The literary genre is a set of works of art united by a common style of presentation, characteristic story lines. The kind of literary work is lyrics, epic or drama. The most famous examples of each of them are described in this article.
Drama
Translated from the ancient Greek language, this word means "action". In modern Russian, the term has acquired a different meaning. But this will be discussed below. Drama is a literary genus that originated in Antiquity. It was the ancient Greek authors Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides who owned the first dramatic works. This literary genre of works combines works of two types: comedy, tragedy.
The drama reached its perfection in the sixteenth century. French authors strictly adhered to certain provisions established by the ancient Greeks. Namely: the unity of time and place, the duration of the events is not more than twenty-four hours.
Examples of dramatic works
In Sophocles' drama Oedipus the King, we are talking about a man who, by sheer chance, once killed his father, and then, ironically, married his mother. Viewers of the first production knew the plot. But even if they were unfamiliar with the story of Oedipus, they would have known his brief biography. Nevertheless, the drama is created in such a way that its action covers only a day. All events take place in the king’s palace.
Moliere, Racine, and Cornell adopted the traditions of ancient playwrights. In their creations, the above principles are also observed. And, finally, it is worth giving an example of a work whose plot is familiar to every student, “Woe from Wit.” Chatsky arrives at Famusov’s house. He learns that Sophia is in love with a self-serving and not-so-distant person. Hero Griboedova conducts conversations with other characters in the comedy. He expresses extraordinary thoughts. As a result, Famusov’s entourage decides that Chatsky is a little crazy. He, in turn, leaves the relative’s house with the words “To me, the carriage!” All this happens during the day.
None of the characters outside Famusov’s mansion go anywhere. Because drama is a literary kind of artwork in which everything that happens is accomplished within a day. It is worth mentioning another feature of such works. Namely - they do not have the words of the author. Dialogs only. Regardless of whether it is a comedy or a tragedy.
Epos
This term can be found as a masculine noun in a literary dictionary. And in this encyclopedic publication it will be said that the epic is nothing but a work in which it tells about events that happened in the past.
Epic Examples
A striking example is the famous Odyssey. In his essay, Homer extensively and in detail describes events that happened once. He talks about the journey of his hero, not forgetting to mention other characters and describe their life and life in sufficient detail. How is the epic different from drama? First of all, the narrative is conducted on behalf of the author. The next difference is impartiality.
Homer's works are created in the form of poetry. In the eighteenth century, new trends began to develop in literature: a kind of prose appeared that had the signs of an epos. An example is Tolstoy’s novel War and Peace. Events span a rather impressive time span. The novel has a huge number of characters.
Another example of epic prose is Galsworthy’s novel The Forsyte Saga. This book tells about representatives of several generations of a large family.
Lyrics
Which literary family includes any of the poems of Annensky, Fet, Tyutchev? Of course, to the lyrics. The works of this literary kind are inherent in sensuality, emotionality. Unlike the epic, here the hero’s feelings are conveyed extremely brightly, and even somewhat subjectively.
Lyric Examples
In ancient Greece, not only dramatic art was born. Antiquity is a time of prosperity and other trends in literature. The first lyric authors are Terpander. This ancient Greek poet read out his creations to the sounds of a string guitar. Alkay, an author who preferred political themes, read poetry to the accompaniment. The poetry of Sappho has also survived to this day.
In the Middle Ages, which is commonly called "gloomy", a myriad of romantic ballads was created, the authors of which were troubadours from France. Their plots were subsequently used more than once by later authors. The lyrics, as a literary genre, received particular development in the Renaissance. In the thirteenth century, a new type of troubadour appeared. Already not French, but Italian. After all, it was in Italy that lyric poetry flourished.
In the nineteenth century, lyricism penetrated all literary genres. Its features are present in the works of Shelley, Byron, Coleridge. The lyricism inspired Russian poets - Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Ryleev, etc. Then the interest in the lyrics faded for a while: epic prose took its place. And, finally, the beginning of the twentieth century in Russia was marked by the appearance of a whole galaxy of talented lyricists. Among them are Pasternak, Blok, Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, Yesenin.
In everyday speech
The literary genus, as we have found, is a collection of works of art with characteristic features. It can be lyrics, epics or drama. In modern speech, each of these terms has a slightly different meaning.
Movie drama is a genre characterized by tragedy. Lyrics are understood to mean love poetry. In literary terminology, these concepts have a different meaning. What kind of literary family is characterized by tragedy, sentimentality? Drama or lyrics. But at the same time, a dramatic work can be a comedy. And the composition of the author-lyricist is not necessarily a story about his unrequited love or homesickness.