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






2. Poetry that is not rhymed and does not have a regular metrical pattern but is still more rhythmic than most prose.






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






4. A figure of speech in which something is described as though it were something else. A figurative use of language in which a comparison is expressed without the use of a comparative term 'as -' 'like -' or 'than.' - 'The black bat night' rather than






5. 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.)






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






7. 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






8. 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






9. 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






10. The ordinary form of spoken or written language - without metrical structure - as distinguished from poetry or verse






11. A figurative use of language in which a comparison is expressed without the use of a comparative term like as - like - or than. Ex: 'The black bat night.'






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






13. A figurative use of language that endows nonhumans (ideas - inanimate objects - animals - abstractions) with human characteristics. 'The angry sea crashed against the wall.'






14. 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






15. The special language of a profession or group - The term usually has pejorative associations - with the implication that it is evasive - tedious - and unintelligible to outsiders.






16. The interrelated actions of a play or a novel that move to a climax and a final resolution.






17. 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.)






18. 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






19. 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






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






21. Look for: - Important literal sensory objects and images? - The similes and metaphors of the poem. In each - exactly what is being compared to what? - A pattern in the images - such as a series of comparisons - Also be able to discriminate between th






22. WHO is the speaker? Or who are the speakers? Male or female? WHERE is s/he? - WHEN does this poem take place? - WHAT are the circumstances?






23. The main thought expressed by a work.






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






25. A comparison of similar traits between dissimilar things in order to highlight a point of similarity. 'We scored a touchdown on the educational assistance plan.'






26. 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






27. The theme - meaning - or position that a writer undertakes to prove or support.






28. 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.






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






30. A form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a conclusion is drawn from them. - Begins with a major premise ('All tragedies end unhappily') followed by a minor premise ('Hamlet is a tragedy') and a conclusion ('Therefore - Hamlet ends unh






31. 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






32. A figure of speech in which intent and actual meaning differ - characteristically praise for blame or blame for praise; a pattern of words that turns away from direct statement of its own obvious meaning. The term irony implies a discrepancy. In verb






33. Be able to see the point of the poem - Define what the poem says and why. i.e. A love poem usually praises the loved one in the hope that the speaker's love will be returned.






34. 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






35. 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






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






37. A question asked for effect - not in expectation of a reply. No reply is expected because the question presupposes only one possible answer.






38. A combination of opposites; the union of contradictory terms. (Romeo's line 'feather of lead - bright smoke - cold fire - sick health' contains four examples of the device.)






39. The devices used in effective or persuasive language - Most common examples include contrast - repetitions - paradox - understatement - sarcasm - and rhetorical question.






40. 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.






41. A technique in which the narrative moves to a time prior to that of the main story - Can make a story more interesting by giving it depth






42. Type of folk tale - Narratives that often include creation stories and explain tribal beginnings - May incorporate supernatural beings or quasi - historical figures (e.g. King Arthur - Lady Godiva) - Told and retold as if they are based on facts; alw






43. The point when the conflict is resolved - remaining loose ends are tied up - and a moral is intimated or stated directly.






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






45. 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. Figurative Language uses words to mean something other than their literal meaning. 'The bl






46. Narrative - dramatic - lyric






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






48. A device of style or subject matter so often used that it becomes a recognized means of expression.(A lover observing the literary love conventions cannot eat or sleep and grows pale and lean.)






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






50. 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).