The transgeneric widening of narratology (Nünning/Nünning 2002) increasingly takes into consideration small forms of literary texts. These include established text types such as lyric poems, epigrams, and elegy, which are conceptually different from classical large-scale narratives and therefore, at first glance, do not belong to the typical objects of study in narratology. Modern media in particular favor the development of new small forms, such as the so-called 'six-word stories' (Fishelov 2019).

But what is a 'small form'? Current debates avoid rigid definitions and prefer dynamic concepts in which quantitative as well as qualitative criteria are equally taken into account (Jäger 2020). Other aspects include: (1) A relational dimension, i.e., 'brevity' and 'smallness' can often be determined primarily in comparison with 'large' forms. (2) Small forms are characterized by features such as density and compression, and can also be analyzed from the point of view of literary economy. (3) 'Small forms' often contain a decidedly praxeological component, if they emerge from actual "reduction operations" that resulted from economic or other "utility considerations" (Jäger et al. 2020, 6; trsl. is our own).

In addition to the text types mentioned, the bucolic poems of the Hellenistic poet Theocritus (Εἰδύλλια, Eidyllia = 'small forms') and the poems of his Roman successor Vergil (Eklogen) also belong to the small forms. Here, too, one could speak of a ‚reduction operation‘, but rather in an aesthetic sense, for an essential genre of reference for the emergence of bucolics comes from the Homeric epic, with which they share the hexameter as their metrical form. Not only are these new poems small in scope, but they also address small topics, such as the world of ordinary life (shepherds), and thus distance themselves from the heroic and aristocratic sphere of epic (and tragedy). Where mythological themes are treated, figures such as Heracles are reinterpreted, for example, by showing them in their role as children and not in that of adult heroes (Theocritus, Idyll 24). The charm of this poetry, however, arises from a multitude of refractions and ambiguities, for Theocritus and Virgil also integrate imperial figures such as Ptolemy or Augustus, sometimes implicitly, sometimes explicitly, into their poetry. Theocritus' Idyll 7 and Ovid's Elegy Amores 1.5 each feature a first-person narrative that addresses a past experience. This, too, is remarkable from the point of view of small forms, for such retrospective first-person narratives are otherwise better known as sub-elements of large narrative works such as Odyssey (books 9-12) or the Aeneid (books 1-2) (Hunter 1999, 144)

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