A literary text is one which allows us to share in the writer's personal knowledge and experience vicariously through our reading. Literary texts come in many forms and genres.

A literary genre is the unique pattern and structure of the text, a way of classifying the text (such as poem, story, novel, play, film, or essay). The essays you will read in this course are personal essays. The purpose of these essays, for the most part, is to entertain or explain the writers' personal experiences or views. This form of highly personal writing is important as it allows creators to share their views with an audience and to explore personal views and thoughts.

For the purpose of this course, the texts you will study have been divided by genre. You can review the genres you will study on the chart in the Essential Information section.