Genre Divisions The folk tale. It belongs to oral tradition and, therefore, it is limited in length by requirements and memory and performance. E.g. Uncle Remus Story of South America, Paul Bunyan of northern United States. Epic. It is a long and complex work which celebrate a culture and an idealized hero who exemplifies the virtues and values of that society, e.g. Bewulf of England

The Romance. This is also a classical form, but rather than generally developed by the Greeks and later adopted by the Romans. It is a prose work of no length and its name refers to a characteristic subject matter which is highly imaginative rather than a reflection of real life. Allegory. This is closely to romance and sometimes combined with it. Its each elements has a metaphoric or reprentative meaning, eg. Edmund Spencer’s Faerrie Queene, and John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.

Satire. It is used for satirical purpose which tends to examine the ills of the society, e.g. Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver's Travel. The Novel. This is the modern form of narrative fiction. It is a work of quite some length and complexity which attempts to reflect and express something of quality or value of human experience. Its subject matter may be taken from pattern of life or set in exotic and imaginative time or place. It may create the illusion of actual reality in order to direct our attention to an imaginative relationship between the subject matter or theme and the real world. It should combine a number of episodes or events and a reasonable developed view of its subject or subjects.

The Short Story. The short story is similar to the novel in all characteristics except that limits itself to a single, complete episode and makes up in compression and intensity for what it lacks in scope and breadth of vision.