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






2. 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






3. 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






4. 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






5. 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.)






6. 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.






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






8. A fictional narrative in prose of considerable length. Shorter works are called novellas - and even shorter ones are called short stories.






9. 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






10. A form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a conclusion is drawn from them. - Begins with a major premise ('All tragedies end unhappily') followed by a minor premise ('Hamlet is a tragedy') and a conclusion ('Therefore - Hamlet ends unh






11. 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).






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






13. 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 -






14. Be able to see the point of the poem - Define what the poem says and why. i.e. A love poem usually praises the loved one in the hope that the speaker's love will be returned.






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






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






17. The interrelated actions of a play or a novel that move to a climax and a final resolution.






18. 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






19. 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






20. 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






21. 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.






22. The vantage point of a story in which the narrator can know - see - and report whatever he or she chooses. The narrator is free to describe the thoughts of any of the characters - to skip about in time or place - or to speak directly to the reader.






23. 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.






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






25. A figure of speech in which intent and actual meaning differ - characteristically praise for blame and blame for praise; the use of words to suggest the opposite of their intended meaning. A pattern of words that turns away from direct statement of i






26. A fictional narrative in prose of considerable length - Styles include picaresque - epistolary - gothic - romantic - realist - and historical ren have mastered the mechanics of reading - between ages 9 and 12 - they are prepared to sustain the more d






27. 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






28. 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






29. The events that follow from the protagonist's action in the climax.






30. Prose narratives that follow traditional storylines that arise from oral traditions in histories - As old as language - Adapt from culture to culture - Original author is never known - Arise through the process of recombining traditional elements (mo






31. Deliberate exaggeration - overstatement. As a rule - hyperbole is self - conscious - w/o intention of being accepted literally. 'The strongest man in the world' and 'a diamond as big as the Ritz' are hyperbolic.






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






33. 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






34. An allegorical story designed to suggest a principle - illustrate a moral - or answer a question.






35. The theme - meaning - or position that a writer undertakes to prove or support.






36. A speech in which a character who is alone speaks his or her thoughts aloud (Hamlet's 'To be - or not to be' and 'O! What a rogue and peasant slave am I') - A monologue also has a single speaker - but the monologuist speaks to others who do not inter






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






38. A device of style or subject matter so often used that it becomes a recognized means of expression.(A lover observing the literary love conventions cannot eat or sleep and grows pale and lean.)






39. Usually concrete objects or images that represent abstract ideas; something that is simultaneously itself and a sign of something else. For example - winter - darkness - and cold are real things - but in literature they are also likely to be used as






40. The images - sensory details - and figurative language of a literary work; words or phrases that appeal to the senses. The visual - auditory - or tactile images evoked by the words of a literary work and the images that figurative language evokes.'Th






41. A question asked for effect - not in expectation of a reply. No reply is expected because the question presupposes only one possible answer.






42. Shorter novels are called ___________






43. A comparison of similar traits between dissimilar things in order to highlight a point of similarity. 'We scored a touchdown on the educational assistance plan.'






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






45. An accurate history of a single person.






46. A figurative use of language that endows nonhumans (ideas - inanimate objects - animals - abstractions) with human characteristics. 'The angry sea crashed against the wall.'






47. Sometimes Shakespeare added an extra unstressed beat at the end of a line to emphasize a character's sense of contemplation (___________) - To BE - / or NOT / to BE: / that IS / the QUES- / - tion






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






49. The repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more words or syllables.






50. 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. Figurative Language uses words to mean something other than their literal meaning. 'The bl