Scores of Book of Mormon passages can be analyzed as poetry. In the Book of Mormon, narrative texts are often given vitality by vigorous conflict and impassioned dialogue or personal narration. Seen as a whole, the Book of Mormon is an epic account of the history of the Nephite nation. Extensive in scope with an eponymic hero, it presents action involving long and arduous journeys and heroic deeds, with supernatural beings taking an active part. The climax of the book is the dramatic account of the visit of the resurrected Jesus to an assemblage of righteous Nephites.
Prophetic discourse is a dominant literary form in the Book of Mormon.
The eight epistles in the Book of Mormon are conversational in tone, revealing the diverse personalities of their writers. These forms are also prevalent in the Book of Mormon. Transmitted sayings of the wise are scattered throughout the Book of Mormon, especially in counsel given by fathers to their sons. It contains a vision, is delivered in dialogue form, has an otherworldly mediator or escort, includes a commandment to write, treats the disposition of the recipient, prophesies persecution, foretells the cosmic transformations, and has an otherworldly place as its spatial axis. Later Jewish developments of complex angelology, mystic numerology, and symbolism are absent.