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






2. 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.






3. 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).






4. Any composition not written in verse.






5. 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.






6. 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.






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






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






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






11. 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.






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






13. 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






14. 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.






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






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






17. 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.






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






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






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






21. 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.






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






23. A short play based on a biblical story.






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






25. 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






26. A genre of fiction that presents an imagined future society that purports to be perfect and utopian but that the author presents to the reader as horrifyingly inhuman.






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






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






29. Fiction that is set in an alternative reality






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






31. Fiction that concerns the nature of fiction itself - either by reinterpreting a previous fictional work or by drawing attention to its own fictional status.






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






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






34. Originally - a realistic novel detailing a scoundrel's exploits. The term grew to refer more generally to any novel with a loosely structured - episodic plot that revolves around the adventures of a central character.






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






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






37. 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.






38. 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.






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






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






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






42. 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






43. 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.






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






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






47. A narrative work that reports true events.






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. 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.






50. 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.