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Test your basic knowledge |
CLEP Common Literary Forms And Genres
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Subjects
:
clep
,
literature
Instructions:
Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
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study here
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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. A form of nonfictional discussion or argument that Michel de Montaigne pioneered in the 1500s.
Burlesque
Essay
Legend
Play
2. A work of fiction of middle length - often divided into a few short chapters - such as Henry James's Daisy Miller.
Elegy
Chivalric romance
Nonfiction
Novella
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
Memoir
Epic
Pastiche
Legend
4. 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.
Historical novel
Lyric
Mystery play
Satire
5. Bertolt Brecht's Marxist approach to theater - which rejects emotional and psychological engagement in favor of critical detachment.
Fiction
Anecdote
Ballad
Epic theater
6. 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.
Aphorism
One-act play
Science fiction
Epistolary novel
7. A romance that describes the adventures of medieval knights and celebrates their strict code of honor - loyalty - and respectful devotion to women.
Myth
Chivalric romance
Dystopic literature
Burlesque
8. 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
Confessional poetry
Pastiche
Fable
Lyric
9. An invented narrative - as opposed to one that reports true events.
One-act play
Burlesque
Tragedy
Fiction
10. A celebration of the simple - rustic life of shepherds and shepherdesses - usually written by a sophisticated - urban writer.
Short-short story
Black comedy
Fiction
Pastoral
11. A humorous and often satirical imitation of the style or particular work of another author.
Drama
Metafiction
Autobiographical novel
Parody
12. A nonrealistic story - in verse or prose - that features idealized characters - improbable adventures - and exotic settings.
Aphorism
Farce
Epic
Romance
13. An autobiographical poetic genre in which the poet discusses intensely personal subject matter with unusual frankness.
Picaresque novel
Novel
Dramatic monologue
Confessional poetry
14. A play written in the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries that presents an allegory of the Christian struggle for salvation.
Short story
Dystopic literature
Morality play
Confessional poetry
15. A short play based on a biblical story.
Burlesque
Mystery play
Fiction
Morality play
16. 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.
Memoir
Primitivist literature
Tragedy
Verse novel
17. Literature intended to instruct or educate. For example - Virgil's Georgics contains farming advice in verse form.
Didactic literature
Picaresque novel
Nonfiction
Prose
18. A short narrative that illustrates a moral by means of allegory.
Allegory
Short story
Confessional poetry
Parable
19. 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
Burlesque
Picaresque novel
Eclogue
Parody
20. A play consisting of a single act - without intermission and running usually less than an hour.
Picaresque novel
One-act play
Pastoral
Primitivist literature
21. A serious play that ends unhappily for the protagonist.
Allegory
Novel of manners
Biography
Tragedy
22. A play that confronts a contemporary social problem with the intent of changing public opinion on the matter.
Noh drama
Problem play
Ode
Aphorism
23. 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.
Play
Primitivist literature
Tragedy
Comedy
24. A serious lyric poem - often of significant length - that usually conforms to an elaborate metrical structure.
Ode
Social protest novel
Play
Dystopic literature
25. The nonfictional story of a person's life - told by that person.
Noir
Noh drama
Tragicomedy
Autobiography
26. The brief narration of a single event or incident.
Propaganda
Anecdote
Lyric
Ballad
27. 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.
Epigram
Autobiographical novel
Anecdote
Aphorism
28. 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.
Dramatic monologue
Novel of manners
Novel of ideas
Pastiche
29. 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.
Dramatic monologue
Ode
Parody
Soliloquy
30. A ritualized form of Japanese drama that evolved in the 1300s involving masks and slow - stylized movement.
Lyric
Pastiche
Epistolary novel
Noh drama
31. A play such as Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale that mixes elements of tragedy and comedy.
Tragicomedy
Lyric
Epigram
Soliloquy
32. A novel set in an earlier historical period that features a plot shaped by the historical circumstances of that period.
Historical novel
Drama
Biography
Prose
33. 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.
Novel of ideas
Pastiche
Memoir
Dystopic literature
34. A fiction genre - popularized in the 1940s - with a cynical - disillusioned - loner protagonist.
Picaresque novel
Mystery play
Noir
Chivalric romance
35. 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
Play
Fiction
Parable
Social protest novel
36. A form of high-energy comedy that plays on confusions and deceptions between characters and features a convoluted and fast-paced plot.
Soliloquy
Lyric
Farce
Autobiographical novel
37. 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.
Epic
Parable
Mystery play
Dirge
38. Fiction that concerns the nature of fiction itself - either by reinterpreting a previous fictional work or by drawing attention to its own fictional status.
Novel of ideas
Black comedy
Tragicomedy
Metafiction
39. 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.
Memoir
Novella
Picaresque novel
Eclogue
40. Traditionally - a folk song telling a story or legend in simple language - often with a refrain.
Parody
Ballad
Social protest novel
Allegory
41. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.
Novel
Mystery play
Eclogue
One-act play
42. A poetic work that features the strong rhythms of free versebut is presented on the page in the form of prose - without line breaks.
Bildungsroman
Prose poem
Fable
Black comedy
43. 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
Nonfiction
Allegory
Drama
44. 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.
Mystery play
Morality play
Black comedy
Fable
45. The nonfictional story of a person's life. James Boswell's Life of Johnson is one of the most celebrated examples.
Biography
Metafiction
Burlesque
Elegy
46. 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
Romance
Farce
Aphorism
47. A story about a heroic figure derived from oral tradition and based partly on fact and partly on fiction.
Legend
Novel of manners
Tragedy
Nonfiction
48. A short prose or verse narrative - such as those by Aesop - that illustrates a moral - which often is stated explicitly at the end.
Fable
Verse novel
Noir
Play
49. 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.
Miracle play
Eclogue
Autobiography
Verse novel
50. A novel - such as Jean-Paul Sartre's Nausea - that the author uses as a platform for discussing ideas. Character and plot are of secondary importance.
Aphorism
Novel of ideas
Short story
Parody
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