Literary type: drama, epic, lyrics

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

A literary genre is a set of works of art, united by a common style of presentation, characteristic storylines. The type of literary work is lyric, epic or drama. The most famous examples of each of them are described in this article.

Drama

In translation from the ancient Greek language, this word means "action". In modern Russian, the term has acquired a different meaning. But this will be discussed below. Drama is a literary genre that originated in Antiquity. It was the ancient Greek authors Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides who wrote the first dramatic works. This literary genre of works combines works of two types: comedies, tragedies.

Drama reached its perfection in the sixteenth century. French authors strictly adhered to certain provisions established by the ancient Greeks. Namely: the unity of time and place, the duration of events is not more than twenty-four hours.

Examples of dramatic works

In the drama of Sophocles "Oedipus Rex" we are talking about a man whowho, by pure chance, once killed his father, and then, ironically, married his mother. The audience of the first production knew the plot. But even if they were unfamiliar with the history of Oedipus, they would recognize his brief biography. Nevertheless, the drama is created in such a way that its action covers only a day. All events take place in the king's palace.

Molière, Racine and Corneille adopted the traditions of ancient playwrights. In their creations, the above principles are also observed. And, finally, it is worth giving an example of a work whose plot is familiar to every schoolchild - “Woe from Wit”. Chatsky arrives at Famusov's house. He learns that Sophia is in love with a mercenary and close-minded person. The hero of Griboyedov is talking with other characters in the comedy. He expresses extraordinary thoughts. As a result, Famusov's entourage decides that Chatsky is a little out of his mind. He, in turn, leaves the relative’s house with the words “Carriage for me, carriage!”. All this happens during the day.

Not one of the heroes goes anywhere outside of Famusov's mansion. Because drama is a literary genre of works of art in which everything that happens takes place during the day. It is worth mentioning one more feature of such works. Namely, they do not contain the words of the author. Only dialogues. Whether it's comedy or tragedy.

Epos

This term can be found as a masculine noun in a literary dictionary. And in this encyclopedic edition it will be said that the epic is nothing more than a work that tells about the events that took place inpast.

Epic examples

A striking example is the famous Odyssey. In his work, Homer describes at length and in detail the events that once took place. He talks about the journey of his hero, not forgetting to mention other characters and describe in sufficient detail their life and way of life. How is epic different from drama? First of all, the narration is conducted on behalf of the author. The next difference is impartiality.

The writings of Homer are created in the form of poetry. In the eighteenth century, new trends began to develop in literature: a type of prose appeared that had the characteristics of an epic. An example is Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace". Events cover a rather impressive time period. There are a huge number of characters in the novel.

Another example of epic prose is Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga. This book tells about representatives of several generations of a large family.

Lyrics

To what literary genus does any of the poems of Annensky, Fet, Tyutchev belong? Of course, to the lyrics. The works of this literary genre are characterized by sensuality and emotionality. Unlike the epic, here the feelings of the hero are conveyed extremely vividly, and even somewhat subjectively.

Examples of lyrics

In ancient Greece, not only dramatic art was born. Antiquity is the heyday of other trends in literature. The first lyric authors areTerpander. This ancient Greek poet read his creations to the sounds of a stringed guitar. To the accompaniment of reading poetry and Alkey - the author, who preferred political topics. Sappho's poetry has also survived to this day.

In the Middle Ages, which is usually called "gloomy", a myriad of romantic ballads were created, the authors of which were troubadours from France. Their plots were subsequently used more than once by later authors. Lyrics, as a literary genre, received a special development in the Renaissance. In the thirteenth century, a new type of troubadour appeared. No longer French, but Italian. After all, it was in Italy that lyric poetry flourished.

In the nineteenth century, lyricism penetrated all literary genres. Its features are present in the works of Shelley, Byron, Coleridge. Lyricism also inspired Russian poets - Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Ryleev, etc. Then interest in lyrics faded for a while: epic prose took its place. And, finally, the beginning of the twentieth century in Russia was marked by the appearance of a whole galaxy of talented lyricists. Among them are Pasternak, Blok, Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, Yesenin.

In everyday speech

Literary gender, as we found out, is a collection of works of art that have characteristic features. It can be poetry, epic or drama. In modern speech, each of these terms has a slightly different meaning.

Drama in cinema is a genre that is characterized by tragedy. Lyrics are commonly understood as love poetry. In literaryterminology, these concepts have a different meaning. What literary genre is characterized by tragedy, sentimentality? Drama or lyrics. But at the same time, a dramatic work can be a comedy. And a lyricist's writing is not necessarily a story about his unrequited love or homesickness.