Creative

Nonfiction
Mark Buddy E. Padernal
 Lesson 1: Introduction to Literary Genres
Literature
 is what accomplishes the act of fiction. Fiction is about
fashioning, devising, inventing, shaping, and forming words.
 The reality of literature is formed from one’s imagination.
 Literature can make us imagine the possibilities of seemingly
impossible things, people, places, or events.
One of the words created to guide us into the world of words is
genre. A French word, genre means classification of the variety
and diversity of text or writing we encounter every day. There
are many text (varied), but they also differ from one another
(diversity).
Such differences enable one to make a classification based on
certain criteria or standards that makes them assume similarity.
Without such classification, we might get confused and lose our
way in a world surrounded by words.
If we browse in bookstores, we find many categories of reading
materials for sale like, an Art and Photography, Biographies and
Memoirs, Business and Investing, Children’s Books, Fiction and
Literature, Sports and lot more. Genre is like a map that helps us
navigate a world of words by helping us to find what we want to
read and letting us know what to expect from what we are
reading.
A literary convention is:

A customary feature of a literary work, such as the use of a chorus in Greek

tragedy, the inclusion of an explicit moral in a fable, or the use of a particular
rhyme scheme in a villanelle.

Literary conventions are defining features of particular literary genres, such as the
novel, short story, ballad, sonnet, and play.

In other words, it is a cliche, device, or trope that acts as a defining feature of a

genre. All Star Wars movies begin with the phrase "A long time ago in a galaxy far,
far away." This helps place the viewer in the context of the Star Wars galaxy.
Literary conventions can be aspects of prosody (rhyme and sound), structure (acts
in a play), or content (humor in a comedy).
What are the 5 Main Literature Genres?
1. Poetry This is often considered the oldest form of literature. Before writing was
invented, oral stories were commonly put into some sort of poetic form to make
them easier to remember and recite.
2. Prose can be defined as any kind of written text that isn’t poetry. Prose is written
in complete sentences and organized in paragraphs. Instead of focusing on sound,
which is what poetry does, prose tends to focus on plot and characters.
3. Drama Any text meant to be performed rather than read can be considered drama
4. Non-fiction can be creative, such as the personal essay, or factual, such as the
scientific paper.
5. Media The newest type of literature that has been defined as a distinct genre is
media. This categorization was created to encompass the many new and
important kinds of texts in our society today, such as movies and films, websites,
commercials, billboards, and radio programs.
Other Types of Literature
These are far from the only important genres of literature. Here are a few more that
are sometimes used in classrooms:
 Oral Literature: The oldest type of literature, and the foundation on which culture
was built. Now, most oral texts have been written down, of course, and are usually
taught in the form of epic poems or plays or folk tales.
 Folklore/Folk Tales/Fables: A distinction is often made between regular prose and
folklore. Most folk tales were originally oral literature, and are short stories meant to
pass on a particular lesson or moral.
 Graphic Novels and Comic Books: It used to be that most educators saw comic
books as the lowest form of literature, not suitable or valuable for children. But
times have changed, and many teachers have come to realize that comic books and
the more modern graphic novels are both appealing to kids and are a valid form of
literature in their own right.
 The Genre of Words and Language
There are also two genres or kinds of words, the literal and figurative. A literal word means exactly as it
says. It is factual and does not involve fashioning or fabricating. Definition of word in the dictionary are
generally literal. The dictionary defines the apple as a round, yellow or green edible fruit. In figurative
words, apple can lose its fruity character. The saying “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”, refers not
to the fruit itself or of sending the doctors away, but to the belief that it promotes good health. Figurative
is like a word painted to make us see something that literal language would not make us see. In this
context, you can see the interplay between the literal and the metaphorical.
 Poetry: Forming Pictures through Words

The British-American poet W.H. Auden once said that one cannot be a
poet if one’s reason for writing poetry is “I have important things I want to
say”. But if one’s reason is “I like hanging around words and listening to
what they say”, and he believed that person could indeed be a poet. Poetry
is notable for using a few words to convey a lot.
 Poetry: Forming Pictures through Words
Haiku is a form of short poetry that originated in Japan in 9th century. It
follows the 5- 7-5 pattern. The first line contains 5 syllables, the second
line with 7 syllables and the third line with 5 syllables. It is known for
revealing the vastness of nature in an intimate and microscopic manner.
Here’s the example poem by a famous poet of 15th century from Japan,
Basho Matsuo “The Old Pond”, a snapshot of a particular moment in one
small portion of the environment:
 5 - An old silent pond….
7 - A frog jumps into the pond,
5 - Splash! Silence again.

In writing haiku, you can use details that can be seen or

grasped by the five senses.
Some Characteristics of Poetry:

Lines – the shape of the poem.

Figure of sounds – words that makes us listen. Listening to the words of a poem
is like listening to music.
Sound Check – the feel of words in the tongue. The text of the poem has a
texture, how sounds conveys message, attitude, and mood.
Sound Devices in Poetry – techniques that affect the sound, but not the meaning
of a poem.