Introduction to Literature: Genres, Forms, and Elements
Literature: An Overview
Literature is the art of writing and reading, exploring beauty and pleasure through words.
Characteristics of Literary Texts
- Creates an imaginary reality
- Subjectivity (a particular vision of things)
- Literary language
- Uses figures of speech and expressive language resources
Literary Genres
- Epic: Fiction (e.g., novels)
- Lyric: Poetry
- Dramatic: Theater (plays)
Poetry
Derived from the Greek word “poiesis” (to create), poetry expresses feelings, emotional experiences, and the author’s personal world.
Elements of Poetry
- Verse: The basic unit of poetic language, consisting of rhyme, rhythm, and meter.
- Meter: The rhythmic pattern of a verse, measured by syllables and stress. Includes concepts like elision (omission of a vowel) and synalepha (joining of two vowels). Meters can be classified as long (8+ syllables) or short (7- syllables).
- Rhyme: The correspondence of sounds at the end of verses. Types include consonant rhyme (same sounds), assonant rhyme (same vowel sounds), chained rhyme (ABABA), cross rhyme (ABBA), and blank verse (unrhymed).
- Rhythm: The regular repetition of rhythmic units.
- Stanza: A group of verses. Examples include couplet (2), tercet (3, often ABA), quatrain (4, ABAB or ABBA), quintet (5), sestet (6), octave (8), tenth (10, popular in Baroque), sonnet (14, two quatrains and two tercets), and romance (assonant rhyme, heptasyllabic verses).
Traditional Cultivated Poetic Genres
- Anthem: A solemn poetic-musical composition expressing feelings.
- Ode: A high and solemn poem, longer than a hymn, with varied topics.
- Elegy: Expresses sadness and pain for a personal or collective misfortune.
- Cantiga: Includes ballads (“love songs”), egola (“dialogue of love”), and pastorela (“knight and shepherdess”).
Traditional Popular Poetic Genres
Includes songs for important celebrations, carols, joys (religious), corrandes (short songs), and tambourine songs (with tambourine percussion).
New Forms of Poetry
- Prose poetry (poetic compositions in prose)
- Calligram (poetry that plays with words visually)
- Visual poetry (replaces traditional elements with visual ones)
Fiction
Fiction tells a fictional story with characters.
Epic
The earliest examples of narrative are The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer (8th century BC), based on Greek legends about the Trojan War and Odysseus’s journey home.
Traditional Epic
- Oral Tradition: Heroic poems about gods and the origin of the universe, transmitted orally.
- Written Tradition: Similar themes but transmitted in writing.
Songs of Geste
Narratives based on historical events, transmitted orally.
Epic Poem
Based on historical facts but written in verse form.
Classification of Fiction
- Novel: A longer story (e.g., chivalric adventures, realist, autobiographical).
- Short Story: A shorter, simpler, and linear narrative. Includes literary tales, folk tales, legends, and fables.
Formal Elements of Narrative
- Narrator: The voice telling the story. Can be external (3rd person, omniscient or limited) or internal (1st person, protagonist, witness, or multiple).
- Characters: Can be dynamic or static, protagonist or antagonist, allies or opponents, witnesses, etc.
- Speech: Can be direct (dialogue), indirect (narrated by the narrator), or free indirect.
- Space: The setting where the story takes place.
- Time: Can be historical or fictional, and can be presented chronologically or with flashbacks or flashforwards.
Theater
Theater is a genre intended for stage performance, characterized by action, dialogue, theatrical language, and an appellative function (engaging the audience).
Origins of Theater
Theater originated in ancient Greece with stories of gods, kings, heroes, and tragic fates.
Textual Elements of Theater
- Monologue and dialogue
- Voiceover
- Pauses and silences
- Stage directions
Structure of a Play
- Acts (major divisions)
- Scenes (divisions within an act, often marked by a change of setting)
- French Scenes (divisions within a scene, marked by the entrance or exit of a character)
Troubadour Lyric Poetry
Originating in Occitania (southern France) in the 12th century, troubadour poetry used Occitan, a refined poetic language, and followed specific rules (e.g., rhyme schemes). It explored themes of courtly love and chivalry.