 Subject

 History of English Literature

 Topics
Literature and It’s Genres
 Submitted To
Dr. Abrar
 Submitted By
Nouman Qadir
 Roll No
BSENGE -21-84
 Class
BS English
 Session
2021-2025
 Literature

Literature is a spoken or written form of words and it is

formed by the partly or completely symbolic language that gives a new meaning
that is based on unreal point of view by using imagination along with the reason.

Literature is a spoken or written text since it has different

genres which either made to be read such as: Fiction and short story or to be spoken
such as: Poetry and Drama.

The language a that is used in literature is either completely

or partly symbolic. By symbolic I mean that the literary language has to have (at least
partly) patterned language, figurative speech and so on. In my view, the language of
the literature must be written in by highly metaphorical and symbolic language. This
creative language since the literary books are not written for a specific time or a
special generations of readers, they will lose their effects on readers if they were
written in literal language. The metaphorical and symbolic language will make the
literary texts immortal and every new generation will understand the literature in way
that is totally or slightly different from the generation that is before and after it. The
figurative language that is used by literary texts will not only have special effects on
the generation but also will allow every individual (within same community) has his
own understanding for the literature that he reads.

Literature has to deal with human life by using of the

writer’s imagination shed led on the sides that cannot be recognize by the scientists.
That means the scope of literature in describing the human life is wider than the
scientific scope. If the texts describes the life from a realistic perspective, it will be
scientific texts while if the text uses the science and imagination to depict the life that
means it is literature. This because of the fact that the ability of imagination in human
beings is greater then the mental ability. Needless to say that does not mean that
literature is only imaginative work but is mix of reason and imagination,
 Literary Genres
There are lot of genres of literature and I will tell you about some of them.

Drama
Fiction or non- fiction stories composed in verse or prose, usually
for theatrical performance, where conflicts and emotions are expressed through
dialogues and action. Most dramas can be classified as comedies or tragedies.

Types of Dramas

Comedy

Comedy dramas has a happy ending. It’s a deliberate presentation of events and
experiences drawn for real life. It usually have a happy ending.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare is an example of a comedy drama.The

drama is driven by the prank of Puck, a mischievous jokester who use magic to make
characters fall in love with each other for comic effect.

Tragedy

Tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and mainly the terrible or
sorrowful events that befall a main character. This branch of treats in a serious and
dignified style the sorrowful or terrible events encountered or caused by heroic
individual.

Like Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy. The two young lovers meet and fall in love, but
because of the age-old feud between their families, they are destined for misfortune.
Juliet’s cousin Tybalt kills Romeo’s friend Mecutio.
 Tragicomedy
A tragicomedy is a drama that has both tragic and comedic elements. It can be a
tragedy with a happy ending, or it can be a tragedy with enough comic relief that the
mood of the entire drama is improved.

Notable example of tragicomedy drama by William Shakespeare are The Merchant of

Venice(1596-97), The Winter’s Tale(1610-11), and The Tempest(1611-12).

Melodrama

A melodrama is a dramatic work in which story is typically sensationalized and for a

strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodrama
concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or excessively sentimental, rather than
action.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a melodrama. Theatrically it is one of his most spectacular

plays.

Poetry
Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of
language - such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism and meter meter to evoke
meaning in addition to or in place of ordinary intended meaning. A poem is literary
composition written by poet using this principle.

Types of Poetry
Free Verse is an open form of poetry. It does not use consistent meter pattern. I thus
tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech.

Sonnet is poem consist of fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter, employing one
of several time rhyme schemes and adhering to a tightly structured thematic
organization.

Ode is type of lyrical stanza. It is an elaborately structured poem praising or

glorifying an event or an individual.
Elegy is a form of poetry in which the poet or speaker express grief, sadness, or loss.

Novel
A novel is long literary work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and
published in a book.

Prose
Prose is a form of written or spoken language that typically exhibits a natural flow of
speech and grammatical structure.

Fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying people, events, or
setting in imaginary ways that may be inconsistent with history, factuality or
plausibility.

Non-Fiction
Nonfiction is a type of content that attempts in good faith to provide accurate
information regarding a real world topic. Nonfictional content may be presented either
objectively or subjectively.

Science Fiction
Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative
and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration,
time travel, parallel universe and extraterrestrial life.

Horror Fiction
Horror is a genre of speculative fiction which is intended to frighten, scare or disgust.
 Historical Fiction
Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to
the past events but it’s fictional.

Mystery
Mystery is fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime
remains mysterious until the end of the story.

Thriller
Thrillers are dark, engrossing and suspenseful plot-driven stories. Thrillers are
characterized and defined by the mods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings
of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety.

Fable
A fable is a short tale to teach us a lesson, often with animals or intimate objects as
character. These stories are not truth.

The fable of the Tortoise and the Hare.

Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a
fictional universe and sometime inspired by mythology and folklore.

Folklore
Folklore depicts the way main characters manage their everyday life events, including
conflicts and crisis. Simply, folk literature is about individual experiences from a
particular society.