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






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






3. 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.






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






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






6. 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.






7. 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.






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






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






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






11. A narrative work that reports true events.






12. 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.






13. 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






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






15. 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).






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






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






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






19. A short play based on a biblical story.






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






21. 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.






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






23. 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.






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






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






26. Fiction that is set in an alternative reality






27. 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.






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






29. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.






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






31. 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.






32. 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.






33. 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.






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






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






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






37. 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.






38. 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






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






40. 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.






41. 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






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






43. 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.






44. 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






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






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






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






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






49. 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.






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