* Fiction: Imaginary stories, including novels, novellas, short stories, and screenplays.
* Nonfiction: Factual accounts, including biographies, memoirs, essays, and documentaries.
* Poetry: Literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic language to express emotions and ideas.
* Drama: Plays written to be performed, including tragedies, comedies, and musicals.
* Literary Nonfiction: This combines elements of fiction and nonfiction, focusing on storytelling and vivid language to convey factual information.
It's important to note that these are just broad categories. There are many subgenres within each, such as:
* Fiction: Romance, mystery, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, thriller, etc.
* Nonfiction: History, science, philosophy, biography, autobiography, etc.
* Poetry: Lyric poetry, narrative poetry, epic poetry, etc.
* Drama: Tragedy, comedy, farce, melodrama, etc.
Ultimately, the "five genres" can vary depending on the context and how you categorize them. Literature is a vast and complex world, and there are many ways to explore its different types.