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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. 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.
One-act play
Morality play
Epic
Black comedy
2. 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).
Science fiction
Satire
Tragicomedy
Aphorism
3. 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
Fable
Soliloquy
Mystery play
4. 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.
Noir
Dirge
Novel of ideas
Nonfiction
5. A narrative work that reports true events.
One-act play
Nonfiction
Noh drama
Morality play
6. A romance that describes the adventures of medieval knights and celebrates their strict code of honor - loyalty - and respectful devotion to women.
Black comedy
Problem play
Chivalric romance
Science fiction
7. A short play based on a biblical story.
Myth
Memoir
Metafiction
Mystery play
8. A humorous and often satirical imitation of the style or particular work of another author.
Eclogue
Play
Noh drama
Parody
9. 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
Picaresque novel
Short story
Elegy
Nonfiction
10. A work of fiction of middle length - often divided into a few short chapters - such as Henry James's Daisy Miller.
Bildungsroman
Picaresque novel
Novella
Epic
11. 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.
Farce
Epistolary novel
Romance
Noir
12. Any composition not written in verse.
Prose
Romance
Drama
Historical novel
13. A serious play that ends unhappily for the protagonist.
Science fiction
Autobiographical novel
Fiction
Tragedy
14. 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
Satire
Short-short story
Miracle play
15. A succinct - witty statement - often in verse. For example - William Wordsworth's observation 'The child is the father of the man.'
Soliloquy
Aphorism
Epigram
Play
16. A lighthearted play characterized by humor and a happy ending.
Noir
Epistolary novel
Comedy
Allegory
17. Traditionally - a folk song telling a story or legend in simple language - often with a refrain.
Novella
Ballad
Black comedy
Confessional poetry
18. 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.
Picaresque novel
Play
Eclogue
Autobiographical novel
19. 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.
Primitivist literature
Fable
Metafiction
Novel of ideas
20. 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.
Historical novel
Soliloquy
Epic theater
Anecdote
21. A story about a heroic figure derived from oral tradition and based partly on fact and partly on fiction.
Tragicomedy
Legend
Lyric
Epigram
22. The brief narration of a single event or incident.
Picaresque novel
Propaganda
Anecdote
Tragedy
23. 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.
Pastiche
Drama
Fable
Verse novel
24. A serious lyric poem - often of significant length - that usually conforms to an elaborate metrical structure.
Dramatic monologue
Ode
Aphorism
Noir
25. A fiction genre - popularized in the 1940s - with a cynical - disillusioned - loner protagonist.
Noir
Miracle play
Eclogue
Prose
26. A play such as Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale that mixes elements of tragedy and comedy.
Tragicomedy
Elegy
Nonfiction
Myth
27. A ritualized form of Japanese drama that evolved in the 1300s involving masks and slow - stylized movement.
Play
Tragicomedy
Allegory
Noh drama
28. 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
Play
Epigram
Elegy
29. A celebration of the simple - rustic life of shepherds and shepherdesses - usually written by a sophisticated - urban writer.
Legend
Epic theater
Dirge
Pastoral
30. A play from the Middle Ages featuring saints or miraculous appearances by the Virgin Mary.
Miracle play
Prose
Bildungsroman
Myth
31. A play that confronts a contemporary social problem with the intent of changing public opinion on the matter.
Romance
Pastiche
Novel of manners
Problem play
32. 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.
Autobiographical novel
Fable
Satire
Autobiography
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.
Allegory
Farce
Eclogue
Dramatic monologue
34. 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.
Essay
Satire
Problem play
Play
35. A nonrealistic story - in verse or prose - that features idealized characters - improbable adventures - and exotic settings.
Romance
Bildungsroman
Black comedy
Historical novel
36. 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.
Satire
Bildungsroman
Dramatic monologue
Novella
37. 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
Primitivist literature
Bildungsroman
Fiction
38. A poetic work that features the strong rhythms of free versebut is presented on the page in the form of prose - without line breaks.
Problem play
Elegy
Prose poem
Parody
39. A particularly compressed and truncated short story. They are rarely longer than 1 -000 words.
Play
Noir
Novella
Short-short story
40. 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.
Eclogue
Primitivist literature
Parable
Memoir
41. The nonfictional story of a person's life - told by that person.
Aphorism
Didactic literature
Noh drama
Autobiography
42. 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
Didactic literature
Miracle play
Social protest novel
Biography
43. 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.
Lyric
Novel of manners
Short-short story
Metafiction
44. Literature intended to instruct or educate. For example - Virgil's Georgics contains farming advice in verse form.
Didactic literature
Romance
Legend
Tragedy
45. A form of nonfictional discussion or argument that Michel de Montaigne pioneered in the 1500s.
Mystery play
Fiction
Essay
Science fiction
46. Fiction that is set in an alternative reality
Aphorism
Epigram
Noh drama
Science fiction
47. An invented narrative - as opposed to one that reports true events.
Morality play
Dirge
Fiction
Noir
48. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.
Didactic literature
Romance
Mystery play
Novel
49. 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
Propaganda
Drama
Myth
Allegory
50. 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
Lyric
Noir
Problem play
Pastiche