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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 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






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






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






4. 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






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






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






7. 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.






8. Fiction that is set in an alternative reality






9. 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.






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






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






12. 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.






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






14. A short play based on a biblical story.






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






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






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






18. 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.






19. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






25. 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.






26. 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






27. 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.






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






29. 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.






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






31. A narrative work that reports true events.






32. 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.






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






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






35. 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.






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






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






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






39. 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.






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






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






42. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.






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






44. 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.






45. 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






46. 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.






47. Any composition not written in verse.






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






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






50. 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