What are the Genres of Literature?

Commonly there was a widespread thought that literature could be classified into five categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and prose. Within these larger categories are subcategories. For example, fiction can be sub-classified as either: non-realistic, realistic, or semi-fiction. The sub-category in this case is based on how far from reality the work is. Usually, fiction is not based on reality, but as of late through the help of researching teams, works of fiction have made leaps and bounds to holding and using many different facts.

Nonfiction goes in the complete opposite direction. This is rooted on facts and truths. These facts can be presented in a wide variety of ways. In some cases, it can mimic poetry through the use of figurative language. This can make a seemingly boring topic engaging and mind bending. In general, most subjects that chosen to be told in this form are far from normal and can capture just about any audience just by being revisited. One thing is true in life people are very unpredictable. Nonfiction can be told to the audience from many different points of view. People tell their own story in autobiographies and other people tell their stories in biographies. Audiences should be aware of who is telling the story to be able to assess its level of validity.

Poetry differs in that it carries a patterned rhythm. Poetry has many more sub-categories than you would imagine because it has been around for a while. It is thought that the most popularly practiced form of poetry is haiku which originated in Japan. It is literally the twitter version of poetry. In the sense that it is a short and sweet way to communicate your message.

Prose is remarkably similar to poetry, but it is not patterned. Language in this form flows much fluidly. This is how most everyday conversations take place across all different forms of media. Prose is difficult to define because we can easily say what it is not, but not what it is. Any time a piece is written in a straightforward manner and follows grammatical structure rather than a pattern, it is composed in a prose manner.

The last main genres form is drama. This is often a fictional performance that includes a great deal of dialogue between characters. This will often be attached to world events and history to capture the audience’s imagination. It is often performed in front of people in the form of a play. They are also performed in the form of television shows and movies.