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Test your basic knowledge |
CLEP Common Literary Forms And Genres
Start Test
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. A celebration of the simple - rustic life of shepherds and shepherdesses - usually written by a sophisticated - urban writer.
Fable
Legend
Novella
Pastoral
2. Bertolt Brecht's Marxist approach to theater - which rejects emotional and psychological engagement in favor of critical detachment.
Epic theater
Confessional poetry
Epigram
Allegory
3. Fiction that is set in an alternative reality
Drama
Epistolary novel
Verse novel
Science fiction
4. Any composition not written in verse.
Prose
Metafiction
Prose poem
Farce
5. 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.
Short story
Myth
Epigram
Social protest novel
6. 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).
Short story
Aphorism
Comedy
Ode
7. A form of high-energy comedy that plays on confusions and deceptions between characters and features a convoluted and fast-paced plot.
Science fiction
One-act play
Farce
Novel of manners
8. 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
Nonfiction
Pastoral
Allegory
Miracle play
9. 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.
Short-short story
Social protest novel
Bildungsroman
Lyric
10. A fiction genre - popularized in the 1940s - with a cynical - disillusioned - loner protagonist.
Ballad
Noir
Burlesque
Biography
11. A particularly compressed and truncated short story. They are rarely longer than 1 -000 words.
Epistolary novel
Legend
Pastiche
Short-short story
12. A novel set in an earlier historical period that features a plot shaped by the historical circumstances of that period.
One-act play
Historical novel
Biography
Romance
13. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.
Bildungsroman
Fable
Novel
Problem play
14. A story about a heroic figure derived from oral tradition and based partly on fact and partly on fiction.
Propaganda
Legend
Novel of ideas
Black comedy
15. A short play based on a biblical story.
Short-short story
Mystery play
Didactic literature
Elegy
16. 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
Picaresque novel
Miracle play
Novella
17. A romance that describes the adventures of medieval knights and celebrates their strict code of honor - loyalty - and respectful devotion to women.
Pastoral
Chivalric romance
Bildungsroman
Prose
18. The nonfictional story of a person's life. James Boswell's Life of Johnson is one of the most celebrated examples.
Epigram
Biography
Essay
Epistolary novel
19. A play from the Middle Ages featuring saints or miraculous appearances by the Virgin Mary.
Pastoral
Propaganda
Elegy
Miracle play
20. 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
Pastiche
Satire
One-act play
Black comedy
21. 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.
Soliloquy
Short story
Elegy
Epistolary novel
22. 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.
Chivalric romance
Bildungsroman
Drama
Play
23. 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.
Autobiographical novel
Romance
Problem play
Soliloquy
24. An invented narrative - as opposed to one that reports true events.
Prose
Memoir
Fiction
Pastiche
25. A lighthearted play characterized by humor and a happy ending.
Memoir
Comedy
Historical novel
Chivalric romance
26. 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.
Drama
Dramatic monologue
Anecdote
Novel of ideas
27. A play consisting of a single act - without intermission and running usually less than an hour.
One-act play
Farce
Noh drama
Burlesque
28. A play such as Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale that mixes elements of tragedy and comedy.
Verse novel
Fiction
Fable
Tragicomedy
29. 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.
Satire
Comedy
Black comedy
Picaresque novel
30. A serious lyric poem - often of significant length - that usually conforms to an elaborate metrical structure.
Ode
Picaresque novel
Prose
Pastiche
31. Traditionally - a folk song telling a story or legend in simple language - often with a refrain.
Pastiche
Pastoral
Ballad
Allegory
32. A form of nonfictional discussion or argument that Michel de Montaigne pioneered in the 1500s.
Verse novel
Picaresque novel
Essay
Bildungsroman
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
Aphorism
Burlesque
Primitivist literature
Fiction
34. A short prose or verse narrative - such as those by Aesop - that illustrates a moral - which often is stated explicitly at the end.
Epic theater
Eclogue
Ode
Fable
35. A serious play that ends unhappily for the protagonist.
Verse novel
Comedy
Tragedy
Novella
36. 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
Comedy
Epic theater
Chivalric romance
37. A succinct - witty statement - often in verse. For example - William Wordsworth's observation 'The child is the father of the man.'
Drama
Epigram
Epic
Aphorism
38. A short poetic composition that describes the thoughts of a single speaker.
Ballad
Lyric
Pastiche
Eclogue
39. 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
Biography
Nonfiction
Autobiographical novel
40. A composition that is meant to be performed. The term often is used interchangeably with play.
Black comedy
Nonfiction
Legend
Drama
41. A work of didactic literature that aims to influence the reader on a specific social or political issue.
Romance
Short-short story
Propaganda
Novel
42. A narrative work that reports true events.
Eclogue
Nonfiction
Comedy
Farce
43. A short pastoral poem in the form of a dialogue between two shepherds. Virgil's Eclogues is the most famous example of this genre.
Eclogue
Short story
Tragedy
Didactic literature
44. 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.
Ballad
Pastoral
Autobiographical novel
Novel
45. Literature intended to instruct or educate. For example - Virgil's Georgics contains farming advice in verse form.
Allegory
Didactic literature
Novel of ideas
Fiction
46. 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.
Dystopic literature
Satire
Historical novel
Verse novel
47. The nonfictional story of a person's life - told by that person.
Didactic literature
Historical novel
Autobiography
Farce
48. A humorous and often satirical imitation of the style or particular work of another author.
Pastoral
Parody
Play
Memoir
49. A nonrealistic story - in verse or prose - that features idealized characters - improbable adventures - and exotic settings.
Science fiction
Prose poem
Fiction
Romance
50. 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.
Ballad
Memoir
Problem play
Dramatic monologue