Literary Genres and Subgenres: A Comprehensive Guide
Journalistic Subgenres
Informative Subgenre
News
Objectively presents facts and interesting general topics. Its structure is a model for journalistic texts:
- Headlines (subhead, title, and subtitle): Offer a superficial view of the facts, attracting readers and providing a first glimpse of events.
- Entradilla (Introduction): The first paragraph, summarizing the most relevant information. Sometimes in a different font.
- Body: The development of the news.
Reportage
In-depth journalistic work requiring intense documentation and research, offering a comprehensive vision of the facts.
Chronicle
Mixes objective reporting with the reporter’s perspective. Sometimes classified as opinion.
Opinion Subgenre
Article
Conveys a journalist’s opinion on a current event. Signed and varies in length.
Column
Similar to an article but more concise, occupying a fixed space. Signed by columnists known for good journalism and sometimes literature.
Editorial
Unsigned article expressing the newspaper’s opinion on a current issue. Often on the first pages, reflecting the publication’s views and socio-political orientation.
Interview
Conversation between a journalist and a person sharing their views on a current issue or their activities. Often in weekly supplements.
Literary Genres
Lyric
Expresses the author’s subjective world, emotions, and feelings, or deep reflection. Usually in verse, but prose is also used.
Oda
Lyric poem of some length, with a noble and lofty theme.
Hymn
Solemn composition expressing patriotic, religious, or warrior sentiments.
Elegy
Poem expressing grief over individual or collective misfortune.
Eclogue
Poem expressing love and nature’s exaltation, spoken by shepherds.
Song
Habitually expresses loving emotions.
Satire
Lyrical composition, in verse or prose, criticizing individual or collective vices.
Epigram
Biting, sharp, and concise poem, usually in verse.
Epic
Relates events that happened to a protagonist. Highly objective. Traditionally in verse, now also in prose.
Epic Poem
Tells a memorable action of great importance for humanity or a community.
Epopee
Tells heroic deeds of a national hero to promote national values. Medieval examples are Songs of Deeds, oral traditions sung by minstrels or troubadours.
Romance
Octosyllabic narrative poem with assonant rhyme in pairs, describing warrior actions, knights, love, etc.
Story
Tale in prose or verse with a moral or ethical consequence, often featuring animals.
Epistle
Written in verse or prose, exposes a general problem.
Dramatic Genre
Works written in dialogue, intended for performance. The author outlines various conflicts. Can be in verse or prose.
Tragedy
Representation of terrible conflicts between superior and passionate characters, victims of inescapable destiny, usually leading to the protagonist’s death.
Comedy
Representation of life’s cheerful and fun aspects through conflict, with a happy ending.
Drama
Representation of serious problems, sometimes with comic elements, often with a bleak ending.
Opera
Dramatic composition where characters sing instead of reciting.
Zarzuela
Spanish literary-musical work combining spoken and sung scenes, often reflecting customs, popular concerns, and political satire.
Paso, Farce, and Entremés
Short one-act pieces, in prose or verse, with a light subject. Farce originates from popular tradition, with a festive and picaresque mood, performed during intervals of major works. Entremés derives from farce, emphasizing humor and popular elements.
Auto Sacramental
Allegorical work about a Catholic dogma, exalting the Eucharist.
Melodrama
Nineteenth-century serialized dramas, conventional and sentimental.