Poetry

• Poetry generally has patterns of lineation, meter or rhyme, but the specific patterns vary based on specific poetic forms. Common forms of poetry include epics, narrative poems, lyrics and prose poems. Traditional epics tell the story of a hero, while literary epics imitate traditional epic structure but address contemporary subjects. Narrative poems tell stories and lyrics express a general thought or emotion. Prose poems blur the line between poetry and prose by using poetic devices within a paragraph of prose.
  
  Since poetry has a history of oral transmission, the sound a poem produces when read aloud still retains importance to its creation. Additionally, written poetry often has distinct visual shapes created by the manner in which the poet writes down a poem's lines.
  
  

Drama

• Dramas or plays have a written structure that translates into stage performance before an audience. Most of the actual writing occurs in the form of dialogues between characters, but some playwrights include some descriptions of settings and basic actions as well. Drama breaks down into three main sub-genres: comedy, tragedy and tragicomedy. Comedies have lighter moods and conclude happily. Tragedies address serious issues and conclude with a tragic hero's defeat. Tragicomedies combine both comedic and tragic elements, creating humorous stories with tragic endings or serious stories with happy endings.
  
  

Fiction Prose

• Fiction prose has standard paragraphs and content based mostly on imagination rather than reality. Some fiction draws inspiration from reality by making note of historical events or contemporary concerns, but the overall plot depends on imagination.
  
  Fiction prose has two main sub-genres: the novel and the short story. Some writers refer to shorter novels as novellas or novelettes, while others simply refer to these novels as short novels. Short stories have a narrower scope than novels, but both short stories and novels have various fiction genres.
  
  Fiction genres refer to content classification used by bookstores and libraries that groups books together with similar story structures. Fiction genres include many classifications; some of the most common include literary, romance, historical, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, inspirational, action, Western and horror.
  
  

Nonfiction Prose

• Nonfiction prose takes a variety of forms and includes any writing that occurs in standard paragraphs and has content based in reality. Common forms of nonfiction prose include essays, lectures, sermons, philosophical dialogues, journals, personal narratives, letters and chronicles. Essays, journals, letters and chronicles make up the majority of written nonfiction prose. Essays, chronicles and some journals have a wide audience, while letters and other journals have a more personal audience. Lectures, sermons and philosophical dialogues often end up in spoken form. Personal narratives read like fiction prose, but depict real-life events.