Types of Recreational Literary Texts and Their Features

Recreational Literary Texts

Lyrical (Poetry)

Lyrical productions are called poems. They usually express the poet's feelings, thoughts, emotions, ideas, wishes, desires and aspirations, so that subjectivity prevails.

Epic or Narrative

Epic or narrative: it exposes or relates events of various kinds. It requires a narrator (who recounts the events) and a narratee (the listener or recipient). Fairy tales, legends, fables, novels and epics belong to this genre.

Dramatic

Dramatic: plays present the action through dialogue and monologue; the event is intended to be presented to an audience or spectators.

Organization of Plays

The plays are organized into several structural parts and elements. Common elements include:

• Events: parts of the action that are divided; they reflect intentions and moments of suspense.
• Scenes: segments that divide an act, often identified by the entry or exit of characters.
• Tableaux (tables): parts that divide a scene; a change is often flagged as a decorative or visual transition.
• Dimensions (stage directions): present notes for each scene. They indicate where the action takes place, what the characters do and how they dress.

Common Literary Texts

Among literary texts are several well-known forms:

Poem

Poem: typically lyrical, usually written in verse. Content is organized into lines and grouped into rhythmic stanzas (a set of verses that share a rhythmic unit). The poet expresses feelings and personal impressions so that subjectivity predominates.

Story (Short Story)

Story: a narrative text intended to achieve a single, dominant effect. It is characterized by brevity, which results from its structure: the story reports an issue and seeks to produce an effect. The story develops a topic by focusing on a single facet, creating unity of anecdote and action and arriving at a final resolution.

Structure of Narrative Action

The narrative subject is developed through a sequence of action stages. In turn, these comprise three main stages:

1. Introduction: narrative sequences that outline the case or theme. It presents some characters and describes the space where events unfold.
2. Development: sequences where secondary episodes related to the main one appear. Other characters become involved and other problems arise; the theme and the conflict become clearer.
3. Outcome: the final sequence where some or all problems are resolved. One can say this is the final sequence where the wicked are punished and the good rewarded, but not always. The outcome may be happy, unhappy, tragic, or oscillate between joy and sadness.

Let (Short Theatrical Piece)

Let: a short theatrical text of a humorous character. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries it was often placed between the first and second acts of a longer dramatic work, serving as an appetizer for the audience and a light, economical complement to the main piece. It develops themes related to popular customs, and its characters embody distinct types, often representative of lower social sectors. Today, few are staged; the genre has evolved into what is called farce.