Outline of literature

Last updated October 23, 2025

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to literature:

What type of thing is literature?

Literature can be described as all of the following:

Communication – activity of conveying information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast distances in time and space.
- Written communication (writing) – representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols (known as a writing system).^[1]
Subdivision of culture – shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization, or group.
- One of the arts – imaginative, creative, or nonscientific branch of knowledge, especially as studied academically.^[2]

Essence of literature

Composition –
World literature –

Forms of literature

Oral literary genres

Oral literature

Oral poetry –
- Epic poetry –
  - Legend –
  - Mythology –
  - Ballad –
Folktale –
Oral Narrative –
- Oral History –
- Urban legend –

Written literary genres

Cordel Literature
Children's literature –
Constrained writing –
Erotic literature –
Electronic literature – Literary fiction and poetry that uses the capabilities of computers and networks
- Digital poetry –
- Interactive fiction –
- Hypertext fiction – literary fiction written with hypertextual links
- Fan fiction
- Cell phone novel
Poetry (see that article for an extensive list of subgenres and types)
- Aubade –
- Clerihew –
- Epic –
- Grook – form of short aphoristic poem invented by the Danish poet and scientist Piet Hein, who wrote more than 7,000 of them.
- Haiku – form of short Japanese poetry consisting of three lines.
- Instapoetry
- Tanka – classical Japanese poetry of five lines.
- Lied –
- Limerick – a kind of a witty, humorous, or nonsense poem,^[3] especially one in five-line anapestic or amphibrachic meter with a strict rhyme scheme (aabba), which is sometimes obscene with humorous intent.
- Lyric –
- Ode –
- Rhapsody –
- Song –
- Sonnet –
- Speculative poetry –
Prison literature –
Rhymed prose –

Non-fiction

Fiction genres

Fiction

Manga –
Adventure novel –
Airport novels –
Comedy –
Parody –
Satire –
Crime fiction –
- Detective fiction –
  - Hardboiled –
  - Whodunit –
- Newgate novel –
Erotica –
Fable –
Fairy tale –
Family saga –
Gothic –
- Southern Gothic –
Historical fiction –
Inspirational fiction –
Invasion literature –
Mystery –
Philosophical literature –

Inspirational fiction (religious literature) –

Psychological fiction –
Psychological thriller –
Romance (heroic literature) –
Romance –
- Historical romance –
  - Regency romance –
- Inspirational romance –
- Paranormal romance –
Saga –
Speculative fiction –
- Alternate history –
- Fantasy – (for more details see Fantasy subgenres, fantasy literature)
  - Epic fantasy –
  - Science fantasy –
  - Steampunk –
  - Urban fantasy –
  - Weird fantasy –
- Horror –
  - Lovecraftian horror –
  - Weird menace –
- Science fiction – (for more details see Science fiction genres and related topics
  - Cyberpunk –
  - Hard science fiction –
  - Space opera –
- Supernatural fiction –
Sensation novel –
Slave narrative –
Thriller –
- Conspiracy fiction –
- Legal thriller –
- Spy fiction/Political thriller –
- Techno-thriller –
Western fiction –

Literature by region and country

Asia

Europe

North and South America

Oceania

Oceanian literature

Sub-Saharan Africa

East African literature
Central African literature
Southern African literature
West African literature

History of literature

Literature by written language

Literature by century

Ancient literature - until the 6th century CE
Early medieval literature - 6th through 9th centuries
10th century in literature
11th century in literature
12th century in literature
13th century in literature
14th century in literature
15th century in literature
16th century in literature
17th century in literature
18th century in literature
19th century in literature
20th century in literature
21st century in literature

Literature by year

General literature concepts

Book
Western canon –
Teaching of writing:
- Composition –
- Rhetoric –
Poetry –
- Prosody –
- Meter –
- Scansion –
- Constrained writing –
Poetics –
- Villanelle –
- Sonnet –
- Sestina –
- Ghazal –
- Ballad –
- Blank verse –
- Free verse –
- Epic poetry –
Prose –
- Fiction –
- Non-fiction –
- Biography –
Prose genres –
- Essay –
- Flash prose –
- Hypertext fiction –
- Journalism –
- Novel –
- Novella –
- Short story –
Theater –
- History of theater –
Rhetoric –
- Metaphor –
- Metonymy –
- Symbol –
- Allegory –
Basic procedural knowledge
- Poetry analysis –
- effective reasoning in argument writing
Narratology
- Frame tale –
- Anecdote –
- In Medias Res –
- Point of view –
Literary criticism – an application of literary theory

Literary awards

Persons influential in the field of literature

Literature creation

Literature distribution

References

↑ Peter T. Daniels, "The Study of Writing Systems", in The World's Writing Systems, ed. Bright and Daniels, p. 3
↑ the arts. CollinsDictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 11th Edition. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
↑ Oxford English Dictionary (2d edition, 1989), s.v. Limerick.
Vaughn, Stanton. Limerick Lyrics. 1900. Retrieved from .

External links

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[1] Peter T. Daniels, "The Study of Writing Systems", in The World's Writing Systems, ed. Bright and Daniels, p. 3

[2] the arts. CollinsDictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 11th Edition. Retrieved October 25, 2012.

[3] Oxford English Dictionary (2d edition, 1989), s.v. Limerick.
Vaughn, Stanton. Limerick Lyrics. 1900. Retrieved from .

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v t e Narrative
Character	Antagonist Archenemy Character arc Character flaw Characterization Confidant Deuteragonist False protagonist Focal character Foil Gothic double Hamartia Hero Anti Byronic Tragic Narrator Protagonist Stock character Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain
Plot	Ab ovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict Deus ex machina Dialogue Dramatic structure Eucatastrophe Foreshadowing Flashback Flashforward Frame story In medias res Kishōtenketsu MacGuffin Pace Plot device Plot twist Poetic justice Red herring Reveal Self-insertion Shaggy dog story Stereotype Story arc Story within a story Subplot Suspense Trope
Setting	Alternate history Backstory Crossover Dreamworld Dystopia Fictional location city country universe parallel Utopia Worldbuilding
Theme	Irony Leitmotif Metaphor Moral Moral development Motif Deal with the Devil Conflict between good and evil Self-fulfilling prophecy Time travel
Style	Allegory Bathos Comic relief Diction Figure of speech Imagery Mode Mood Narration Narrative techniques Hook Show, don't tell Stylistic device Suspension of disbelief Symbolism Tone
Structure	Act Act structure Three-act structure Freytag's Pyramid Exposition/Protasis Rising action/Epitasis Climax/Peripeteia Falling action/Catastasis Catastrophe Denouement Linear narrative Nonlinear narrative films television series Premise Types of fiction with multiple endings
Form	Drama Fabliau Flash fiction Folklore Fable Fairy tale Legend Myth Tall tale Gamebook Narrative art Narrative poetry Epic poetry Novel Novella Parable Short story Vignette
Genre (List)	Fiction Action fiction Adventure Comic Crime Docu Epistolary Ergodic Erotic Historical Western Mystery Nautical Paranoid Philosophical Picaresque Political Pop culture Psychological Religious Rogue Romance Chivalric Prose Saga Satire Speculative fiction Fantasy Gothic Southern Horror Magic realism Science Hard Utopian and dystopian Underwater Superhero Theological Thriller Urban Nonfiction Autobiography Biography Novel Creative
Narration	Diegesis First-person Second-person Third-person Third-person omniscient narrative Subjectivity Unreliable narrator Multiple narrators Stream of consciousness Stream of unconsciousness
Tense	Past Present Future
Related	Dominant narrative Fiction writing Continuity Canon Reboot Retcon Parallel novel Prequel / Sequel Genre List Literary science Literary theory Narrative identity Narrative paradigm Narrative therapy Narratology Metafiction Political narrative Rhetoric Glossary Screenwriting Series of works Storytelling Tellability Verisimilitude