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CLEP Common Literary Forms And Genres

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. 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.






2. A lighthearted play characterized by humor and a happy ending.






3. 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.






4. 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.






5. 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






6. A poetic work that features the strong rhythms of free versebut is presented on the page in the form of prose - without line breaks.






7. A play that confronts a contemporary social problem with the intent of changing public opinion on the matter.






8. 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.






9. A work of fiction of middle length - often divided into a few short chapters - such as Henry James's Daisy Miller.






10. 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).






11. A short prose or verse narrative - such as those by Aesop - that illustrates a moral - which often is stated explicitly at the end.






12. An autobiographical poetic genre in which the poet discusses intensely personal subject matter with unusual frankness.






13. A full-length fictional work that is novelistic in nature but written in verse rather than prose. Examples include Aleksandr Pushkin's Eugene Onegin and Vikram Seth's The Golden Gate.






14. 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.






15. A short narrative that illustrates a moral by means of allegory.






16. A fiction genre - popularized in the 1940s - with a cynical - disillusioned - loner protagonist.






17. A form of nonfictional discussion or argument that Michel de Montaigne pioneered in the 1500s.






18. 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.






19. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.






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






21. Fiction that is set in an alternative reality






22. 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.






23. A short poetic composition that describes the thoughts of a single speaker.






24. 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






25. 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.






26. The nonfictional story of a person's life. James Boswell's Life of Johnson is one of the most celebrated examples.






27. A humorous and often satirical imitation of the style or particular work of another author.






28. A particularly compressed and truncated short story. They are rarely longer than 1 -000 words.






29. Any composition not written in verse.






30. 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






31. Literature intended to instruct or educate. For example - Virgil's Georgics contains farming advice in verse form.






32. A play written in the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries that presents an allegory of the Christian struggle for salvation.






33. A celebration of the simple - rustic life of shepherds and shepherdesses - usually written by a sophisticated - urban writer.






34. 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.






35. 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.






36. A story about a heroic figure derived from oral tradition and based partly on fact and partly on fiction.






37. A story about the origins of a culture's beliefs and practices - or of supernatural phenomena - usually derived from oral tradition and set in an imagined supernatural past.






38. 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






39. A ritualized form of Japanese drama that evolved in the 1300s involving masks and slow - stylized movement.






40. A serious play that ends unhappily for the protagonist.






41. A novel in which the author's aim is to tell a story that illuminates and draws attention to contemporary social problems with the goal of inciting change for the better. Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin - which exposed the horrors of Africa






42. The nonfictional story of a person's life - told by that person.






43. Bertolt Brecht's Marxist approach to theater - which rejects emotional and psychological engagement in favor of critical detachment.






44. A narrative work that reports true events.






45. A short play based on a biblical story.






46. A play from the Middle Ages featuring saints or miraculous appearances by the Virgin Mary.






47. Traditionally - a folk song telling a story or legend in simple language - often with a refrain.






48. 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.






49. The brief narration of a single event or incident.






50. A work of didactic literature that aims to influence the reader on a specific social or political issue.






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