Test your basic knowledge |

CSET Literature - 2

Subjects : cset, 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. The background to a story; the physical location of a story - play - or novel. - The setting of a narrative will normally involve both time and place.






2. A literary form - such as an essay - novel - of poem - Within genres like the poem - there are also more specific genres based upon content (love poem - nature poem) or form (sonnet - ode).






3. The vantage point of a story in which the narrator can know - see - and report whatever he or she chooses. The narrator is free to describe the thoughts of any of the characters - to skip about in time or place - or to speak directly to the reader.






4. Writing that uses figures of speech (as opposed to literal language or that which is actual or specifically denoted) - such as metaphors - similes - and irony. Uses words to mean something other than their literal meaning. 'The black bat night has fl






5. Shorter novels are called ___________






6. A figurative use of language that endows nonhumans (ideas - inanimate objects - animals - abstractions) with human characteristics.






7. What is the dramatic situation? What is the structure of the poem? What is the theme of the poem? Is the meaning clear? What is the tone of the poem? What are the important images and figures of speech?






8. A figure of speech using indirection to avoid offensive bluntness - such as 'deceased' for dead or 'remains' for corpse.






9. The dictionary meaning of a word - as opposed to connotation.






10. A statement that seems to be self - contradicting but - in fact - is true. (The figure in a Donne sonnet that concludes 'I shall never be chaste except you ravish me' is a good example of the device.)






11. A fictional narrative in prose of considerable length. Shorter works are called novellas - and even shorter ones are called short stories.






12. An author's account of his or her own life.






13. Can mean the mood or atmosphere of a work or a manner of speaking - but its most common use as a term of literary analysis is to denote the inferred attitude of an author - Author's attitude may be different from that of the speaker (usually the case






14. Encompasses works written in verse - perhaps with a meter and rhyme scheme - and uses written language in a pattern that is sung - chanted - or spoken to emphasize the relationships between words and ideas on the basis of sound as well as meaning. Th






15. The management of language for a specific effect - In a poem - the planned pacing of elements to acheive an effect. Example: the rhetorical strategy of most love poems is deployed to convince the loved one to return the speaker's love. By appealing t






16. The manner in which an author expresses his or her attitude; the intonation of the voice that expresses meaning. - Described by adjectives - May change from chapter to chapter or even line to line - May be the result of allusion - diction - figurativ






17. A technique that uses clues to suggest events that have not yet occurred - Often used to create suspense and thus make a story more interesting






18. Not figurative; accurate to the letter; matter of fact or concrete.






19. The methods involved in telling a story; the procedures used by a writer of stories or accounts - A general term that asks you to discuss the procedures used in the telling of a story. - Examples of techniques used are point of view - manipulation of






20. Writing that seeks to arouse a reader's disapproval of an object by ridicule.- Usually comedy that exposes errors with an eye to correcting vice and folly.- Social criticism using wit. (Examples can be found in the novels of Charles Dickens - Mark Tw






21. Usually concrete objects or images that represent abstract ideas; something that is simultaneously itself and a sign of something else. For example - winter - darkness - and cold are real things - but in literature they are also likely to be used as






22. A folk poem that tells a story - uses simple language - and originally was written to be sung.






23. Any of several possible vantage points from which a story is told - May be omniscient - limited to that of a single character - or limited to that of several characters - as well as other possibilities. - The teller may use the first person and/or th






24. A figure of speech in which intent and actual meaning differ - characteristically praise for blame and blame for praise; the use of words to suggest the opposite of their intended meaning. A pattern of words that turns away from direct statement of i






25. Sometimes Shakespeare added an extra unstressed beat at the end of a line to emphasize a character's sense of contemplation (___________) - To BE - / or NOT / to BE: / that IS / the QUES- / - tion






26. A directly expressed comparison; a figure of speech comparing two objects usually with 'like -' 'as -' or 'than.' It is easier to recognize than a metaphor because the comparison is explicit. 'My love is like a fever.'






27. Fairy tales - legends of all types - animal folk tales - fables - tall tales - and humorous anecdotes






28. Understand the meaning of all the words in the poem - especially words you think you know but which don't seem to fit in the context of the poem. - Understand the grammar of the poem. - Beware of skewed word order (i.e. a direct object before the sub






29. An allegorical story designed to suggest a principle - illustrate a moral - or answer a question.






30. A speaker's authors - or character's disposition toward or opinion of a subject. (Hamlet's attitude toward Gertrude is a mixture of affection and revulsion - changing from one to the other within a single scene.)






31. Deliberate exaggeration for effect; overstatement.Self - conscious - without the intention of being accepted literally.'The whole world's problems are on my shoulders.'






32. The implications of a word or phrase - as opposed to its exact meaning (denotation).






33. An accurate history of a single person.






34. A speech in which a character who is alone speaks his or her thoughts aloud (Hamlet's 'To be - or not to be' and 'O! What a rogue and peasant slave am I') - A monologue also has a single speaker - but the monologuist speaks to others who do not inter






35. The arrangement of materials within a work; the relationship of the parts of a work to the whole; the logical divisions of a work. - The most common principles are series (A - B - C - D - E) - contrast (A vs. B - C vs. D - E vs. A) and repetition (AA






36. A composition that imitates the style of another composition - normally for comic effect.






37. Songlike; characterized by emotion - subjectivity - and imagination.






38. Condensed story ranging in length from 2000-10000 words - most often with a singular/limited purpose - Made up of elements such as plot - character - setting - point of view - and theme - Often based on common dramatic structure






39. The actual definition of the word. Not figurative; accurate to the letter; matter of fact or concrete.'Winter's end' is the end of winter.






40. Hero/heroine - One of the main characters of a literary work - Usually in conflict with the antagonist (villain)






41. A play with a serious content and an unhappy ending. (Shakespeare's Hamlet - Miller's Death of a Salesman.)






42. 10 syllables in each line -5 pairs of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables - The rhythm in each line sounds like: ba - BUM / ba - BUM / ba - BUM / ba - BUM / ba - BUM - Used (though not invented) by Shakespeare






43. Exposition - Rising action - Climax - Falling action - Denoument/resolution






44. The repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more words or syllables.






45. The event or events that allow the protagonist to make his or her commitment to a course of action as the conflict intensifies; the complication of the plot.






46. Deliberate exaggeration - overstatement. As a rule - hyperbole is self - conscious - w/o intention of being accepted literally. 'The strongest man in the world' and 'a diamond as big as the Ritz' are hyperbolic.






47. Type of folk tale - Abound in every culture - In most cases - the animal characters are clearly anthropomorphic and display human personalities






48. Think about: The parts/structural divisions of the poem and how they are related to each other - The punctuation - Repetitions (i.e. parallel syntax or the use of a simile in each sentence) - The logic of the poem. Does it ask questions and then answ






49. A reference in a work of literature to something outside the work - especially to a well - known historical or literary event - person - or work. (In Hamlet - when Horatio says - 'ere the mightiest Julius fell -' the allusion is to the death of Juliu






50. The introduction of setting - main characters - and conflict.