TYPES OF LITERATURE - Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering major concepts, terms, and definitions from prose, poetry, and drama in the lecture notes.

Literature

Literature comes from the Latin word litera meaning letters; a body of literary productions, either oral, written, or visual.

Prose

Major type of literature consisting of written works in the ordinary flow of conversation, presented in a straightforward manner.

Novel

A long narrative divided into chapters.

Short Story

A narrative involving one or more characters, one plot and one single impression.

Plays

A narrative presented on a stage, divided into acts and scenes.

Legends

Fictitious narratives, usually about origins.

Folk Tales

A traditional narrative, usually anonymous, and handed down orally.

Fables

Fictitious stories that deal with animals and inanimate things.

Myths

A traditional sacred story which aims to explain a natural phenomenon or cultural practice.

Anecdotes

Merely products of the writer’s imagination.

Essay

Expresses the viewpoint or opinion of the writer about a particular problem or event.

Biography

A narrative of a real person's life.

News

A report of everyday events.

Oration

A formal treatment of a subject intended to be spoken in public.

Poetry

An imaginative awareness of experience expressed through meaning, sound, and rhythmic language to evoke an emotional response.

Narrative Poetry

A category of poetry that includes epics, metrical tales, and ballads and tells a story.

Epic

An extended narrative about heroic exploits, often with supernatural elements and idealized heroes.

Metrical Tales

A narrative which is written in verse.

Ballad

The shortest and simplest of the narrative poems.

Lyric Poetry

A form of poetry that expresses personal emotions or thoughts, often in a songlike language.

Folk Songs

The common theme is love, despair, grief, doubt, joy, hope, and sorrow.

Sonnets

A lyric poem of 14 lines dealing with an emotion, a feeling, or an idea.

Elegy

A lyric poem that expresses grief and melancholy, often about death.

Ode

A poem of noble feeling expressed with dignity, without a fixed syllable or line pattern.

Psalm

A song praising God or the Virgin Mary and containing a philosophy of life.

Awit

A form with twelve-syllable lines (dodecasyllabic).

Corrido

A form with eight-syllable lines (octosyllabic) recited to a martial beat.

Dramatic Poetry

Poetry designed for performance, including plays.

Comedy

A dramatic form that originally comes from the Greek term Komos, meaning festivity or revelry.

Melodrama

Usually seen in a musical play or opera-like presentation.

Tragedy

A drama in which the hero struggles mightily against powerful forces.

Farce

An exaggerated form of comedy.

Social Poems

A form that can be purely comic or tragic and depicts the life of today, potentially aiming to change social conditions.