21st Century Literature

• Literature is a body of written works. It has been traditionally applied to those imaginative works of poetry and prose distinguished by their authors.
• Types of Literature

  • Prose
  • Poetry
• Literature


  A body of written works distinguished by the intentions of their authors and the perceived aesthetic excellence of their execution
• Literature may be classified according to a variety of systems, including language, national origin, historical period, genre, and subject matter
• Types of Prose


  • Prose Drama
  • Essay
  • Prose Fiction
  • Biography and Autobiography
  • Letter
  • Diary
  • Journal
• Types of Poetry


  • Narrative Poetry
  • Epic
  • Metrical Poem
  • Metrical Tale
  • Ballad
  • Popular ballad
  • Modern or artistic
  • Metrical Allegory
  • Lyric Poetry
  • Ode
  • Elegy
  • Song
• Prose Drama


  • Consists entirely of dialogues in prose and is meant to be acted on stage
• Essay


  • A short literary composition which is expository in nature. The author shares his thoughts, feelings, experiences, or observations on some aspects of life that has interested him
• Prose Fiction


  • Something invented, imagined, or feigned to be true
• Novel

  A long fiction narrative with a complicated plot. It may have one main plot and one or more subplots that develop with the main plot. It is made up of chapters
• Short Story


  A fictitious narrative compressed into one unit of time, place, and action. It deals with single character interest, a single emotion or series of emotions called forth by a single. It is distinguished from the novel by its compression
• Biography


  A story of a certain person’s life written by another who knows the subject well
• Autobiography


  A written account of a man’s life written by himself
• Letter


  • A written message which displays aspects of an author’s physiological make-up not immediately apparent in his more public writings. It is a prose form which by the force of its style and the importance of its statements becomes an object of interest in its own right
• Diary


  • A daily written record of account of the writer’s own experiences, thoughts, activities, or observations
• Journal


  • A magazine or periodical especially of serious or learned nature. It is the reflection, opinion of a read material
• Narrative Poetry


  A poem that tells a story
• Epic


  A long narrative poem of the largest proportions. It is a tale mainly about a hero concerning the beginning, continuance, and the end of events of great significance on tribal or national significance
• Metrical Poem


  A narrative poem that tells a story of adventure, love, and chivalry. The typical hero is a knight on a quest
• Metrical Tale


  A narrative poem consisting usually a single series connective events that are simple, and generally do not form a plot. Examples of these are simple idylls or home tales, love tales, tales of the supernatural or tales written for a strong moral purpose in verse form
• Ballad


  The simplest type of narrative poetry. It is a short narrative poem telling a single incident in simple meter and stanzas. It is meant to be sung
• Popular ballad


  A ballad of wide workmanship telling some simple incidents of adventure, cruelty, passion, or superstition, an incident that shows the primary instincts of man influenced by the restraint of modern civilization
• Modern or artistic


  Created by a poet in imitation of the folk ballad, makes use of many of its devices and conventions
• Metrical Allegory


  An extended narrative that carries a second meaning along with the surface story
• Lyric Poetry


  A poem that is very personal in nature. It expresses the author’s own thoughts, feelings, moods, and reflections in musical language. It derived its name from the musical instrument, the lyre
• Ode


  A lyric poem of some length, serious in subject and dignified in style. It is the most majestic of the lyric poems. It is written in a spirit of praise of some persons or things
• Elegy


  A poem written on the death of a friend of the poet. The ostensible purpose is to praise the friend. But in the end of the poem, however, we can expect that the poet will have come to terms with his grief
• Song


  A lyric poem in a regular metrical pattern set to music
• Elegy is a poem written on the death of a friend of the poet with the ostensible purpose to praise the friend, and the poet is expected to come to terms with his grief by the end of the poem
• Song is a lyric poem in a regular metrical pattern set to music, usually with twelve syllables and slowly sung to the accompaniment of a guitar or banduria
• Sonnet is a lyric poem containing four iambic pentameter lines and a complicated rhyme scheme
• Structure of a poem refers to the way it is presented to the reader, including line length, stanza format, flow of words, and conveyed ideas
• Line length


  Shows the reader how the poem should be read, with short lines read faster and longer lines slowing down the pace
• Stanzas


  Groups of lines in a poem, similar to paragraphs in prose, containing central ideas and allowing readers to focus on multiple ideas
• Paragraphs


  Contain a central idea and allow readers to focus on multiple ideas by breaking the text into multiple stanzas
• Consistency in structure


  Refers to using the same patterns throughout the poem, such as starting each line with a certain part of speech or using repeated lines or phrases
• Figures of speech


  • Simile
  • Metaphor
  • Personification
  • Oxymoron
• Simile


  A figure of speech comparing two dissimilar things using "like" or "as"
• Metaphor


  A figure of speech comparing two different things without using "like" or "as"
• Personification


  A figure of speech attributing human characteristics to non-human things