Traditional poetry is a rhythmic literary work. It expresses some strong feelings through imagination and lyricism. Poetry is the oldest literary form. China is one of the most developed countries in poetry in the world. Starting from China's earliest poetry anthology "The Book of Songs" and the earliest lyric poem "Li Sao", the Yuefu in the Han Dynasty, the metrical poems in the Tang and Song Dynasties, the ci, Yuanqu and new poems since the May 4th Movement, and the folk songs of past dynasties have formed an unparalleled great tradition of China's poetry. In contrast, western narrative poems developed late, combined with drama, and made great achievements, such as Homer's epic and Dante's Divine Comedy.
② Prose
This is a literary form without strict rhythm and space restrictions, as opposed to verse. China's prose is developed from the prose of pre-Qin philosophers, and there are famous prose works representing famous writers. Among them, historical prose, prose, recitation and other applied styles have had a far-reaching impact on later generations. China has been the most developed country in prose in the world since ancient times.
③ Drama
This is another ancient literary form, which mainly expresses the author's thoughts and feelings through dialogues between different roles. Drama can be used for stage performance and reading.
Drama refers to the general name of stage performance art that achieves narrative purpose in the form of language, action, dance, music and puppet. The concept of drama in literature refers to the script created for drama performance, that is, the script. There are various forms of theatrical performances, including drama, opera, ballet, musical, puppet show and so on. It is a comprehensive art in which actors play roles on the stage and perform stories in public.
For example: Shakespeare's plays, Yuanqu, Peking Opera and Kunqu Opera.
④ novel
This is a narrative literary genre, which generally expresses social life through characterization and description of plot and environment. The word "novel" was first recorded in Zhuangzi Foreign Things: "It is far from a county order to decorate novels." China's novels in the modern sense began with fables in pre-Qin prose, matured through notes from the late Han Dynasty and the Six Dynasties, and then spread to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. They were represented by four wonderful books (Jin Ping Mei was replaced by A Dream of Red Mansions and became "four classical novels") and short stories represented by Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio.