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Test your basic knowledge |
CLEP Common Literary Forms And Genres
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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. 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.
Soliloquy
Memoir
Ballad
Parable
2. A particularly compressed and truncated short story. They are rarely longer than 1 -000 words.
Drama
Metafiction
Short-short story
Legend
3. A humorous and often satirical imitation of the style or particular work of another author.
Play
Verse novel
Parody
Dystopic literature
4. A play that confronts a contemporary social problem with the intent of changing public opinion on the matter.
Ode
Burlesque
Romance
Problem play
5. A form of high-energy comedy that plays on confusions and deceptions between characters and features a convoluted and fast-paced plot.
Short-short story
Short story
Farce
Noir
6. Traditionally - a folk song telling a story or legend in simple language - often with a refrain.
Legend
Noh drama
Romance
Ballad
7. 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.
Short-short story
Noir
Picaresque novel
Essay
8. The nonfictional story of a person's life. James Boswell's Life of Johnson is one of the most celebrated examples.
Morality play
Dystopic literature
Biography
Ballad
9. The nonfictional story of a person's life - told by that person.
Dirge
Autobiography
Dramatic monologue
Propaganda
10. 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.
Fable
Dramatic monologue
Autobiography
Noh drama
11. Fiction that is set in an alternative reality
Drama
Science fiction
Play
Novel of ideas
12. 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.
Play
Mystery play
Novella
Primitivist literature
13. A work of didactic literature that aims to influence the reader on a specific social or political issue.
Problem play
Elegy
Propaganda
Didactic literature
14. 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.
Social protest novel
Epistolary novel
Burlesque
Fiction
15. A play consisting of a single act - without intermission and running usually less than an hour.
Essay
Play
One-act play
Comedy
16. 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.
Farce
Noir
Pastiche
Dystopic literature
17. An invented narrative - as opposed to one that reports true events.
Pastoral
Fiction
Epistolary novel
Biography
18. A succinct - witty statement - often in verse. For example - William Wordsworth's observation 'The child is the father of the man.'
Lyric
Memoir
Epigram
Legend
19. A form of nonfictional discussion or argument that Michel de Montaigne pioneered in the 1500s.
Epigram
Essay
Lyric
Elegy
20. A poetic work that features the strong rhythms of free versebut is presented on the page in the form of prose - without line breaks.
Prose poem
Verse novel
Novella
Romance
21. A play such as Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale that mixes elements of tragedy and comedy.
Tragicomedy
Dramatic monologue
Novel of manners
Myth
22. 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.
Black comedy
Autobiography
Didactic literature
Elegy
23. Any composition not written in verse.
Epigram
Metafiction
Short story
Prose
24. 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
Soliloquy
Pastiche
Didactic literature
Epic
25. 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
Fiction
Anecdote
Verse novel
Burlesque
26. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.
Short story
Parable
Novel
Memoir
27. 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
Elegy
Propaganda
Dramatic monologue
Problem play
28. 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.
Fable
Tragedy
Novel of ideas
Play
29. Literature intended to instruct or educate. For example - Virgil's Georgics contains farming advice in verse form.
Dystopic literature
Elegy
Didactic literature
Confessional poetry
30. 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.
Propaganda
Satire
Mystery play
Short story
31. A serious play that ends unhappily for the protagonist.
Tragedy
Farce
Autobiography
Propaganda
32. A story about a heroic figure derived from oral tradition and based partly on fact and partly on fiction.
Tragedy
Confessional poetry
Legend
Morality play
33. The brief narration of a single event or incident.
Novel of manners
Anecdote
Farce
Legend
34. A serious lyric poem - often of significant length - that usually conforms to an elaborate metrical structure.
Eclogue
Ode
Novella
Essay
35. A narrative work that reports true events.
Romance
Bildungsroman
Nonfiction
Short-short story
36. 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).
Novel of ideas
Essay
Aphorism
Satire
37. Bertolt Brecht's Marxist approach to theater - which rejects emotional and psychological engagement in favor of critical detachment.
Epistolary novel
Verse novel
Epic theater
Mystery play
38. A nonrealistic story - in verse or prose - that features idealized characters - improbable adventures - and exotic settings.
Romance
Ode
Science fiction
Parable
39. A lighthearted play characterized by humor and a happy ending.
Comedy
Epigram
Memoir
Short-short story
40. A ritualized form of Japanese drama that evolved in the 1300s involving masks and slow - stylized movement.
One-act play
Parody
Epistolary novel
Noh drama
41. A play from the Middle Ages featuring saints or miraculous appearances by the Virgin Mary.
Miracle play
Noir
Play
Epigram
42. 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.
One-act play
Autobiographical novel
Propaganda
Epigram
43. A speech - often in verse - by a lone character. The most famous example being the 'To be or not to be' speech in Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Problem play
Soliloquy
Chivalric romance
Prose
44. A short prose or verse narrative - such as those by Aesop - that illustrates a moral - which often is stated explicitly at the end.
Romance
Metafiction
Short-short story
Fable
45. A short poetic expression of grief. It differs from an elegy in that it often is embedded within a larger work - is less highly structured - and is meant to be sung.
Soliloquy
Noh drama
Dirge
Myth
46. A short play based on a biblical story.
Mystery play
Pastoral
Memoir
Dirge
47. 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.
Confessional poetry
Novel of manners
Aphorism
Epistolary novel
48. 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
Verse novel
One-act play
Social protest novel
Noh drama
49. 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
Tragicomedy
Bildungsroman
Allegory
Fable
50. A novel set in an earlier historical period that features a plot shaped by the historical circumstances of that period.
Aphorism
Biography
Tragedy
Historical novel