The study of the formal construction of literary works of all genres, not just poetry. It is underpinned by the assumption that it is possible to delineate what it is that separates a poetic (literary) use of language from a non-poetic (ordinary) use of language. In contrast to Russian Formalism, which is an obvious precursor, it is not primarily concerned with the problem of determining which is literary and which is not; rather, its concern is with the effectivity and unity of specific literary works. Poetics is often treated as a synonym for structuralism literary theory.