Literary genres are historically emerging and developing literary works that are united by common formal and substantial forms.
The term genre (from the French genre - genus, species) in literature can be applied to literary groups formed according to various characteristics. Most often it is used in relation to works combined in content (comedy, tragedy, drama). There is a classification of literary genres by form: ode, story, play, novel, story, etc. And by birth: epic (fable, story, myth, etc.), lyric (ode, elegy, etc.), lyric-epic (ballad and poem), dramatic (comedy, tragedy, drama). They can be divided into separate categories - genres of oral folk art (fairy tale, song, epic) or small genres of folklore (riddle, proverb, ditty). The genres of Old Russian literature include: life (a description of the life of secular and clergy), teaching, walking (description of a journey, most often to holy places), a military tale, a word (a literary prose work of an instructive nature) and a chronicle.
Genre is a fairly broad concept in artistic creation. Even Aristotle, in his treatise "Poetics", laid the foundation for the theoretical division of works, but until now there is no generally accepted interpretation of such concepts as genus, species and genre. So, based on the etymological meaning of the word, you can replace genera with genres, and species with forms. It is rather difficult to identify a single principle of dividing the genres of poetry and prose into types and genres, especially considering the fact that literary genres are constantly "changing and changing" over time. However, one can single out the most frequently used variant, where the genus is understood as a way of depiction (dramatic, lyrical or epic); under the guise - one form or another of a dramatic, lyrical and epic work; under the genre - a variety of certain types of literary works (historical novel, satirical poem).
