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• Literature in its broadest sense consists of any written productions
• Literature refers to those deemed to have artistic or intellectual value, or which deploy language in ways that differ from ordinary usage
• In western Europe prior to the eighteenth century, literature as a term indicated all books and writing
• The value judgement definition of literature considers it to cover exclusively those writings that possess high quality or distinction, forming part of the so-called Belles-lettres tradition
• The Encyclopedia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910-11) classifies literature as "The best expression of the best thought reduced to writing"
• Problematic in this view is that there is no objective definition of what constitutes "literature"
• Anything can be literature, and anything which is universally regarded as literature has the potential to be excluded, since value judgments can change over time
• Genre is any category of literature, music, or other forms of art or entertainment, based on some set of stylistic criteria
• Genres form by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones is discontinued
• Genre began as an absolute classification system for ancient Greek literature, where poetry, prose, and performance each had a specific and calculated style related to the theme of the story
• There are 3 Genres of Literature:
• Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language
• Lyric Poetry is a comparatively short, non-narrative poem where a single speaker presents a state of mind or emotional state
• Elegy is a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead
• Ode is a poem in which a person expresses a strong feeling of love or respect for someone or something
• Sonnet is a fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter, employing one of several rhyme schemes and adhering to a tightly structured thematic organization
• Dramatic Monologue is a poem in the form of a speech or narrative by an imagined person, revealing aspects of their character while describing a particular situation or series of events
• Narrative Poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of a narrative and characters
• Epics are long narrative poems written in elevated style, where heroes of great historical or legendary importance perform valorous deeds (e.g. Beowulf)
• Mock-epic are satires or parodies that mock common Classical stereotypes of heroes and heroic literature (e.g. Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock)
• Ballad is a poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas, typically of unknown authorship and passed on orally as part of folk culture
• Descriptive and Didactic Poetry can contain lengthy and detailed descriptions or scenes in direct speech, with the purpose of didactic poetry being to teach something
• Prose is written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure
• Fiction is literature written in prose, describing imaginary events and people
• Realistic Fiction consists of stories that could have actually occurred to people or animals in a believable setting
• Fantastic Fiction subordinates reality to imagination by depicting a world of marvels contrasted to everyday reality and accepted views of what is credible
• Non-Fiction is prose writing based on facts, real events, and real people such as biography and history
• Biographies are detailed descriptions of a person's life, portraying a subject's experience of life events
• Autobiographies are written accounts of a person's life by that person
• Essays give the author's own argument, overlapping with those of an article, a pamphlet, and a short story
• Articles are pieces of writing included with others in a newspaper, magazine, or other publication
• Humor includes situations, speech, or writings that are thought to be humorous
• Drama is a piece of writing that tells a story and is performed on a stage
• Comedy is lighter in tone than ordinary writers, providing a happy conclusion to make the audience laugh using quaint circumstances, unusual characters, and witty remarks
• Tragedy uses darker themes such as disaster, pain, and death, with protagonists often having a tragic flaw leading to their downfall
• Farce is a nonsensical genre of drama that often overacts or engages slapstick humor, essentially a parody
• Melodrama is an exaggerated drama that is sensational and appeals directly to the senses of the audience, with characters being of single dimension or stereotyped
• Fantasy is a complete fictional work where characters display supernatural skills, appealing to children with fairies, angels, superheroes, etc., and using magic, pseudo-science, horror, and spooky themes
• Musical