Genres

GENRES The term Genre comes from an old French word “ gender” which means common or Genre is a word that is used to categorize or define a formor kind of literature. It can also be defined as the type or style of music and art or any other sort of verbal expression in writing or speaking. It is used by readers, writers, poets and others in literary circles to organize the different expression styles used in literature work.
Genre is classified into two types namely representational genre and narrative genre. The first type, representational genre involves the types and number of voices and is further classified into three categories namely narrator, dialogue and narrator plus dialogue. The other type is the narrative genre in which the type of plan or scheme is defined. The types of the narrative genre are comedy, tragedy, satire and romance.
Here are the few examples of genres that are used in literature. Informational genre is aimed for teaching and other informational purposes rather than entertainment. Examples include The Reasons for Seasons, Lightening etc. Realistic genre is based on reality or gives illustration about things in literature or art as they really are. Examples include Drawing Lessons, Plain and Tall etc. Fantasy is an imaginative genre and is used especially when one dealing with unnatural or mystical characters or proceedings. Examples include The Book of Three, The Dark Is Rising etc. (Routman, 2005)
The study of genre has following advantages as it helps to categorize literature in a means that make it easy to understand the distinctive characteristics. This can help in relating different works of literature and offer a basis in evaluating literature.
References:
Routman, Regie. Writing Essentials. 1st ed. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2005. Print.