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






2. Fiction that is set in an alternative reality






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






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






5. 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.






6. Any composition not written in verse.






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






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






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






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






11. 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.






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






13. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






23. 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.






24. A short play based on a biblical story.






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






26. 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






27. A narrative work that reports true events.






28. 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.






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






30. 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.






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






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






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






35. 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






36. 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.






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






38. 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.






39. 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.






40. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.






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






42. 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.






43. 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.






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






45. 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






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






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






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






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






50. 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