Movimientos Literarios

ancestral tradition–present

African oral poetry

Sub-Saharan Africa

Vast tradition of performative oral poetry from Sub-Saharan African cultures; includes Zulu izibongo (praise poetry), Xhosa poetry, and epic forms from multiple peoples; transmitted by griots and singer-poets.

9th–17th cent.

Sufi literature

Middle East / Central Asia

Islamic mystical literary tradition that uses poetry as a path to the divine; encompasses diverse geographical and linguistic traditions.

9th–15th cent.

Classical Persian poetry

Persia / Iran

Poetic tradition in the Farsi language with forms such as ghazal and qasida; founding poets such as Rudaki, Ferdowsi, and Omar Khayyam.

9th–13th centuries

Muwashshah and Zajal

Al-Andalus

Strophic poetic forms born in Al-Andalus of great importance to medieval Iberian lyric poetry; the muwashshah is learned and in Arabic or Hebrew, the zajal is popular and dialectal; Ibn Quzman is the greatest name of zajal.

9th–13th cent.

Norse poetry (Skaldic and Eddic)

Scandinavia

Oral and written poetry of the Norse tradition; Eddic poetry brings together myths and heroes, Skaldic poetry is courtly praise with complex metrical forms.

8th–5th centuries BC

Greek epic poetry

Ancient Greece

Oral and written tradition of long narrative poems centered on heroes and gods; foundational works by Homer such as the Iliad and the Odyssey.

8th–13th c.

Abbasid Arabic poetry

Iraq / Arab world

Golden age of classical Arabic poetry centered in Baghdad under the Abbasid caliphs; Al-Mutanabbi, Abu Nuwas, and Al-Ma'arri are its major figures; genres such as the bacchanalian, the panegyric, and the philosophical.

7th–5th centuries BC

Greek lyric poetry

Ancient Greece

Poetry intended for singing with musical accompaniment, cultivated by poets such as Sappho, Pindar, and Alcaeus; expression of personal emotions and celebration.

7th–19th c.

Classical Japanese poetry (Waka)

Japan

Traditional Japanese poetic form in 31 syllables; cultivated at the imperial court and compiled in anthologies such as the Man'yoshu and Kokinshu.

7th–13th cent.

Tang and Song dynasty poetry

China

Golden age of classical Chinese poetry; Li Bai, Du Fu, and Su Shi are central figures of forms such as shi and ci.

7th-13th cent.

Classical medieval Arabic poetry

Arab world

Flourishing of Arabic poetry after Islam, with elaborate forms such as qasida and muwashshah; cultivated in Al-Andalus and the East.

7th century BC – 19th century

Classical Chinese poetry

China

Long Chinese lyrical tradition from the Shijing (Classic of Poetry) to the refined forms of the Tang and Song dynasties.

6th–17th centuries

Bhakti movement

India

Indian poetic devotional movement of mystical and religious expression in vernacular languages; poets such as Kabir, Mirabai and Tukaram.

5th–7th cent.

Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry

Arabian Peninsula

Oral poetry of the Bedouins before Islam; the mu'allaqat are their most celebrated texts, centered on honor, love, and the desert's nature.

5th century BC

Greek Old Comedy

Ancient Greece

Satirical comedy theater of political and social criticism; main representative Aristophanes.

5th century BC

Greek tragedy

Ancient Greece

Dramatic genre that explores conflicts between the human and the divine, destiny and will; represented by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.

4th–19th c.

Classical Ethiopian poetry (Ge'ez)

Ethiopia / Eritrea

Literary and poetic tradition in the Ge'ez language, the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church; includes hymns, psalms, and court poetry; one of the oldest African Christian literatures.

4th century BCE – 8th century CE

Classical Sanskrit poetry

India

Great Indian poetic tradition codified in Sanskrit, including epics such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, and the lyric poetry of Kalidasa.

3rd–1st century BC

Hellenistic poetry

Alexandria / Greece

Poetic school flourishing in Alexandria under the Ptolemies; Callimachus, Theocritus, and Apollonius of Rhodes cultivated learned, bucolic, and epic forms of great formal refinement.

2nd–7th cent.

Late Latin and Christian poetry

Roman Empire / Europe

Latin poetry from the period of imperial decline and the rise of Christianity; includes liturgical hymns, patristic poetry, and authors such as Prudentius, Paulinus of Nola, and Venantius Fortunatus.

27th–6th century BC

Sumerian and Akkadian poetry

Mesopotamia

Oldest poetic tradition in the world; includes the Epic of Gilgamesh, hymns to deities, and laments; written in cuneiform in Sumerian and Akkadian languages.

26th–4th century BC

Ancient Egyptian poetry

Ancient Egypt

Egyptian poetic tradition including hymns to gods, funerary texts like the Book of the Dead, and love poetry from the New Kingdom; documented on papyri and temple walls.

2001–present

Flarf poetry

USA

American poetic movement that uses internet research and low-quality material to create deliberately absurd and provocative poetry.

2000s–present

Conceptual writing

USA / Global

Current that applies conceptual strategies to literary writing, such as the transition and reprocessing of existing texts; Kenneth Goldsmith is the central figure.

1st century BC - 1st century AD

Classical Latin poetry

Ancient Rome

Flourishing of poetry in Rome with Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and Catullus; decisive influence on all subsequent Western literature.

1990s–present

Afrofuturism

USA / Global

Cultural and literary movement combining science fiction, fantasy, and African-American perspectives; explores alternative futures from Black identities.

1990s–present

Contemporary literature

Global

Contemporary, plural, and globalized literary production, without a dominant school; marked by diversity of voices, hybrid genres, and digital circulation.

1990s–present

Decolonial literature

Global / Latin America

Critical and literary current that questions colonial legacies in culture and literature; articulates historically silenced voices and perspectives.

1990s–present

Ecopoetry

Global

Poetic movement that places ecology and the relationship with nature at the center of writing; literary response to contemporary environmental crises.

1983–1990s

The Other Sentimentality

Spain

Granada Spanish poetic movement for the renewal of love lyrics with critical consciousness and historical materialism; Luis García Montero.

1980s–present

Contemporary Latin American indigenous poetry

Latin America

Emerging literary field of Indigenous poets writing in languages like Quechua, Aymara, Nahuatl, and Guaraní, frequently in bilingual editions; assertion of identities and worldviews in the face of Western literate tradition.

1980s–present

Diaspora literature

Global

Set of literatures produced by diasporic communities; explores identity, belonging, exile, and cultural hybridity; Salman Rushdie, Jhumpa Lahiri, Chimamanda Adichie.

1980s–present

New Sincerity

USA

Postmodern reaction to irony and cynicism; values genuine feeling and emotional commitment; David Foster Wallace is its most associated figure.

1980s–present

Slam poetry / Spoken word

USA / Global

Poetic form of competitive oral performance born in Chicago; values voice, rhythm, and political and social engagement.

1980s–1990s

Beijing School

China

Avant-garde Chinese literary movement that emerged in Beijing in the context of post-Mao reforms; explores cultural identity and modernity.

1980s–1990s

Transgressive fiction

USA

Literary movement that explores taboos, violence, and marginality in a provocative way; Chuck Palahniuk and Bret Easton Ellis are references.

1977–present

Autofiction

France / Global

Hybrid literary genre that combines autobiography and fiction; Serge Doubrovsky coined the term, and authors like Karl Ove Knausgård have popularized the form.

1975–1977

Infrarealism

Mexico

Mexican avant-garde poetic movement founded by Roberto Bolaño and Mario Santiago; rupture with the literary establishment and valorization of the marginal.

1970s–present

Language poetry

USA

American poetic avant-garde that questions the transparency of language and conventions of meaning and representation; Ron Silliman, Lyn Hejinian, and Charles Bernstein are central figures; parallel but distinct from Conceptual Writing.

1970s–present

Marginal Literature

Brazil

Literary production from Brazilian peripheries by authors from the margins; Ferréz and other writers from the margins assert experiences excluded from canonical literature.