... a novel.

He would have liked to tell her in his own way how lovely he thought she was, and why he thought so, and to make her understand how much more he wanted from her than she was used to having men want.

—Paul Bowles, Let It Come Down.

... a treatise on trees.

The trees are fountains that invisibly spray the heavens with their exhaust.

—John Stewart Collis, The Triumph of the Tree.

... a lecture.

We shall all agree, but we shall voice our assent in different tones, and it is on the precise tone of voice we employ now that our subsequent conclusions will depend.

—E. M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel, chapter 2. Slightly abridged.

... a play.

Queen Mother: Too true ’tis, woe is me.
I am a strumpet, but made so by thee.

—Pseudo-Marlowe, Lust’s Dominion, I.i.