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Test your basic knowledge |
CLEP Common Literary Forms And Genres
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Subjects
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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. 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.
Novel
Prose poem
Social protest novel
Short story
2. 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.
Nonfiction
Allegory
Autobiographical novel
Mystery play
3. 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.
Bildungsroman
Short story
Novel of ideas
Noir
4. 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
Parable
Autobiography
Legend
5. 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).
Propaganda
Elegy
Historical novel
Aphorism
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
Autobiographical novel
Pastiche
Elegy
Nonfiction
7. A short prose or verse narrative - such as those by Aesop - that illustrates a moral - which often is stated explicitly at the end.
Noir
Pastoral
Dramatic monologue
Fable
8. A short pastoral poem in the form of a dialogue between two shepherds. Virgil's Eclogues is the most famous example of this genre.
Primitivist literature
Eclogue
Romance
Miracle play
9. Bertolt Brecht's Marxist approach to theater - which rejects emotional and psychological engagement in favor of critical detachment.
Epic theater
One-act play
Parody
Anecdote
10. A play from the Middle Ages featuring saints or miraculous appearances by the Virgin Mary.
Science fiction
Miracle play
Fable
Didactic literature
11. A play consisting of a single act - without intermission and running usually less than an hour.
One-act play
Propaganda
Prose
Epic
12. A particularly compressed and truncated short story. They are rarely longer than 1 -000 words.
Myth
Epigram
Short-short story
Aphorism
13. A ritualized form of Japanese drama that evolved in the 1300s involving masks and slow - stylized movement.
Noh drama
Parody
Dramatic monologue
Novel
14. A short narrative that illustrates a moral by means of allegory.
Autobiographical novel
Historical novel
Tragedy
Parable
15. 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
Legend
Novel of ideas
Anecdote
Epic
16. Literature intended to instruct or educate. For example - Virgil's Georgics contains farming advice in verse form.
Novella
Didactic literature
Verse novel
Parody
17. 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.
Bildungsroman
Memoir
Essay
Propaganda
18. 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
Short-short story
Metafiction
Primitivist literature
Social protest novel
19. The nonfictional story of a person's life. James Boswell's Life of Johnson is one of the most celebrated examples.
Autobiographical novel
Metafiction
Pastoral
Biography
20. Fiction that is set in an alternative reality
Drama
Science fiction
Epigram
Dirge
21. A short poetic composition that describes the thoughts of a single speaker.
Problem play
Pastoral
Novel
Lyric
22. A form of high-energy comedy that plays on confusions and deceptions between characters and features a convoluted and fast-paced plot.
Allegory
Short story
Romance
Farce
23. A celebration of the simple - rustic life of shepherds and shepherdesses - usually written by a sophisticated - urban writer.
Bildungsroman
Metafiction
Play
Pastoral
24. A work of fiction of middle length - often divided into a few short chapters - such as Henry James's Daisy Miller.
Dystopic literature
Mystery play
Novella
Historical novel
25. Fiction that concerns the nature of fiction itself - either by reinterpreting a previous fictional work or by drawing attention to its own fictional status.
Metafiction
Play
Comedy
Biography
26. 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.
Soliloquy
Memoir
Problem play
Bildungsroman
27. A romance that describes the adventures of medieval knights and celebrates their strict code of honor - loyalty - and respectful devotion to women.
Chivalric romance
Elegy
Novella
Metafiction
28. A humorous and often satirical imitation of the style or particular work of another author.
Confessional poetry
Parody
Picaresque novel
Romance
29. A nonrealistic story - in verse or prose - that features idealized characters - improbable adventures - and exotic settings.
Romance
Comedy
Prose
Aphorism
30. 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.
Ode
Satire
Pastoral
Historical novel
31. A lighthearted play characterized by humor and a happy ending.
Farce
Comedy
Verse novel
Satire
32. 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
Mystery play
Memoir
Legend
33. 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
Dirge
Allegory
Novel of manners
Pastiche
34. A narrative work that reports true events.
Short story
Legend
Nonfiction
Ballad
35. 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.
Dystopic literature
Noir
Dirge
Novella
36. 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
Novella
Lyric
37. A composition that is meant to be performed. The term often is used interchangeably with play.
Essay
Novel of manners
Drama
Problem play
38. 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.
Propaganda
Autobiographical novel
Picaresque novel
Memoir
39. A form of nonfictional discussion or argument that Michel de Montaigne pioneered in the 1500s.
Verse novel
Didactic literature
Essay
Epic
40. 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.
Autobiography
Aphorism
Parable
Verse novel
41. A succinct - witty statement - often in verse. For example - William Wordsworth's observation 'The child is the father of the man.'
Novel of manners
Epigram
Morality play
One-act play
42. A play that confronts a contemporary social problem with the intent of changing public opinion on the matter.
Confessional poetry
Problem play
Memoir
Play
43. 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.
Noir
Prose poem
Social protest novel
Dirge
44. A poetic work that features the strong rhythms of free versebut is presented on the page in the form of prose - without line breaks.
Science fiction
Dystopic literature
Prose poem
Autobiographical novel
45. A play such as Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale that mixes elements of tragedy and comedy.
Romance
Allegory
Novel of manners
Tragicomedy
46. 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
Short-short story
Epigram
Burlesque
Didactic literature
47. A work of didactic literature that aims to influence the reader on a specific social or political issue.
Aphorism
Anecdote
Propaganda
Drama
48. A serious play that ends unhappily for the protagonist.
Essay
Tragedy
Novella
Primitivist literature
49. A short play based on a biblical story.
Aphorism
Burlesque
Tragedy
Mystery play
50. A story about a heroic figure derived from oral tradition and based partly on fact and partly on fiction.
Memoir
Ode
Legend
Didactic literature