LITERARY

GENRES

In groups, think of the following

question:

What is a genre?

DEFINITION
A literary genre is a type of written
or oral text with a specific
purpose .
There are different types of literary
genres but they can mainly be
separated into:

NON-FICTION
Non-fiction is a text which gives
information, explains facts, gives
instructions, puts forward arguments or ideas
to persuade people, or describes factual
events. You can read non-fiction in books,
newspapers or magazines, brochures or reports.
Non-fiction texts often have headings which
divide the text into sections. The headings help
to describe what information is in the text. The
reader can use the headings to find information
and to choose which sections they want to read.

Can you mention the three types of

fictional genres?

FICTIONAL GENRES
Within fictional genres we can talk
about:
a- POETRY
b- DRAMA
c- NARRATIVE

POETRY FEATURES
Poems can tell stories or they can describe people,
things and situations. Poets choose the words they use
very carefully they choose words for their sound and
rhythm as well as for their meaning. It can be difficult
to understand a poem the first time you read it, and
different people can think a poem means different
things.
Many poems are divided into stanzas a number of
lines without a gap.
There are many different styles of poetry, for example,
a sonnet has 14 lines, a haiku has 17 syllables, and a
limerick is a funny poem that is only five lines long.

DRAMA
Drama is a story which is acted out rather than read
silently as a book. It is usually fiction but it can be based
on fact. The symbol of drama is two masks: one smiling
and one sad. These represent comedy and tragedy.
Tragedies have unhappy endings. The main
characters are in difficult situations and they make the
wrong choices. In the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the
difficult situation is that their two families hate each
other, then Romeo and Juliet both make the wrong
choices and decisions and their story ends in tragedy.
In comedies, people often misunderstand each other or
they decide to do something unusual which leads to a
funny situation.

NARRATIVE FEATURES
Narrative is a style of writing used
for telling stories and writing
about facts. It is used in short
stories, novels, legends, newspaper
articles and text books. It is
continuous writing which is
divided into paragraphs. Longer
prose is divided into chapters as well.

TYPES OF FICTIONAL
NARRATIVE
Fairy tales
Fairy Tales are short fictional narratives
belonging to a country folklore.
The main characters of fairy tales are usually
magical creatures such as dwarves,witches,
fairies, princes, princesses, talking animals.
The characters are either good or bad.
The setting takes place in a far away land in a
far away time.
They usully finish with a moral which tries to
teach something to the reader.

TYPES OF FICTIONAL
NARRATIVE
Myths
Myths are stories that are set in the ancient
past. The people who originally told them
and listened to them believed that they
were true, or that parts of them were true.
In Greece, as in other countries, myths were
part of an ancient religion and
explained the history of the people and
the country. The gods and goddesses in
Greek myths had superhuman powers.

TYPES OF FICTIONAL
NARRATIVE
Legends
A legend is a semi-true story, which
has been passed on from personto-person and has important
meaning or symbolism for the culture
in which it originates. A legend usually
includes an element of truth, or is
based on historic facts, but with
'mythical qualities'. Legends usually
involve heroic characters or
fantastic places and often encompass
the spiritual beliefs of the culture in
which they originate.

TYPES OF FICTIONAL
NARRATIVE
Fables
Fables are short stories that are
usually about animals .They are
intended to teach a lesson. In
fables, animals have got human
characteristics (they can talk, etc)