Lesson 55

There are five major forms in Literature; Novel, Short Story, Novella, Drama and Poem. This week (Lessons 51-55) I have learned about the first three forms -Novel, Short Story and Novella. The assignment for this week is to write a essay about those first three forms.

A novel is a long prose narrative that describes fictional characters and events that is usually in a form of a sequential story. It is also the longest and most well known type of literature -this is pretty easy to understand. When you go to the library, you are most likely going to get a novel because there is hundreds of novels there. I personally prefer novels because they are much longer and, have more story line to them. Examples of novels are, The Count of Monte Cristo, Moby Dick, Heidi, etc.

Short Stories are written in prose like novels but, are much shorter -although there is no set word length that defines a short story. A short story does make use of a plot, resonance and other dynamic components to a far greater degree that is typical of an anecdote yet, to a far lesser degree than a novel. So, it is kind of in the middle of the five major forms of literature. Examples of short stories are, The Tell-Tale Heart, To Build a Fire, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, etc. I think short stories are good for reading together with friends and family members, they have that kind of fun feel that makes you want to read it with someone.

A novella generally features fewer conflicts than a novel but, is more complicated than a short story. Confusing right? Well, a novella in generally longer than a short story but has a more simplified plot line than a novel. Examples of a novel are, A Christmas Carol, Call of the Wild, Animal Farm, etc. I think that novels are a bit confusing but, are nice to read.

There is many forms of literature and it can be confusing to know which one is which but, it can be important to know what the difference between the forms are.