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06 Literary Genres Poetry
06 Literary Genres Poetry
Poetic Genres
Chris Baldick: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of
Literary Terms (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001,
pp 104-105)
Genre - The French term for a type, species, or class of
composition. A literary genre is a recognizable and
established category of written work employing such
common CONVENTIONS as will prevent readers or
audiences from mistaking it for another kind. Much of
the confusion surrounding the term arises from the
fact that it is used simultaneously for the most basic
modes of literary art (LYRIC, NARRATIVE, DRAMATIC);
for the broadest categories of composition (poetry,
prose fiction),
Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, cont.
Note: Aristotle’s work is better known under the title “Poetics” but
the translation quoted above is also relevant and reliable.
Aristotle cont.
Kind or Genre
Genre Subgenre
Subgenre Sub-subgenre
Literary Kinds or Genres
Kind
Poetry Drama Fiction
Genre
(e.g.)
Elegy Ode Epistle etc. Tragedy Comedy Novel Short story
Morality Miracle etc. Romance etc.
Sub-genre
(e.g.)
Funeral / Revenge / Picaresque /
Pastoral Domestic Epistolary /
Utopia /
Detective
Literary Kinds or Genres
Drama
Stories composed in verse or prose, usually for theatrical
performance, where conflicts and emotion are expressed
through dialogue and action.
Fable
Narration demonstrating a useful truth, especially in
which animals speak as humans; legendary,
supernatural tale.
Fairy Tale
Story about fairies or other magical creatures, usually for
children.
Fantasy
Fiction with strange or other worldly settings or
characters; fiction which invites suspension of reality.
Fiction, cont.
Fiction
Narrative literary works whose content is produced by the
imagination and is not necessarily based on fact.
Fiction in Verse
Full-length novels with plot, subplot(s), theme(s), major and
minor characters, in which the narrative is presented in
(usually blank) verse form.
Folklore
The songs, stories, myths, and proverbs of a people or "folk"
as handed down by word of mouth.
Historical Fiction
Story with fictional characters and events in a historical setting.
Horror
Fiction in which events evoke a feeling of dread in both the
characters and the reader.
Fiction, cont.
Humour
Fiction full of fun, fancy, and excitement, meant to
entertain; but can be contained in all genres.
Legend
Story, sometimes of a national or folk hero, which has a
basis in fact but also includes imaginative material.
Mystery
Fiction dealing with the solution of a crime or the
unravelling of secrets.
Mythology
Legend or traditional narrative, often based in part on
historical events, that reveals human behaviour and
natural phenomena by its symbolism; often pertaining to
the actions of the gods.
Fiction, cont.
Poetry
Verse and rhythmic writing with imagery that creates
emotional responses.
Realistic Fiction
Story that can actually happen and is true to life.
Science Fiction
Story based on impact of actual, imagined, or potential
science, usually set in the future or on other planets.
Short Story
Fiction of such brevity that it supports no subplots.
Tall Tale
Humorous story with blatant exaggerations, swaggering
heroes who do the impossible with nonchalance.
All Nonfiction
Biography/Autobiography
Narrative of a person's life, a true story about a real
person.
Essay
A short literary composition that reflects the author's
outlook or point.
Narrative Nonfiction
Factual information presented in a format which tells a
story.
Nonfiction
Informational text dealing with an actual, real-life subject.
Speech
Public address or discourse.
California Department of Education
2 Dramatic Poetry
Dramatic poetry is any poetry that uses the discourse
of the characters involved to tell a story or portray a
situation. In this sense verse drama, such as William
Shakespeare’s plays, belong to the category of
dramatic poetry. Poetic plays, not necessarily meant
for stage production, are also dramatic poetry. These
are also termed as closet dramas. A good example is
P.
B. Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound. Dramatic
monologues, such as Robert Browning’s My Last
Duchess, can also be regarded as dramatic poetry.
Lyric Poetry
Scruples of categorization re-visited
When discussing and classifying lyric poetry,
categories show a cavalcade of often incongruent
terms mixing up thematic, metrical, formal and other
approaches. Do philosophical poems or war poems
constitute genres? When discussing the poetry of
John Donne, do love poems and devotional poems
represent genres? If yes, do epistles and elegies
written in that genre belong to different sub-genres? Is
the sonnet form a generic category? Is sonnet
sequence a generic category?
Poetic Genres
Narrative, Dramatic, and Lyric Poetry
3 Lyric poetry
Lyric poetry is more difficult to define. It is a genre of
poetry that, broadly and somewhat vaguely speaking,
expresses personal and emotional feelings.
In the prehistoric age lyric poems were sung, in the
antiquity they were sung to the lyre. This tradition,
though permanently declining, survived up the 18th
century. Now popular songs seem to replace this
function, therefore it is necessary to make distinction
between poem and lyrics.
Most important Genres of Lyric Poetry
Ode
Song
Elegy
Eclogue
Epistle
Epigram
Epitaph
Rhapsody
Dramatic monologue, etc.
Ballads, though by definition classified as narrative
genre, are often referred to as lyric poem. Ballads are
in fact generally included in lyric anthologies.
Song
My luve is like a red, red rose, Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
That's newly sprung in June : And the rocks melt wi' the sun !
My luve is like the melodie, And I will luve thee still, my dear,
That's sweetly play'd in tune. While the sands o' life shall run.
As fair art thou, my bonie lass, And fare-thee-weel, my only luve,\
So deep in luve am I, And fare-thee-weel a while! ! ,.
And I will luve thee still, my dear, And I will come again, my Juve, J
Till a' the seas gang dry. Tho' it were ten thousand mile.'
o. 152. My luve is like a red, red rose.
Tune : Major Graham Scots Musical Museum, 1796, No.
402.
Song
One day you'll look to see I've One day you'll find that I have gone
gone But tomorrow may rain,
For tomorrow may rain, so I'll follow the sun
so I'll follow the sun But tomorrow may rain,
so I'll follow the sun
Some day you'll know I was the
one And now the time has come
But tomorrow may rain, and, my love, I must go
so I'll follow the sun And though I lose a friend
In the end you will know, oh
And now the time has come
and, my love, I must go One day you'll find that I have gone
And though I lose a friend But tomorrow may rain,
In the end you will know, oh so I'll follow the sun
George Harrison
Here Comes the Sun
(1969)
There are two basic kinds: the public and the private.
the public is used for ceremonial occasions, like
funerals, birthdays, state events; the private often
celebrates rather intense, personal, and subjective
occasions; it is inclined to be meditative, reflective.
Ode cont.
II
III
(Excerpt)
Back to Ode
A recent example of an
anti-pastoral poem is v.
(1985) by Tony Harrison
(1937). His poem is set in
Leeds cemetery
vandalised by skinhead
football hooligans. He
even provides his bitterly
ironical epitaph at the end
of the poem.
Cover image of Tony Harrison’s v. and Beeston
Cemetery vandalised
The epitaph at the end of v.