Outline of literature

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to literature (prose, written or oral, including fiction and non-fiction, drama, and poetry). See also the Outline of poetry. 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). 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. Composition – World literature – Literary genre Oral literature Oral poetry – Epic poetry – Legend – Mythology – Ballad – Folktale – Oral Narrative – Oral History – Urban legend – Poetry and Prose 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 over 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, especially one in five-line or meter with a strict rhyme scheme (aabba), which is sometimes obscene with humorous intent. Lyric – Ode – Rhapsody – Song –