Introduction to Literary Studies

A. New Historicism was a reaction against New Criticism, which was seen as too narrowly focused on text rather than context.
B. Both fields of literary study are American in origin.
C. New Historicism is simply an early form of Cultural Materialism.
D. Both fields of study are strictly focused on how readers interpret and invent meanings for literary texts.

A. A poem that has no rhyme scheme
B. A poem that eulogizes the dead
C. A poem that carries a pattern on two rhymes and offers an alternating refrain
D. A poem that celebrates the life of a cruel person

A. Fate and free will
B. The corruptive force of technology
C. The power of religious faith
D. Disobedient children

A. The conflict between marriages based on love and those based on money
B. The ways in which appearances don’t always match realities
C. The danger in not recognizing the difference between reality and fiction
D. All of these

A. Hamlet is a tragedy focusing on the plight of the early-modern self.
B. Hamlet is a tragedy that reflects Shakespeare’s own political circumstances.
C. Hamlet is a tragedy that focuses on the Elizabethan era’s loss of faith in humanity’s ability to govern itself without violence.
D. Hamlet is a tragedy that reflects upon enlightened and progressive political systems that developed during Shakespeare’s time.

A. An understanding of the various conceptions and understandings of gender that have carried throughout various cultures
B. An understanding of gender as a human construct
C. An understanding of how standard histories of western societies are presented in terms of heterosexual identity
D. All of these.

A. He is suggesting that artists serve to develop culture.
B. He is suggesting that all artists are from high social classes.
C. He is suggesting that artists are repressed throughout society.
D. He is suggesting that the making of laws is itself an art.

A. Art serves a particular worldly purpose.
B. Art’s supreme function is to entertain the public.
C. Artists are dangerous to social order.
D. Artists serve to construct the foundations of culture.

A. A narrative that introduces readers to the main characters of a story
B. A narrative that summarizes the plot of the novel
C. A story within a story
D. A story that reminds the reader that the story is fictional

A. Persuasion is the art of making readers or listeners believe what the writer or speaker is stating.
B. Persuasion is the art of lying to good effect.
C. Persuasion is the opposite of rhetoric.
D. Persuasion is the use of syllogisms to influence the opinions of readers and listeners.