Literary Genres and Definition

Study Notes

Literature refers to works of creative imagination, including poetry, drama, fiction, and non-fiction.
It is a means of expressing a nation's social, political, economic, intellectual, and cultural heritage through language.

Genre refers to any works that share certain characteristics.
Literary genre is a style of literary writing, and there are four main genres: poetry, drama, fiction, and non-fiction.

Poetry: verse and rhythmic writing with imagery that evokes an emotional response from the reader.
Prose: written language in its ordinary form, rather than poetry.
Drama: the genre of literature that is subject to compositions of dramatic art, often for theatrical performance.
Fantasy: fiction that involves the formation of mental images with strange or otherworldly settings or characters.

Plot: the sequence of incidents or events that make up the story.
Conflict: a clash of actions, ideas, desires, or wills that drives the plot.
Protagonist: the central character in the conflict, who can be sympathetic or unsympathetic.
Antagonist: the forces arranged against the protagonist, which can be persons, things, society, or even their own features.

Suspense: the quality in a story that makes readers ask "What is going to happen next?" and encourages them to read on.
Mystery: an unusual set of circumstances that the reader strongly wants an explanation for.
Dilemma: a position in which the protagonist must choose between two undesirable courses of action.
Surprise: an unexpected event caused by something unexpected happening.
Surprise ending: a sudden new turn or twist at the end of the story.

Happy ending: when the story ends as the protagonist wishes, with the problem resolved.
Unhappy ending: when the story ends as the opposite of what the protagonist wishes, often referred to as "depressing" fiction.
Indeterminate ending: an ending in which no definitive conclusion is arrived at, creating an artistic unit.

Direct presentation of character: when the author tells the reader straight out about the character's traits.
Indirect presentation of character: when the author shows the character in action, letting the reader infer their traits.

Flat characters: characterized by two traits that can be summed up in a sentence.
Round characters: complex and many-sided characters.
Stock character: a stereotyped figure with a fixed mental picture.
Static character: remains the same throughout the story.
Developing character: undergoes permanent changes in character, personality, or outlook.