• have an orientation, complication and resolution
• often have an ending that is tragic or sad
• are traditionally shared orally (passed on by word of mouth), so they can change over time
and sometimes have an anonymous author
• may contain verses or stanzas of four lines (known as quatrains)
• may contain repetition of stanzas (a chorus) or repeated lines where a certain word is
changed
• can have a question and answer format – one stanza presents the question and the next
one answers the question.
Example;
