Literary Genres and Their Characteristics: A Comprehensive Look
EPIC
Epics are explanations of facts surrounded by space and time, where we find a narrative voice.
- Epic: A story that explains the origins of a people.
- Epic Poem: A medieval work focused on a protagonist who is a hero, serving as a model of identification.
- Epic Poem: Similar to a *chanson de geste* but much briefer.
Prose
- Novel: An extensive work with complex characters, using different modes of expression.
- Tale: Brief, summarized arguments with more basic characters.
LYRIC
Lyrics are expressions of a poetic self, concerned with musicality and rhythm, concentrating stylistic resources.
- Ode: A poem of any length in which the poet expresses the exaltation of feelings and moral values.
- Song: A type of composition that begins to occur in the 16th century with sentimental themes, where the author expresses their feelings in a melancholy and disillusioned way.
- Elegy: A funeral song that celebrates the figure of a deceased person while expressing feelings of pain.
- Epistle: A letter addressed to a real or imaginary recipient, written in verse with a moral theme.
- Romance: An indefinite composition of verse with assonance rhyme in even lines and no rhyme in odd lines, with sentimental themes.
- Sonnet: A composition with a fixed structure, covering various themes such as moral, loving, philosophical, and metaphysical.
DRAMATIC
Dramatic works have important scenic elements, intended for presentation, where the argument develops from what actors portray on stage.
- Tragedy: An ancient theatrical genre where characters are marked by a fatal destiny.
- Comedy: A humorous work. The subject matter can be varied, including romantic, social, and sentimental situations, developed through humorous wordplay and scenic games.
- Drama: A work with a serious tone, but the characters are of a social condition close to the viewer. A variety of topics are raised, and the outcome is usually grave.
DIDACTIC
Didactic works aim to educate and delight, both in prose and verse, with an eagerness for disclosure.
- Essay: Written by a specialist on the subject, aiming to develop a topic of their specialty with an informative intention. The author does not exhaust the subject but selects elements and explains them.
- Dialogue: A work in which the author develops their thoughts using the resource of dialogue. A character leads the main thesis, and a cast of characters poses questions.
- Fable: One of the first fabulists was Aesop. It is a short story, not always featuring animals, that embodies human behavior. At the end of the story, the author introduces a moral.
Functions of Language
Reporting function, emotional or expressive, appellate or conative, meta, phatic, poetic or aesthetic.
Purposes of Literary Works
Joy, knowledge, evasion, and the transmission of ideology.
Meaning in Literary Works
The meaning in literary works is the purpose that the author has when writing their work. It is related to the reception of the literary work and the situation in which the reader reads or sees it.