Subtest I - Literary Genres

Question 1

Absurdist fiction

Answer 1

A novel or play that presents humanity’s plight as meaningless and without purpose. Arose in the 20th century and often reflects a reaction against war, society, and the stresses of modern life. Ex: Catch-22

Question 2

Allegory

Answer 2

A fictional narrative that contains a second, symbolic meaning in addition to its overt story. Characters often represent human qualities such as virtues and vices or abstract concepts such as death. Ex: Lion, witch, and the wardrobe = christian allegory, Animal Farm = Stalinist regime in Soviet Union allegory

Question 3

Ballad

Answer 3

A songlike poem that tells a story and often has a refrain, or repeated line or lines. Many are in iambic form with alternating lines of four stresses and three stresses. They often were lurid accounts of murders, revenge, and violence.

Question 4

Comic novel

Answer 4

Seeks to amuse the reader with larger-than life characters and outlandish events. Ex: Mark Twain novels

Question 5

Dystopia

Answer 5

A narrative that depicts an anti-utopia, a world where ordinary people live regimented lives at the whim of a totalitarian government. Ex: Orwell’s 1984

Question 6

Epic

Answer 6

A long narrative poetic work in a formal or elevated style that features a heroic lead character who often must undertake a journey or a great trial to overcome a powerful foe.

Question 7

Epistolary novel

Answer 7

Written in the form of letters, diaries, and journal entries. Ex: Clarissa, and The Color Purple

Question 8

Essay

Answer 8

A prose work written in the first-person expressing strong opinions about some topic or life experience.

Question 9

Fable

Answer 9

A tale that provides a moral lesson and features animals with human characteristics.

Question 10

Fairy Tale

Answer 10

A story that features fantasy characters from folklore and usually ends happily.

Question 11

Fantasy

Answer 11

A genre that blends historical material with invented elements.

Question 12

Farce

Answer 12

A comic play that employs stock situations and characters and exaggerated emotions.

Question 13

Legend

Answer 13

A traditional story that has become part of the collective experience of a nation, ethnic group, or culture. It features characters that are not historical but seem to have existed at some time in the distant past. Ex: King Arthur

Question 14

Lyric poem

Answer 14

A brief work in verse that addresses the reader directly and expresses the poet’s feelings and perceptions

Question 15

Myth

Answer 15

An ancient story that presents the exploits of gods or heroes to explain some aspect of life or nature.

Question 16

Novel

Answer 16

A long work of prose fiction that is often realistic and tends to address the concerns of the society in which it is produced.

Question 17

Parody

Answer 17

A work written in imitation of an author’s style or of a genre in order to make fun of it and mock its conventions.

Question 18

Poem

Answer 18

A literary work that is generally written in rhythmic lines of various lengths that may be divided into groups called stanzas.

Question 19

Elegy poem

Answer 19

A poem in a solemn or melancholic tone, especially one that mourns the death of a person or group.

Question 20

Haiku poem

Answer 20

A Japanese poetic form consisting of three lines with 5, 7, 5 syllables. A haiku in English typically includes a seasonal word or image as part of a comparison of two things.

Question 21

Limerick poem

Answer 21

A comic five-line poem (rhyme scheme AABBA) that seems to have originated in England in the early 1700s.

Question 22

Ode poem

Answer 22

A meditative poem written in praise of someone or about a serious subject. Ancient Greek odes were performed to music.

Question 23

Pastoral poem

Answer 23

A poem that depicts rural life or the life of shepherds in an idealized form, often for urban audiences.

Question 24

Sonnet poem

Answer 24

A fourteen-line poetic form. The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet consists of two quatrains (four-line stanzas rhymed ABBA) and six lines variously rhymed in pairs. The Shakespearian sonnet has three quatrains (rhymed ABAB) and a closing couplet (Two rhymed lines).

Question 25

Triolet poem

Answer 25

An eight-line poetic form. A triolet’s first, fourth, and seventh lines are identical, as are its second and final lines.

Question 26

Villanelle poem

Answer 26

A poetic form with nineteen lines divided into five three-line stanzas (called tercets) and one final quatrain. It only has two rhyme sounds.

Question 27

Satire

Answer 27

A work that ridicules the follies and vices of individuals and society, often through comic exaggeration.

Question 28

Science fiction

Answer 28

Depicts scientific and technological breakthroughs and their effects on future society.

Question 29

Short story

Answer 29

A brief work of prose fiction that often concentrates on a single incident and one or two main characters.

Question 30

Utopian novel

Answer 30

Depicts its author’s ideas about what a perfectly ordered society would be like.