Test your basic knowledge |

CLEP Common Literary Forms And Genres

Subjects : clep, literature
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • 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






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






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






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






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






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






7. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.






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.






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






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.






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






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






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






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.






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






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.






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.






18. A narrative work that reports true events.






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






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






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






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






23. A short play based on a biblical story.






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.






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.






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






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






28. Any composition not written in verse.






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






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






31. An invented narrative - as opposed to one that reports true events.






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






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.






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






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.






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






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.






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






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






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.






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






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






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.






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.






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






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






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






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.






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