Poetry

- A form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of

language – such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre – to
evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, a prosaic ostensible
meaning. A poem is a literary composition, written by a poet, using this
principle.
- Specific poetic forms have been developed by many cultures. In more
developed, closed or “received” poetic forms, the rhyming scheme,
meter and other elements of a poem are based on sets of rules, ranging
from the relatively loose rules that govern the construction of an elegy
to the highly formalized structure of the ghazal or villanelle.
 Sonnet
o Among the most common forms of poetry, popular from
the Late Middle Ages on, is the sonnet, which by the 13th
century had become standardized as fourteen lines
following a set rhyme scheme and logical structure. By the
14th century and the Italian Renaissance, the form had
further crystallized under the pen of Petrarch, whose
sonnets were translated in the 16th century by Sir Thomas
Wyatt, who is credited with introducing the sonnet form
into English literature.

 Shi
o Is the main type of Classical Chinese poetry. Within
this form of poetry the most important variations
are “folk song” styled verse (yuefu), “old style” verse
 (gushi), “modern style” verse (jintishi). In all cases,
rhyming is obligatory. The Yuefu is a folk ballad or a
poem written in the folk ballad style, and the
number of lines and the length of the lines could be
irregular. For the other variations of shi poetry,
generally either a four line (quatrain, or jueju) or
else an eight-line poem is normal; either way with
the even numbered lines rhyming.

 Tanka
o A form of unrhymed Japanese poetry, with five
sections totalling 31 on (phonological units identical
to morae), structured in a 5-7-5-7-7 pattern. There is
generally a shift in tone and subject matter between
the upper 5-7-5 phrase and the lower 7-7 phrase.
Tanka were written as early as the Asuka period by
such poets as Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (fl. Late 7th
 century), at a time when Japan was emerging from a
period where much of its poetry followed Chinese
form.

 Haiku
o Haiku is a popular form of unrhymed Japanese
poetry, which evolved in the 17th century from the
hokku, or opening verse of a renku.Generally written
in a single vertical line, the haiku contains three
sections totalling 17 on (morae), structured in a 5-7-
5 pattern. Traditionally, haiku contain a kireji, or
cutting word, usually placed at the end of one of the
poem’s three sections, and a kigo, or season-word.

Drama
 - The specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a
play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on
radio or television. Considered as a genre of poetry in general,
the dramatic mode has been contrasted with the epic and the
lyrical modes ever since Aristotle’s Poetics (c. 335 BC)—the
earliest work of dramatic theory.
- The term “drama” comes from a Greek word meaning “deed”
or “act” (Classical Greek: δρᾶμα, drâma), which is derived from
“I do” (Classical Greek: δράω, dráō). The two masks associated
with drama represent the traditional generic division between
comedy and tragedy.

Fiction
- Any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying
individuals, events, or places in ways that are imaginary or
inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a narrow sense,
“fiction” refers to written narratives in prose – often referring
specifically to novels, novellas, and short stories.
- The creation of a work of fiction implies the construction of an
imaginary world. Typically, the fictionality of the work is
publicly acknowledged and the audience expects the work to
deviate in some ways from the real world rather than
presenting only factually accurate portrayals or characters who
are actual people.[6] Because fiction is generally understood to
not fully adhere to the real world, the themes and context of a
work, such as if and how it relates to real-world issues or
events, are open to interpretation.[7] Characters and events
within some fictional works may even exist in their own context
entirely separate from the known physical universe: an
independent fictional universe.
Creative Nonfiction
- Creative nonfiction (also known as literary nonfiction or
narrative nonfiction or literary journalism or verfabula[1]) is a
genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to
create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction
contrasts with other nonfiction, such as academic or technical
writing or journalism, which are also rooted in accurate fact
though not written to entertain based on prose style. Many
writers view creative nonfiction as overlapping with the essay.
- For a text to be considered creative nonfiction, it must be
factually accurate, and written with attention to literary style
and technique. Lee Gutkind, founder of Creative Nonfiction
magazine, writes, “Ultimately, the primary goal of the creative
nonfiction writer is to communicate information, just like a
reporter, but to shape it in a way that reads like fiction.” Forms
within this genre include memoir, diary, travel writing, food
writing, literary journalism, chronicle, personal essays, and
other hybridized essays, as well as some biography and
autobiography. Critic Chris Anderson claims that the genre can
be understood best by splitting it into two subcategories—the
personal essay and the journalistic essay—but the genre is
currently defined by its lack of established conventions.
 21st Century Literary Genres

Hypertext
- A genre of electronic literature, characterized by the use of
hypertext links that provide a new context for non-linearity in
literature and reader interaction. The reader typically chooses
links to move from one node of text to the next, and in this
fashion arranges a story from a deeper pool of potential
stories. Its spirit can also be seen in interactive fiction.
- There is little consensus on the definition of hypertext
literature. The similar term cybertext is often used
interchangeably with hypertext. In hypertext fiction, the reader
assumes a significant role in the creation of the narrative. Each
user obtains a different outcome based on the choices they
make. Cybertexts may be equated to the transition between a
linear piece of literature, such as a novel, and a game. In a
novel the reader has no choice, the plot and the characters are
all chosen by the author, there is no ‘user,’ just a ‘reader,’ this
is important because it entails that the person working their
way through the novel is not an active participant.
 Speculative Fictional
- A broad category of fiction encompassing genres with
elements that do not exist in reality, recorded history, nature,
or the present universe. Such fiction covers various themes in
the context of supernatural, futuristic, and other imaginative
realms. The genres under this umbrella category include, but
are not limited to, science fiction, fantasy, horror, superhero
fiction, alternate history, utopian and dystopian fiction, and
supernatural fiction, as well as combinations thereof (for
example, science fantasy).
- Speculative fiction as a category ranges from ancient works to
paradigm-changing and neotraditional works of the 21st
century.[3][4] Characteristics of speculative fiction have been
recognized in older works whose authors’ intentions, or in the
social contexts of the stories they portray, are now known.
 Experimental Fictional
- A genre that is, according to Warren Motte in his essay
“Experimental Writing, Experimental Reading”, “difficult to
define with any sort of precision.” He says the “writing is often
invoked in an “offhand manner” and the focus is on “form
rather than content.” It can be in written form of prose
narrative or poetry, but the text may be set on the page in
differing configurations than that of normal prose paragraphs
or in the classical stanza form of verse. It may also be entwined
with images of a real or abstract nature, with the use of art or
photography. Furthermore, while experimental literature was
traditionally handwritten on paper or vellum, the digital age has
seen an exponential leaning to the use of digital computer
technologies.
- In the early 21st century, many examples of experimental
literature reflect the emergence of computers and other digital
technologies, some of them actually using the medium on
which they are reflecting, such as Patricia Lockwood’s 2021
internet novel No One Is Talking About This, which was mostly
composed on an iPhone. Such writing has been variously
referred to electronic literature, hypertext, and codework.
Others have focused on exploring the plurality of narrative
point of views, like the Uruguayan American writer Jorge
Majfud in La reina de América and La ciudad de la luna.
Auto Fictional
- Combines two mutually inconsistent narrative forms, namely
autobiography and fiction. An author may decide to recount
their life in the third person, to modify significant details and
characters, using fictive subplots and imagined scenarios with
real life characters in the service of a search for self. In this way,
autofiction shares similarities with the Bildungsroman as well as
the New Narrative movement and has parallels with faction, a
genre devised by Truman Capote to describe his novel In Cold
Blood.
- The way the term is used tends to be unstable, which makes
sense for a genre that blends fiction and what may appear to
be fact into an unstable compound. In the past, I’ve tried to
make a distinction in my own use of the term between
autobiographical fiction, autobiographical metafiction, and
autofiction, arguing that in autofiction there tends to be
emphasis on the narrator’s or protagonist’s or authorial alter
ego’s status as a writer or artist and that the book’s creation is
inscribed in the book itself.