Literary Genres

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sonnet

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14-line verse

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haiku

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A three-line poem with five syllables in the first and last lines and seven syllables in the second, usually with an emphasis on the season or a naturalistic theme

Ex:
Haiku, a poem
five beats, then seven, then five
ends as it began.

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epic

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An extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a legendary or traditional hero. The Icelandic epic took all night to recite.

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free verse

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A poetic form divided into lines of no particular length or meter, without a rhyme scheme.

Whitman uses ____ to achieve effects impossible under even the broad restrictions of blank verse

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blank verse

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typically has meter but no rhyme

a poetic form with regular meter, particularly iambic pentameter, but no fixed rhyme scheme

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couplet

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a pair of lines with rhyming end words

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elegy

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A mournful or plaintive poem; a funeral song; a poem of lamentation

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limerick

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A humorous, often bawdy verse of five anapestic lines, with the rhyme scheme aabba, and typically has a 9-9-6-6-9 cadence

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fable

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has a moral to the story

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myth

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A story of a great but unknown age which embodies a belief regarding some fact or phenomenon of experience, and in which often the forces of nature and of the soul are personified;

an ancient story of a god, a hero, the origin of a race, etc.;

a wonder story of prehistoric origin.

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legend

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A story of unknown origin describing plausible but extraordinary past events

(think urband legend)

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folk tale

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a story passed on by word of mouth rather than by writing, and thus partly modified by successive re‐tellings before being written down or recorded

The category includes legends, fables, jokes, tall stories, and fairy tales

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fairy tale

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a fictional story that may feature folkloric characters

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frame tale

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a narrative technique whereby a main story is composed, at least in part, for the purpose of organizing a set of shorter stories (subplots)

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satire

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human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, ideally with the intent to bring about improvement

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saga

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stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, about migration to Iceland, and of feuds between Icelandic families

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ballad stanza

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a 4-line stanza

abcb (NOT COUPLETS!)

The king sits in Dumferline town,
Drinking the blood-red wine:
“O where will I get a good sailor
To sail this ship of mine?”

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assonance

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repetition of vowel sounds

ex: do you like blue?

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consonance

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repetition of two or more consonants using different vowels

repeats the consonant sounds but not vowel sounds

ex: pitter patter

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magical realism

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an artistic genre in which magical elements or illogical scenarios appear in an otherwise realistic or even "normal" setting

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socialist realism

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style of realistic art which has as its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism

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minimalism

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characterized by an economy with words and a focus on surface description

allows context to dictate meaning

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verse

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a line of poetry; stanza

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meter

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describes the sound patterns of a verse

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slippery slope fallacy

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suggests that an action will initiate a chain of events culminating in an undesirable event later

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fallacy

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a component of an argument which, being demonstrably flawed in its logic or form, renders the argument invalid in whole

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red herring

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a narrative element intended to distract the reader from a more important event in the plot, usually a twist ending

deliberate attempt to change the subject or divert the argument (digression)

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straw man

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an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position

deliberately overstating the opponent's position

Person A: Nude bathing is healthy and nude beaches should be permitted here.
Person B: No. That kind of free sex threatens the morality of society.

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circular reasoning / begging the question

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often refers to an argument where the premises are as questionable as the conclusion

an attempt to prove that Paul is telling the truth:

Suppose Paul believes what he (himself) says.
Paul is not lying. Therefore,
Paul is telling the truth.

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ballad

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poem set to music

usually has foreshortened, alternating four-stress lines ("ballad meter") and simple repeating rhymes, often with a refrain

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ode

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a form of stately and elaborate lyrical verse

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pastoral

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depicts the life of shepherds, often in a highly idealised manner

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iambic pentamenter

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5 beats per line

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iambic tetrameter

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4 beats per line

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metonymy

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the use of a word for a concept or object associated with the concept/object originally denoted by the word

may be instructively contrasted with metaphor. Both figures involve the substitution of one term for another. In metaphor, this substitution is based on similarity, while in metonymy, the substitution is based on contiguity.

Metaphor example: That man is a pig (using pig instead of unhygienic person. An unhygienic person is like a pig, but there is no contiguity between the two).

Metonymy example: The White House supports the bill (using White House instead of President. The President is not like the White House, but there is contiguity between them).

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exposition

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a genre in which the purpose is to inform, explain, describe or define