Literary Forms

In these pages, The Muse Of Literature explores authors and works that are strongly associated with a specific form of literature. Examples of authors and works of literature characterized by their form are novelists, short story writers, literary dramatists, poets, essayists, and their principal works. The Muse also explores issues and questions related to the subject of literary form.

about this feature

In this feature, The Muse has two primary objectives: 1) to explore works of literature classified by form, 2) to explore issues and questions that arise in connection with literary form.

—note— What literary form is not There are many different kinds of writing which are not literature. In this feature, The Muse is only interested in forms that appear in literary compositions. What does it take for a written work to qualify as a literary composition? See The Muse's definition of literature: click here.

what Is literary form?

What is literary form? Here's The Muse's definition:

• Literary form—the organization, arrangement, or framework of a literary work; the manner or style of constructing, arranging, and coordinating the parts of a composition for a pleasing or effective result.

understanding literary form

Every well-organized, well-written work of literature has a form. The word form comes from Middle English word forme. from Old French, and from the Latin forma, meaning beauty. The ancients considered form to be beautiful in and of itself; it imparted beauty to a work of art.

The term literary form applies to both the notion or idea of literary form and to specific literary forms:

• The notion of literary form—Literary forms are skeletal structures or conceptual frameworks designed to support or enclose parts of literary works.

Every literary form is the orderly method of arrangement and presentation of a literary work's parts or ideas; it is the course of its reasoning, its development, and the manner in which its elements are coordinated. Literary forms contain, fit together, and integrate the parts of a literary work into a complete, cohesive whole. A work's form is the guiding principle that determines the manner in which it unfolds and the elements that propel its evolution from beginning to end.

• A specific literary form—One particular kind of literary framework or structure.

  Virtually every literary form identified by literary specialists has a name or label which, by convention, has been accepted by most or all literary experts. Many of these names are familiar to the public and are used by critics, publishers, and others to help identify works for evaluation or for sale. For example:

  • A novel is a composition written in the form of a fictional prose narrative of considerable length and complexity in which the actions, speech, and thoughts of the characters serve to unfold the plot.
  • A novella is A fictional account longer than a short story and shorter than a novel; usually between 20,000 and 50,000 words.

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literary forms & Schemas—examples

Here, The Muse is pleased to be able to offer you a few examples of specific literary forms to help clarify your understanding of the nature of form.

Specific literary forms can be related to each other in what is called a schema of literary forms. Schemas of literary forms are pictorial hierarchical arrangements of specific literary forms and subforms that show the relationships between them.

Since specific literary forms can be related to each other in a schema, The Muse has chosen to achieve two goals with one stroke. The Muse presents examples of specific literary forms in a sample schema in the hope that the schematic arrangement of specific forms will shed additional light on the meaning of each specific form.

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explore literary works classified by form

• Drama
• Poetry

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