Drills Flashcards
1
Q
first emperor of China instituted the unified system of writing, legal system, ideological and
defense system
Ch’ in Dynasty contributed the greatest structure made by man – the
Great Wall of China.
A
Shih Huang-Ti
2
Q
Great Wall of China was built to keep away the invading Hsiung-nu from the north or the:
A
Huns
3
Q
China experienced its golden age during the:
A
Tang Dynasty
4
Q
national language of the Chinese, the Standard Mandarin, is based on the dialect of:
A
Peking
5
Q
common Chinese literary idiom unites the different dialects in the country.
A
wenyen
6
Q
Chinese create words by combining characters
A
100,000
7
Q
Book of History, Book of Songs, Book of Ritual, Book of Changes, and the Spring and Autumn
Annals
A
5 Classics
8
Q
The Analects, Book of Mencius, and the two chapters from the Book of Ritual (Doctrine of the Mean &
Great Learning)
A
4 Books
9
Q
shortest form of Chinese poetry, the chueh chu (“ cut short” ), is composed of:
A
4 lines
10
Q
lu shih which is composed of contrasted intonation in each pair of lines.
A
8 lines
11
Q
Chinese likewise have a free-verse type of poetry.
A
san ch’ u
12
Q
Japanese writing is an adaptation of
A
Chinese
13
Q
How old is Japanese literature?
A
1200 years old
14
Q
Japanese drama is the most austere and ceremonial. It uses slow-motion dancing and
creates a hypnotic effect
A
No
15
Q
flashier and more popular type of Japanese drama where all the characters are played by
men.
A
Kabuki
16
Q
oldest surviving Japanese book is the Record of Ancient Matters
A
Kojiki
17
Q
poetry is composed of 31 syllables grouped in 5-7-5-7-7 lines.
A
tanka
18
Q
masterpiece of all Japanese literature tells the story of a prince with irresistible appeal.
A
Tales of Genji
19
Q
Author of the Tale of Genji
A
Lady Murasaki Shikibu
20
Q
Considered to be the world’s first true novel
A
The Tale of Genji
21
Q
Japanese poetry, the “ linked verse” has alternating verses of 17 and 14 syllables (5-7-5 and 7-7).
A
renga
22
Q
most popular type of Japanese poetry has 17 syllables 5-7-5
A
haiku
23
Q
most famous haiku poet
A
Matsuo Bashō
24
Q
31-syllable “ mad poems”
A
tongka
25
17 syllable senryu is pungent, satirical and still popular in Japan
secret lives
25
frivolous, illustrated books used in school are the kibyoshi
blue covers
26
more serious and intellectual books in school are the yomihon
reading books
27
forms the bedrock of all Jewish literature.
Hebrew bible
28
giving of the 10 Commandments to the Jews
Exodus
29
Jewish religious leader taught the law and applied it to current situations.
rabbi
30
greatest flowering of Jewish literature took place during
Dark Ages
31
main tradition of Hebrew literature
liturgical
32
Sacred Jewish poetry
piyyut
33
encouraged the dispersed Jews from all over the world to go back to the “ promised land” after World War II.
Zionism
34
national language of the Hindu
Hindi
35
Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu’ s universal scripture, is a part of
Mahabharata
36
sruti or the divine scriptures, and the smriti or the human
works. The former is written wholly in:
Sanskrit
37
major sruti work is divided into:
4 books
38
Veda, which is the major sruti work, is composed of hymns for the gods, rituals, incantations and
spells. Veda means:
Wisdom
39
book details the sacrificial rites made for the Hindu gods
Brahmanas
40
book explains the meanings of Hindu concepts and ideas.
Upanishads
41
smriti literature, most common are the short and easy-to-memorize sutras
aphorisms
42
shastras are another smriti form of literature which is more lofty and intellectual. They are;
treatises
43
Veda is composed of many parts. The first part is the:
Rig Veda
44
most famous collection of Arabian stories is the Alf layla wa-layla otherwise known as the One
Thousand and One Nights
Arabian Nights
45
One of the simplest and oldest tales in The Thousand and one Nights is
“The Fisherman and the Jinnee."
46
1001 Nights stories:
- Alibaba
- Aladdin
- Sinbad
47
Sinbad’ s profession
sailor
48
magic words in the story of Ali Baba
Open Sesame
49
book represents the most perfect literary achievement in Arabic history
Koran
50
most famous writer of quatrains in the Arab world
Omar Khayyam
51
mystic poems of the Arabs
sufi
52
four-stanza love poem with a refrain
ghazal
53
“ Marco Polo of the Arabs” because of his travel exploits and writings
Ibn Batuta
54
1001 Nights was written by:
many authors
55
wrote the famous biography of Muhammed
Ibn Ishaq
56
author of “ The Prophet” :
Gibran
57
three Hindu gods (Brahma, Vishnu, Siva) collectively
Trimurti
58
earliest firsthand account of the English settlement of America was “ A Description of New
England.”
John Smith
59
led the Jamestown colony and wrote the famous story of the Indian maiden, Pocahontas.
Captain John Smith
60
American folktales, who planted all the apple trees in the US?
Johnny Appleseed
61
first book printed in America also contained some of the worst Puritan poetry.
Whole Book of Psalms Faithfully Translated into English Metre
Bay Psalm Book
62
perfect embodiment of the Enlightenment in America was
Benjamin Franklin
63
America's "first great man of letters,"
Benjamin Franklin
64
pseudonym Poor Richard or Richard Saunders in Poor Richard’s Almanack
Benjamin Franklin
65
Benjamin Franklin’ s most famous literary work
Poor Richard’ s Almanack
66
first comedy written in America was the “ Contrast” in 1787 by:
Royall Tyler
67
first American to make a living out of writing alone was:
Charles Brown
68
group of literary amateurs collaborated to produce political satires in the final decades of the
18th century?
Hartford Wits
69
pseudonym was Dietrich Knickerbocker, the inspiration of the Knickerbockers
Washington Irving
70
two best-remembered stories of Washington Irving
Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
71
“ Rip van Winkle” and “ Legend of Sleepy Hollow” were of which book?
The Sketch Book
72
character created by James Fenimore Cooper appeared in many of his works like “ Deerslayer” and “ The Last of the Mohicans” ?
Natty Bumppo
73
earliest of the American Romantics
Edgar Allan Poe
74
master of the macabre short story was:
Edgar Allan Poe
75
first detective story in the US was “ The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by:
Edgar Allan Poe
76
The Scarlet Letter by:
Nathaniel Hawthorne
77
“ Sage of Concord” and the spokesman for the New England Romantics was:
Ralph Waldo Emerson
78
Mahatma Gandhi’ s ideas on pacific resistance were influenced by whose work?
Henry David Thoreau
79
Thoreau’ s most influential essay was:
Civil Disobedience
80
He said that “ government is best which governs not at all”
Henry David Thoreau
81
Nathaniel Hawthorne’ s works reflected his puritanical obsession with sin and redemption.
The Scarlet Letter
82
In “ The Scarlet Letter” , Hester, who had an affair with the reverend, wears which letter emblazoned on her clothes?
A
83
Herman Melville wrote mostly about stories of the sea because:
he was once a sailor
84
Melville’ s “ Moby Dick” is acknowledged as the:
greatest book of the sea ever written
85
end of Moby Dick?
everybody drowns except the narrator, Ishmael
86
most influential book about slavery was “ Uncle Tom’ s Cabin” by:
Harriet Beecher Stowe
87
book indirectly caused the civil war?
Uncle Tom’ s Cabin
88
greatest poet of the 19th century was:
Walt Whitman
89
Known for his poem “ O Captain! My Captain!” , he was called the “ Seer of Democracy” and the “ Good Gray Poet” , and sometimes “ The Poet of America” .
Walt Whitman
90
recognized as an elegy on Abraham Lincoln’ s death.
O Captain! My Captain!
91
most natural lyricist America has ever produced was:
Dickinson
92
Mark Twain was a pseudonym for:
Samuel Langhorne Clemens
93
a master of colloquial American Speech, a shrewd observer of life, and a skilled raconteur
Mark Twain
94
America’ s greatest humorist and spokesman of the Wild West.
Samuel Clemens
95
Author of Tom Sawyer and Life on the Mississippi
Mark Twain
96
Tom Sawyer’ s best friend?
Huck Finn
97
story of two boys who looked alike and who decided to exchange lives is:
The Prince and the Pauper
98
Fables in Slang” is the most acute literary example of the language of the common American.
George Ade
99
Josh Billings, Petroleum Nasby, John Phoenix, Squibob and George Ade were humorists who
employed ridiculous spellings, deformed grammar, monstrous logic, puns and incongruous juxtaposition
of ideas in the 19th century. Among them was:
- David Ross
- Chales Farra
-Artemus Ward
100
the greatest American novel:
The Adventures of Huck Finn
101
“the only reason for the existence of the novel is that it does attempt to represent life” ?
Henry James
102
greatest horror story ever penned in America:
Turn of the Screw
103
Henry’ s brother who wrote “ Pragmatism” and “ Meaning of Truth” became an important
psychologist and philosopher.
William James
104
came out with the dictionary
Noah Webster
105
shocked readers with his detailed depictions of the brutal side of American life but was
considered as the most influential American novelist of the early 20th century:
Theodore Dreiser
106
first American poet to be widely read since Longfellow and Whitman
Robert Frost
107
Mending Wall & Birches author
Robert Frost
108
movement in the 20th century was founded by T.E. Hulme and believed in the idea that “poetry is no more nor less than a mosaic of words, so great exactness is required for each one”?
Imagist movement
109
poet supported fascism, was tried as a traitor, and adjudged as mentally insane
Ezra Pound
110
T.S. Eliot wrote the most important poem in modern literature
The Waste Land
111
most thorough pessimist and nihilist in modern American literature:
Robinson Jeffers
112
novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald bout a bootlegger’ s attempts to be accepted in Long Island society:
Great Gatsby
113
wrote about “ tough” people who were disillusioned, cynical and hopeless in “ For Whom the
Bell Tolls” , “ Old Man and the Sea” and “ The Sun Also Rises” .
Ernest Hemingway
114
''The poet’ s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars, to help him endure and prevail.''
William Faulkner
115
novel by Faulkner, which is his masterpiece, centers on a 33 year old retardate:
The Sound and the Fury
116
The book that summed up the despair of the 1930’ s was:
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
117
“ Gone With the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell has for its background
Civil War
118
The protagonists in “ Gone With the Wind” are:
Scarlet and Rhett
119
JD Salinger novel is about a citified Huck Finn?
Catcher in the Rye
120
first known black writer in the US was:
Lucy Terry
121
He was a high school English teacher when he sold his first novel “ Carrie”
King
122
author of “ Jurassic Park” and “ ER” is a licensed doctor:
Michael Crichton
123
all-time best selling young children’ s book is:
Charlotte’ s Web
124
best novel of the 20th century is by James Joyce. It is:
Ulysses
125
Lucy, Linus and Charlie Brown are characters created by:
Charles Shultz
126
“ Green Eggs and Ham” , “ The Cat in the Hat” and “ Are You My Mother?” are books by:
Dr. Seuss
127
principal source of early English history
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
128
The earliest English poet known by name was a monk named:
Caedmon
129
greatest English epic
Beowulf
130
King Hrothgar of Denmark invites which hero to slay the monster Grendel?
Beowulf
131
Who killed Beowulf?
A dragon
132
Who commissioned the translation of Latin texts to English during the Middle Ages?
King Alfred
133
Most Arthurian legends centered on the knights’ quest for the:
Holy grail
134
The greatest Middle English Arthurian romance is which 14th century poem?
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
135
The best example of the romance of the Middle Ages attributed to the Pearl Poet (14th century)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
136
Avalon and Camelot
King Arthur
137
Who killed Arthur?
Mordred
138
Why were the people telling tales in Chaucer’ s story?
to pass the time
139
The first English printer was:
Caxton
140
anonymous narrative songs, orally transmitted, which make use of repetition and refrain.
ballads
141
rebirth of interest in classical learning and languages.
renaissance
142
In Platonic fashion, Thomas More wrote about his concept of the ideal society in:
Utopia
143
During the Elizabethan Age, the major long poem was Edmund Spenser’ s:
Fairie Queene
144
greatest patron of literature during the Elizabethan Period?
Queen Elizabeth
145
The father of the essay was:
Francis Bacon
146
The best diarist in England’ s history was:
Samuel Pepys
147
148
Who wrote the novel War and Peace?
Leo Tolstoy
