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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 that tells a nonfictional - autobiographical story but uses novelistic techniques - such as fictionalized dialogue or anecdotes - to add color - immediacy - or thematic unity.






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






3. 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.






4. 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.






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






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






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






8. 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.






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






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






11. 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.






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






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






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






15. 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.






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






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






18. 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.






19. 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.






20. 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.






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






22. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






28. 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






29. A narrative work that reports true events.






30. 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






31. 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.






32. 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).






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






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






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






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






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






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






39. Fiction that is set in an alternative reality






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






41. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.






42. A short play based on a biblical story.






43. 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.






44. 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






45. 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.






46. 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.






47. Any composition not written in verse.






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






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






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