Genres of Literature

• All writings in prose or verse; especially : writings

having excellence of form or expression and
expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest.

• A body of written works produced in a particular

language, country, or age

A class or category of artistic endeavor having a

particular form, content, technique, or the like.

S. Bolmeier/MPS
 Fiction Non-Fiction
 a made up story  has facts that can
 can tell about be checked and
things that could proven
happen  the author is an
 is read for fun expert on this
 characters may be information
like real people or  it IS TRUE!
imaginary

All categories of books or stories can

be called either fiction or non-fiction.
Fiction
 tells about the great deeds of a person
who may have lived
 may exaggerate a person’s bravery or
powers
 probably a long ago setting
 story may be considered a part of the
history and culture of a group of people
 magic may be used to solve a problem
 a lesson can be learned from the story

Traditional Literature
Realistic Fiction

Stories about situations

that can happen in real
life, with familiar
characters and setting
 can be based on a real story
 characters act like real people
 character tries to solve a problem
 story could happen in real life
 some events are historically accurate
 character’s feelings and behaviors are like
real life

Realistic fiction
Historical Fiction
 Storiesthat take place during
past historical times, with
characters often taking part
in important historical events;
characters’ beliefs and
dialogue are true to the
period.
Shakespeare in Love
 Mystery
 Storiesin which characters
try to answer questions
about secrets, with complex
plots involving suspense,
danger, and intrigue;
foreshadowing and
flashback are common
elements.
Sherlock Holmes
 Fantasy
 Imaginativestories in
which characters and
settings are different from
those in the real world,
often dealing with magic;
sometimes portraying
heroic battles of good vs.
evil.
 Animal characters may act like people
 characters may have special powers
 characters may be imaginary beings
 setting may be in another time (future)
 usually has a good vs. evil conflict
 may use scientific principles not yet
available or discovered
Fantasy
The Wizard of Oz
Science Fiction
Science fiction
Stories with elements of exaggerated
science
 Biography
 Autobiography
 Newspapers
 Articles
 Letters
 Recipes
 Directions
 Advertisement

Genre -Non-Fiction
 Tells facts that can be looked-up or
proven
 tells about real events
 characters have really lived
 may have maps, diagrams and
illustrations to explain the facts
 author is an expert on the subject

Informational Writing
 Persuasive writing intends to convince
readers to believe in an idea and to do an
action. Many writings such as essays,
speeches, critics, reviews, reaction papers,
editorials, proposals, advertisements, and
brochures use different ways of
persuasion to influence readers.
MODERN DRAMA/PLAY
 Plays – script
 Cast or characters
 Set – scenery
 Sound effects
 Intermission – short break between acts of play
 Props – small items to decorate scenery
 Movies – screen plays
 Television shows – screen plays or teleplays
 Camera angles – pan, cut, etc.
 Stage directions – actor/character position on set
or stage, instructions on what they are doing
 Divisions – acts, scenes
 Monologues – one character has a scene of himself

Genre - Drama
 page format may look different than other
books
 may have rhythm (beat)
 may rhyme
 imaginative and creative
 uses describing or exciting words
 tells a story in verse
 Can be lyric or narrative

Modern Poetry
 Ballads
 Free verse
 Blank verse
 Tanka
 Haiku
 Limerick
 Cinquain

Poetry
Ballad
 Poems with very musical
rhyme and rhythm
patterns that usually tell
about a single event
dealing with love, tragedy,
or heroism
Comical poetry with
1 , 2 and 5 lines
st nd th

rhyming and shorter

3 and 4 lines
rd th

rhyming

Limerick
Example of an 8,8,5,5,8 syllable limerick:

STAR
by Kaitlyn Guenther
There once was a wonderful star
Who thought she would go very far
Until she fell down
And looked like a clown
She knew she would never go far.
A form of Japanese
poetry that consists
of 3 lines (usually
with 5-7-5 syllables
pattern)
Haiku
Here are three examples of haiku poems from Basho
Matsuo (1644-1694), considered the greatest haiku
poet:

An old silent pond...

A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.

Autumn moonlight—
a worm digs silently
into the chestnut.

In the twilight rain

these brilliant-hued hibiscus —
A lovely sunset.
Free verse
 Poetry that doesn’t rhyme
Blank verse

 poetry written with regular

metrical but unrhymed lines, almost
always in iambic pentameter.
FREE VERSE POEM BLANK VERSE POEM

The fog comes But thou, my babe! shalt

wander like a breeze
on little cat feet.
By lakes and sandy
It sits looking shores, beneath the
crags
over harbor and city
Of ancient mountain, and
on silent haunches beneath the clouds,

and then moves on. Which image in their bulk

both lakes and shores.
Poem that tells a
story

Narrative Poem
Richard Cory
By Edwin Arlington Robinson

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,

We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,

And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich - yes, richer than a king -

And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,

And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
Tanka
Moon, somnolent, white,
Mirrored in a waveless sea,
What fickle mood of night
Urged thee from heaven to
flee
And live in the dawnlit sea?

The Japanese tanka is a thirty-one-syllable

poem, traditionally written in a single
unbroken line.
A cinquain poem is a verse of five lines that do not
rhyme.
November Night
Adelaide Crapsey, 1878 - 1915

Listen. . .
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp’d,
break from the trees
And fall.
1.On a separate sheet of paper, number one
through twenty.
2.I will describe a piece of writing.
3.You will write the genre and subgenre.
4. DO NOT SHARE ANSWERS!

Practice
1
The Lion and the Mouse
Retold by Jerry Pinkney
A Lion was sleeping when a Mouse
woke him up. The Lion was about to eat
him when the Mouse said, “Free me and I
shall never forget it: who knows? I may
help you some day." The Lion laughed so
much at the idea of the Mouse being able
to help him, that he let him go. Some time
later the Lion was caught in a hunter’s
trap. The little Mouse happened to pass by
and, seeing the trapped Lion, he gnawed
through the ropes and freed him. Little
friends can be a big help.
War Brides
By Helen Bryan

1939: as Britain prepares for war with

Germany in World War II, the lives of five
young women are about to collide in the
sleepy Sussex village. Together they will
face hardship, passion and danger,
forming bonds of friendship that will
inspire a desperate plan, And, fifty years
later, an act of revenge ...
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3
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Adapted by Howard Pyle

In this work, Pyle sorts through the

many folktales concerning the mythical
Robin Hood, who may have been a real
person, and made them suitable for
children. Robin Hood's dashing acts of
wealth redistribution (from the rich to the
poor) have captured the imagination and
fascination of millions of delighted readers
through the ages.
The Best Book of Sharks
by Claire Llewellyn

This beautiful book offers insight into

the deep-sea lives of one of nature’s
deadliest killing machines. Learn where
sharks live, what they feed on, how they
bear their young.

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5
Escape From Earth (OASIS)
by Ivis Bo Davis
LEAVE EARTH OR DIE– the
electromagnetic field around the Earth is
fading away. Soon the planet will burn, and
everything and everyone on the planet will
die. Deep Space Vessel Trisznov is the first
human interstellar colony ship, and she is
nearly ready to launch in search of a new
habitable planet to colonize among the
stars...
In My Time: A Personal & Political
Memoir
by Dick Cheney and Liz Cheney

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7
Pecos Bill
by Steven Kellogg and Laura Robb

After falling off his parents wagon as a

baby, Pecos Bill is raised by coyotes. He
then becomes the toughest cowboy in the
Wild West by wrestling giant bulls and
outrunning a daemon horse.
8
Eclipse
by Stephenie Meyer
The story of Bella Swan and her
vampire love, Edward Cullen. The novel
explores Bella's choice between her love
for Edward and her friendship with
werewolf Jacob Black, along with her
dilemma of leaving mortality behind in a
terrorized atmosphere, a result of
mysterious vampire attacks in Seattle.
9
Perseus: The Hunt for Medusa's Head
Adapted by Paul D. Storrie
Could a monster whose very look turns
men to stone be too perilous even for the
son of Zeus? King Polydectes wants to get
rid of young Perseus. So he tricks the young
hero into performing an impossible task:
slaying the snake-haired monster Medusa.
But as the son of Zeus, king of the gods,
Perseus has many powerful allies. Will
Perseus' strength and courage allow him to
do the impossible?
A People's History of the United States
by Howard Zinn

Zinn tells the untold history of the

United States by focusing on the
unrepresented minority groups: women,
Native Americans, and African Americans.
He covers the Bill of Rights to Clinton’s
presidency and everything in between.

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 “Dogs and Cats” by Bob Brady

A five paragraph essay where the

student Bob Brady compares and contrasts
dogs and cats. He provides a lot of
information about both.

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 Science Textbook

This science textbook contains much of

the human knowledge of Earth and the
universe.

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 As I Was Saying by Augustus Gluten

Mr. Gluten writes the story of his

humble origins as a child in Germany to
his meteoric rise to power in the candy
industry.

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 They Came from the Sun by Tom Mitchell

The story of a race of aliens that come

to enslave the residents of Earth with
their advanced weaponry. Only one
teacher can stop them, but is it too late?

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15
“The Ant & The Grasshopper” Adapted by
Chad Peplum

The really short story of an Ant who works

hard all summer to prepare for winter and
a Grasshopper who just plays. Winter
comes and the Grasshopper freezes to
death. The moral is “prepare today for
tomorrow’s needs.”
16
Bag Lunch by Dillard Perkins

It is the fictional story of two young

African American girls living in Greensboro,
N.C. in 1960. One day while waiting to buy
food at a Woolworth's lunch counter, the
girls find themselves at a significant
crossroads in American history.
17
“Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind” retold
by Mitch Colwell
Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind was the
toughest girl in the Wild West. She flosses
with rattlesnakes and dries her clothes in
a tornado. She’s tougher than a ten-year-
old steak. Read about her extraordinary
adventures in this humorous text.
“Reduce, Reuse, Reimagine!” By Sasha
Marsh

In this essay, Marsh tries to convince

people to do small things to help the
environment. She gives readers many
suggestions on how to live more eco-
friendly and challenges readers to make
the world a better place for future
generations through small contributions.

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Eric Vaser and the Educator’s Rock by J.P.
Tumblin

This is the first book in the Eric Vaser

series. Eric goes to mage school and
becomes a star student. He learns to play
pencetrench, a football like game played
on flying platforms, and he fights to stop a
growing evil within the school that will test
his newfound magic powers.
Diary of a Limpy Kid by Ken Jiffy

In his first year of middle school, Hank

Griffin, the main character of this story
deals with “cooties,” older bullies, running
for a class election, and other problems
that many middle school students face.

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