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Literary Forms & Genres: How They Affect Meaning

Chapter 18 /  Lesson 4   Transcript
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  • 1:18 Major Literary Forms
  • 3:28 Nonfiction Genres
  • 4:06 Fiction Genres
  • 4:38 Poetry Genres
  • 5:22 Drama Genres
  • 6:00 Lesson Summary
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Lesson Transcript
Instructor: Amy Troolin

Amy has MA degrees in History, English, and Theology. She has taught college English and religious education classes and currently works as a freelance writer.

In this lesson, we will explore literary forms and genres. We'll define these terms, look at examples of each, and see how they affect the meaning of the texts they characterize.

Form, Genre, and Meaning

Have you ever thought of literature as a great big happy family? It might seem like a strange image, but it is quite effective for describing the relationships between form, genre, and meaning. In this lesson, we're going to meet some of the members of the literary family tree and see how they function in the literary world.

First, let's define some terms. The form of a piece of writing is simply its structure, how it is constructed and organized. Literary forms are like the roots of the literary family tree. Genres, in turn, are like the branches of the family tree. A genre is a specific style or category of writing. Genres make use of the various literary forms as foundations from which to stretch out in many directions of expression. Forms and genres join with content to create the meaning of a piece of writing. Meaning is basically the writer's message to the reader. Writers choose various forms and genres to help them express their meaning. For instance, a poem about the tragedy of the Civil War would send a very different message than a nonfiction history book.

Major Literary Forms

Now let's meet some of the members of the literary family tree. We'll begin at the roots with the four major literary forms: nonfiction prose, fiction prose, poetry, and drama.

Nonfiction prose is literature that is written in ordinary, non-metrical language and communicates facts or opinions about reality. Every time you read a science textbook or a how-to article, you are reading nonfiction prose. Nonfiction meanings are usually pretty straightforward because the writer's primary purpose is to convey information or persuade readers.

Fiction prose is also written in ordinary, non-metrical language, but it is the product of the writer's imagination. You've probably been reading novels and short stories for years; if so, you already know a lot about fiction prose. The meaning of fictional works can stretch all the way from obscure and difficult to clear and direct.

Poetry, on the other hand, uses metrical language with lots of rhythm and rhyme to create word pictures. Poetry employs all kinds of word play, figurative language, and imagery to send its messages, which are often rather obscure and need to be dug out with some effort on the part of the reader.

Drama combines elements of prose and poetry into plays that are usually intended to be performed on stage. Drama joins monologues and dialogues by characters with stage directions and occasionally narrative sections that explain the action. Like poetry, drama can feature hidden meanings and messages that take some work to decipher.

These four literary forms are like the roots of the literary family tree, and they branch off into many different genres. We can't meet all these genres within the scope of this lesson, but we'll look at a few of the most common for each literary form.

Nonfiction Genres

You probably already know many genres of nonfiction prose. Some of the most common include biographies, autobiographies, history texts, science books, how-to manuals, dictionaries, encyclopedias, argumentative essays, self-help books, law volumes, newspapers, and pamphlets. They all present information and/or try to persuade the reader to adopt a particular point of view.

Fiction Genres

You are also probably well aware of many of the genres of fiction prose. Remember those fairy tales and fables you heard as a child? They represent fiction genres. Whenever you visit your favorite bookstore or library, you certainly notice that the books are organized into categories like mystery, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, horror, adventure, romance, and classics. These are all fiction genres, too.

Poetry Genres

The genres of poetry might be a bit more unfamiliar to you. This section will introduce you to a few of the most common.

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College English Composition: Help and Review

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Ch 18. Analyzing Reading
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