Literary Foundations: Genres, Purposes, and Key Concepts

Literary Foundations: Genres and Figures

Understanding Literature: Definition and Context

Literature is an art form that uses beautiful words as its tool. It is a historical product; every literary creation is the result of an author living in a specific time. Thus, a poem, a novel, or a play can only be fully understood if we know the historical circumstances in which they were composed, as they reflect the mentality and ideas of their era.

Classifications of Literary Works

• By Language: English Literature, French Literature, German Literature, Italian Literature, etc.
• By Nationality of Authors: Argentine Literature, Mexican Literature, Spanish Literature, etc.
• By Territorial or Cultural Origin: American Literature, etc.

The Multifaceted Purposes of Literature

• Teaching: To instruct or impart knowledge.
• Entertainment: To amuse or provide pleasure.
• Creation of Beauty: To evoke aesthetic appreciation.
• Social Criticism: To comment on or critique societal issues.
• Testimony: To present the existential experience of one or several individuals.

Most texts do not have a single purpose; they often combine several. Literature is a special form of knowledge that reveals feelings, emotions, relationships between people, ideas, attitudes, and behaviors that might not otherwise be known.

Literary Genres: Forms and Characteristics

Lyric or Poetry

The poet expresses emotions and feelings.

• The Ode: A poem of some length, often with an elevated tone.
• The Elegy: Poems that express feelings of pain or sorrow, often in response to individual or collective misfortune.
• The Song (or Track): A lyrical composition of variable length, almost always full of love, destined to be sung.
• The Eclogue: Characters are idealized shepherds who express their feelings of love amidst idyllic nature.

Other lyrical genres include the romance, the sonnet, and the Anacreontic.

Narrative or Epic

The author, through a narrator, tells the adventures that happen to other characters.

• The Epic: A long verse narrative of great events concerning ancient peoples (e.g., The Iliad and The Odyssey).
• The Epic Poem: A long medieval poem that narrates the exploits of a hero (e.g., The Song of the Cid).
• The Novel: An extensive and complex narrative in which the central character frequently appears in conflict with the world around them (e.g., Lazarillo de Tormes, Don Quixote, Guzmán de Alfarache).
• The Story (Short Story): A very concentrated short narrative, often characterized by its surprising or striking ending.