
describes a scene

Do not tell a story and are often musical

(Many of the poems we read will be lyrics.)
Shakespearean sonnet

A fourteen line poem
with a specific rhyme
scheme.
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

The poem is written in
three quatrains and
ends with a couplet.
And every fair from fair sometimes declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,


The rhyme scheme is
abab cdcd efef gg
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Narrative poems

A poem that tells a story.

Generally longer than other poems.

Narrative poems have several characters like a
short story or a novel.

They describe a conflict.

The have a resolution to the problem/conflict.
Concrete poems

In concrete poems, the
words are arranged to
create a picture that
relates to the content
of the poem.
Poetry
Is like
Flames,
Which are
Swift and elusive
Dodging realization
Sparks, like words on the
Paper, leap and dance in the
Flickering firelight. The fiery
Tongues, formless and shifting
Shapes, tease the imiagination.
Yet for those who see,
Through their mind’s
Eye, they burn
Up the page.
Prose
Prose Definition
 Prose is a communicative style that sounds natural and uses
grammatical structure.

Prose is the opposite of verse , or poetry, which employs a
rhythmic structure that does not mimic ordinary speech.

There is, however, some poetry called ―prose poetry‖ that uses
elements of prose while adding in poetic techniques such as
heightened emotional content, high frequency of metaphors,
and juxtaposition of contrasting images.

Most forms of writing and speaking are done in prose, including
short stories and novels, journalism, academic writing, and regular
conversations.
SOME COMMON TYPES
OF PROSE
1.Nonfictional Prose: A literary work that is mainly
based on fact although it may contain fictional elements
in certain cases. Examples are biographies and essays.
2. Fictional Prose: A literary work that is wholly or
partly imagined or theoretical. Examples are novels.
3. Heroic Prose: A literary work that may be written
down or recited and employs many of the formulaic
expressions found in oral tradition.
Examples are legends and tales.
4. Prose Poetry: A literary work which exhibits
poetic quality using emotional effects and heightened
imagery but are written in prose instead of verse.
FUNCTIONS OF PROSE

It is the standard style of writing used for most
spoken dialogues, fictional as well as topical and
factual writing and discoursed.

It is also the common language used in newspapers,
magazines, literature, encyclopedias, broadcasting,
philosophy, law, history, the sciences and many other
forms of communication.
DRAMA
DEFINITION
• In literature, the word drama defines a genre, or
style of writing.
•
Drama is a play that can be performed on a stage
in front of an audience at the theatre. So, drama
refers to the script, while the word theatre is the
performance of the script.
• The person who writes drama for stage directions is
known as a dramatist or playwright.
TYPES OF DRAMA
Let us consider a few popular types of drama:
 Comedy – Comedies are lighter in tone than ordinary
writers, and provide a happy conclusion. The intention
of dramatists in comedies is to make their audience
laugh. Hence, they use quaint circumstances,
unusual characters and witty remarks.

Tragedy – Tragic dramas use darker themes such as
disaster, pain and death. Protagonists often have
a tragic flaw—a characteristic that leads them to their
downfall.
TYPES OF DRAMA
• Farce – Generally, a farce is a nonsensical genre of
drama, which often overacts or engage slapstick humor.
• Melodrama – Melodrama is an exaggerated drama,
which is sensational and appeals directly to the senses
of audience. Just like the farce, the characters are of
single dimension and simple, or may be stereotyped.
• Musical Drama – In musical drama, the dramatists not
only tell their story through acting and dialogue,
nevertheless through dance as well as music. Often the
story may be comedic, though it may also involve
serious subjects.
DRAMATIC TECHNIQUES
• Dramatic techniques include literary devices and
staging elements determined by the playwright,
director or stage manager.
• Dramatic techniques are used by a playwright to
enhance the emotional, aural, and visual experience
of the audience and to underline a script's meaning.
WHAT ARE THE FIVE ELEMENTS
OF DRAMA?
The five elements of drama are:
•
the thought, theme, and ideas;
•
action and plot;
•
characters;
•
language;
•
and music.
The spectacle, consisting of the scenery, props,
costumes and special effects of a production, is also an
element of drama
WHAT ARE STAGE DIRECTIONS
IN A PLAY?
• In a play, stage directions are instructions from the
playwright to the actors and stage crew. Though
usually placed in brackets within scripts, they are not
spoken.
• Stage directions relate the author's intentions for
actors' entrances, exits, movement, intonation and
essential behaviors.
• In addition, they provide guidance for the crew
regarding their responsibilities, including what the
lighting should be and any sounds, such as music,
that must be added.
TYPES OF UTTERANCE IN
DRAMA
•
Dramatic language is modelled on real-life
conversations among people, and yet, when one
watches a play, one also has to consider the
differences between real talk and drama talk.
•
Dramatic language is ultimately always
constructed or ‗made up‘ and it often serves
several purposes.
Monologue, dialogue,
soliloquy
In drama, in contrast to narrative, characters typically
talk to one another and the entire plot is carried by and
conveyed through their verbal interactions. Language in
drama
can
generally
be
presented
either
as monologue or dialogue.
• Monologue means that only one character speaks.
• Dialogue always requires two or more participants.
• Soliloquy is a special form of monologue, where no
other person is present on stage beside the speaker.
Soliloquies are mainly used to present a
character in more detail and also on a more personal
level. In other words: Characters are able to ‗speak their
mind‘ in soliloquies
In case of a monologue, other characters can be
present on stage, either overhearing the speech of the
person talking or even being directly addressed by him
or her.
The main point is that one person holds the floor for a
lengthy period of time.