James Baquet

Becky is chatting with her classmate Lily in the common room of their dorm.

Becky: Hi, Lily. Studying again?

Lily: Yup. This time it’s different kinds of writers.

Becky: And the genres they write?

Lily: The what?

Becky: The genres. A genre is a type or class of something.

Lily: Like poetry, novels, and so on?

Becky: Exactly. In fact, we usually consider there to be five major forms: poetry and novels, as you said, but also dramas, short stories, and novellas.

Lily: Okay. I know what poems are. And dramas are, like, plays, right?

Becky: Yes. The other three, together sometimes called “prose,” can be distinguished by their length and complexity: novels, then novellas, then short stories.

Lily: How long are they?

Becky: No one can really agree. But if there are lots of characters, many stories combining, and so on, it’s probably a novel.

Lily: The other two are simpler?

Becky: Right. Novellas seldom have separate chapters, and short stories almost never do. A short story is more focused.

Lily: What do we call the authors of each of the major forms?

Becky: Novelists write novels. Poets write poetry. We have to say “writer” for short stories and novellas —

Lily: So “short story writer” and “novella writer?”

Becky: Right. And people who write dramas can be called “dramatists” or “playwrights.”

Lily: I see.

Becky: Now, all of these forms are usually fiction.

Lily: Stories that are made up, right?

Becky: Right. But another kind of writing, non-fiction, can include literary essays.

Lily: And the people who write those are called?

Becky: Essayists.

Lily: Got it. Aren’t there different types of poems, novels, dramas, and so on?

Becky: Sure! Take drama, for example. The two big categories are comedy and tragedy.

Lily: Happy stories and sad ones?

Becky: Basically, yeah. We often use the word “comedian” for one kind of writer, but “tragedian” isn’t used much anymore.

Lily: I see. What about poetry?

Becky: Traditionally, there were epic poets, who wrote long stories about heroes and such.

Lily: Like Homer?

Becky: Yes, exactly. Epics are part of a bigger group, called “narrative poetry,” which tells a story. But some are not epic at all: they’re shorter stories, maybe about everyday people.

Lily: Okay.

Becky: Dramatic poetry is basically drama written in verse instead of prose.

Lily: Like most of Shakespeare?

Becky: Right. And light verse is usually fun, like some of Lewis Carroll’s poems in “Alice in Wonderland.”