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Test your basic knowledge |
CLEP Common Literary Forms And Genres
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Study First
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 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.
Epistolary novel
Epic theater
Verse novel
Ballad
2. A work of didactic literature that aims to influence the reader on a specific social or political issue.
Didactic literature
Morality play
Ballad
Propaganda
3. Fiction that is set in an alternative reality
Science fiction
Novel of ideas
Novel of manners
Tragicomedy
4. 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.
Dystopic literature
Eclogue
Myth
Tragicomedy
5. 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.
Burlesque
Mystery play
Tragedy
Verse novel
6. Bertolt Brecht's Marxist approach to theater - which rejects emotional and psychological engagement in favor of critical detachment.
Epic theater
Romance
Aphorism
Parody
7. 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
Epic
Science fiction
Satire
Burlesque
8. 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
Ode
Elegy
Epigram
Romance
9. A work of fiction of middle length - often divided into a few short chapters - such as Henry James's Daisy Miller.
Miracle play
Epic
Novella
Chivalric romance
10. A nonrealistic story - in verse or prose - that features idealized characters - improbable adventures - and exotic settings.
Epic theater
Memoir
One-act play
Romance
11. A succinct - witty statement - often in verse. For example - William Wordsworth's observation 'The child is the father of the man.'
Memoir
Farce
Epigram
Morality play
12. 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.
Lyric
Social protest novel
Short story
Chivalric romance
13. A serious play that ends unhappily for the protagonist.
Primitivist literature
Ode
Tragedy
Miracle play
14. A humorous and often satirical imitation of the style or particular work of another author.
Parody
Dirge
Didactic literature
Social protest novel
15. 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.
Black comedy
Epigram
Soliloquy
Confessional poetry
16. A play from the Middle Ages featuring saints or miraculous appearances by the Virgin Mary.
Morality play
Epistolary novel
Nonfiction
Miracle play
17. The brief narration of a single event or incident.
Epic theater
Novel
Elegy
Anecdote
18. 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
Metafiction
Mystery play
Pastiche
Noir
19. A short prose or verse narrative - such as those by Aesop - that illustrates a moral - which often is stated explicitly at the end.
Romance
Fable
Metafiction
Burlesque
20. 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.
Black comedy
Dramatic monologue
Soliloquy
Aphorism
21. 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
Burlesque
Memoir
Prose
Soliloquy
22. 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.
Novel
Novel of manners
Primitivist literature
Noh drama
23. 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.
Novel of ideas
Miracle play
Memoir
Science fiction
24. Any composition not written in verse.
Romance
Drama
Pastiche
Prose
25. A play such as Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale that mixes elements of tragedy and comedy.
Tragicomedy
Tragedy
Fable
Short-short story
26. Traditionally - a folk song telling a story or legend in simple language - often with a refrain.
Aphorism
Fiction
Ballad
Social protest novel
27. A ritualized form of Japanese drama that evolved in the 1300s involving masks and slow - stylized movement.
Eclogue
Noh drama
Burlesque
Picaresque novel
28. A serious lyric poem - often of significant length - that usually conforms to an elaborate metrical structure.
Legend
Lyric
Ode
Parable
29. The nonfictional story of a person's life - told by that person.
Autobiography
Epic
Dirge
Prose poem
30. 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.
Dystopic literature
Autobiography
Pastoral
Morality play
31. A short poetic composition that describes the thoughts of a single speaker.
Black comedy
Epic
Lyric
Ode
32. A short pastoral poem in the form of a dialogue between two shepherds. Virgil's Eclogues is the most famous example of this genre.
Confessional poetry
Eclogue
Comedy
Prose
33. A play consisting of a single act - without intermission and running usually less than an hour.
Soliloquy
One-act play
Novel of manners
Farce
34. A form of high-energy comedy that plays on confusions and deceptions between characters and features a convoluted and fast-paced plot.
Epic
Aphorism
Farce
Prose poem
35. A play that confronts a contemporary social problem with the intent of changing public opinion on the matter.
Problem play
Aphorism
Eclogue
Prose
36. 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.
Black comedy
Drama
Burlesque
Verse novel
37. 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
Allegory
Ode
Pastiche
Parody
38. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.
Fable
Novel
Primitivist literature
Parody
39. A form of nonfictional discussion or argument that Michel de Montaigne pioneered in the 1500s.
Autobiographical novel
Essay
Dystopic literature
Anecdote
40. 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.
Confessional poetry
Tragicomedy
Picaresque novel
Chivalric romance
41. 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).
Drama
Legend
Noir
Aphorism
42. A poetic work that features the strong rhythms of free versebut is presented on the page in the form of prose - without line breaks.
Prose poem
Aphorism
Romance
Pastiche
43. A composition that is meant to be performed. The term often is used interchangeably with play.
Drama
Propaganda
Epistolary novel
Tragedy
44. 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.
Chivalric romance
Mystery play
Memoir
Farce
45. A lighthearted play characterized by humor and a happy ending.
Metafiction
Drama
Comedy
Fiction
46. 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.
One-act play
Noh drama
Novel
Dirge
47. A novel set in an earlier historical period that features a plot shaped by the historical circumstances of that period.
Mystery play
Historical novel
Autobiographical novel
Short-short story
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.
Metafiction
Novel
Epistolary novel
Autobiographical novel
49. A narrative work that reports true events.
Aphorism
Nonfiction
Novella
Short story
50. A celebration of the simple - rustic life of shepherds and shepherdesses - usually written by a sophisticated - urban writer.
Pastoral
Metafiction
Play
Epic theater