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CLEP Common Literary Forms And Genres

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. A form of high-energy comedy that plays on confusions and deceptions between characters and features a convoluted and fast-paced plot.






2. Disturbing or absurd material presented in a humorous manner - usually with the intention to confront uncomfortable truths. Joseph Heller's Catch-22 is a notable example.






3. An invented narrative - as opposed to one that reports true events.






4. Literature intended to instruct or educate. For example - Virgil's Georgics contains farming advice in verse form.






5. The nonfictional story of a person's life - told by that person.






6. A formal poem that laments the death of a friend or public figure - or - occasionally - a meditation on death itself. In Greek and Latin poetry - the term applies to a specific type of meter (alternating hexameters and pentameters) regardless of cont






7. A humorous imitation of a serious work of literature. The humor often arises from the incongruity between the imitation and the work being imitated. For example - Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock uses the high diction of epic poetry to talk abou






8. A serious lyric poem - often of significant length - that usually conforms to an elaborate metrical structure.






9. A work of prose fiction that is much shorter than a novel (rarely more than forty pages) and focused more tightly on a single event.






10. A short play based on a biblical story.






11. A nonrealistic story - in verse or prose - that features idealized characters - improbable adventures - and exotic settings.






12. A novel in which the author's aim is to tell a story that illuminates and draws attention to contemporary social problems with the goal of inciting change for the better. Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin - which exposed the horrors of Africa






13. A novel written in the form of letters exchanged by characters in the story - such as Samuel Richardson's Clarissa or Alice Walker's The Color Purple. This form was especially popular in the 1700s.






14. A story meant to be performed in a theater before an audience. Most are written in dialogue form and are divided into several acts. Many include stage directions and instructions for sets and costumes.






15. Bertolt Brecht's Marxist approach to theater - which rejects emotional and psychological engagement in favor of critical detachment.






16. A German term - meaning 'formation novel -' for a novel about a child or adolescent's development into maturity - with special focus on the protagonist's quest for identity. James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a notable example.






17. A lengthy narrative that describes the deeds of a heroic figure - often of national or cultural importance - in elevated language. Strictly - the term applies only to verse narratives like Beowulf or Virgil's Aeneid - but it is used to describe prose






18. A work that exposes to ridicule the shortcomings of individuals - institutions - or society - often to make a political point. Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels is one of the most well known examples in English.






19. A novel set in an earlier historical period that features a plot shaped by the historical circumstances of that period.






20. A play that confronts a contemporary social problem with the intent of changing public opinion on the matter.






21. An autobiographical work. Rather than focus exclusively on the author's life - it pays significant attention to the author's involvement in historical events and the characterization of individuals other than the author.






22. A succinct - witty statement - often in verse. For example - William Wordsworth's observation 'The child is the father of the man.'






23. A fiction genre - popularized in the 1940s - with a cynical - disillusioned - loner protagonist.






24. A lighthearted play characterized by humor and a happy ending.






25. A play from the Middle Ages featuring saints or miraculous appearances by the Virgin Mary.






26. A ritualized form of Japanese drama that evolved in the 1300s involving masks and slow - stylized movement.






27. Works that express a preference for the natural over the artificial in human culture - and a belief that the life of primitive cultures is preferable to modern lifestyles.






28. A romance that describes the adventures of medieval knights and celebrates their strict code of honor - loyalty - and respectful devotion to women.






29. A work of fiction of middle length - often divided into a few short chapters - such as Henry James's Daisy Miller.






30. A poem that contains words that a fictional or historical character speaks to a particular audience. Alfred - Lord Tennyson's 'Ulysses' is a famous example.






31. Any composition not written in verse.






32. Fiction that is set in an alternative reality






33. A humorous and often satirical imitation of the style or particular work of another author.






34. A play such as Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale that mixes elements of tragedy and comedy.






35. A work that imitates the style of a previous author - work - or literary genre. Alternatively - the term may refer to a work that contains a hodgepodge of elements or fragments from different sources or influences. It differs from parody in that its






36. An autobiographical poetic genre in which the poet discusses intensely personal subject matter with unusual frankness.






37. A serious play that ends unhappily for the protagonist.






38. A story about a heroic figure derived from oral tradition and based partly on fact and partly on fiction.






39. A narrative in which literal meaning corresponds clearly and directly to symbolic meaning. For example - the literal story in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress






40. A short narrative that illustrates a moral by means of allegory.






41. A short poetic composition that describes the thoughts of a single speaker.






42. A full-length fictional work that is novelistic in nature but written in verse rather than prose. Examples include Aleksandr Pushkin's Eugene Onegin and Vikram Seth's The Golden Gate.






43. A story about the origins of a culture's beliefs and practices - or of supernatural phenomena - usually derived from oral tradition and set in an imagined supernatural past.






44. The nonfictional story of a person's life. James Boswell's Life of Johnson is one of the most celebrated examples.






45. A short pastoral poem in the form of a dialogue between two shepherds. Virgil's Eclogues is the most famous example of this genre.






46. A particularly compressed and truncated short story. They are rarely longer than 1 -000 words.






47. A novel that tells a nonfictional - autobiographical story but uses novelistic techniques - such as fictionalized dialogue or anecdotes - to add color - immediacy - or thematic unity.






48. The brief narration of a single event or incident.






49. A work of didactic literature that aims to influence the reader on a specific social or political issue.






50. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.







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