English Literature CLEP Questions and
Answers A+ Guide
heroic couple - correct answers✅✅a rhyming pair of iambic-pentameter
lines, first used extensively in English by Chaucer and later developed as a
syntactically complete unit, esp. by Dryden and Pope (Ex.: "In every work
regard the writer's end, Since none can compass more than they intend")
terza rima -(tert′sə rē′mə) - correct answers✅✅a verse form of Italian
origin, made up of tercets, the second line of each tercet rhyming with the
first and third lines of the next one (aba, bcb, cdc, etc.)
blank verse - correct answers✅✅unrhymed verse; esp., unrhymed verse
having five iambic feet per line, as in Elizabethan drama
Iambic pentameter - correct answers✅✅The most common meter in
English verse. It consists of a line ten syllables long that is accented on every
second beat (see blank verse). These lines in iambic pentameter are from
The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare:Ĭn sóoth,/Ĭ knów/nŏt whý/Ĭ
ám/sŏ sád.Ĭt wéa/riĕs mé;/yŏu sáy/ĭt wéa/riĕs yóu
Villanelle - correct answers✅✅a poem of fixed form, French in origin,
consisting usually of five three-line stanzas and a final four-line stanza and
having only two rhymes throughout
Dramatic Monologue - correct answers✅✅A literary, usually verse
composition in which a speaker reveals his or her character, often in relation
to a critical situation or event, in a monologue addressed to the reader or to
a presumed listener.
Simile - correct answers✅✅a figure of speech in which one thing is
likened to another, dissimilar thing by the use of like, as, etc. (Ex.: a heart as
big as a whale, her tears flowed like wine)
, English Literature CLEP Questions and
Answers A+ Guide
Epic Simile - correct answers✅✅An extended simile elaborated in great
detail. Also called Homeric simile
Irony - correct answers✅✅a method of humorous or subtly sarcastic
expression in which the intended meaning of the words is the direct opposite
of their usual sense: the irony of calling a stupid plan "clever"
Dramatic Irony - correct answers✅✅the contrast, as in a play, between
what a character thinks the truth is, as revealed in a speech or action, and
what an audience or reader knows the truth
Harangue - correct answers✅✅a long, blustering, noisy, or scolding
speech; tirade
ro•man à clef (rō′män nä klā′) - correct answers✅✅a novel in which real
persons appear under fictitious names
Picaresque - correct answers✅✅designating or characteristic of a kind of
fiction that originated in Spain and deals episodically with the adventures of
a hero who is or resembles such a vagabond or rogue
Epistolary Novels - correct answers✅✅written in the form of a series of
letters exchanged by the characters, as certain novels of the 18th cent.
Vignette - correct answers✅✅a short, carefully constructed scene in a
film, play, etc.; specif., one regarded as subtle, sensitive, etc
Serialized Novels - correct answers✅✅to put or publish. Published novel
Answers A+ Guide
heroic couple - correct answers✅✅a rhyming pair of iambic-pentameter
lines, first used extensively in English by Chaucer and later developed as a
syntactically complete unit, esp. by Dryden and Pope (Ex.: "In every work
regard the writer's end, Since none can compass more than they intend")
terza rima -(tert′sə rē′mə) - correct answers✅✅a verse form of Italian
origin, made up of tercets, the second line of each tercet rhyming with the
first and third lines of the next one (aba, bcb, cdc, etc.)
blank verse - correct answers✅✅unrhymed verse; esp., unrhymed verse
having five iambic feet per line, as in Elizabethan drama
Iambic pentameter - correct answers✅✅The most common meter in
English verse. It consists of a line ten syllables long that is accented on every
second beat (see blank verse). These lines in iambic pentameter are from
The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare:Ĭn sóoth,/Ĭ knów/nŏt whý/Ĭ
ám/sŏ sád.Ĭt wéa/riĕs mé;/yŏu sáy/ĭt wéa/riĕs yóu
Villanelle - correct answers✅✅a poem of fixed form, French in origin,
consisting usually of five three-line stanzas and a final four-line stanza and
having only two rhymes throughout
Dramatic Monologue - correct answers✅✅A literary, usually verse
composition in which a speaker reveals his or her character, often in relation
to a critical situation or event, in a monologue addressed to the reader or to
a presumed listener.
Simile - correct answers✅✅a figure of speech in which one thing is
likened to another, dissimilar thing by the use of like, as, etc. (Ex.: a heart as
big as a whale, her tears flowed like wine)
, English Literature CLEP Questions and
Answers A+ Guide
Epic Simile - correct answers✅✅An extended simile elaborated in great
detail. Also called Homeric simile
Irony - correct answers✅✅a method of humorous or subtly sarcastic
expression in which the intended meaning of the words is the direct opposite
of their usual sense: the irony of calling a stupid plan "clever"
Dramatic Irony - correct answers✅✅the contrast, as in a play, between
what a character thinks the truth is, as revealed in a speech or action, and
what an audience or reader knows the truth
Harangue - correct answers✅✅a long, blustering, noisy, or scolding
speech; tirade
ro•man à clef (rō′män nä klā′) - correct answers✅✅a novel in which real
persons appear under fictitious names
Picaresque - correct answers✅✅designating or characteristic of a kind of
fiction that originated in Spain and deals episodically with the adventures of
a hero who is or resembles such a vagabond or rogue
Epistolary Novels - correct answers✅✅written in the form of a series of
letters exchanged by the characters, as certain novels of the 18th cent.
Vignette - correct answers✅✅a short, carefully constructed scene in a
film, play, etc.; specif., one regarded as subtle, sensitive, etc
Serialized Novels - correct answers✅✅to put or publish. Published novel
