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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 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.






2. 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.






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






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






5. A succinct - witty statement - often in verse. For example - William Wordsworth's observation 'The child is the father of the man.'






6. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.






7. 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.






8. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






16. 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






17. 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.






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






19. 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






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






21. A novel set in an earlier historical period that features a plot shaped by the historical circumstances of that period.






22. 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.






23. A composition that is meant to be performed. The term often is used interchangeably with play.






24. A play such as Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale that mixes elements of tragedy and comedy.






25. 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.






26. 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.






27. 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.






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






29. A serious lyric poem - often of significant length - that usually conforms to an elaborate metrical structure.






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






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






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






33. 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.






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






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






36. A form of high-energy comedy that plays on confusions and deceptions between characters and features a convoluted and fast-paced plot.






37. A nonrealistic story - in verse or prose - that features idealized characters - improbable adventures - and exotic settings.






38. 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).






39. 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.






40. 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.






41. A romance that describes the adventures of medieval knights and celebrates their strict code of honor - loyalty - and respectful devotion to women.






42. A play consisting of a single act - without intermission and running usually less than an hour.






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






44. 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






45. 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.






46. A short pastoral poem in the form of a dialogue between two shepherds. Virgil's Eclogues is the most famous example of this genre.






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






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






49. 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






50. 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