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CLEP American Literature

Subjects : clep, literature
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
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  • Match each statement with the correct term.
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This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Wrote 'The Invisible Man' - Considered a landmark achievement in American literature






2. Resisted materialism and chose a life of simplicity - close to nature. Walden is a guidebook for life - showing the reader how to live wisely in a world designed to make wise living impossible. 'On the Duty of Civil Disobedience' has become a primer






3. New England local color writer - is known primarily for her two collections of stories. 'A Humble Romance' and 'A New England Nun'






4. Wrote Catcher in the Rye






5. (Colonial Period) One of colonial New England's most eminent clergyman. Greatest achievement was as an historian of the Puritan experience. 'Diary of Cotton Mather' - Account of Mather wrestling with sexual temptation to marry a much younger women di






6. America's most popular humorist in the 30s and 40s. Frequently explored the battle of the sexes. Wrote 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.'






7. Confessional Poet - Won a Pulitzer for 'Live or Die'






8. Well-known humorists.






9. Key intellectual and philosophical voice of 19th-century America. Key player in the transcendentalist movement. First to define what made American poetry American - it is verse that celebrates ordinary experience rather than the epic themes of the pa






10. Anne Bradstreet - Michael Wigglesworth - Edward Taylor






11. A 14-line poem with a set rhythm and rhyme scheme.






12. Pattern of five feet (groups of syllables) - each having one unstressed syllable and one stressed syllable.






13. Applying the evolutionary 'survival of the fittest' concept to a world marked by struggle and competition. (Promulgated by Herbert Spencer - a best-selling sociologist of the late 19th Century.






14. Unrhymed poetry Captures natural rhythm of speech.






15. A group of lines in a poem. - Lines of poems are grouped into _______s - just as sentences of prose are grouped into paragraphs.






16. All events follow natural laws.






17. Poetry that does not have a regular beat - rhyme or line length. Walt Whitman






18. Unorthodox writers who hung around the bars and coffee houses of San Francisco's North Beach.






19. Characterized by: Ordinary Language - Free Verse - Concentrated Word Pictures - Very specific words and phrases - Advanced by Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell; also utilized by Robert Frost






20. Literary movement of the 19th century that traced the effects of heredity and environment on people who ere helpless to change their situations. Also called Determinism for its belief in the effects of environment - heredity - and chance on human fat






21. (Colonial Period) Wrote Of Plymouth Plantation (First Thanksgiving) - Chronicled the Pilgrim experience from the religious considerations that caused them to leave England for Holland and then for America.Style is dignified and Grave - and events are






22. Credited with creating: the modern short story and the detective novel - and the entire genre of mystery. Wrote 'The Philosophy of Composition' - 'The Raven' - 'Tell-Tale Heart -' 'The Cask of Amontillado -' and 'The Gold Bug.' (The first detective






23. Wrote 'Songs of Jamaica' - Poetry and 'Harlem Shadows' (first great literary achievement of the Harlem Renaissance. Much of his poetry evokes the rich heritage of Jamaica.






24. Ranked as top American novelist - even though few of his contemporaries recognized his genius. Moby Dick is considered to be America's greatest prose epic. It is also top contender for best American novel. Wrote the first great romance about the Sout






25. Won the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize - Works focused on the South - Wrote 'As I Lay Dying -' 'Sanctuary -' and 'The sound and the Fury.' Experimented with Stream of Consciousness writing. Considered the most innovative novelist of his time.






26. Wrote 'Richard Cory' - Created poems dealing with historic myths and characters. Known primarily for short - ironic characteristics of ordinary individuals. Won 3 Pulitzers : 'Collected Poems -' 'The Man Who Died Twice -' and 'Tristram'






27. Wrote 'My Antonia' and 'Death Comes for the Archbishop' Won a Pulitzer for her novel 'One of Ours'






28. Considered the voice of the Twenties. Wrote 'The Great Gatsby' - Heavy drinking problem.






29. Literary movement of the 19th century Presented the details of ordinary life in art. Realists rejected the heroic and adventurous and concentrated on pessimistic views of poverty - prostitution and pain. Reaction to Romanticism.






30. Brief - musical poems that convey a speaker's feelings.






31. Best-known and most influential early Naturalist. Rougon-Marcquart






32. Southern Gothic writer. Creates stories that simultaneously shock readers and reflect her strong Catholic faith.

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33. A story told in song form. Ballads often tell stories of adventure and love.






34. Most prominent black leader of his day. Wrote 'Up From Slavery'






35. Wrote 'Daddy' and 'The Bell Jar' - Confessional Poet






36. (Colonial Period) Stands in direct opposition to the principles - personalities and literary styles of William Bradford and John Winthrop. Did not come to settle the land and establish God's Kingdom - but to trade beaver pelts and live pleasantly. Es






37. Produces ribald - exuberant - feminist poems - novels and essays. Most famous novel is 'Fear of Flying.'






38. Chicago School - Wrote 'Lucinda Matlock' - Created 'Spoon River Anthology' - Spoon River poems are characterized by: An unpoetic - colloquial style - frank descriptions of sex - a very critical view of small town life - and a description of he inner






39. A group of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.






40. Involves a speaker who addresses an unseen audience. Usually takes place at a crucial moment in the speaker's life.






41. The idea that there is something different - unique and special about Americans.






42. Wrote 'Grapes of Wrath -' 'Of Mice and Men -' and 'East of Eden -' and 'Winter of Our Discontent.' Awarded Nobel Prize for Literature - Pulitzer and and the National Book Award.






43. Ben Franklin paid his passage to America. First Pamphlet was Common Sense : credited with getting the colonists to see the 'advantage - necessity - and obligation' of breaking with Britain. Followed by a series of pamphlets - collectively called 'An






44. Naturalist - Wrote 'McTeague - a Story of San Francisco'






45. That America's unique identity transcends ethnic - cultural - or religious backgrounds. Idea given by St. Jean de Crevecoeur






46. Ezra Pound and T.S Eliot






47. Autobiography is considered the one of the greatest ever written. Wrote Poor Richard's Alamanac






48. A type of literature win which words are selected and strung together for their beauty - sound - and power to express feelings.






49. Work did not have a political agenda. Wrote 'Their Eyes Were Watching God -' 'Mules and Men -' and 'Jonahs Gourd Vine.' Considered one of the key black writers of the 20th Century.






50. Wrote 'The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man' and 'Lift Every Voice and Sing -' (The Black National Anthem)