The Different Types of Literature – Complete Main Types

James King Literature Types
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Human beings have used different types of literature to tell each other stories for as long as society has existed. Before the written word, it was by oral storytelling. People would gather in circles around a storyteller who would recite tales—tales which would be passed down generations and altered.

Once writing was invented, there was a more permanent way to capture and disseminate stories. Any story written down in text can be referred to as literature. The act of writing a story solidifies it into a definitive version.

Different types of literature can be categorised according to their genre or form. Common examples include novels, poetry, plays, and short stories. Some of them are long-form, and some are short; some are meant to be read quietly and others performed.

What unites them all, is they are written, and can be shared with anyone who can read.

Novels

Novels are long fictional works that tell stories through the experiences of the protagonist and other main characters. They explore themes of love, loss, and personal growth, and can be set in a wide range of time periods and locations.

Novels are structured for how they are expected to be read and are usually divided into sections or chapters. In many cases, chapters might be long enough to be divided into smaller sections separated by a double space between two paragraphs.

Novels aren’t meant to be read out loud. They aren’t written to be read in one sitting. And, they are deliberately structured in a way that gives the reader built-in breaks. Ideally these breaks are chapters. Although in the case of classical novelists, like Dickens, the chapters can be very lengthy.

The breaks often leave the reader on a cliffhanger, so they are desperate to return or continue right away. At other times, they pause at an emotionally satisfying moment that allows the reader to leave fulfilled for the time being. Authors decide based on the effect they wish to instill in the reader.

If the story evokes emotions, such as sadness, tears, or laughter, then the author has done his job,

When did Novels originate?

pen and ink sketch of Robinson Crusoe island and shipwreck

There has been great debate over when the novel, of all the many different types of literature, originated. Many people place it in 1740 with Samuel Richardon’s Pamela, a long-form epistolary tale about a maidservant who becomes a lady. While others point to Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, the famous story of a castaway, published years earlier in 1719. At the time, however, Defoe presented Robinson Crusoe as a biographical chronicling of true events. He even listed Robinson Crusoe as the author, rather than himself.

As much as these are likely the start of the modern novel, however, others reach further back into history, and different cultures.

  • Some scholars consider the ancient Roman texts Satyricon by Petronius and The Golden Ass by Apuleius to be novels.
  • In the 11th century in Japan, there was Tale of the Lady Ochikubo and Lady Mursaki’s Tale of Genji.
  • In 13th century Iceland, there was a novelistic saga called The Story of Burnt Njal.

When did the Great Novellists appear

caricature of Ebenezer Scrooge
Ebenezer Scrooge

Novels appear to have proliferated in the 18th and 19th centuries in England and America.

  • 1759 saw the release of Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy, which remains remarkable today for how ahead of its time it feels. It utilises metanarrative devices, satire, non-chronological storytelling, and more.
  • The 19th century brought us great authors such as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Herman Melville, the Bronte sisters, and more. Their work is still read and cherished today. Novels are one of the most dominant forms of storytelling, particularly of literature.

Poetry

Looking at different types of literature other than novels, poetry uses figurative language and rhyme to convey emotion and ideas. That isn’t to say that novels can’t partake in similar devices, but most novels tend to be more plot-driven. They can have beautiful language but it’s rare that they are about language to the extent that poetry is.

Poetry is just as much about style as it is substance. A poet might deliberately select a certain type of poetry that best suits the mood, theme, and subject they explore.

Poems can be short or long and can take many forms. They range from epic poetry to sonnets and haikus to free verse. Most of these styles have formal elements that the poet is meant to adhere to.

Part of the challenge for the poet is conveying authentic emotions with creativity and depth while sticking to the rules. This includes metre, scansion, and sometimes, rhyme scheme.

Epic Poetry

In some ways, epic poetry is a predecessor to the novel. Like novels, it is long and in most cases tells a plot-driven story. Where it diverges is in areas such as formal style and some archetypal elements. This often includes the narrator invoking deific figures to ask for help in relaying the tale.

Famous examples of epic poetry are Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey in Ancient Greece and The Mahābhārata from Ancient India.

Sonnets

pen and ink sketch of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare

Sonnets, amongst the different types of literature and poetry, are much shorter. They consist of only 14 lines written in strict iambic pentameter. This means each one has 10 syllables alternating between unstressed and stressed. They also have strict rhyme schemes.

The world’s most famous sonnets are those written by the great English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. Sonnets don’t have to be love poems, but thanks to him, they are mostly associated with romantic notions.

Haiku

Haiku are Japanese poems that tend to use an image to capture a moment in time. In English translations, they consist of three lines made up of 5, 7, and 5 syllables.

Free Verse

And then there’s Free Verse, which emulates regular speech patterns and doesn’t have set rules. Some of the most famous free verse poets are Walt Whitman, T.S. Eliot, and Ezra Pound. Most poems written today are in this style.

Plays

Another type of literature is plays. Unlike the others, they are meant to be performed live on a stage. They usually have multiple characters and are divided into scenes or acts. They are usually played by a cast of actors, although there are one-person plays. In this case, the one person may play a single role or multiple parts.

Plays are generally comedies, tragedies, or a combination of both, and often explore complex themes and ideas through dialogue and action. In some ways, one might think that plays are closer to the oral storytelling tradition than literature is. However, the words are all written in text. This is both for the actors to memorise, and so others can create their own productions or simply study it.

When William Shakespeare led the way

The 1500s saw a flourishing of drama, typified most strongly by the work of William Shakespeare. In the many types of literature, Shakespeare is considered by many to be the greatest writer who ever lived. His plays are still popular to this day, performed worldwide, as well as studied in schools and universities.

Theatre

What we think of today as theatre began in ancient Greece. It started as choral songs called dithyrambs which were performed at festivals honouring the gods. Legend has it that a man called Thespis invented drama when he added an actor to the chorus. This man wore various masks during the play to represent various characters.

Amphitheatre at the Acropolis, Athens
Acropolis Amphitheatre – Athens

This led to dialogue between chorus and actor. Soon, more complex dramas developed. Specific theatre festivals were held at which many plays would be performed, often in competition. The tragedies were rooted in Greek myth.

Over centuries and many cultures, theatre continued to appear in different forms. During the Medieval period, travelling theatre companies would perform religious dramas.

The Rise of American Playwrights

In the 20th century, the dramas that came out of the United States were amongst the best in the world. The work of playwrights like Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and Eugene O’Neill are often played in theatres around the world.

Short Stories

Short stories, as the name suggests, are shorter pieces of fiction that typically focus on a single event or character. They often centre on a specific theme or idea and can be written in a wide range of styles and genres.

As far as we know, the format of the short story is as old as storytelling itself. Many of the narratives that were told and passed on were brief tales told in an evening, easily remembered and shared.

For centuries, short stories proliferated throughout many cultures. The form faced a marked decline in the 17th and 18th centuries when Renaissance thinkers became more enamoured of poetry and drama.

From the 19th Century on

The modern short story started to emerge in the 19th century. They became popular again in various countries, independent of one another. In Germany, there was a belief that short fiction should be realistic. But the fantastical works of Heinrich von Kleist, E.T.A. Hoffmann, and Ludwig Tieck pushed short stories in a new direction.

The United States – Short Stories

photograph of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe

In the United States, they divided the short story into two strains of poetry and drama. The first half of the century saw a lot of realism. The second half is perhaps best known by the short work of Edgar Allan Poe. He wrote short stories filled with horror, supernatural, dark humour, and irony.

Russian Short Stories

In Russia, there was a movement towards impressionism. The stories were more concerned with capturing how characters perceived events rather than plot. Thus, they incorporated surrealist, evocative, atmospheric elements.

Nikolay Gogol, for example, merged reality and dream in his stories, with characters often not being able to tell the difference. He influenced others such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Meanwhile, Leo Tolstoy’s work was the opposite, seeking extreme psychological reality, seemed a deliberate reaction against Gogol.

Famous 19th and 20th Century Short Story Authors

Some of the most famous short story writers of the late 19th and 20th centuries include James Joyce, O. Henry, and Jorge Luis Borges. Many consider it an extremely difficult form as there was such a limited amount of space to establish character and plot. One must be concise enough for the word limit yet evocative enough to tell a story worth telling.

Biographies and Autobiographies

For example, biographies and autobiographies are non-fictional accounts of a person’s life, while histories are narratives of past events.

Other Types of Literature

In addition to the main types of literature, there are other forms that authors use to tell their stories.

Memoirs

Memoirs sit somewhere in the middle. They are literary accounts of people’s lives that don’t require the same adherence to fact as biographies, autobiographies, or histories. Names are often changed, as well as various memories conflated to create a literary work that can feel more like a novel loosely based on reality than non-fiction.

Essays, Articles and Academic Papers

There are also types of non-fiction literature, such as essays, articles, and academic papers, which are used to explore and explain various subjects.

Methods and Styles

Different types of literature can also be distinguished by the way they are written. For example, some literature is written in prose, which is the ordinary form of written language, while other literature is written in verse, which uses a specific rhythmic structure.

Additionally, some literature is written in a specific dialect or language, such as Shakespearean English or Old English.

Final Thoughts

So, there are a number of different types of literature, each with its own unique style, form, and purpose.

From epic novels and moving poems to thought-provoking plays and short stories, literature has the power to entertain, educate, and inspire.

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