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Test your basic knowledge |
CLEP Common Literary Forms And Genres
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Subjects
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clep
,
literature
Instructions:
Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
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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 short narrative that illustrates a moral by means of allegory.
Allegory
Prose
Parable
Noh drama
2. A fiction genre - popularized in the 1940s - with a cynical - disillusioned - loner protagonist.
Legend
Epistolary novel
Ode
Noir
3. The nonfictional story of a person's life. James Boswell's Life of Johnson is one of the most celebrated examples.
Historical novel
Tragedy
Fiction
Biography
4. A story about a heroic figure derived from oral tradition and based partly on fact and partly on fiction.
Epistolary novel
Legend
Elegy
Propaganda
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
Pastiche
Fiction
Epistolary novel
Comedy
6. A particularly compressed and truncated short story. They are rarely longer than 1 -000 words.
Myth
Short-short story
Prose
Dystopic literature
7. 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.
Short-short story
Science fiction
Propaganda
Novel of ideas
8. A serious play that ends unhappily for the protagonist.
Autobiographical novel
Biography
Allegory
Tragedy
9. 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
Elegy
Pastoral
Burlesque
Dramatic monologue
10. Fiction that concerns the nature of fiction itself - either by reinterpreting a previous fictional work or by drawing attention to its own fictional status.
Metafiction
Autobiography
Soliloquy
Lyric
11. A short prose or verse narrative - such as those by Aesop - that illustrates a moral - which often is stated explicitly at the end.
Prose poem
Fable
Epic
Autobiography
12. A play from the Middle Ages featuring saints or miraculous appearances by the Virgin Mary.
Novella
Pastiche
Miracle play
Romance
13. Traditionally - a folk song telling a story or legend in simple language - often with a refrain.
Ballad
Myth
Historical novel
Comedy
14. 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.
Morality play
Eclogue
Dramatic monologue
Comedy
15. A short poetic composition that describes the thoughts of a single speaker.
Pastoral
Lyric
Soliloquy
Picaresque novel
16. 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.
Comedy
Dystopic literature
Social protest novel
Verse novel
17. A lighthearted play characterized by humor and a happy ending.
Tragicomedy
Metafiction
Comedy
Novel of manners
18. 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
Epigram
Epistolary novel
Myth
19. 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.
Aphorism
Didactic literature
Short story
Pastoral
20. A romance that describes the adventures of medieval knights and celebrates their strict code of honor - loyalty - and respectful devotion to women.
Chivalric romance
Short story
Autobiography
Legend
21. Literature intended to instruct or educate. For example - Virgil's Georgics contains farming advice in verse form.
Satire
Didactic literature
Allegory
Essay
22. 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.
Dirge
Metafiction
Comedy
Biography
23. The nonfictional story of a person's life - told by that person.
Drama
Tragedy
Autobiography
Bildungsroman
24. A play written in the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries that presents an allegory of the Christian struggle for salvation.
Morality play
Didactic literature
Parody
Miracle play
25. A play consisting of a single act - without intermission and running usually less than an hour.
One-act play
Confessional poetry
Soliloquy
Parody
26. A short play based on a biblical story.
Mystery play
Pastoral
Morality play
Satire
27. 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
Allegory
One-act play
Didactic literature
Epigram
28. 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
Epic
Memoir
Tragedy
Novel of ideas
29. Bertolt Brecht's Marxist approach to theater - which rejects emotional and psychological engagement in favor of critical detachment.
Epic theater
Drama
Novel
Noh drama
30. 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
Morality play
Elegy
Pastoral
Parable
31. A form of high-energy comedy that plays on confusions and deceptions between characters and features a convoluted and fast-paced plot.
Comedy
Problem play
Aphorism
Farce
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.
Satire
Tragedy
Miracle play
Parody
33. A narrative work that reports true events.
Epistolary novel
Mystery play
Parody
Nonfiction
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.
Mystery play
Verse novel
Myth
Primitivist literature
35. A novel set in an earlier historical period that features a plot shaped by the historical circumstances of that period.
Confessional poetry
Historical novel
Prose poem
Epigram
36. 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.
Fable
Novel of ideas
Pastiche
Picaresque novel
37. A play that confronts a contemporary social problem with the intent of changing public opinion on the matter.
Farce
Confessional poetry
Problem play
Epistolary novel
38. A composition that is meant to be performed. The term often is used interchangeably with play.
Propaganda
Noir
Autobiography
Drama
39. The brief narration of a single event or incident.
Black comedy
Anecdote
Problem play
Parody
40. 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.
Play
Mystery play
Elegy
Allegory
41. A work of didactic literature that aims to influence the reader on a specific social or political issue.
Anecdote
Nonfiction
Propaganda
Tragedy
42. A short pastoral poem in the form of a dialogue between two shepherds. Virgil's Eclogues is the most famous example of this genre.
Burlesque
Dystopic literature
Parody
Eclogue
43. 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.
Soliloquy
Drama
Play
Allegory
44. 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.
Aphorism
Noh drama
Black comedy
Historical novel
45. A nonrealistic story - in verse or prose - that features idealized characters - improbable adventures - and exotic settings.
One-act play
Didactic literature
Romance
Epic theater
46. 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
Romance
Tragicomedy
Social protest novel
Confessional poetry
47. 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
Dirge
Novel
Dramatic monologue
48. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.
Tragedy
Novel
Nonfiction
Primitivist literature
49. An invented narrative - as opposed to one that reports true events.
Memoir
Comedy
Fiction
Allegory
50. A form of nonfictional discussion or argument that Michel de Montaigne pioneered in the 1500s.
Memoir
Tragedy
Essay
Soliloquy
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