SUBJECTS
|
BROWSE
|
CAREER CENTER
|
POPULAR
|
JOIN
|
LOGIN
Business Skills
|
Soft Skills
|
Basic Literacy
|
Certifications
About
|
Help
|
Privacy
|
Terms
|
Email
Search
Test your basic knowledge |
CLEP Common Literary Forms And Genres
Start Test
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. The nonfictional story of a person's life - told by that person.
Tragedy
Autobiography
Aphorism
Farce
2. A serious play that ends unhappily for the protagonist.
Social protest novel
Mystery play
Tragedy
Biography
3. A play written in the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries that presents an allegory of the Christian struggle for salvation.
Morality play
Epic
Novella
Autobiographical novel
4. A short narrative that illustrates a moral by means of allegory.
Fiction
Parable
Anecdote
Miracle play
5. A poetic work that features the strong rhythms of free versebut is presented on the page in the form of prose - without line breaks.
Memoir
Primitivist literature
Autobiographical novel
Prose poem
6. 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.
Autobiographical novel
Prose
Mystery play
Problem play
7. A particularly compressed and truncated short story. They are rarely longer than 1 -000 words.
Picaresque novel
Legend
Short-short story
Epistolary novel
8. 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
Pastiche
Romance
Epic
Verse novel
9. A play such as Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale that mixes elements of tragedy and comedy.
Tragicomedy
Dystopic literature
Memoir
Pastoral
10. A novel set in an earlier historical period that features a plot shaped by the historical circumstances of that period.
Historical novel
Morality play
Satire
Propaganda
11. 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.
Burlesque
Didactic literature
Propaganda
Myth
12. 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.
Bildungsroman
Parable
Epigram
Lyric
13. Any composition not written in verse.
Parody
Fable
Prose
Legend
14. Bertolt Brecht's Marxist approach to theater - which rejects emotional and psychological engagement in favor of critical detachment.
Myth
Fable
Epic theater
Autobiography
15. 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.
Primitivist literature
Short story
Parable
Eclogue
16. 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.
Dramatic monologue
Noh drama
Propaganda
Essay
17. Traditionally - a folk song telling a story or legend in simple language - often with a refrain.
Tragicomedy
Ballad
Noir
Anecdote
18. 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
Social protest novel
Short-short story
Prose poem
Soliloquy
19. A short prose or verse narrative - such as those by Aesop - that illustrates a moral - which often is stated explicitly at the end.
Myth
Didactic literature
Burlesque
Fable
20. A play that confronts a contemporary social problem with the intent of changing public opinion on the matter.
Myth
Satire
Problem play
Miracle play
21. The brief narration of a single event or incident.
Allegory
Autobiographical novel
Anecdote
One-act play
22. A work of fiction of middle length - often divided into a few short chapters - such as Henry James's Daisy Miller.
Novella
Lyric
Prose
Essay
23. 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
Elegy
Fable
Noir
Morality play
24. A short pastoral poem in the form of a dialogue between two shepherds. Virgil's Eclogues is the most famous example of this genre.
Short-short story
Eclogue
Didactic literature
Anecdote
25. 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.
Verse novel
Science fiction
Black comedy
Social protest novel
26. A play from the Middle Ages featuring saints or miraculous appearances by the Virgin Mary.
Miracle play
Ballad
Dramatic monologue
Picaresque novel
27. A romance that describes the adventures of medieval knights and celebrates their strict code of honor - loyalty - and respectful devotion to women.
Chivalric romance
Novel of manners
Tragedy
Satire
28. A succinct - witty statement - often in verse. For example - William Wordsworth's observation 'The child is the father of the man.'
Parody
Epigram
Metafiction
Prose
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.
Parable
Novel
Primitivist literature
Metafiction
30. An autobiographical poetic genre in which the poet discusses intensely personal subject matter with unusual frankness.
Allegory
Didactic literature
Confessional poetry
Epic theater
31. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.
Epic
Play
Novel
Romance
32. 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.
Anecdote
Dirge
Historical novel
Novel of manners
33. 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.
Short-short story
Memoir
Myth
Ballad
34. A story about a heroic figure derived from oral tradition and based partly on fact and partly on fiction.
Noh drama
Novel
Legend
Novella
35. The nonfictional story of a person's life. James Boswell's Life of Johnson is one of the most celebrated examples.
Historical novel
Biography
Nonfiction
Dirge
36. 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.
Drama
Metafiction
Morality play
Play
37. Fiction that concerns the nature of fiction itself - either by reinterpreting a previous fictional work or by drawing attention to its own fictional status.
Allegory
Didactic literature
Metafiction
Miracle play
38. A composition that is meant to be performed. The term often is used interchangeably with play.
Short-short story
Drama
Propaganda
Social protest novel
39. 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
Metafiction
Black comedy
Pastoral
Burlesque
40. A fiction genre - popularized in the 1940s - with a cynical - disillusioned - loner protagonist.
Bildungsroman
Soliloquy
Noir
Verse novel
41. Literature intended to instruct or educate. For example - Virgil's Georgics contains farming advice in verse form.
Picaresque novel
Aphorism
Romance
Didactic literature
42. A lighthearted play characterized by humor and a happy ending.
Comedy
Farce
Drama
Aphorism
43. A short poetic composition that describes the thoughts of a single speaker.
Ballad
Social protest novel
Lyric
Epistolary novel
44. 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).
Aphorism
Autobiographical novel
Dramatic monologue
Memoir
45. A form of high-energy comedy that plays on confusions and deceptions between characters and features a convoluted and fast-paced plot.
Myth
Noir
Farce
Soliloquy
46. 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.
Myth
Elegy
Chivalric romance
Picaresque novel
47. 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.
Novel of ideas
Verse novel
Autobiography
Fiction
48. 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
Parable
Tragedy
Lyric
Allegory
49. A work of didactic literature that aims to influence the reader on a specific social or political issue.
Bildungsroman
Pastoral
Propaganda
Noir
50. 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
Ballad
Morality play
Epic
Elegy