Literary genus: drama, epic, lyrics

The literary genus is a set of artistic works united by a common style of presentation, with characteristic plot lines. The genus of a literary work is a lyric, an epic or a drama. The most famous examples of each of them are told in this article.

Drama

In translation 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 is the ancient Greek authors Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides who belong to the first dramatic works. This literary genre of works combines works of two kinds: comedies, tragedies.

Drama reached its perfection in the sixteenth century. The French authors strictly adhered to certain provisions established by the ancient Greeks. Namely: the unity of time and place, the duration of events is not more than twenty-four hours.

Examples of dramatic works

In the drama Sophocles "King Oedipus" it is a question of a man who, by perfect chance, once killed his father, and then, ironically, married his mother. The audience knew the first production. But even if they were unfamiliar with the Oedipus story, they would have learned his brief biography. Nevertheless, the drama is created in such a way that its action covers a whole day. All events take place in the palace of the king.

Moliere, Racine and Corneille adopted the traditions of ancient playwrights. Their creations also follow the above principles. And, finally, it is worthwhile to give an example of a work whose plot is familiar to every schoolboy - "Woe from Wit". Chatsky comes to the house of Famusov. He learns that Sophia is in love with a self-interested and narrow-minded person. The hero of Griboyedov talks with other comedy characters. He expresses extraordinary thoughts. As a result, the environment of Famusov decides that Chatsky is a little out of himself. He, in turn, leaves the house of a relative with the words "Carriage to me, coach!". All this happens during the day.

Nowhere outside the Famusov mansion, none of the heroes comes out. Because the drama is a literary kind of artwork, in which everything that happens is accomplished within a day. It is worth mentioning one more feature of such works. Namely - they do not contain the author's words. Only dialogues. No matter if it's a comedy or a tragedy.

Epos

This term can be found as a masculine noun in a literary dictionary. And in this encyclopedic edition it will be said that the epic is nothing more than a work in which it tells about the events that took place in the past.

Examples of the epic

A vivid example is the famous "Odyssey." In his work Homer describes in lengthy and detailed 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 does the epic differ from the drama? First of all, the narrative is written on behalf of the author. The next difference is impartiality.

The works of Homer are created in the form of poetry. In the eighteenth century, new tendencies began to develop in literature: a kind of prose appeared, which had signs of the epic. As an example, it is worth quoting Tolstoy's novel War and Peace. The events cover a rather impressive time interval. There are a lot of characters in the novel.

Another example of epic prose is Galsworthy's novel The Forsyte Saga. This book tells about the representatives of several generations of a large family.

Lyrics

Which literary genre belongs to any of the poems Annensky, Fet, Tyutchev? Of course, to the lyrics. The works of this literary genus are inherent in sensuality, emotionality. Unlike the epic, here the feelings of the hero are conveyed extremely brightly, and even somewhat subjectively.

Examples of lyrical works

In ancient Greece, not only the dramatic art originated. Antiquity is a time of flowering and other directions in literature. The first lyrical authors are Terpandra. This ancient Greek poet read his creations to the sounds of a string guitar. To the accompaniment I read poetry and Alkey - the author who preferred political themes. To this day, also came the poetry of Sappho.

In the Middle Ages, which is usually called "gloomy," a myriad of romantic ballads were created, the authors of which were troubadours from France. Their subjects were subsequently used more than once by later authors. Lyrics, as a literary genre, received a special development in the Renaissance. In the thirteenth century a new type of troubadour appeared. No longer French, but Italian. It was in Italy that the flowering of lyrical poetry occurred.

In the nineteenth century, lyricism penetrated all literary genres. His features are present in the works of Shelley, Byron, Coleridge. Lyricism inspired Russian poets - Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Ryleev, etc. Then interest in the lyrics for a while faded away: its place was occupied by epic prose. And, finally, the beginning of the twentieth century in Russia was marked by the emergence of a whole galaxy of talented lyricists. Among them are Pasternak, Blok, Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, Yesenin.

In everyday speech

The literary genus, as we found out, is a collection of works of art with characteristic features. It can be a lyric, an epic or a drama. In modern speech, each of these terms has a slightly different meaning.

Drama in cinema is a genre for which tragedy is characteristic. Under the lyrics it is customary to understand love poetry. In literary terminology, these concepts have a different meaning. What 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 longing for his homeland.