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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 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






2. 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






3. 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.






4. 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.






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. 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.






7. A short play based on a biblical story.






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






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






10. Fiction that is set in an alternative reality






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






22. Any composition not written in verse.






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






24. A short prose or verse narrative - such as those by Aesop - that illustrates a moral - which often is stated explicitly at the end.






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






26. 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.






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






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






29. 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.






30. A play consisting of a single act - without intermission and running usually less than an hour.






31. 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.






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






33. 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






34. 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.






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






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






37. 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.






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






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






40. A composition that is meant to be performed. The term often is used interchangeably with play.






41. 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.






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






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






44. 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.






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






46. A narrative work that reports true events.






47. 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.






48. A play written in the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries that presents an allegory of the Christian struggle for salvation.






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.






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







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