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Test your basic knowledge |
CLEP Common Literary Forms And Genres
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Subjects
:
clep
,
literature
Instructions:
Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
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study here
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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 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
Burlesque
Allegory
Problem play
2. A short prose or verse narrative - such as those by Aesop - that illustrates a moral - which often is stated explicitly at the end.
Allegory
Anecdote
Fable
Tragicomedy
3. A form of high-energy comedy that plays on confusions and deceptions between characters and features a convoluted and fast-paced plot.
Legend
Picaresque novel
Novella
Farce
4. A succinct - witty statement - often in verse. For example - William Wordsworth's observation 'The child is the father of the man.'
Didactic literature
Epigram
Chivalric romance
Eclogue
5. A ritualized form of Japanese drama that evolved in the 1300s involving masks and slow - stylized movement.
Dystopic literature
Play
Farce
Noh drama
6. A serious play that ends unhappily for the protagonist.
Science fiction
Tragedy
Mystery play
Pastiche
7. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.
Farce
Morality play
Noh drama
Novel
8. 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.
One-act play
Confessional poetry
Myth
Epistolary novel
9. Literature intended to instruct or educate. For example - Virgil's Georgics contains farming advice in verse form.
Pastoral
Essay
Didactic literature
Legend
10. 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.
One-act play
Parable
Soliloquy
Chivalric romance
11. A particularly compressed and truncated short story. They are rarely longer than 1 -000 words.
Short-short story
Historical novel
Novel of manners
Dystopic literature
12. A story about a heroic figure derived from oral tradition and based partly on fact and partly on fiction.
Legend
Novella
Short-short story
Romance
13. A play from the Middle Ages featuring saints or miraculous appearances by the Virgin Mary.
Miracle play
Tragicomedy
Lyric
Fable
14. 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.
Epigram
Pastiche
Dirge
Prose
15. A humorous and often satirical imitation of the style or particular work of another author.
Parody
Myth
Lyric
Black comedy
16. 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.
Mystery play
Short story
Autobiographical novel
Epigram
17. Fiction that concerns the nature of fiction itself - either by reinterpreting a previous fictional work or by drawing attention to its own fictional status.
Metafiction
Eclogue
Parable
Science fiction
18. A narrative work that reports true events.
Novella
Parody
Tragicomedy
Nonfiction
19. A nonrealistic story - in verse or prose - that features idealized characters - improbable adventures - and exotic settings.
Primitivist literature
Dystopic literature
Romance
Biography
20. The nonfictional story of a person's life. James Boswell's Life of Johnson is one of the most celebrated examples.
Black comedy
Parable
Biography
Burlesque
21. A form of nonfictional discussion or argument that Michel de Montaigne pioneered in the 1500s.
Essay
Morality play
Novel
Legend
22. A romance that describes the adventures of medieval knights and celebrates their strict code of honor - loyalty - and respectful devotion to women.
Chivalric romance
Prose poem
Mystery play
Epic
23. A short play based on a biblical story.
Metafiction
Mystery play
Primitivist literature
Ode
24. 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
Black comedy
Ode
Epic
25. 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
Allegory
Satire
Pastoral
26. A novel set in an earlier historical period that features a plot shaped by the historical circumstances of that period.
Romance
Historical novel
Eclogue
Epigram
27. The nonfictional story of a person's life - told by that person.
Epistolary novel
Dystopic literature
Autobiography
Autobiographical novel
28. Any composition not written in verse.
Dramatic monologue
Prose
Prose poem
Allegory
29. A short poetic composition that describes the thoughts of a single speaker.
Pastoral
Fiction
Lyric
Soliloquy
30. A play that confronts a contemporary social problem with the intent of changing public opinion on the matter.
Problem play
Parody
Fiction
Prose
31. An invented narrative - as opposed to one that reports true events.
Fiction
Dirge
Metafiction
Science fiction
32. A play consisting of a single act - without intermission and running usually less than an hour.
Satire
One-act play
Novel of manners
Science fiction
33. 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.
Pastiche
Satire
Black comedy
Mystery play
34. A serious lyric poem - often of significant length - that usually conforms to an elaborate metrical structure.
Confessional poetry
Myth
Ode
Autobiography
35. 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.
Dramatic monologue
Didactic literature
Parable
Satire
36. A celebration of the simple - rustic life of shepherds and shepherdesses - usually written by a sophisticated - urban writer.
Confessional poetry
Pastoral
Anecdote
Comedy
37. 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.
Lyric
Play
Pastoral
Novel of ideas
38. A work of fiction of middle length - often divided into a few short chapters - such as Henry James's Daisy Miller.
Epistolary novel
Novella
Novel of manners
Ode
39. 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
Dystopic literature
Tragedy
Epic
Pastiche
40. 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.
Tragedy
Comedy
Autobiographical novel
Bildungsroman
41. Bertolt Brecht's Marxist approach to theater - which rejects emotional and psychological engagement in favor of critical detachment.
Elegy
Epic theater
Drama
Noir
42. A composition that is meant to be performed. The term often is used interchangeably with play.
Burlesque
Farce
Drama
Mystery play
43. 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.
Primitivist literature
Tragedy
Bildungsroman
Comedy
44. 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.
Noh drama
Comedy
Novella
Play
45. 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.
Romance
Myth
Novel of manners
Memoir
46. 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
Dystopic literature
Novel of ideas
Legend
47. An autobiographical poetic genre in which the poet discusses intensely personal subject matter with unusual frankness.
Pastiche
Biography
Confessional poetry
Legend
48. 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
Allegory
Tragedy
Nonfiction
Aphorism
49. 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.
Novel of manners
Novel
Chivalric romance
Short story
50. A lighthearted play characterized by humor and a happy ending.
Ode
Essay
Novel of manners
Comedy