Exploring Literary Genres: Epic, Lyric, and Dramatic Poetry

Posted on Nov 16, 2024 in Latin

1) Literary Genres

Overview

Literary works are categorized into groups based on whether the writer draws inspiration from real or imaginary events, external observations, or personal impressions and sensations. Authors can employ various expressive mediums (prose, poetry, dramatic dialogue) to portray reality directly or indirectly. These diverse approaches to understanding literary works have been recognized since classical antiquity as literary genres.

Aristotle defined and classified literary genres, considering some as absolute categories. Over time, certain genres have evolved, leading to new variations or blending with other genres, making categorization challenging today.

Building upon the Greek understanding of poetry and creative writing, three primary literary genres have been distinguished since antiquity: epic poetry, lyric poetry, and dramatic poetry.

Lyric Poetry

The term “lyric” originates from the Greek word “lyra,” referring to poetic compositions sung in ancient Greece and accompanied by this musical instrument. Subsequently, “lyric” has come to designate specific literary forms, both in verse and prose, that convey feelings, experiences, and moods, essentially expressing the author’s subjectivity.

Lyric poetry is the most subjective and personal of all genres. It is characterized by its brevity and diverse forms. Literary tradition has established various modes of expression considered characteristic of lyric poetry, often determined by thematic motifs and sometimes by formal patterns.

These modes may not always exist in their purest form, as many poems exhibit mixed characteristics, making them difficult to classify within a specific group. Some modes, like the ballad and romance, are not exclusive to lyric poetry and can also be found in epic poetry.

Important Forms of Lyric Poetry

Ode: A poem of exaltation or praise dedicated to significant figures or institutions. Its name alludes to singing, as it was performed with lyre accompaniment. Odes employ an elevated tone and language, sometimes referred to as hymns. They often feature long and solemn verses, particularly in heroic meter.
Anthem: A composition of praise to a deity or expressing religious or patriotic fervor. Examples include hymns to Apollo, Assyrian, Chinese, Egyptian, or Indian hymns, hymns of Judaism and Christianity, and the biblical Book of Psalms.
Elegy: Originally a composition written in response to someone’s death, elegies later encompassed various themes of loss, disappointment in love, and sorrow. Examples include medieval dances of death, Jorge Manrique’s “Verses on the Death of His Father,” Rodrigo Caro’s “The Ruins of Italica,” and Federico García Lorca’s “Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías.”
Song: Refers to any lyric composition originally intended for singing, often with a love theme. Songs can be categorized as popular or cultured. Popular songs are typically anonymous, sung by the people, and do not adhere to a precise metric. Cultured songs, widely cultivated in Provençal poetry, express the sentiment of love.
Eclogue: A composition with a pastoral theme, it is a poetic fiction where the author expresses feelings through dialogue between shepherds and employs conventions of the pastoral genre.
Satire: A critical lyric form that sometimes incorporates humor or ridicule, even extending to personal attacks and cruel, sarcastic criticism.
Epigram: A sharp, concise, and poignant observation, usually written in verse. In ancient Greece, epigrams were inscribed on tombs and statues (funerary epigrams). The term can also apply to aphorisms and adages.
Letrilla: A short poetic composition with verses commonly set to music, divided into stanzas and a refrain.

2) Narrative Genre: The Novel

Epic Poetry

The term “epic” derives from the Greek word “epos,” meaning story. Epic poetry narrates an event, typically external to the poet, involving heroic deeds, chivalric narratives, military events, and sometimes religious, burlesque, or other themes.

Epic literature is characterized by the separation between the writer and the narrated reality, with the narrator maintaining distance from the external world. This objectivity and equanimity towards the world contrast with the fusion between the poet’s self and the world, which is the essence of lyric poetry.

Major Forms of Epic Poetry

Epic: A long narrative poem recounting the heroic actions of an entire people, their customs, feelings, beliefs, and ways of life. The community is the true protagonist. Examples include the Ramayana and the Mahabharata in India, The Iliad and The Odyssey in Greece, and The Aeneid in Rome.
Songs of Deeds: Narrate the exploits of a hero embodying popular sentiments. They were sung by minstrels in palaces and public squares. Examples include the Cantar de Mio Cid in Spain and the Chanson de Roland in France.
Romances: Short poems in octosyllabic verse dealing with heroic themes. Later, lyrical ballads were also written. The romance was, alongside the epic poem, the most common form of medieval Castilian epic poetry.
Epic Poem of Worship: In addition to the great epics, cultivated epic poems were written for a select audience during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Examples include Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered, Camões’ Lusiads, and Alonso de Ercilla’s La Araucana in Spain. Religious and burlesque epics also exist.

Characteristics of the Novel

Creates its own narrative world: Presents an imaginary reality that doesn’t necessarily align with actual reality. This world, created by the novelist, must be credible, appearing real and internally consistent.
Every novel is fiction: It is a product of the novelist’s individual creation, drawing upon their imagination and the surrounding reality but not depicting things as they are. It presents a world as the author envisions it.
Opposed to history: History demands that recorded facts be real and verifiable, while in a novel, everything is recreated.
Strong connotative load: Words and situations are interpreted with figurative meanings beyond their literal sense. The novel’s text carries inherent meaning and hidden meanings that the reader must uncover.
Handles multiple simultaneous stories: Like in real life, the anecdotes forming the novel are interconnected within the novel’s world. Characters can initiate stories that intertwine with others.
Many characters: Unlike a short story with a single protagonist and antagonist, a novel features multiple protagonists and antagonists.
Physical and psychological characterization: Protagonists and antagonists are described physically, psychologically, or both to emphasize the author’s intended ideas.
Combines narration, description, and dialogue: It narrates a series of events that form a logically and chronologically linked story, mirroring real life.

The Short Story

A short story is a brief, oral or written narrative that recounts a fictional event, either fantastical or realistic.

3) Theater: Drama and Comedy

Drama

The concept of “drama” (from Greek “drão,” meaning “to act, perform”) encompasses all forms of plays, which can be written in verse or prose. Dramatic poetry, instead of narrating actions, presents them directly to the audience through a convention accepted by both the author and the spectators.

Unlike epic and lyric poetry, drama is characterized by movement and dramatic tension. Actions oppose and conflict, forming the central element of the dramatic process. All elements of the work are subordinate to this conflict, which is resolved only at the end, known as the outcome.

Due to its focus on dramatic conflict, the play is concentrated and simplified, omitting superfluous or secondary elements to a greater extent than epic and lyric poetry. This simplification also stems from the dramatic process’s inherent present-tense nature.

Theater always presents events as if they are unfolding in the present, even though they may be set in the past. It requires the physical presence of actors who, during the performance, appear to viewers as real, living beings.

Drama, like epic poetry, traditionally consists of three parts: exposition, rising action, and denouement. However, modern drama may not always adhere to this structure, as the treatment of action and theatrical time can be more complex.

Plays are typically divided into acts (separated by intermissions for actors and audience), scenes (parts of an act taking place in a single location), and stage directions (author’s instructions on entrances and exits, scenery changes, stage settings, etc.).

While dialogue is the primary means of theatrical expression, other conventions exist, such as:

Monologue: Reflections spoken aloud by a character without addressing other characters.
Aside: Words spoken by an actor directly to the audience, assumed to be unheard by other characters on stage.
Stage directions: Notes on staging, describing costumes, location, movements, and character behavior.

Important Theatrical Forms and Genres

Tragedy: Dramatic conflict involving elevated characters (heroes, kings) and a tragic ending. Language and style are elevated. In tragedy, adversity or fate acts as a force against which the hero succumbs. The classic model is found in the works of the three great Greek tragedians: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Comedy: Originated as a genre of lesser importance compared to tragedy, with a recreational or satirical purpose. It featured characters and actions of lower social status and a happy ending. Comedy later became a central genre in dramatic literature, representing everyday conflicts and problems.
Drama (in the specific sense): Combines elements of tragedy (painful conflict) and comedy, but the conflict is not situated on a grand scale. Characters are less exalted, dealing with everyday problems representative of their time. The ending is usually sad but may include comic situations to relieve tension. The word “drama” is also used as a synonym for “play” in general.