Chapter I (Part II)
LITERARY GENRES
Drama is an exciting, emotional, or unexpected event or circumstance. It
is “a piece of writing that tells a story and is performed on a stage”, defines
Merriam-Webster. A play is divided into acts and scenes. It has been
categorised as comedy and tragedy. During the Shakespearean era, it was
divided into many forms, based on its nature.
Prose is a written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without
metrical structure. It applies a natural flow of speech, and ordinary grammatical
structure rather than rhythmic structure, such as in the case of traditional
poetry. Normal every day speech is spoken in prose and most people think and
write in prose form. Prose comprises of full grammatical sentences which
consist of paragraphs and forgoes aesthetic appeal in favour of clear,
straightforward language. It can be said to be the most reflective of
conversational speech. Some works of prose do have versification and a blend
of the two formats that is called prose poetry.
Fictional writing is non-factual. It is used for entertainment purpose.
Mostly it is in the form of a story. It may be in the form of short story, novel
etc. It is a literary form which is more informative rather than fictional. Fiction
is a kind of imagination. Non-fiction is a part of real life. Memoir is another
non-fiction form which deals with the story of real people and real events.
MEMOIR
Memoir writing is another popular literary form in non-fictional prose
writing. It is different from an autobiography. Autobiography deals with the
history of a person, dealing with his entire life, whereas memoir deals with just
a part of his life. Jeannette Walls says:
One of the lessons I’ve learned from writing this memoir is how
much we all have in common. So many of us think that certain
things only happened to us and somehow they make us less of a
person. I’m constantly urging people, especially older folks, to
write about their lives. It gives you a new perspective. It was
hugely eye-opening for me and very cathartic. Even if the book
hadn't sold a single copy, it would still have been worth it. (qtd.
in Joe Kita: Web)
When she was 44, The Glass Castle was published. It has been on the
New York Times bestseller list for almost three years. It has been sold more
than two million copies, has been translated into 23 languages, and will soon be
released as a movie. It is about Jeannette Walls’ encounter on poverty in her
youth age. Another famous work which is similar to this memoir is The Last
Lecture, written by Randy Pausch. It is a collection of the last lectures by
Randy who suffered from Pancreatic cancer.
Another famous memoir is Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. It is
about the conversations between a student and his professor. Their
conversations are based on the philosophies of the meaning of life, the purpose
of life, the why of life and so on. The major attraction of this work is the
concept of near-death awareness. It is more emotional and widely popular among readers,
LITERARY GENRES
According to the classists, the major classification of literature is
comedy and tragedy. Nowadays the list of possible types and genres of
literature can seem endless. But it is still possible to narrow down the vast
amount of literature available into a few basic groups. The five genres of
literature that anyone should be familiar with are poetry, drama, prose, non
fiction, and media.
According to Lynn Z Bloom, “The poem was the record of the best and
the happiest moments of the best and the happiest minds” (Web). Wordsworth
claims that poetry is a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. While
comparing these arguments, the latter is more reliable. No matter a person is
happy or sad, it is an overflow of powerful feelings. From this justification, a
poem is highly attached to emotions.
is “a piece of writing that tells a story and is performed on a stage”, defines
Merriam-Webster. A play is divided into acts and scenes. It has been
categorised as comedy and tragedy. During the Shakespearean era, it was
divided into many forms, based on its nature.
Prose is a written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without
metrical structure. It applies a natural flow of speech, and ordinary grammatical
structure rather than rhythmic structure, such as in the case of traditional
poetry. Normal every day speech is spoken in prose and most people think and
write in prose form. Prose comprises of full grammatical sentences which
consist of paragraphs and forgoes aesthetic appeal in favour of clear,
straightforward language. It can be said to be the most reflective of
conversational speech. Some works of prose do have versification and a blend
of the two formats that is called prose poetry.
Fictional writing is non-factual. It is used for entertainment purpose.
Mostly it is in the form of a story. It may be in the form of short story, novel
etc. It is a literary form which is more informative rather than fictional. Fiction
is a kind of imagination. Non-fiction is a part of real life. Memoir is another
non-fiction form which deals with the story of real people and real events.
MEMOIR
Memoir writing is another popular literary form in non-fictional prose
writing. It is different from an autobiography. Autobiography deals with the
history of a person, dealing with his entire life, whereas memoir deals with just
a part of his life. Jeannette Walls says:
One of the lessons I’ve learned from writing this memoir is how
much we all have in common. So many of us think that certain
things only happened to us and somehow they make us less of a
person. I’m constantly urging people, especially older folks, to
write about their lives. It gives you a new perspective. It was
hugely eye-opening for me and very cathartic. Even if the book
hadn't sold a single copy, it would still have been worth it. (qtd.
in Joe Kita: Web)
When she was 44, The Glass Castle was published. It has been on the
New York Times bestseller list for almost three years. It has been sold more
than two million copies, has been translated into 23 languages, and will soon be
released as a movie. It is about Jeannette Walls’ encounter on poverty in her
youth age. Another famous work which is similar to this memoir is The Last
Lecture, written by Randy Pausch. It is a collection of the last lectures by
Randy who suffered from Pancreatic cancer.
Another famous memoir is Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. It is
about the conversations between a student and his professor. Their
conversations are based on the philosophies of the meaning of life, the purpose
of life, the why of life and so on. The major attraction of this work is the
concept of near-death awareness. It is more emotional and widely popular among readers,
