English

Literature
Genres
“The most I can do for my friend is
simply be his friend.”

—Henry David Thoreau

 What is a Genre?

Genre is the classification of a literary work

by its form, content, and style into categories
such as poetry, drama, fiction, and non-
fiction. From there, literature can be further
classified into subgenres.

Each genre varies in its features and

functions and understanding what major
genre category a work of literature falls into
will help to bring deeper understanding to
that work.
Here are some important elements found within
literary genres:
● Antagonist: This is a character who provides conflict for the protagonist by
creating challenges. This can be one character of a group of characters.

● Protagonist: This is the leading character in a piece of writing, who

commonly experiences challenges that help to move the piece of writing
forward.

● Themes: This is the underlying idea found throughout a piece of writing,

which writers can convey through settings, characters, dialogue and plot.
 The Purpose of Literature Genres

Genres are important because they give structure to what types of writing can
be worked with. For authors, they can choose what type of genre they write
best in and specialize in that genre. However, many writers choose to publish
in and experiment with several different genres from poetry to nonfiction.
 The Purpose of Literature Genres

What genres do for readers is to classify literature into categories. This can be
for the purpose of study, work, or pleasure. Within genres, scholars at large
tend to analyze the importance of particular works within the context of the
genre in which it is published. This adds to discussions about literary canons as
a whole.
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