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Test your basic knowledge |
CLEP Common Literary Forms And Genres
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Subjects
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clep
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literature
Instructions:
Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
If you are not ready to take this test, you can
study here
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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 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
Didactic literature
Ode
Burlesque
One-act play
2. 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.
Myth
Novella
Verse novel
Epic theater
3. A work of didactic literature that aims to influence the reader on a specific social or political issue.
Propaganda
Prose poem
Parable
Romance
4. A short prose or verse narrative - such as those by Aesop - that illustrates a moral - which often is stated explicitly at the end.
Bildungsroman
One-act play
Pastoral
Fable
5. Any composition not written in verse.
Historical novel
Prose
Ode
Novel
6. 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
Romance
Picaresque novel
Parody
7. The nonfictional story of a person's life. James Boswell's Life of Johnson is one of the most celebrated examples.
Verse novel
Biography
Dramatic monologue
Mystery play
8. A humorous and often satirical imitation of the style or particular work of another author.
Chivalric romance
One-act play
Miracle play
Parody
9. A play such as Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale that mixes elements of tragedy and comedy.
Tragicomedy
Historical novel
Short story
Nonfiction
10. A play from the Middle Ages featuring saints or miraculous appearances by the Virgin Mary.
Mystery play
Miracle play
Prose
Satire
11. Bertolt Brecht's Marxist approach to theater - which rejects emotional and psychological engagement in favor of critical detachment.
Epic theater
Novel of ideas
Novel of manners
Social protest novel
12. A short play based on a biblical story.
Legend
Primitivist literature
Mystery play
Social protest novel
13. A particularly compressed and truncated short story. They are rarely longer than 1 -000 words.
Comedy
Miracle play
Memoir
Short-short story
14. 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.
Mystery play
Historical novel
Autobiographical novel
Legend
15. A nonrealistic story - in verse or prose - that features idealized characters - improbable adventures - and exotic settings.
Novella
Noir
Epic theater
Romance
16. A celebration of the simple - rustic life of shepherds and shepherdesses - usually written by a sophisticated - urban writer.
Burlesque
Aphorism
Pastoral
Elegy
17. The nonfictional story of a person's life - told by that person.
Didactic literature
Autobiography
Black comedy
Novel
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.
Metafiction
Picaresque novel
Eclogue
Autobiography
19. 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
Dirge
Metafiction
Comedy
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.
Primitivist literature
Elegy
Comedy
Play
21. 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.
Short story
Autobiography
Noir
Didactic literature
22. 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
Social protest novel
Tragedy
Pastiche
Mystery play
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.
Aphorism
Verse novel
Eclogue
Fable
24. A play that confronts a contemporary social problem with the intent of changing public opinion on the matter.
Science fiction
Dystopic literature
Romance
Problem play
25. A composition that is meant to be performed. The term often is used interchangeably with play.
Historical novel
Drama
Fable
Comedy
26. 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.
Primitivist literature
Myth
Autobiographical novel
Novel of ideas
27. Fiction that is set in an alternative reality
Problem play
Bildungsroman
Ballad
Science fiction
28. An invented narrative - as opposed to one that reports true events.
Fiction
Lyric
Noir
Dirge
29. 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
Burlesque
Didactic literature
Elegy
30. 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
Drama
Social protest novel
Fiction
Allegory
31. Fiction that concerns the nature of fiction itself - either by reinterpreting a previous fictional work or by drawing attention to its own fictional status.
Legend
Metafiction
Problem play
Allegory
32. A succinct - witty statement - often in verse. For example - William Wordsworth's observation 'The child is the father of the man.'
Pastiche
Short story
Anecdote
Epigram
33. 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.
Allegory
Fable
Novel of manners
Dystopic literature
34. A novel set in an earlier historical period that features a plot shaped by the historical circumstances of that period.
Mystery play
Historical novel
Fable
Metafiction
35. A narrative work that reports true events.
Primitivist literature
Novel
Nonfiction
Noh drama
36. Literature intended to instruct or educate. For example - Virgil's Georgics contains farming advice in verse form.
Ode
Epigram
Noir
Didactic literature
37. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.
Novel
Allegory
Prose
Autobiographical novel
38. A lighthearted play characterized by humor and a happy ending.
Novel of manners
Essay
Epistolary novel
Comedy
39. 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.
Memoir
Satire
Soliloquy
Verse novel
40. 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.
Didactic literature
Dirge
Noir
Epic
41. 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
Myth
Burlesque
Mystery play
42. 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.
Didactic literature
Picaresque novel
Ballad
Epistolary novel
43. A short narrative that illustrates a moral by means of allegory.
Epigram
Morality play
Metafiction
Parable
44. 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.
Legend
Prose poem
Novel of ideas
Parody
45. An autobiographical poetic genre in which the poet discusses intensely personal subject matter with unusual frankness.
Essay
Science fiction
Confessional poetry
Picaresque novel
46. A fiction genre - popularized in the 1940s - with a cynical - disillusioned - loner protagonist.
Parody
Aphorism
Noir
Verse novel
47. 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).
Confessional poetry
Dystopic literature
Aphorism
Science fiction
48. 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.
Miracle play
Propaganda
Parable
Memoir
49. A work of fiction of middle length - often divided into a few short chapters - such as Henry James's Daisy Miller.
Novella
Aphorism
Lyric
Autobiography
50. A short poetic composition that describes the thoughts of a single speaker.
Social protest novel
Chivalric romance
Lyric
Legend