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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 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. A short play based on a biblical story.






3. A fiction genre - popularized in the 1940s - with a cynical - disillusioned - loner protagonist.






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






5. 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






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






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






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






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






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






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






12. 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






13. 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.






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






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.






16. 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).






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






18. 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.






19. 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.






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






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






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






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






24. Any composition not written in verse.






25. 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.






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






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






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






29. 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.






30. Fiction that is set in an alternative reality






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






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






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






34. 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.






35. A narrative work that reports true events.






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






37. 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.






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






39. 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.






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






41. 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.






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






43. 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.






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






45. 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.






46. 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.






47. 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.






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






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






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