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Test your basic knowledge |
CLEP Common Literary Forms And Genres
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Study First
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. Any composition not written in verse.
Black comedy
Mystery play
Dystopic literature
Prose
2. A poetic work that features the strong rhythms of free versebut is presented on the page in the form of prose - without line breaks.
Black comedy
Lyric
Prose poem
Dystopic literature
3. A nonrealistic story - in verse or prose - that features idealized characters - improbable adventures - and exotic settings.
Fable
Romance
One-act play
Legend
4. A play written in the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries that presents an allegory of the Christian struggle for salvation.
Nonfiction
Social protest novel
Satire
Morality play
5. 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.
Didactic literature
Pastoral
Epistolary novel
Epic
6. A succinct - witty statement - often in verse. For example - William Wordsworth's observation 'The child is the father of the man.'
Didactic literature
Epigram
Epistolary novel
Chivalric romance
7. A play from the Middle Ages featuring saints or miraculous appearances by the Virgin Mary.
Miracle play
Ballad
Social protest novel
Burlesque
8. Bertolt Brecht's Marxist approach to theater - which rejects emotional and psychological engagement in favor of critical detachment.
Epic theater
Short-short story
Autobiographical novel
Black comedy
9. A short prose or verse narrative - such as those by Aesop - that illustrates a moral - which often is stated explicitly at the end.
Dramatic monologue
Comedy
Fable
Novel of ideas
10. A romance that describes the adventures of medieval knights and celebrates their strict code of honor - loyalty - and respectful devotion to women.
Chivalric romance
Dramatic monologue
Comedy
Anecdote
11. 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
Tragicomedy
Science fiction
Pastiche
Memoir
12. 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.
Novel
Anecdote
Epistolary novel
Autobiographical novel
13. 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
Verse novel
Epic
Tragicomedy
Anecdote
14. 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.
Elegy
Aphorism
Short story
Dramatic monologue
15. 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.
Confessional poetry
Play
Metafiction
Novel
16. 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
Aphorism
Dirge
Noir
17. 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.
Prose
Novel of ideas
Autobiography
Novella
18. The nonfictional story of a person's life. James Boswell's Life of Johnson is one of the most celebrated examples.
One-act play
Biography
Epic
Chivalric romance
19. 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
Novel
Lyric
Social protest novel
Novel of manners
20. 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.
Problem play
Eclogue
Novel of manners
Fable
21. Literature intended to instruct or educate. For example - Virgil's Georgics contains farming advice in verse form.
Comedy
Didactic literature
Miracle play
Pastiche
22. A ritualized form of Japanese drama that evolved in the 1300s involving masks and slow - stylized movement.
Noir
Ode
Bildungsroman
Noh drama
23. 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.
Myth
Confessional poetry
Elegy
Short-short story
24. A lighthearted play characterized by humor and a happy ending.
Picaresque novel
Prose poem
Comedy
Miracle play
25. Fiction that is set in an alternative reality
Science fiction
Dirge
Novel of manners
Play
26. A narrative work that reports true events.
Eclogue
Verse novel
Short story
Nonfiction
27. 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).
Legend
Biography
Aphorism
Mystery play
28. 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.
Dirge
Dramatic monologue
Legend
Lyric
29. A composition that is meant to be performed. The term often is used interchangeably with play.
Allegory
Drama
Dirge
Myth
30. 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
Aphorism
Parody
Anecdote
31. 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.
Black comedy
Historical novel
Primitivist literature
Aphorism
32. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.
Allegory
Parable
Novel
Tragedy
33. A fiction genre - popularized in the 1940s - with a cynical - disillusioned - loner protagonist.
Didactic literature
Noir
Verse novel
Parable
34. A form of high-energy comedy that plays on confusions and deceptions between characters and features a convoluted and fast-paced plot.
Tragicomedy
Epistolary novel
Farce
Novel of manners
35. 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.
Biography
Dramatic monologue
Verse novel
Autobiographical novel
36. 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.
Verse novel
Dirge
Biography
Bildungsroman
37. A short narrative that illustrates a moral by means of allegory.
Historical novel
Novel
Parable
Metafiction
38. 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.
Morality play
Bildungsroman
Satire
Memoir
39. The nonfictional story of a person's life - told by that person.
Novel of manners
Autobiography
Picaresque novel
Novel of ideas
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.
Short story
Picaresque novel
Novella
Autobiography
41. A form of nonfictional discussion or argument that Michel de Montaigne pioneered in the 1500s.
Essay
Pastiche
Autobiographical novel
Historical novel
42. An invented narrative - as opposed to one that reports true events.
Parody
Propaganda
Fiction
Lyric
43. A work of didactic literature that aims to influence the reader on a specific social or political issue.
Romance
Propaganda
Burlesque
Fiction
44. A novel set in an earlier historical period that features a plot shaped by the historical circumstances of that period.
Propaganda
Fiction
Short-short story
Historical novel
45. A work of fiction of middle length - often divided into a few short chapters - such as Henry James's Daisy Miller.
Myth
Novella
Confessional poetry
Epic theater
46. A short poetic composition that describes the thoughts of a single speaker.
Noir
Picaresque novel
Lyric
Autobiography
47. An autobiographical poetic genre in which the poet discusses intensely personal subject matter with unusual frankness.
Memoir
Didactic literature
Novel
Confessional poetry
48. 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
Metafiction
Science fiction
Social protest novel
49. 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.
Pastiche
Memoir
Burlesque
Romance
50. Traditionally - a folk song telling a story or legend in simple language - often with a refrain.
Ballad
Epistolary novel
Problem play
Black comedy