Classifications of Literature Flashcards
A story originating in popular culture, typically passion on bye word of mouth
Folk Tales
A short story, typically with animals as characters, conveys a moral.
Fables
A traditional story is sometimes popularly regarded as historical but unauthenticated
Legend
A children’s story about magical and imaginary beings and lands
Fairy Tales
A traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, typically involving supernatural beings or events.
Myth
A simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, as told by Jesus in the Gospels
Parable
A story with a full developed theme but significantly shorter and less elaborate than a novel
Short story
What is an Anecdote?
A short amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person.
The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity. or vices. Particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
satire
A fictitious prose narrative of book length, typically representing character and action with some degree or realism
Novel
A short novel, typically that is light and romantic or sentimental in character
Novelette
A written work that tells a story through action and speech and is acted out: usually a serious play, movie, or television production.
Drama/Play
What is Autobiography?
the biography of oneself narrated by oneself
An account of someone’s life written by someone else
Biography
What is a diary?
A book in which one keeps a daily record of events and experiences.
A historical account or biography is written from personal knowledge or special sources.
Memoirs
What is an essay?
A short piece of writing on a particular subject
A written, typed, printed communication, especially one sent in an envelop by mail or messenger.
Letter
A long poem, typically one derived from ancient oral tradition, narrates the deeds of adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of a nation.
epic
A poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas.
ballad
Is written in verse and can be classified either as a ballad or metrical romance
Metrical Tales
a lyric poem in the form of an address to a particular subject, often elevated in style or manner and written in varied or irregular meter.
Ode
What is an Elegy?
A poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead
What is a Sonnet?
a poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes, in English typically having ten syllables per line.
