The 12 most important types of Literature (with examples)

Literature is one of the most genuine and ancient expressions of the human being. Because, although the first written testimonies are relatively recent, there is no doubt that, with Before leaving them in writing, our species already told stories and transmitted them orally from generation to generation. generation.

Among this type of archaic literature we find not only mythical and epic stories, related to gods and heroes, but also also the first signs of poetry, closely related to religion (hymns, songs to the gods, prayers, etc.).

We are going to make a brief review of the most important types of literature that exist; we will examine them from a historical perspective and detail their most important characteristics.

The main types of literature (classified)

Was Aristotle who, in the fourth century, classified the literary testimonies for the first time in his work Poetics. Roughly speaking, the philosopher divided the literature of his time into four large groups of literature categories: epic, lyrical, dramatic, and didactic. This classification has remained more or less stable over time, although it has undergone some modifications.

Let's see, then, what the Aristotelian division consists of, one of the first ways (and probably the most common) of dividing types of literature.

1. Epic or narrative literature

Aristotle included in the epic the narratives that dealt with facts, both true and fictitious.. In other words, these are texts that tell stories. This type of literature would, of course, include works such as the iliad wave Odyssey, also capable of being classified as epic poetry or epic because of its lyricism.

1.1 The novel

Epic or narrative literature has a clear contemporary example: the novel. This subgenre is generally an extensive and complex story, which has numerous characters and various plot knots that are resolved over several pages.

The origin of the novel is Roman medieval, chivalric novels written in Romance languages ​​(hence the name). However, the "contemporary" novel did not emerge until the 19th century, and it was definitively established as the narrative genre par excellence. From this glorious century of the novel we still have marvelous authors such as Leo Tolstoy, Fédor Dostoyevsky, Benito Pérez Galdós, Mary Anne Evans, the Brontë sisters or Émile Zola, followed by a long (very long) etc.

1.2 The story or short story

On the contrary, the story or story has a simpler structure, has fewer characters and, of course, is much shorter.

This type of narrative has always been very popular, and there are many authors who have achieved fame with collections of short stories or stories. It is the case of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), Julio Cortázar (1914-1984), Franz Kafka (1883-1824), Emilia Pardo Bazán (1851-1921) or Alice Munro (1931), among many others.

It is necessary to distinguish the traditional tale from the story of a specific author or author. Just as the first is the result of oral tradition and is often similar to fables and myths due to its content. moralizing, the second is a product of a writer's imagination, and does not have to have any intention educator.

1.3. The fable

Another of the great types of literature included in the field of narrative is the fable. Despite the fact that this subgenre could be included in the previous point, we consider it important to separate it, given the specific characteristics that the fable possesses. It is a story generally starring animals that has a high educational or moral content. (so, in some classifications, we can find it in the didactic literature).

The fable is a widely used resource since ancient times to deal with ethical and moral issues. Famous are the well-known fables of Aesop (s. I SAW C.), and, in more recent times, those of the Spanish fabulist Félix María de Samaniego (1745-1801). The latter is a clear example of the use of the old fable to transmit the ideas of the Enlightenment, whose educational vocation was transmitted perfectly with this type of narrative.

2. lyrical literature

In this second Aristotelian classification are included the works that, more than transmitting facts, what they intend is to show all the subjectivity of the author or the singer. The lyrical genre is the subjective genre par excellence, characterized by beautifying and enhancing resources of this feeling, such as metaphors, comparisons, hyperbole, etc.

This type of literature can be divided into many subgenres; Here we will only review the most important ones.

2.1. the ode

Very common since ancient times, the ode aims to praise the qualities of a character, a place, an idea, a fact... Compared to other types of literature, His tone is lofty and solemn, charged with obvious admiration and exaltation..

Friedrich Schiller's (1759-1805) Ode to Joy, later set to music by Beethoven, is one of the best known. In the Hispanic sphere, we have the odes Miracles of Our Lady by Gonzalo de Berceo, in which he sings praises to the Virgin Mary, or the numerous odes of Fray Luis de León.

2.2. the elegy

The elegy is characterized by its sad and often desperate tone, as it sings of someone's death or departure. It is a very common lyrical subgenre to remember deceased famous people, as demonstrated by Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías, by Federico García Lorca (1898-1936), or the well-known Elegy to Ramón Sijé, by Miguel Hernandez (1910-1942).

23. The song

It is a type of poetic creation that generally sings of love. It has Provencal origin, and was very much in vogue during the time of the minstrels and troubadours, although, later, authors such as Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) collected his legacy with works such as his Song book. Later in time, the song gave rise to the sonnet.

2.4. the epigram

It is a lyrical subgenre little known today, but very common in ancient Greece. The epigram is a very short composition that highlights the qualities of a character. In ancient times epigrams used to be engraved on statues or tombstones, hence the name, epigram, "write on top". The epitaphs on the tombs undoubtedly come from this type of poetry.

3. dramatic literature

This type of literature obviously refers to the theater, an activity that was very popular during the time of Aristotle. Indeed, the theater was born and formed in Greece and, later, it was taking the form that we know today.

3.1. The tragedy

Aristotle distinguished two types of theatrical genres: tragedy and comedy. The first, whose name literally means "song of the goat" (since the theater was originally related to the rituals of Dionysus), includes compositions of a solemn and serious nature, generally with a dark ending from which a moral teaching can be extracted. Some of the most famous Greek tragedies are the trilogy of King Oedipus, from Sophocles.

3.2. The comedy

On the contrary, comedy revolves around laughter and criticism and He has a much happier character.. The author of comedy par excellence of Greek antiquity is Aristophanes, with works such as lysistrata either Clouds.

3.3. The drama

Currently, there is talk of a third theatrical subgenre that makes up another type of literature: drama. Like tragedy, it presents complicated and conflictive situations, but, unlike it, it is not related to mythological stories nor does it have to contain any moral teaching.

In other words; drama is something rather intimate, of a certain group of people (or even just one), while tragedy has universal resonances. Some authors of scenic dramas are the Swede Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) and the American Tennessee Williams (1911-1983).

4. didactic literature

The didactic genre attaches importance to the message, not to the way of expressing it. That is to say, the author expresses a point of view and often tries to convince the reader, but for this he usually uses clear and direct language, without the rhetoric and decorations that other types of works could have. In Aristotle's time it was a very important genre, since it put the author's oratorical ability at stake.

4.1. Essay

It is one of the most common didactic subgenres. Written in prose, it is a clear exposition of an idea. Despite exposing his own opinion, the author is duly informed on the subject in question, and there is no room for invention or fantasy. Currently, it is one of the most popular non-fiction genres.

Essays can be literary, artistic, historical, scientific, philosophical... Any topic is susceptible to being studied and analyzed. Some test examples are: essays on morality and politics, by David Hume (1711-1776) or the Essay on the origin of languages, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), both from the Age of Enlightenment, one of the periods that most valued the essay.

However, not only the 18th century saw this type of literature flourish: in the 19th century we find, for example, Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo (1856-1912), with works such as his monumental History of aesthetic ideas in Spain, and, already in the 20th century, Luis Araquistáin (1886-1959), with works such as About the Civil War and emigration.

4.2. The biography

Academic in tone, usually without literary embellishments, the biography It is the story of a person's life.. The author of the biography is never the same as the character he delves into; otherwise, we would be talking about an autobiography.

The biography is a perfect way to know the details of someone's life, be it a historical figure, a singer, an actor, etc. The author of the biography must be very well documented, since it is not a novelization of the person's life (that would fall into the novel subgenre), but rather the idea is to objectively convey everything related to his life and his work of him