Genre

The absurd is a style of writing that is influenced by humanity’s isolation and a lack of logic in the universe.

An adventure story tells the tale of a protagonist’s journey. They go on an adventure or quest: one that could be personal or geographical.

Agitprop is political propaganda conveyed through art, music, literature, and films.

Alba is a specific type of poetry. It’s a genre of lyric poetry from the Old Occitan period, also known as the Old Provençal.

An antinovel is any novel that disregards traditional conventions of novel-writing. These books push the limits of what a novel can be.

An apologue is a short story, sometimes a fable, that shares a moral lesson. For example, kindness is more important than power, or love triumphs over hate.

Arthurian Literature is a category of writing that encompasses stories written during the 12th, 13th, and later centuries that tell the story of King Arthur and his court.

An autobiography is an account of one’s life written by the subject.

A beast fable, also known as an animal tale, is a short story or long poem that uses animal characters to relay a moral or narrative. 

A bildungsroman is a literary genre that focuses on coming of age stories, following a character's progression towards adulthood.

A biography is an account or description of a person's life, literary, fictional, historical, or popular in nature, written by a biographer.

Burlesque is a style of literature that mocks its subject. Burlesque writers represent their subjects using irony and obviously outrageous imagery. 

The campus novel, also known as the academic novel, is a book set around a university or college campus.

A carol is a song sung during a festive period, such as Christmas, although not exclusively. They are usually religious in nature.

Chick lit is a genre of literature that focuses on female protagonists. These stories are usually targeted at younger women and are described as “popular fiction.”

Chivalric Romance is a genre of literature and culture popular during the Medieval and Early Modern periods in Europe from the 12th century.

A chronicle is an account of events that occurs in the order that they happened in. The term is usually associated with historical events.

A chronicle novel is a long novel, or one in a series of novels, that follows at least two generations of a family or group.

Classicism is a term used to describe literature that reflected the thoughts and ideas from Ancient Greece and Rome. 

Comedy is a humorous and entertaining genre of literature, film, and television.

A coming-of-age novel is a book that tells the story of a character growing up and going through a series of important life-defining changes.

Companion poems are pieces of poetry that were written to accompany one another. They can also be poems written by multiple authors in response to one another. 

Confessional Poetry is a style of poetry that is personal, often making use of a first-person narrator. It is a branch of Postmodernism that emerged in the US in the 1950s.

The detective story is a sub-genre of fiction that follows an investigator as they try to track down a criminal, solve a crime, or prevent one from happening. 

A dime novel is a form of short, cheap fiction popular during the 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States. 

A documentary or documentary film is a genre of non-fictional filmmaking. It is used for the purpose of sharing real-life events as they happened. 

Drama is a mode of storytelling that uses dialogue and performance. It’s one of several important literary genres that authors engage with.

A dystopia is the opposite of a utopia. It is an imagined place or community in which the majority of the people suffer. 

An elegy, in literature, is a poem or song that is written in dedication to someone who has died.

An epic is a long narrative poem that tells the story of heroic deeds, normally accomplished by more-than-human characters.

An epistolary novel is a book made up of a series of documents, usually letters, diary entires, or newspaper clippings.

An essay is a short piece of writing that is based around a single subject. More often than not, the personal opinion of the author is included. 

A fable is a short and concise story that provides the reader with a moral lesson at the end.

A fabliau is a traditional French tale penned by an anonymous writer between 1150 and 1400. These were usually written by jongleurs or medieval entertainers.

Fairy tales are short stories that include fanciful and magical elements such as goblins, elves, fairies, and ogres.

Fantasy is a literary genre that includes talking animals, magic, and other worlds. It includes plots that couldn’t take place in the real world.

A farce is a genre of comedic literature. It uses exaggerated and outrageous situations to create humor and make the audience laugh.

A folk song is a piece of music that was composed within the parameters of folk music. These songs are usually about a particular group of people, an event, or an experience. 

Folklore refers to stories that people tell. These include folk stores, fairy tales, urban legends, and more. 

A ghost story is any story that involves a supernatural, ghost element. It is a subgenera of fantasy and mystery.

Gothic literature, poetry, and prose is that which deals with themes of death, the supernatural, sorrow, fear, loss, and more.

Historical Fiction is a genre that fictionalizes real places, people, and events. It takes place in the past with accurate historical details in regard to customs, technologies, people, and events.

A history play is a genre of theatre. It is based on a historical events, usually set sometime in the past with characters from the period. 

A homily is a speech delivered by a religious person, usually a priest, in front of a group of people.

Horror is a genre of fiction that plays with human fear, feelings of terror, dread, and repulsion to entertain the audience. 

Hysterical realism is a genre of fiction, coined by James Wood. It refers to novels that he found to be absurdly elaborate in their use of characters and plots and that delve into real-life experiences.

An idyll is a type of short poem that describes rural life or a natural scene.

A lampoon is a type of satire in which a person or thing is attacked unjustly. They can be found in prose and verse.

A legend is a genre of folklore that features stories about human events and actions.

A lyric poem is a musically inclined, short verse that speaks on poignant and powerful emotions.

Magical Realism is a genre of fiction writing that is interested in imbuing the modern realistic world with magical, fantastical elements.

Medievalism is a set of beliefs that are inspired by the Middle Ages in Europe. It’s possible to find examples of Medievalism in art, music, literature, philosophy, architecture, and more. 

A melodrama is a work of literature or a theatrical performance that uses exaggerated events and characters.

Metafiction refers to stories in which the characters, author, or narrator acknowledge the fact that they're parts of a fiction.

A morality play is a genre of theatre popular in the medieval and Tudor period. 

A myth is a genre of folklore that usually includes a hero and sometimes fanatical elements. 

Mythopoeia is a genre of modern literature (and film) that refers to the creation of artificial mythology.

Naturalism is a nineteenth-century literary and arts genre that focuses on the realistic depiction of life and all its struggles

The Newgate novel, or the Old Bailey novel, is a type of book published in England from the 1820s to the 1840s that glamorizes criminals' lives.

A novel is a long, written, fictional narrative that includes some amount of realism.

A novella is a prose, fiction work that’s shorter than a novel and longer than a short story. 

A nursery rhyme is a short rhyming song or poem that conveys a lesson or tells an amusing story. They are aimed at children.

A paean expresses thanks, elation, or triumph through the form of a song or lyrical poem.

A parody is created based on an already existing work in order to make fun of it.

A pastiche is a literary creation that imitates a famous work by another author.

Pastoral poetry is a genre or mode of poetry that refers to works that idealize country life and the landscape they take place in.

Penny dreadfuls were a cheap, serialized form of literature popular in the nineteenth century. 

A picaresque novel is a genre of prose fiction that depicts a roughish hero who experiences episodic adventures.

A play is a form of writing for theatre. It is divided into acts and scenes. 

Prose is a written and spoken language form that does not make use of a metrical pattern or rhyme scheme.

A psalm is a sacred song of worship, such as those featured in the Book of Psalms in the Bible.

Psychological realism is a type of realism that focuses on why a character does what they do.

Pulp fiction is a type of short, cheap storytelling that was popular from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s.

Romance is a narrative genre of literature. It can feature elements that include mystery, adventure, bravery, and more.

Science fiction is a literary genre that focuses on imaginative content based in science. 

The sensation novel was a genre of literature that took advantage of outrageous and sensational topics to entertain readers. 

A short story is a piece of writing with a narrative that’s shorter than a novel. These stories usually only take one sitting to read.

The Theatre of Cruelty is an experimental genre of theatre that’s concerned more with audience sense-experience than it is with dialogue and content.

The thriller is a genre of fiction that is defined by its wide variety of sub-genres. They range from crime to science fiction.

The word “tragedy” refers to a type of drama that explores serious, sometimes dark, and depressing subject matter.

Tragedy of Blood theatre, also known as revenge tragedy or revenge drama, is a genre of theatre that’s primarily concerned with revenge and its consequences.

A tragicomedy is a fictional genre that incorporates elements of tragedies and comedies.

The word “utopia” refers to a perfect, or nearly perfect, place or ideal. 

Vaudeville is a genre of entertainment or theatre that originated in France in the 19th century. It is based in lightly comical situations without deeper moral intentions. They included dances and songs. 

A poem can be written down or spoken aloud. It is a collection of ideas and emotions in a creative way.