  The various genres of poetry express different facets of the Idea of humanity: lyric poetry (including song) expresses the interior thoughts and feelings of humanity as a whole;  the novel, epic and drama are more “objective” types of literature which express the Idea of humanity through the portrayal of significant characters in significant situations. On the top rung of poetic art, for Schopenhauer, lies tragedy, whose goal is the “portrayal of the terrible aspect of life” where “the unspeakable pain, the misery of humanity, the triumph of wickedness, the scornful domination of chance, and the hopeless fall of the righteous and the innocent are brought before us” (WWR I, 280).