In
literature, a
mode is an employed method or approach, identifiable within a written work. As descriptive terms, and
genre are often used inaccurately instead of
mode; for example, the
pastoral mode is often mistakenly identified as a
genre. The Writers Web site feature,
A List of Important Literary Terms, defines
mode thus:
An unspecific critical term usually identifying a broad, but identifiable literary method, mood, or manner, that is not tied exclusively to a particular form or genre. [Some] examples are the satiric mode, the ironic, the comic, the pastoral, and the didactic. (CB)