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Test your basic knowledge |
CLEP American Literature
Start Test
Study First
Subjects
:
clep
,
literature
Instructions:
Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
If you are not ready to take this test, you can
study here
.
Match each statement with the correct term.
Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.
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. Typically referred to as the greatest American novelist (next to Mark Twain) of the second half of the 19th century. Main theme of his work was the innocence and exuberance of America compared to the corruption and wisdom of Europe. Wrote 'The Portra
Henry James
Edgar Lee Masters
Polemic
J.D Salinger
2. Third US President Referred to as the 'Sage of Monticello'Drafted the Declaration of Independence.
Thomas Paine
Thomas Jefferson
Rhythm
Nietzscheism
3. All written work that is not poetry - drama or song. Articles - autobiographies - biographies - essays - novels and editorials are prose.
Carl Sandburg
T.S Eliot
Lyres
Prose
4. All events follow natural laws.
Frank Norris
Determinism
W.E.B Du Bois
Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)
5. Written by Cottonn Mather - to justify the execution of 19 women during the Salem Witch Trials.
Thomas Jefferson
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Ezra Pound
Wonders of the Invisible World
6. (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
Stanza
Jonathan Edwards
William Bradford
Transcendental Club
7. In the 1920s - became the symbol of the liberated woman for her wit and independence. Known for her caustic and clever poems and short stories.
Herman Melville
Poetry
James Baldwin
Dorthy Parker
8. Wrote 'Howl -' ' Empty Mirror -' and 'Kaddish and Other Poems' - Poet
Allen Ginsberg
Three main colonial era poets
John Steinbeck
Phillip Roth
9. 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
Henry David Thoreau
William Faulkner
e.e cummings
Beat Writers
10. 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
Naturalism
Henry James
Gwendolyn Brooks
Realism
11. Produces ribald - exuberant - feminist poems - novels and essays. Most famous novel is 'Fear of Flying.'
Genteel Tradition
Edgar Lee Masters
Erica Jong
James Weldon Johnson
12. Considered the greatest humorist of 19th century American Literature. Wrote 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' and 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.' Master of 'Local Color' writing. Used vernacular - exaggeration and deadpan narrator to create humor.
Polemic
Puritan Poetry
The 3 primary literary genres
Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)
13. Wrote 'The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man' and 'Lift Every Voice and Sing -' (The Black National Anthem)
Thomas Morton
James Weldon Johnson
Gothic
Ralph Ellison
14. Friedrich Nitezche's belief in the 'will to power' as the primary force of society and the individual.
Romanticism
Edward Teller
Scan
Nietzscheism
15. Imagist Poet - Wrote 'In a Station of the Metro -' ' The Pisan Cantos -' 'Hugh Selwyn Mauberly -' and 'Mauberly.' Modeled 'Cantos' after Whitman's 'Leaves of Grass' - Infamous traitor; Staunch supporter of Mussolini during WWII. Didn't speak for the
Naturalism
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Ezra Pound
Thomas Morton
16. Wrote 'The Invisible Man' - Considered a landmark achievement in American literature
Ralph Ellison
Two Most Famous Poets of the 20th Century
Stephen Crane
Benjamin Franklin
17. An artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th Century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature - emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion and imagination - departure from the attitudes and forms of
Romanticism
Nativism
Washington Irving
Racialism
18. A group of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.
Robert Lowell
Free Verse
Beat Movement
Foot
19. Clever - memorable sayings.
Edward Teller
Benjamin Franklin
Gothic
Aphorisms
20. (Colonial Period) Only person to publicly repent his part in the Salem Witch Trials. Published America's first anti-slavery tract.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Samuel Sewall
Scan
Harriet Beecher Stowe
21. A line or group of lines repeated at the end of a poem or song. Refrains reinforce the main point and create musical effects.
Zora Neal Hurston
Refrain
The 3 primary literary genres
Ezra Pound
22. Story in which the characters - setting and action represent abstract concepts apart from their literal meaning.
Three main colonial era poets
Richard Wright
Allegory
Poetry
23. Brief - musical poems that convey a speaker's feelings.
Booker T. Washington
Edward Teller
Lyric Poem
Foot
24. Father of American Literature - First American writer to achieve an international reputation. Rip Van Winkle (antihero). Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The Devil and Tom Walker. Was 50 years old before his real name appeared on any of his books. Used alias
Langston Hughes
Washington Irving
Edgar Lee Masters
Genteel Tradition
25. The reappearance in an individual of characteristics of some distant ancestor that have not been present in intervening generations - such as hand like a hairy paw.
Loss of Traditional Values
Loaded Words
Atavism
Robert Lowell
26. 'The Old Man and the Sea -' 'The Sun Also Rises -' 'A Farewell to Arms -' and 'For Whom the Bell Tolls.' Writing style emphasizes: Short sentences - brief paragraphs - active verbs - authenticity - compression - clarity - and immediacy. Produced some
Langston Hughes
Foot
Ernest Hemmingway
William S. Burroughs
27. The primacy of science over religious - mythical - or spiritual interpretations of life.
e.e cummings
Scientism
Polemic
Nativism
28. Coined the term 'Beat Generation' - Wrote 'On the Road' - All of his books are Autobiographical
Loaded Words
Foot
Jack Kerouac
James Baldwin
29. Writings portray the lives of poor - oppressed black women in the early 1900s.
John Steinbeck
William Bradford
Alice Walker
Transcendentalism
30. Autobiography is considered the one of the greatest ever written. Wrote Poor Richard's Alamanac
Edith Wharton
Willa Cather
Benjamin Franklin
John Smith
31. First vice president and second president. Member of the First and Second Continental Congresses. Helped draft the Declaration of Independence. Husband of Abigail Adams.
Iambic Pentameter
Rhyme Scheme
John Adams
Robert Frost
32. A single sheet of paper printed on one or both sides. 'The Dying Redcoat'
Maya Angelou
Jack Kerouac
Broadside
Iambic Pentameter
33. A philosophy pioneered by Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 1830's and 1840's - in which each person has direct communication with God and Nature - and there is no need for organized churches. It incorporated the ideas that mind goes beyond matter - intuiti
Transcendentalism
Allegory
Flannery O'Connor
Epic Story
34. Words that carry a strong emotional overtones.
Racialism
Meter
Loaded Words
Sonnet
35. Local Colorist Wrote 'The Country of the Pointed Firs' Famous for use of idiomatic language - conservative values and imagery and vivid descriptions of rural New England.
Willa Cather
Zora Neal Hurston
The Declaration of Independence
Sarah Orne Jewett
36. (Colonial Period) 1. God is King and Ruler. 2. Our duty in this world is to see that God's will prevails.3. Man is depraved from birth. 4. Few will be saved. Damned are damned despite their best efforts. Belief in Covenant Theology : God's covenant w
Free Verse
William Bradford
Calvinism
Polemic
37. American novelist - essayist - social critic - painter and spoken performer. Most of his works are autobiographical. Frequently experimented with drugs. He wrote the 'Naked Lunch' and the 'Cities of Red Night'
William S. Burroughs
Frank Norris
William Byrd
Frederick Douglass
38. Book of feline poems - 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats -' formed the basis of the Broadway hit 'Cats.' Wrote 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock - Published 'The Waste-Land' which became the most famous poem of the first half of the 20th Centur
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Morton
James Thurbur
T.S Eliot
39. The beat or rhythm of a poem - created by a pattern of stressed an unstressed syllables.
Romanticism
Meter
Refrain
Stanza
40. A 14-line poem with a set rhythm and rhyme scheme.
Sylvia Plath
Sonnet
Sarah Orne Jewett
Iambic Pentameter
41. (Colonial Period) One of the most brilliant of American thinkers. Theologian and philosopher; vigorous defender of Calvinistic orthodoxy at the end of the Puritan era. Influenced major nineteenth century writers such as Emerson - Hawthorne - Melville
Saul Bellow
Jonathan Edwards
Emile Zola
The 3 primary literary genres
42. 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.
Ezra Pound
Stanza
Zora Neal Hurston
Genteel Tradition
43. A story in poetic form. Has plot. characters and theme.
Carl Sandburg
Samuel Sewall
John Adams
Narrative Poem
44. A regular pattern of words that end with the same sound.
Gothic
Rhyme Scheme
Phillip Roth
The Day of Doom
45. A literary mask a writer assumes for the purpose of creating a character in a poem.
Benjamin Franklin
e.e cummings
Persona
Darwinism
46. Wrote 'since feeling is first -' 'somewhere i have never traveled - gladly beyond -' and 'The Enormous Room' - Experimented with : form - punctuation - spelling - typography - grammar - imagery - rhythm - and syntax.
Allen Ginsberg
Verse
e.e cummings
John Adams
47. A story told in song form. Ballads often tell stories of adventure and love.
Beat Writers
Bret Harte
Ballad
Social Darwinism
48. Greatest poet of American colonial period. Influenced T.S Elliot - Ezra Pound - and other modern-day metaphysical poets. Defined 'American'
Loaded Words
Edward Teller
Edwin Arlington Robinson
Edith Wharton
49. Best-known and most influential early Naturalist. Rougon-Marcquart
Edgar Lee Masters
Emile Zola
Dorthy Parker
Henry David Thoreau
50. Wrote 'The Souls of Black Folk' - Founder of the NAACP
W.E.B Du Bois
Broadside
Three main colonial era poets
Puritan Poetry