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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.
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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 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






2. 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.






3. 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.






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






5. 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.






6. 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.






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






8. 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.






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






10. 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).






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






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






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






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






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






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






17. 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.






18. 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






19. 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.






20. 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.






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






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






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






24. 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.






25. A short play based on a biblical story.






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






27. 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






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






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






30. 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.






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






32. 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.






33. Any composition not written in verse.






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






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






36. 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






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






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






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






40. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






46. 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






47. 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






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






49. Fiction that is set in an alternative reality






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