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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. 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.






2. 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.






3. 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.)






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






5. 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






6. An accurate history of a single person.






7. 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.






8. 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






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






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






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






12. The main thought expressed by a work.






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. 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






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






16. Can mean the mood or atmosphere of a work or a manner of speaking - but its most common use as a term of literary analysis is to denote the inferred attitude of an author - Author's attitude may be different from that of the speaker (usually the case






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






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






19. Poetry that is not rhymed and does not have a regular metrical pattern but is still more rhythmic than most prose.






20. 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






21. Narrative - dramatic - lyric






22. The manner in which an author expresses his or her attitude; the intonation of the voice that expresses meaning. - Described by adjectives - May change from chapter to chapter or even line to line - May be the result of allusion - diction - figurativ






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






24. 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.)






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






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






27. A speaker's authors - or character's disposition toward or opinion of a subject. (Hamlet's attitude toward Gertrude is a mixture of affection and revulsion - changing from one to the other within a single scene.)






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






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






30. Songlike; characterized by emotion - subjectivity - and imagination.






31. 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






32. The methods involved in telling a story; the procedures used by a writer of stories or accounts - A general term that asks you to discuss the procedures used in the telling of a story. - Examples of techniques used are point of view - manipulation of






33. WHO is the speaker? Or who are the speakers? Male or female? WHERE is s/he? - WHEN does this poem take place? - WHAT are the circumstances?






34. A directly expressed comparison; a figure of speech comparing two objects usually with 'like -' 'as -' or 'than.' It is easier to recognize than a metaphor because the comparison is explicit. 'My love is like a fever.'






35. 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






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






37. The arrangement of materials within a work; the relationship of the parts of a work to the whole; the logical divisions of a work. - The most common principles are series (A - B - C - D - E) - contrast (A vs. B - C vs. D - E vs. A) and repetition (AA






38. 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






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






40. Look for: - Important literal sensory objects and images? - The similes and metaphors of the poem. In each - exactly what is being compared to what? - A pattern in the images - such as a series of comparisons - Also be able to discriminate between th






41. 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






42. The point when the conflict is resolved - remaining loose ends are tied up - and a moral is intimated or stated directly.






43. 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






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






45. 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






46. 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






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






48. 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






49. 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.






50. 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