Differences between literary and non-literary text

We begin a new lesson in which we are going to dedicate ourselves to explaining what differentiates a literary text of other not literary. The difference may be obvious, at first glance we could all recognize that a story is not written in the same way as a drug leaflet, nor does it have the same intentionality. However, it is not always easy to explain why or what are the elements that characterize each of these two types of texts. That is why from a PROFESSOR we want to help you understand what are the differences between a literary and a non-literary text so that you know its characteristics and learn to detect the two types of texts. We started!

We already know that every literary work is one that belongs to literature, but what is literature? If we look for its definition in the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy we will find that the literature it is the art of verbal expression. In other words, literature seeks to search or manifestation of beauty through words.

It is thus understood that a literary text is characterized by artistic expression of the human being in written form. A) Yes, its main function is poetics, that is, they tell an idea, story or feeling expressively and purely esthetic using the language in an original, creative way and with a refined, ornate and attractive style to delight the reader.

Furthermore, all literary texts have in common the subjectivism that they give off, in such a way that the author expresses in the first instance his opinion or personal perspective on some topic, situation or context. It is important to emphasize this point since literary works help us to experience the freedom of expression and thought that the author has when it comes to represent historical and cultural reality in which there is. Also, the fictionality It is another of the characteristics of a literary text since they are based on fiction to develop their story.

A typology can be established by which literary texts are classified into three literary genres: the narrative, poetic and dramatic. On the one hand, the narrative refers to all works written in prose in which there is a narrator, such as the novel, the short story or the legend. On the other hand, the poetic It is made up of works written in verse whose purpose is to exalt the feelings of the poet and, finally, the dramatic are those works that are developed from the dialogue between two or more characters, their purpose is the representation in front of an audience.

On the other hand, a non-literary text has a totally different function and styles than a literary text. Although a literary text focused on seeking the beauty of artistic expression through words, a non-literary text bases its objective on inform, teach or instruct the reader on a specific topic. It is no longer sought to delve into the plurality of human expression through a wide and rich vocabulary, but the main purpose is the dissemination of a series of knowledge or notions in a certain field. In other words, a non-literary text is informative or didactic in nature. A form information is presented objective in such a way that it helps the reader to be documented on the subject he wants to know about.

It is true that a literary text can also have a didactic character such as the fable, through which it is intended to instruct the smallest readers in moral teaching. However, his style is pleasant and beautiful, stylistic characteristics that a non-literary text lacks. Non-literary texts support their style in the clarity and objectivity just like they use a unambiguous language and accurate to avoid the possibility of second interpretations.

Examples of non-literary texts could be an encyclopedia, an instruction manual, a news item, a drug insert, a textbook, or a recipe. All of them instruct the reader and provide you with a certain information by way of clean, well structured, clear and concise.

In this other lesson we discover you what types of texts are there and what are their characteristics.

Finally, to make the explanation clearer, we will summarize the characteristics between a literary and a non-literary text below.

Literary text:

• poetic or artistic function
• neat and styled style
• varied and rich language
• subjectivism
• fictionality
• representation of reality

Non-literary text:

• instructive, informative or didactic function
• sober, clear and concise style
• unambiguous language
• objectivism
• informative character