Literary Genres

Literary Genres

Literature is divided into three broad genres namely: Drama, prose and poetry.

Drama

Drama is considered the oldest of all literary genres. It is also the situation and aspiration by manipulating characters who come on stage to interact.

Drama originated from the Greek city state of ableins. Drama is a stage like re-enactment and representation of human experiences, and aspiration through the interaction of characters. The end product of drama is the presentation on stage. Drama is in turn divided into three categories i.e. tragedy, comedy and tragic – comedy.

Tragedy

Tragedy is a serious form of drama. The classical tragedy weaves action around a central character who suffer a misfortune. The protagonist is pitched against certain forces one of which is his own weakness. This invariably leads to his downfall. An example of this is Ola Rotimi’s The god’s are not to blame.

Comedy

Comedy on the other hand is the opposite of tragedy. It is a light hearted lay that ends happily. It does not result in the death or misfortune. An example is Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel.

Tragedy – comedy.

This is the closest to real life situation as it presents both the negative and positive side of life.

Prose Fiction

Prose fiction as a genre of literature cam be divided into fiction and non fiction.

Fiction is the narrative writing down from the imagination of the artist rather than from facts. Incidents events, characters, setting and time are basically the creation of the author and as such not true to life. For example William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.

In non-fiction, the writer deals specifically with incidents and events that are true to life. Such incidents and event may be moral, social, political or cultural. Examples of such work are Tell Freedom by Peter Abraham and Zambia shall be free by Kenneth Kaunda.

Whether prose or fiction, the peculiar thing about this writing is that it makes use of everyday conversational language.