Over the millennia of cultural development, mankind has created countless literary works, among which there are some basic types that are similar in the way and form of reflection of human ideas about the world around. These are three types (or types) of literature: epic, drama, poetry.

How is each type of literature different?

Epos as a kind of literature

epic(epos - Greek, narration, story) is an image of events, phenomena, processes that are external to the author. Epic works reflect the objective course of life, human existence as a whole. Using various artistic means, the authors of epic works express their understanding of the historical, socio-political, moral, psychological and many other problems that human society as a whole and each of its representatives in particular lives with. Epic works have significant pictorial possibilities, thereby helping the reader to learn about the world around him, to comprehend the deep problems of human existence.

Drama as a kind of literature

Drama(drama - Greek, action, action) is a kind of literature, the main feature of which is the stage nature of works. Plays, i.e. dramatic works are created specifically for the theater, for staging on stage, which, of course, does not exclude their existence in the form of independent literary texts intended for reading. Like the epic, the drama reproduces the relationship between people, their actions, the conflicts that arise between them. But unlike the epic, which has a narrative nature, the drama has a dialogic form.

Related to this features of dramatic works :

2) the text of the play consists of the characters' conversations: their monologues (the speech of one character), dialogues (the conversation of two characters), polylogues (simultaneous exchange of remarks by several participants in the action). That is why the speech characteristic turns out to be one of the most important means of creating a memorable character of the hero;

3) the action of the play, as a rule, develops quite dynamically, intensively, as a rule, it is given 2-3 hours of stage time.

Lyrics as a kind of literature

Lyrics(lyra - Greek, a musical instrument, to the accompaniment of which poetic works, songs were performed) is distinguished by a special type of construction of an artistic image - this is an image-experience in which the individual emotional and spiritual experience of the author is embodied. Lyrics can be called the most mysterious kind of literature, because it is addressed to the inner world of a person, his subjective feelings, ideas, ideas. In other words, a lyrical work primarily serves the individual self-expression of the author. The question arises: why are the readers, i.e. other people refer to such works? The thing is that the lyricist, speaking on his own behalf and about himself, surprisingly embodies universal human emotions, ideas, hopes, and the more significant the personality of the author, the more important his individual experience is for the reader.

Each type of literature also has its own system of genres.

Genre(genre - French genus, type) - a historically established type of literary work that has similar typological features. The names of the genres help the reader navigate the boundless sea of ​​literature: someone loves detective stories, another prefers fantasy, and the third is a fan of memoirs.

How to determine What genre does the particular piece belong to? Most often, the authors themselves help us in this, calling their creation a novel, story, poem, etc. However, some author's definitions seem unexpected to us: remember that A.P. Chekhov emphasized that The Cherry Orchard is a comedy, and not a drama at all, but A.I. Solzhenitsyn considered "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" a story, not a story. Some literary critics call Russian literature a collection of genre paradoxes: the novel in verse "Eugene Onegin", the poem in prose "Dead Souls", the satirical chronicle "The History of a City". There was a lot of controversy regarding "War and Peace" by L.N. Tolstoy. The writer himself said only about what his book is not: “What is War and Peace? This is not a novel, still less a poem, still less a historical chronicle. "War and Peace" is what the author wanted and could express in the form in which it was expressed. And only in the 20th century did literary critics agree to call the brilliant creation of L.N. Tolstoy's epic novel.

Each literary genre has a number of stable features, the knowledge of which allows us to attribute a particular work to one or another group. Genres develop, change, die off and are born, for example, literally before our eyes, a new genre of blog (web loq English network magazine) - a personal Internet diary - has arisen.

However, for several centuries now, there have been stable (they are also called canonical) genres.

Literature of literary works - see table 1).

Table 1.

Genres of literary works

Epic genres of literature

Epic genres primarily differ in volume, on this basis they are divided into small ones ( essay, short story, short story, fairy tale, parable ), average ( story ), large ( novel, epic novel ).

Feature article- a small sketch from nature, the genre is both descriptive and narrative. Many essays are created on a documentary, life basis, they are often combined into cycles: the classic example is “Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy” (1768) by the English writer Laurence Sterne, in Russian literature it is “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” (1790) A . Radishcheva, "Frigate Pallada" (1858) I. Goncharov "Italy" (1922) B. Zaitsev and others.

Story- a small narrative genre, which usually depicts one episode, an incident, a human character, or an important incident from the life of a hero that influenced his future fate (“After the Ball” by L. Tolstoy). The stories are created both on a documentary, often autobiographical basis (“Matryonin Dvor” by A. Solzhenitsyn), and thanks to pure fiction (“The Gentleman from San Francisco” by I. Bunin).

The intonation and content of the stories are very different - from comic, curious (the early stories of A.P. Chekhov) to deeply tragic (Kolyma Tales by V. Shalamov). Stories, like essays, are often combined into cycles (“Notes of a Hunter” by I. Turgenev).

Novella(novella ital. news) is in many ways akin to a story and is considered its variety, but it is distinguished by a special dynamism of the narrative, sharp and often unexpected turns in the development of events. Quite often the narration in the short story begins with the finale, is built according to the law of inversion, i.e. the reverse order, when the denouement precedes the main events ("Terrible Revenge" by N. Gogol). This feature of the construction of the short story will later be borrowed by the detective genre.

The word "novella" has another meaning that future lawyers need to know. In ancient Rome, the phrase "novellae leges" (new laws) was used to refer to laws introduced after the official codification of law (after the release of the Code of Theodosius II in 438). The short stories of Justinian and his successors, published after the second edition of the Code of Justinian, later formed part of the code of Roman laws (Corpus iuris civillis). In the modern era, a novel is called a law submitted for consideration by parliament (in other words, a draft law).

Story- the oldest of the small epic genres, one of the main in the oral art of any people. This is a small work of a magical, adventurous or everyday nature, where fiction is clearly emphasized. Another important feature of the folklore tale is its instructive character: "The tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it, a lesson for good fellows." Folk tales are usually divided into magical ("The Tale of the Frog Princess"), household ("Porridge from an ax") and fairy tales about animals ("Zayushkina's hut").

With the development of written literature, literary tales arise in which traditional motifs and the symbolic possibilities of a folk tale are used. The Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) is rightfully considered a classic of the literary fairy tale genre, his wonderful "The Little Mermaid", "The Princess and the Pea", "The Snow Queen", "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "Shadow", "Thumbelina" are loved by many generations of readers, both very young and quite mature. And this is far from accidental, because Andersen's fairy tales are not only extraordinary, and sometimes strange adventures of heroes, they contain a deep philosophical and moral meaning, contained in beautiful symbolic images.

Of the European literary tales of the 20th century, The Little Prince (1942) by the French writer An-toine de Saint-Exupery became a classic. And the famous "Chronicles of Narnia" (1950 - 1956) by the English writer Kl. Lewis and The Lord of the Rings (1954-1955), also by the Englishman J. R. Tolkien, are written in the fantasy genre, which can be called a modern transformation of an ancient folk tale.

In Russian literature, unsurpassed, of course, are the tales of A.S. Pushkin: “About the dead princess and seven heroes”, “About the fisherman and the fish”, “About Tsar Saltan ...”, “About the golden cockerel”, “About the priest and his worker Balda”. A substitute storyteller was P. Ershov, the author of The Little Humpbacked Horse. E. Schwartz in the 20th century creates the form of a fairy tale play, one of them “The Bear” (another name is “Ordinary Miracle”) is well known to many thanks to the wonderful film directed by M. Zakharov.

Parable- also a very ancient folklore genre, but, unlike a fairy tale, parables contained written monuments: the Talmud, the Bible, the Koran, a monument of Syrian literature "Teaching Akahara". A parable is a work of an instructive, symbolic nature, distinguished by sublimity and seriousness of content. Ancient parables, as a rule, are small in volume; they do not contain a detailed account of the events or the psychological characteristics of the hero's character.

The purpose of the parable is edification or, as they once said, the teaching of wisdom. In European culture, the most famous are the parables from the Gospels: about the prodigal son, about the rich man and Lazarus, about the unrighteous judge, about the crazy rich man, and others. Christ often spoke with the disciples allegorically, and if they did not understand the meaning of the parable, he explained it.

Many writers turned to the parable genre, not always, of course, putting a high religious meaning into it, rather trying to express some kind of moralistic edification in an allegorical form, as, for example, L. Tolstoy in his late work. Carry it. V. Rasputin - Farewell to Matera "can also be called a detailed parable in which the writer speaks with anxiety and sorrow about the destruction of the "ecology of conscience" of a person. The story "The Old Man and the Sea" by E. Hemingway is also considered by many critics to be in the tradition of a literary parable. The well-known modern Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho also uses the parable form in his novels and short stories (the novel The Alchemist).

Tale- an average literary genre, widely represented in world literature. The story depicts several important episodes from the life of the hero, as a rule, one storyline and a small number of characters. The stories are characterized by great psychological saturation, the author focuses on the experiences and mood changes of the characters. Very often, the main theme of the story is the love of the protagonist, for example, "White Nights" by F. Dostoevsky, "Asya" by I. Turgenev, "Mitina's Love" by I. Bunin. The stories can also be combined into cycles, especially those written on autobiographical material: "Childhood", "Adolescence", "Youth" by L. Tolstoy, "Childhood", "In People", "My Universities" by A. Gorky. The intonations and themes of the stories are very diverse: tragic, addressed to acute social and moral issues (“Everything flows” by V. Grossman, “House on the Embankment” by Y. Trifonov), romantic, heroic (“Taras Bulba” by N. Gogol), philosophical , parable ("Pit" by A. Platonov), mischievous, comic ("Three in a boat, not counting the dog" by the English writer Jerome K. Jerome).

Novel(Gotap French originally, in the late Middle Ages, any work written in the Romance language, as opposed to those written in Latin) is a major epic work in which the narrative is focused on the fate of an individual. The novel is the most complex epic genre, which is distinguished by an incredible number of themes and plots: love, historical, detective, psychological, fantastic, historical, autobiographical, social, philosophical, satirical, etc. All these forms and types of the novel are united by its central idea - the idea of ​​personality, the individuality of a person.

The novel is called the epic of private life, because it depicts the diverse connections between the world and man, society and the individual. The reality surrounding a person is presented in the novel in different contexts: historical, political, social, cultural, national, etc. The author of the novel is interested in how the environment affects the character of a person, how he is formed, how his life develops, whether he managed to find his destiny and realize himself.

Many attribute the emergence of the genre to antiquity, these are Long's Daphnis and Chloe, Apuleius' Golden Ass, the chivalrous novel Tristan and Isolde.

In the work of the classics of world literature, the novel is represented by numerous masterpieces:

Table 2. Examples of the classic novel by foreign and Russian writers (XIX, XX centuries)

Famous novels of Russian writers of the XIX century .:

In the 20th century, Russian writers develop and multiply the traditions of their great predecessors and create no less remarkable novels:

Of course, none of these enumerations can claim completeness and exhaustive objectivity, especially in modern prose. In this case, the most famous works that glorified both the literature of the country and the name of the writer are named.

epic novel. In ancient times, there were forms of the heroic epic: folklore sagas, runes, epics, songs. These are the Indian "Ramayana" and "Mahabharata", the Anglo-Saxon "Beowulf", the French "Song of Roland", the German "Song of the Nibelungs", etc. In these works, the exploits of the hero were exalted in an idealized, often exaggerated form. The later epic poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" by Homer, "Shah-name" by Ferdowsi, while retaining the mythological nature of the early epic, nevertheless, had a pronounced connection with real history, and the theme of the interweaving of human fate and the life of the people becomes one of them. main. The experience of the ancients will be in demand in the 19th-20th centuries, when writers will try to comprehend the dramatic relationship between the era and the individual personality, tell about the tests that morality, and sometimes the human psyche, are subjected to at the moment of the greatest historical upheavals. Let us recall the lines of F. Tyutchev: "Blessed is he who visited this world in its fatal moments." The romantic formula of the poet in reality meant the destruction of all habitual forms of life, tragic losses and unfulfilled dreams.

The complex form of the epic novel allows writers to artistically explore these problems in all their completeness and inconsistency.

When we talk about the genre of the epic novel, of course, we immediately recall Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. Other examples can be mentioned: Quiet Flows the Don by M. Sholokhov, Life and Fate by V. Grossman, The Saga of the Forsytes by the English writer Galsworthy; the book of the American writer Margaret Mitchell "Gone with the Wind" can also be reckoned with good reason in this genre.

The very name of the genre indicates a synthesis, a combination of two main principles in it: the novel and the epic, i.e. related to the theme of the life of an individual and the theme of the history of the people. In other words, the epic novel tells about the fates of the heroes (as a rule, the heroes themselves and their fates are fictitious, invented by the author) against the background and in close connection with epoch-making historical events. So, in "War and Peace" - these are the fates of individual families (Rostovs, Bolkonskys), favorite heroes (Prince Andrei, Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha and Princess Mary) in the turning point for Russia and all of Europe, the historical period of the beginning of the 19th century, the Patriotic War of 1812 . In Sholokhov's book, the events of the First World War, two revolutions and a bloody civil war tragically intrude into the life of the Cossack farm, the Melekhov family, the fate of the main characters: Grigory, Aksinya, Natalya. V. Grossman talks about the Great Patriotic War and its main event - the Battle of Stalingrad, about the tragedy of the Holocaust. In "Life and Fate" the historical and family theme is also intertwined: the author traces the history of the Shaposhnikovs, trying to understand why the fate of the members of this family developed so differently. Galsworthy describes the life of the Forsyte family during the legendary Victorian era in England. Margaret Mitchell is a central event in US history, the Civil War between North and South, which dramatically changed the lives of many families and the fate of the most famous heroine of American literature - Scarlett O'Hara.

Dramatic genres of literature

Tragedy(tragodia Greek goat song) is a dramatic genre that originated in ancient Greece. The emergence of the ancient theater and tragedy is associated with the worship of the god of fertility and wine, Dionysus. A number of holidays were dedicated to him, during which ritual magical games were played with mummers, satyrs, whom the ancient Greeks represented as bipedal goat-like creatures. It is assumed that it was this appearance of the satyrs, who sang hymns to the glory of Dionysus, that gave such a strange name in translation to this serious genre. Theatrical action in Ancient Greece was given a magical religious significance, and theaters, built in the form of large open-air arenas, were always located in the very center of cities and were one of the main public places. Spectators sometimes spent the whole day here: they ate, drank, loudly expressed their approval or condemnation of the spectacle presented. The heyday of ancient Greek tragedy is associated with the names of three great tragedians: Aeschylus (525-456 BC) - the author of the tragedies Chained Prometheus, Oresteia, etc.; Sophocles (496-406 BC) - the author of "Oedipus Rex", "Antigone" and others; and Euripides (480-406 BC) - the creator of Medea, Troy Nok, etc. Their creations will remain examples of the genre for centuries, they will be tried to imitate, but they will remain unsurpassed. Some of them ("Antigone", "Medea") are staged even today.

What are the main features of the tragedy? The main one is the presence of an insoluble global conflict: in ancient tragedy, this is the confrontation between fate, fate, on the one hand, and man, his will, free choice, on the other. In the tragedies of later eras, this conflict took on a moral and philosophical character, as a confrontation between good and evil, loyalty and betrayal, love and hatred. It has an absolute character, the heroes, embodying the opposing forces, are not ready for reconciliation, compromise, and therefore there are often many deaths at the end of the tragedy. This is how the tragedies of the great English playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) were built, let us recall the most famous of them: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, etc.

In the tragedies of the French playwrights of the 17th century Corneille ("Horace", "Polyeuctus") and Racine ("Andromache", "Britanic") this conflict received a different interpretation - as a conflict of duty and feeling, rational and emotional in the souls of the main characters, i.e. . received a psychological interpretation.

The most famous in Russian literature is the romantic tragedy "Boris Godunov" by A.S. Pushkin, created on historical material. In one of his best works, the poet sharply posed the problem of the “real misfortune” of the Moscow state - a chain reaction of impostures and “terrible atrocities” that people are ready for for the sake of power. Another problem is the attitude of the people to everything that happens in the country. The image of the “silent” people in the finale of “Boris Godunov” is symbolic; to this day, discussions continue about what Pushkin wanted to say by this. Based on the tragedy, an opera of the same name by M. P. Mussorgsky was written, which became a masterpiece of Russian opera classics.

Comedy(Greek komos - a cheerful crowd, oda - a song) - a genre that originated in ancient Greece a little later than tragedy (5th century BC). The most famous comedian of that time is Aristophanes ("Clouds", "Frogs", etc.).

In comedy, with the help of satire and humor, i.e. comic, moral vices are ridiculed: hypocrisy, stupidity, greed, envy, cowardice, complacency. Comedies tend to be topical; addressed to social issues, exposing the shortcomings of power. Distinguish between sitcoms and character comedies. In the first, the cunning intrigue, the chain of events (Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors) are important, in the second - the characters of the characters, their absurdity, one-sidedness, as in the comedies "The Undergrowth" by D. Fonvizin, "The Tradesman in the Nobility", "Tartuffe", written by the classic genre, French comedian of the 17th century Jean-Baptiste Molière. In Russian dramaturgy, satirical comedy with its sharp social criticism, such as N. Gogol's The Inspector General, M. Bulgakov's Crimson Island, turned out to be especially in demand. Many wonderful comedies were created by A. Ostrovsky (“Wolves and Sheep”, “Forest”, “Mad Money”, etc.).

The comedy genre invariably enjoys success with the public, perhaps because it affirms the triumph of justice: in the finale, vice must certainly be punished, and virtue must triumph.

Drama- a relatively "young" genre that appeared in Germany in the 18th century as a lesedrama (in German) - a play for reading. The drama is addressed to the everyday life of a person and society, everyday life, family relationships. Drama is primarily interested in the inner world of a person, it is the most psychological of all dramatic genres. At the same time, it is also the most literary of the stage genres, for example, the plays of A. Chekhov are largely perceived more as texts for reading, and not as theatrical performances.

Lyrical genres of literature

The division into genres in the lyrics is not absolute, because. the differences between genres in this case are conditional and not as obvious as in epic and drama. More often we distinguish lyrical works by their thematic features: landscape, love, philosophical, friendly, intimate lyrics, etc. However, we can name some genres that have pronounced individual characteristics: elegy, sonnet, epigram, message, epitaph.

Elegy(elegos Greek mournful song) - a poem of medium length, as a rule, moral-philosophical, love, confessional content.

The genre arose in antiquity, and elegiac distich was considered its main feature, i.e. dividing the poem into couplets, for example:

The longed-for moment has come: my long-term work is over, Why is an incomprehensible sadness secretly disturbing me?

A. Pushkin

In the poetry of the 19th-20th centuries, the division into couplets is no longer such a strict requirement, now the semantic features that are associated with the origin of the genre are more significant. In terms of content, the elegy goes back to the form of ancient funeral “weeps”, in which, while mourning the deceased, they simultaneously recalled his extraordinary virtues. This origin predetermined the main feature of the elegy - the combination of sorrow with faith, regret with hope, the acceptance of being through sadness. The lyrical hero of the elegy is aware of the imperfection of the world and people, his own sinfulness and weakness, but does not reject life, but accepts it in all its tragic beauty. A striking example is "Elegy" by A.S. Pushkin:

Crazy years faded fun

It's hard for me, like a vague hangover.

But, like wine - the sadness of bygone days

In my soul, the older, the stronger.

My path is sad. Promises me labor and sorrow

The coming turbulent sea.

But I don't want, oh friends, to die;

I want to live in order to think and suffer;

And I know I will enjoy

Between sorrows, worries and anxiety:

Sometimes I'll get drunk again with harmony,

I will shed tears over fiction,

And maybe - at my sad sunset

Love will shine with a farewell smile.

Sonnet(sonetto, ital. song) - the so-called "solid" poetic form, which has strict construction rules. The sonnet has 14 lines, divided into two quatrains (quatrains) and two three-line verses (tercet). In quatrains only two rhymes are repeated, in terzets two or three. The methods of rhyming also had their own requirements, which, however, varied.

The birthplace of the sonnet is Italy, this genre is also represented in English and French poetry. Petrarch, the 14th-century Italian poet, is considered the luminary of the genre. He dedicated all his sonnets to his beloved Donna Laura.

In Russian literature, the sonnets of A.S. Pushkin remain unsurpassed, beautiful sonnets were also created by the poets of the Silver Age.

Epigram(Greek epigramma, inscription) is a short, mocking poem, usually addressed to a specific person. Many poets write epigrams, sometimes increasing the number of their ill-wishers and even enemies. The epigram on Count Vorontsov turned around for A.S. Pushkin by the hatred of this nobleman and, ultimately, expulsion from Odessa to Mikhailovskoye:

Popu-my lord, half-merchant,

Half wise, half ignorant,

Semi-scoundrel, but there is hope

What will be complete at last.

Mocking verses can be dedicated not only to a specific person, but also to a generalized addressee, as, for example, in the epigram of A. Akhmatova:

Could Bice create like Dante,

Were Laura to glorify the heat of love?

I taught women to speak...

But, God, how to silence them!

There are even cases of a kind of duel of epigrams. When the famous Russian lawyer A.F. Horses were appointed to the Senate, ill-wishers extended an evil epigram to him:

Caligula brought the horse to the Senate,

He stands dressed in both velvet and gold.

But I will say, we have the same arbitrariness:

I read in the papers that Kony is in the Senate.

What A.F. Koni, who was distinguished by his extraordinary literary talent, replied:

(Greek epitafia, tombstone) - a farewell poem for a dead person, intended for a tombstone. Initially, this word was used in a literal sense, but later it acquired a more figurative meaning. For example, I. Bunin has a lyrical miniature in prose "Epitaph", dedicated to farewell to the writer's dear, but forever receding Russian estate. Gradually, the epitaph is transformed into a poem-dedication, a farewell poem ("Wreath to the Dead" by A. Akhmatova). Perhaps the most famous poem of this kind in Russian poetry is “The Death of a Poet” by M. Lermontov. Another example is the "Epitaph" by M. Lermontov, dedicated to the memory of Dmitry Venevitinov, a poet and philosopher who died at the age of twenty-two.

Genre is a type of literary work. There are epic, lyrical, dramatic genres. Lyroepic genres are also distinguished. Genres are also divided by volume into large (including rum and epic novel), medium (literary works of “medium size” - novels and poems), small (story, short story, essay). They have genres and thematic divisions: adventure novel, psychological novel, sentimental, philosophical, etc. The main division is connected with the genres of literature. We present to your attention the genres of literature in the table.

Thematic division of genres is rather conditional. There is no strict classification of genres by topic. For example, if they talk about the genre-thematic diversity of lyrics, they usually single out love, philosophical, landscape lyrics. But, as you understand, the variety of lyrics is not exhausted by this set.

If you set out to study the theory of literature, it is worth mastering the groups of genres:

• epic, that is, genres of prose (epic novel, novel, story, short story, short story, parable, fairy tale);
• lyrical, that is, poetic genres (lyric poem, elegy, message, ode, epigram, epitaph),
• dramatic - types of plays (comedy, tragedy, drama, tragicomedy),
• lyrical epic (ballad, poem).

Literary genres in tables

epic genres

• epic novel

  epic novel- a novel depicting folk life in critical historical eras. "War and Peace" by Tolstoy, "Quiet Flows the Don" by Sholokhov.

• Novel

  Novel- a multi-problem work depicting a person in the process of his formation and development. The action in the novel is full of external or internal conflicts. By subject, there are: historical, satirical, fantastic, philosophical, etc. By structure: a novel in verse, an epistolary novel, etc.

• Tale

  Tale- an epic work of medium or large form, built in the form of a narrative of events in their natural sequence. In contrast to the novel, in P. the material is chronicled, there is no sharp plot, there is no blue analysis of the feelings of the characters. P. does not pose problems of a global historical nature.

• Story

  Story- a small epic form, a small work with a limited number of characters. R. most often poses one problem or describes one event. The short story differs from R. in an unexpected ending.

• Parable

  Parable- moral teaching in allegorical form. A parable differs from a fable in that it draws its artistic material from human life. Example: Gospel parables, the parable of the righteous land, told by Luke in the play "At the Bottom".

Lyric genres

• lyric poem

  lyric poem- a small form of lyrics written either on behalf of the author, or on behalf of a fictional lyrical hero. Description of the inner world of the lyric hero, his feelings, emotions.

• Elegy

  Elegy- a poem imbued with moods of sadness and sadness. As a rule, the content of elegies is philosophical reflections, sad reflections, grief.

• Message

  Message- a letter of poetry addressed to a person. According to the content of the message, there are friendly, lyrical, satirical, etc. The message can be. addressed to one person or group of people.

• Epigram

  Epigram- a poem that makes fun of a specific person. Characteristic features are wit and brevity.

• Oh yeah

  Oh yeah- a poem, distinguished by the solemnity of style and sublimity of content. Praise in verse.

• Sonnet

  Sonnet- a solid poetic form, usually consisting of 14 verses (lines): 2 quatrains-quatrains (for 2 rhymes) and 2 three-line tercetes

Dramatic genres

• Comedy

  Comedy- a type of drama in which characters, situations and actions are presented in funny forms or imbued with the comic. There are satirical comedies (“Undergrowth”, “Inspector General”), high (“Woe from Wit”) and lyrical (“The Cherry Orchard”).

• Tragedy

  Tragedy- a work based on an irreconcilable life conflict, leading to the suffering and death of heroes. William Shakespeare's play Hamlet.

• Drama

  Drama- a play with a sharp conflict, which, unlike the tragic, is not so elevated, more mundane, ordinary and somehow resolved. The drama is built on modern rather than ancient material and establishes a new hero who rebelled against circumstances.

Lyric epic genres

(intermediate between epic and lyric)

• Poem

  Poem- the average lyrical-epic form, a work with a plot-narrative organization, in which not one, but a whole series of experiences is embodied. Features: the presence of a detailed plot and at the same time close attention to the inner world of the lyrical hero - or an abundance of lyrical digressions. The poem "Dead Souls" by N.V. Gogol

• Ballad

  Ballad- an average lyrical-epic form, a work with an unusual, tense plot. This is a story in verse. A story told in poetic form, historical, mythical, or heroic. The plot of the ballad is usually borrowed from folklore. Ballads "Svetlana", "Lyudmila" V.A. Zhukovsky

4. As you know, all literary works, depending on the nature of the depicted, belong to one of the three KINDS: epic, lyric or drama. A literary genre is a generalized name for a group of works, depending on the nature of the reflection of reality.

EPOS (from the Greek "narrative";-) is a generalized name for works depicting events external to the author.

LYRICS (from the Greek "performed to the lyre";-) is a generalized name for works in which there is no plot, but the feelings, thoughts, experiences of the author or his lyrical hero are depicted.

DRAMA (from the Greek. "action";-) - a generalized name for works intended for staging on stage; the drama is dominated by the dialogue of the characters, the author's beginning is minimized.

Varieties of epic, lyrical and dramatic works are called types of literary works.

Type and genre are very close concepts in literary criticism.

Genres are variations in the type of literary work. For example, a genre version of a story can be a fantasy or historical story, and a genre version of a comedy can be a vaudeville, etc. Strictly speaking, a literary genre is a historically established type of work of art containing certain structural features and aesthetic quality characteristic of this group of works.

TYPES (GENRES) OF EPIC WORKS:

Epic, novel, story, short story, fairy tale, fable, legend.

EPIC is a major work of art that tells about significant historical events. In ancient times - a narrative poem of heroic content. In the literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, the epic novel genre appears - this is a work in which the formation of the characters of the main characters occurs in the course of their participation in historical events.
ROMAN is a large narrative work of art with a complex plot, in the center of which is the fate of the individual.
A STORY is a work of art that occupies a middle position between a novel and a short story in terms of the volume and complexity of the plot. In ancient times, any narrative work was called a story.
STORY - a work of art of a small size, based on an episode, an incident from the life of a hero.
FAIRY TALE - a work about fictional events and heroes, usually with the participation of magical, fantastic forces.
FABLE (from “bayat” - to tell) is a narrative work in poetic form, small in size, moralizing or satirical in nature.

TYPES (GENRES) OF LYRICAL WORKS:

Ode, hymn, song, elegy, sonnet, epigram, message.

ODA (from the Greek “song”) is a choral, solemn song.
HYMN (from Greek “praise”) is a solemn song based on programmatic verses.
EPIGRAM (from Greek “inscription”) is a short satirical poem of a mocking nature that arose in the 3rd century BC. e.
ELEGY - a genre of lyrics dedicated to sad thoughts or a lyrical poem imbued with sadness. Belinsky called an elegy "a song of sad content." The word "elegy" is translated as "reed flute" or "mournful song". The elegy originated in ancient Greece in the 7th century BC. e.
MESSAGE - a poetic letter, an appeal to a specific person, a request, a wish, a confession.
SONNET (from the Provencal sonette - "song") - a poem of 14 lines, which has a certain rhyming system and strict stylistic laws. The sonnet originated in Italy in the 13th century (the creator is the poet Jacopo da Lentini), appeared in England in the first half of the 16th century (G. Sarri), and in Russia in the 18th century. The main types of the sonnet are Italian (from 2 quatrains and 2 tercets) and English (from 3 quatrains and the final couplet).

LYROEPIC TYPES (GENRES):

Poem, ballad.

POEM (from the Greek poieio - “I do, I create”) - a large poetic work with a narrative or lyrical plot, usually on a historical or legendary topic.
BALLAD - a story song of dramatic content, a story in verse.

TYPES (GENRES) OF DRAMA WORKS:

Tragedy, comedy, drama (in the narrow sense).

TRAGEDY (from the Greek tragos ode - “goat song”) is a dramatic work depicting a tense struggle of strong characters and passions, which usually ends with the death of the hero.
COMEDY (from the Greek komos ode - "fun song") - a dramatic work with a cheerful, funny plot, usually ridiculing social or domestic vices.
DRAMA (“action”) is a literary work in the form of a dialogue with a serious plot, depicting a person in her dramatic relationship with society. Drama may be tragicomedy or melodrama.
VAUDEVILLE - a genre variety of comedy, it is a light comedy with singing couplets and dancing.
Farce is a genre variety of comedy, it is a theatrical play of a light, playful nature with external comic effects, designed for a rude taste.

The main genres of literature are groups of works that are identical formally and in style of presentation. Even in the time of Aristotle, there was a division of literature into genres, evidence of this is the "Poetics" of the Greek philosopher, a treatise on literary evolution, written three hundred years before the birth of Christ.

in literature?

Literature originates from biblical times, people have always written and read. containing at least some text - this is already literature, because what is written is the thoughts of a person, a reflection of his desires and aspirations. Reporting, petitions, church texts were written in a multitude, and thus the first literary genre appeared - birch bark. With the development of writing, the genre of chronicle arose. Most often, what was written already bore some literary features, elegant turns of speech, and figurative allegories.

Epics, epic tales about heroes and other heroes of historical plots, became the next genre of literature. Religious literature, descriptions of biblical events, lives of the higher clergy can be considered separate.

The advent of printing in the 16th century marked the beginning of the rapid development of literature. Throughout the 17th century, styles and genres were formed.

18th century literature

To the question of what genres are in one can answer unequivocally that the literature of that time is conditionally divided into three main areas: drama, narrative and poetic verses. Dramatic works often took the form of tragedy, when the heroes of the plot died, and the struggle between good and evil became more and more deadly. Alas, the conjuncture of the literary market dictated its conditions even then. The genre of calm narrative also found its reader. Novels, novellas and short stories were considered "middle", while tragedies, poems and odes belonged to the "high" genre of literature, and satirical works, fables and comedies - to the "low".

Verse is a primitive form of poetry that was in use at balls, social events and other events of the highest capital nobility. Poems in the verse genre had signs of syllogistic, the verse was divided into rhythmic segments. The mechanical style, deadly for real poetry, dictated fashion for a long time.

Literature19-20 centuries

Literature of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th is distinguished by several genres, most in demand in the golden age of Pushkin and Gogol, and then in the silver age of Alexander Blok and Sergei Yesenin. Drama, epic and lyrics - that's what genres are in the literature of the past and the century before last.

The lyrics had to have an emotional coloring, be meaningful and purposeful. Its categories were ode and elegy, and ode - with enthusiastic surprise, chanting and elevation to the rank of heroes.

The lyrical elegy was built on the principle of the sad tone of the verse, sadness, as a result of the hero's experiences, regardless of what was the cause - or the disharmony of the universe.

What are genres in contemporary literature?

There are a lot of genres in modern literature, among them we can distinguish the most popular, in demand by a wide readership:

• Tragedy is a kind of literary genre of drama, characterized by extreme emotional stress, with the obligatory death of heroes.
• Comedy is another variation of the drama genre, the opposite of tragedy, with a hilarious plot and a happy ending.
• The fairy tale genre is a literary direction for children, their creative development. There are many literary masterpieces in the genre.
• The epic is a literary genre of a historical nature, it describes individual events of past times in the style of heroism, and is distinguished by a large number of characters.
• The genre of the novel is an extensive narrative, with several storylines, describing in detail the life of each character individually and all together, characterized by a tendency to analyze current events.
• The story is a genre of medium form, written according to the same scheme as the novel, but in a more concise context. In the story, one character is usually singled out as the main one, the rest are described in "binding" to him.
• Story - a genre of short-form narrative, a summary of one event. Its plot cannot be continued, it represents the quintessence of the author's thought, it always has a finished form.
• A short story is a genre similar to a short story, the difference is only in the sharpness of the plot. The novel has an unexpected, unpredictable ending. This genre is well suited to thrillers.
• The genre of the essay is the same story, but in a non-artistic manner of presentation. There are no flowery turns of speech, grandiloquent phrases and pathos in the essay.
• Satire as a literary genre is not common, its accusatory focus does not contribute to popularity, although satirical plays in theatrical production are well received.
• The detective genre is the most demanded literary trend of recent times. Millions of paperback books by popular authors such as Alexandra Marinina, Daria Dontsova, Polina Dashkova and dozens of others have become desktops for many Russian readers.

Conclusion

Diverse, each contains the potential for further creative development, which will certainly be used by modern writers and poets.

literary genre This is the model by which the text of any literary work is built. A genre is a set of certain features that make it possible to classify a literary work as an epic, lyric or drama.

The main types of literary genres

Literary genres are divided into: epic, lyrical and dramatic. Epic genres: fairy tale, epic, epic, epic novel, story, novel, essay, short story, anecdote. Lyrical genres: ode, ballad, elegy, epigram, message, madrigal. Dramatic genres: tragedy, drama, comedy, melodrama, farce and vaudeville.

Genres in literature have a number of specific features, divided into: genre-forming and additional. Genre-forming features serve to determine the specifics of a particular genre. For example, the genre-forming feature of a fairy tale is an orientation towards fiction. The listener perceives the events that take place in a fairy tale as magical, fictional, not directly related to reality. The genre-forming feature of the novel is its connection with objective reality, the coverage of events that took place in reality or those that could happen, a large number of acting characters, and special attention is paid to the inner world of the characters.

Development of literary genres

Literary genres do not tend to stand still. They are constantly evolving and never stop changing. When forming or changing literary genres, attention is paid to real historical reality, in the aura of which the creation of literary works takes place.

What is a literary genre?

We figured out what a genre in literature is, but it would not be superfluous to consider why a literary genre is needed - what function does it perform?

The genre is able to give the reader a fairly holistic view of the work. That is, if the word “novel” is present in the title of the work, then the reader immediately begins to tune in to a significant amount of text, in contrast, for example, to a small “story”, which causes a corresponding association with the approximate number of pages in the book.

Also, the genre can give the reader an idea about the content of the work. For example, if it is defined as “drama”, then we can imagine in advance that the person in the work will be shown in dramatic relations with society and, most likely, we will observe tragic events at the end of the book.

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