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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 serious play that ends unhappily for the protagonist.






2. A narrative work that reports true events.






3. 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






4. Fiction that is set in an alternative reality






5. 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






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






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






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






9. 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.






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






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






12. A genre of fiction that presents an imagined future society that purports to be perfect and utopian but that the author presents to the reader as horrifyingly inhuman.






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






15. A poetic work that features the strong rhythms of free versebut is presented on the page in the form of prose - without line breaks.






16. Any composition not written in verse.






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






18. A novel that focuses on the social customs of a certain class of people - often with a sharp eye for irony. Jane Austen's novels are prime examples of this genre.






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






20. 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






21. 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.






22. A form of nonfictional discussion or argument that Michel de Montaigne pioneered in the 1500s.






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






24. 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.






25. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.






26. A celebration of the simple - rustic life of shepherds and shepherdesses - usually written by a sophisticated - urban writer.






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






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






29. 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.






30. 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.






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






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






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






34. 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.






35. A short play based on a biblical story.






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






37. A concise expression of insight or wisdom: 'The vanity of others offends our taste only when it offends our vanity' (Friedrich Nietzsche - Beyond Good and Evil).






38. 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.






39. 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






40. Originally - a realistic novel detailing a scoundrel's exploits. The term grew to refer more generally to any novel with a loosely structured - episodic plot that revolves around the adventures of a central character.






41. Traditionally - a folk song telling a story or legend in simple language - often with a refrain.






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






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






44. 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.






45. 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.






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






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






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






49. Fiction that concerns the nature of fiction itself - either by reinterpreting a previous fictional work or by drawing attention to its own fictional status.






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