Drama combines the central literary elements of both the narrative and poetry. With the narrative, drama shares the three communicative elements (el autor, el texto, el lector) and the three literary components (la historia, el discurso, el tema) that you explored in Chapter 1: La narrativa. The discussions of drama and the narrative thus share much of the textual analysis terminology you have learned (el símbolo, el arquetipo, el tema explícito, la paradoja, and so forth). From poetry, theater draws the oral/aural elements (la musicalidad, la sonoridad, la armonía) and el lenguaje literario. If your study of literature begins with drama, keep in mind that, although much of the information is new, all of the literary genres share many of the elements you will learn in this chapter. The study of each genre will add another piece to the knowledge structure you will need to read and understand any of the literary genres.

If you explored narratives and/or poetry first, you are not now beginning the study of a “new” literary genre. That is, everything you have learned, the skills you have developed, will be pertinent to your exploration of drama. You will apply the same stages and strategies you applied to reading narratives, as well as many from your study of poetry. If you actively engage your prior knowledge and skills at each step, the exploration of drama will be both exciting and challenging.