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CLEP American Literature

Subjects : clep, literature
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
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  • Match each statement with the correct term.
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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. Famous Poet and Novelist - 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'






2. Movement in the early part of the 20th Century where writers experimented with new themes such as fragmentation - stream of consciousness - and imagery.






3. Best-known and most influential early Naturalist. Rougon-Marcquart






4. Credited with creating: the modern short story and the detective novel - and the entire genre of mystery. Wrote 'The Philosophy of Composition' - 'The Raven' - 'Tell-Tale Heart -' 'The Cask of Amontillado -' and 'The Gold Bug.' (The first detective






5. Written by Michael Wigglesworth - the most famous poem of 17th Century - proceeds from judgement day to hell and then to paradise. First American Best Seller.






6. Southern Gothic writer. Creates stories that simultaneously shock readers and reflect her strong Catholic faith.

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7. Created the first American adventure story. First successful American novelist. 'Father of the American novel.' Very litigious - cranky and vain. Most famous for the 'Leatherstocking Tales': A series of five novels about the frontiersman - Natty Bump






8. First Black woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature. Novel focus on black cultural identity in contemporary America. Wrote 'The Bluest Eye -' 'Tar Baby -' and 'Beloved'






9. Characterized by: Ordinary Language - Free Verse - Concentrated Word Pictures - Very specific words and phrases - Advanced by Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell; also utilized by Robert Frost






10. Most prominent black leader of his day. Wrote 'Up From Slavery'






11. Pattern of five feet (groups of syllables) - each having one unstressed syllable and one stressed syllable.






12. (Colonial Period) 1. God is King and Ruler. 2. Our duty in this world is to see that God's will prevails.3. Man is depraved from birth. 4. Few will be saved. Damned are damned despite their best efforts. Belief in Covenant Theology : God's covenant w






13. Unrhymed poetry Captures natural rhythm of speech.






14. A false science that argued tat different human races possessed distinguishing traits that determined their particular behavior and achievement in society.






15. The Bard of Harlem; most successful black writer in America during the Harlem Renaissance. Wanted to capture the dominant oral traditions of black culture in written form. Best known for his poetry: 'The Weary Blues -' 'Fields of Wonder -' and 'The D






16. Written by Cottonn Mather - to justify the execution of 19 women during the Salem Witch Trials.






17. First Black female poet to win a Pulitzer. Best known for her poems 'The Bean Eaters' and 'We Real Cool.'






18. The beat or rhythm of a poem - created by a pattern of stressed an unstressed syllables.






19. Work did not have a political agenda. Wrote 'Their Eyes Were Watching God -' 'Mules and Men -' and 'Jonahs Gourd Vine.' Considered one of the key black writers of the 20th Century.






20. Literary movement of the 19th century that traced the effects of heredity and environment on people who ere helpless to change their situations. Also called Determinism for its belief in the effects of environment - heredity - and chance on human fat






21. An artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th Century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature - emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion and imagination - departure from the attitudes and forms of






22. Local Colorist Great Niece of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Wrote 'The Yellow Wallpaper'






23. Brief - musical poems that convey a speaker's feelings.






24. Produced a number of sketches - poems - and a one-act pay titled 'Cane.'






25. Wrote Catcher in the Rye






26. Friedrich Nitezche's belief in the 'will to power' as the primary force of society and the individual.






27. Ben Franklin paid his passage to America. First Pamphlet was Common Sense : credited with getting the colonists to see the 'advantage - necessity - and obligation' of breaking with Britain. Followed by a series of pamphlets - collectively called 'An






28. Coined the term 'Beat Generation' - Wrote 'On the Road' - All of his books are Autobiographical






29. Literary movement of the 19th century Presented the details of ordinary life in art. Realists rejected the heroic and adventurous and concentrated on pessimistic views of poverty - prostitution and pain. Reaction to Romanticism.






30. Wrote 'The Souls of Black Folk' - Founder of the NAACP






31. Wrote 'since feeling is first -' 'somewhere i have never traveled - gladly beyond -' and 'The Enormous Room' - Experimented with : form - punctuation - spelling - typography - grammar - imagery - rhythm - and syntax.






32. The idea that there is something different - unique and special about Americans.






33. A piece of literature intended to be performed in front of an audience.






34. New England local color writer - is known primarily for her two collections of stories. 'A Humble Romance' and 'A New England Nun'






35. Recluse - agoraphobic - Didn't title her poems. All are designated by numbers. Paved the way for the Imagist movement of the 1920s. Considered on of the founders of Modern American Poetry. Concrete imagery - forceful language - and unique style usher






36. Wrote 'Richard Cory' - Created poems dealing with historic myths and characters. Known primarily for short - ironic characteristics of ordinary individuals. Won 3 Pulitzers : 'Collected Poems -' 'The Man Who Died Twice -' and 'Tristram'






37. (Colonial Period) Stands in direct opposition to the principles - personalities and literary styles of William Bradford and John Winthrop. Did not come to settle the land and establish God's Kingdom - but to trade beaver pelts and live pleasantly. Es






38. All events follow natural laws.






39. Writings portray the lives of poor - oppressed black women in the early 1900s.






40. Confessional Poet - Wrote 'Lord Weary's Castle' and 'In Life Studies'






41. Applying the evolutionary 'survival of the fittest' concept to a world marked by struggle and competition. (Promulgated by Herbert Spencer - a best-selling sociologist of the late 19th Century.






42. Won 4 Pulitzers - Top 20th Century Poet - Wrote 'The Road Not Taken -' ' Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening -' and 'Mending Wall'






43. A pattern of stressed unstressed syllables that create a beat - as in music.






44. Unorthodox writers who hung around the bars and coffee houses of San Francisco's North Beach.






45. Won the Nobel Prize - Novels concentrate on the turmoil of modern Jewish life.






46. A 14-line poem with a set rhythm and rhyme scheme.






47. A single sheet of paper printed on one or both sides. 'The Dying Redcoat'






48. Wrote 'Songs of Jamaica' - Poetry and 'Harlem Shadows' (first great literary achievement of the Harlem Renaissance. Much of his poetry evokes the rich heritage of Jamaica.






49. Ranked as top American novelist - even though few of his contemporaries recognized his genius. Moby Dick is considered to be America's greatest prose epic. It is also top contender for best American novel. Wrote the first great romance about the Sout






50. Autobiography is considered the one of the greatest ever written. Wrote Poor Richard's Alamanac