Overview of Literary Genres and Analysis

Literary Genres

Lyric

Lyric poetry imitates moods and emotions. It is characterized by subjective expression, often focusing on a single aspect and presented in brief verses. Common themes include love and religion, often expressed in a monologue. Vocabulary and syntax are simple, with varied meter and a predominance of shorter verses.

• Eclogue: Includes an introduction, closing, and dialogues between pastoralists on matters of love.
• Elegy: Expresses sadness, melancholy, sentimentality, and memorial themes with varied meter.
• Ode: Dedicated to great personages, using elevated language and varied meter.

Narrative

Narrative texts tell stories through a narrator within the fictional world. Prose is the predominant mode of discourse.

• Epic: Extensive narration of a hero's story, using verse and descriptive phrases.
• Romance: Short verse story with assonance rhyme in pairs.
• Fable: Short story with a moral or ideological purpose, presenting a conflict between inanimate beings or animals.
• Short Story: Brief prose narrative with a conflict, often limited in time and space, with concise dialogues.
• Novel: Lengthy prose narrative presenting a complex world and story, varying in space and time.

Story analysis considers actions, characters, time, and place. Characters can be protagonists or secondary, performing actions that involve other characters. The setting influences the characters' actions, and time can span from hours to months.

Drama

Dramatic texts are meant for theatrical representation. They tell stories through the words and actions of characters. Dialogue is the primary form of communication, and the discourse can be in prose or verse. Transmission and reception are collective.

• Tragedy: Presents a tragic conflict where the hero struggles against an adverse destiny. Key elements include arrogance, suffering, and purgation of passions.
• Comedy: Presents a story from a humorous perspective, featuring relatable characters from real life.
• Tragicomedy: Mixes elements of tragedy and comedy, with characters from various social classes and a non-catastrophic ending.
• Drama: Presents a conflict less intense than tragedy, focusing on realistic, bourgeois characters and contemporary problems.
• Auto Sacramental: Short piece associated with the Eucharist, linked to liturgical feasts.
• Entremés: Short, humorous work featuring popular characters, often depicting the beginning or middle of a longer piece, with an unconnected plot.

Lyrical Poetry

Cultured Catalan Lyric

Medieval cultured lyric, influenced by troubadour poetry in the 12th century. Cultivated by troubadours for singing and disseminated by minstrels.

Galician Lyric

• Cantigas de amor (Love Songs): The lady complains about unrequited love and expresses a longing for death. Varied and complex meter.
• Cantigas de escarnio (Songs of Mockery): Personal satires.
• Cantigas de maldecir (Songs of Cursing): Direct attacks on social groups.

Arabic and Hebrew Lyric

Moaxajas are love poems written in classical Arabic or Hebrew, ending with a stanza called jarcha.

Medieval Popular Poetry

• Jarcha: Written in Arabic or Hebrew, consisting of four short verses with rhyme. The theme is almost always love, expressed by a girl to her mother or sisters.
• Cantigas de amigo (Songs of a Friend): Similar theme to jarchas, with a strong presence of nature.
• Villancicos: Love songs featuring water, women's hair, and flowers, with simple composition.