Test your basic knowledge |

CSET Literature - 2

Subjects : cset, literature
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • 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. An allegorical story designed to suggest a principle - illustrate a moral - or answer a question.






2. An author's account of his or her own life.






3. A folk poem that tells a story - uses simple language - and originally was written to be sung.






4. The point of highest interest in a novel - short story - or play in terms of the conflict - the point with the most action - or the turning point for the protagonist.






5. Narrative - dramatic - lyric






6. A story in which people - things - and events have another meaning. (Orwell's Animal Farm) - Explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken - Conveys meaning through use of symbolic figures - actions - and symbolic representation - Extended






7. The implications of a word or phrase - as opposed to its exact meaning (denotation).






8. A figure of speech using indirection to avoid offensive bluntness - such as 'deceased' for dead or 'remains' for corpse.






9. Encompasses works written in verse - perhaps with a meter and rhyme scheme - and uses written language in a pattern that is sung - chanted - or spoken to emphasize the relationships between words and ideas on the basis of sound as well as meaning. Th






10. Writing that seeks to arouse a reader's disapproval of an object by ridicule.- Usually comedy that exposes errors with an eye to correcting vice and folly.- Social criticism using wit. (Examples can be found in the novels of Charles Dickens - Mark Tw






11. Understand the meaning of all the words in the poem - especially words you think you know but which don't seem to fit in the context of the poem. - Understand the grammar of the poem. - Beware of skewed word order (i.e. a direct object before the sub






12. Normally the point of highest interest in a novel - short story - or play. As a technical term of dramatic composition - the climax is the place where the action reaches a turning point - where the rising action (the complication of the plot) ends -






13. The background to a story; the physical location of a story - play - or novel. - The setting of a narrative will normally involve both time and place.






14. A statement that seems to be self - contradicting but - in fact - is true. (The figure in a Donne sonnet that concludes 'I shall never be chaste except you ravish me' is a good example of the device.)






15. Shorter novels are called ___________






16. A technique that uses clues to suggest events that have not yet occurred - Often used to create suspense and thus make a story more interesting






17. A reference in a work of literature to something outside the work - especially to a well - known historical or literary event - person - or work. (In Hamlet - when Horatio says - 'ere the mightiest Julius fell -' the allusion is to the death of Juliu






18. An accurate history of a single person.






19. A literary form - such as an essay - novel - of poem - Within genres like the poem - there are also more specific genres based upon content (love poem - nature poem) or form (sonnet - ode).






20. Type of folk tale - Presented as entirely fictional pieces - Often begin with a formulaic opening line - such as 'Once upon a time...' or 'In a certain country there once lived...' - Recurring plots: supernatural adventures and mishaps of youngest da






21. Think about: The parts/structural divisions of the poem and how they are related to each other - The punctuation - Repetitions (i.e. parallel syntax or the use of a simile in each sentence) - The logic of the poem. Does it ask questions and then answ






22. The main thought expressed by a work.






23. The special language of a profession or group - The term usually has pejorative associations - with the implication that it is evasive - tedious - and unintelligible to outsiders.






24. Word choice; any word/detail that is important to the meaning and effect of the writing.






25. Fairy tales - legends of all types - animal folk tales - fables - tall tales - and humorous anecdotes






26. A technique in which the narrative moves to a time prior to that of the main story - Can make a story more interesting by giving it depth






27. A combination of opposites; the union of contradictory terms. (Romeo's line 'feather of lead - bright smoke - cold fire - sick health' contains four examples of the device.)






28. The management of language for a specific effect - In a poem - the planned pacing of elements to acheive an effect. Example: the rhetorical strategy of most love poems is deployed to convince the loved one to return the speaker's love. By appealing t






29. The introduction of setting - main characters - and conflict.






30. A figure of speech in which intent and actual meaning differ - characteristically praise for blame or blame for praise; a pattern of words that turns away from direct statement of its own obvious meaning. The term irony implies a discrepancy. In verb






31. A figurative use of language that endows nonhumans (ideas - inanimate objects - animals - abstractions) with human characteristics.






32. A figure of speech in which something is described as though it were something else. A figurative use of language in which a comparison is expressed without the use of a comparative term 'as -' 'like -' or 'than.' - 'The black bat night' rather than






33. Not figurative; accurate to the letter; matter of fact or concrete.






34. Any of several possible vantage points from which a story is told - May be omniscient - limited to that of a single character - or limited to that of several characters - as well as other possibilities. - The teller may use the first person and/or th






35. Exposition - Rising action - Climax - Falling action - Denoument/resolution






36. The event or events that allow the protagonist to make his or her commitment to a course of action as the conflict intensifies; the complication of the plot.






37. The dictionary meaning of a word - as opposed to connotation.






38. The images of a literary work; the sensory details of a work; the figurative language of a work. Imagery has several definitions - but the two that are paramount are the visual - auditory - or tactile images evoked by the words of a literary work and






39. Type of folk tale - Abound in every culture - In most cases - the animal characters are clearly anthropomorphic and display human personalities






40. 10 syllables in each line -5 pairs of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables - The rhythm in each line sounds like: ba - BUM / ba - BUM / ba - BUM / ba - BUM / ba - BUM - Used (though not invented) by Shakespeare






41. The devices used in effective or persuasive language - Most common examples include contrast - repetitions - paradox - understatement - sarcasm - and rhetorical question.






42. Deliberate exaggeration for effect; overstatement.Self - conscious - without the intention of being accepted literally.'The whole world's problems are on my shoulders.'






43. Evoke events of a time long past - Generally concern the adventures and misadventures of gods - giants - heroes - nymphs - satyrs - and larger - than - life villains - all entities that reside outside of ordinary human existence yet are entwined in o






44. Writing that uses figures of speech (as opposed to literal language or that which is actual or specifically denoted) - such as metaphors - similes - and irony. Uses words to mean something other than their literal meaning. 'The black bat night has fl






45. A figurative use of language in which a comparison is expressed without the use of a comparative term like as - like - or than. Ex: 'The black bat night.'






46. Condensed story ranging in length from 2000-10000 words - most often with a singular/limited purpose - Made up of elements such as plot - character - setting - point of view - and theme - Often based on common dramatic structure






47. What is the dramatic situation? What is the structure of the poem? What is the theme of the poem? Is the meaning clear? What is the tone of the poem? What are the important images and figures of speech?






48. The ordinary form of spoken or written language - without metrical structure - as distinguished from poetry or verse






49. A play with a serious content and an unhappy ending. (Shakespeare's Hamlet - Miller's Death of a Salesman.)






50. The actual definition of the word. Not figurative; accurate to the letter; matter of fact or concrete.'Winter's end' is the end of winter.