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






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






3. 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






4. 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.






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






6. 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.






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






8. 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






9. 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






10. A narrative work that reports true events.






11. 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.






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






13. 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.






14. 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).






15. 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.






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






17. 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.






18. 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.






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






20. A play written in the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries that presents an allegory of the Christian struggle for salvation.






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






22. 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.






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






24. A short play based on a biblical story.






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






26. 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.






27. Any composition not written in verse.






28. A play from the Middle Ages featuring saints or miraculous appearances by the Virgin Mary.






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






30. 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.






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






32. A fictional prose narrative of significant length.






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






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






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






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






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






38. 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.






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






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






41. 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.






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






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






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






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






46. 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






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






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






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






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