CLEP Humanities : Poetry

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for CLEP Humanities

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Example Questions

Example Question #252 : Clep: Humanities

Which of these figures was in limbo in Dante Alighieri's fourteenth century epic poem The Divine Comedy?

Possible Answers:

Sultan Saladin of Egypt

Judas Iscariot

Queen Dido of Carthage

Beatrice

Emperor Frederick II, King of the Holy Roman Empire

Correct answer:

Sultan Saladin of Egypt

Explanation:

Sultan Saladin is the correct answer. He was placed in limbo because he was an honorable man, despite being a non-Christian. Sultan Saladin was a contemporary of Richard the Lionheart and conquered Jerusalem in the Second and Third Crusades. Others in limbo in The Divine Comedy include Julius Caesar, Hector, and Avicenna.

Example Question #253 : Literature

Which of the following is not a key feature of a sonnet?

Possible Answers:

Metered lines

Fourteen lines

A strict rhyme scheme

Epic length

A specific structure

Correct answer:

Epic length

Explanation:

The sonnet was first developed in thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Italy, but became a popular form of poetry throughout Europe during the Renaissance. William Shakespeare became well known in England for his sonnets in the late sixteenth century. A sonnet typically has just fourteen strictly metered lines, with a specific structure and strict rhyme scheme.

Example Question #2 : Analyzing The Form Of Medieval And Renaissance Poetry

The rhythmic scheme of iambic pentameter refers to a line that contains __________.

Possible Answers:

three feet of two unstressed syllables and one stressed syllable

ten feet of two stressed syllables

five feet of three long syllables

five feet of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable

three feet of two stressed syllables and one unstressed syllable

Correct answer:

five feet of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable

Explanation:

Iambic pentameter is most famous as the rhythm scheme used by William Shakespeare in most of his plays. The scheme features five "feet" per line, with each foot having one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. This rhythm creates a standard speaking pattern for actors and audiences to follow.

Example Question #254 : Literature

The Italian poet Petrarch is most famous for working in what poetic form?

Possible Answers:

Common meter

The sonnet

The cinquain

Blank verse

The villanelle

Correct answer:

The sonnet

Explanation:

Petrarch, who lived from 1304 to 1374, is not just famous for writing most of his poems in the sonnet form, but for widely popularizing the form across Europe. Petrarch used a standard fourteen line form with an ABBA rhyme scheme. Petrarch is considered one of the standardizers of the Italian language thanks to his immense popularity.

Example Question #255 : Literature

If a stanza of poetry has an ABBA rhyme scheme, which of its lines rhyme?

Possible Answers:

First and third

Second and fourth

First and fourth

First and second

Third and fourth

Correct answer:

First and fourth

Explanation:

When a rhyme scheme is described with letters, the first line automatically gets designated as "A." Any other line that rhymes with the first line will also be marked as "A." Therefore, in an ABBA rhyme scheme, the first and the fourth lines rhyme, as do the second and third lines.

Example Question #253 : Clep: Humanities

What kinds of poems are made up of fourteen lines, iambic pentameter, and end in a rhyming couplet?

Possible Answers:

Aubades

Sonnets

Poems written in common meter

Haikus

Odes

Correct answer:

Sonnets

Explanation:

"Sonnet" is the correct answer, as sonnets utilize iambic pentameter and a concluding couplet and are usually made up of fourteen lines. The most famous writer of English sonnets is William Shakespeare, who wrote one hundred and fifty-four sonnets during his lifetime.

Example Question #254 : Clep: Humanities

Which of the following metrical schemes was used by William Shakespeare in his poetry?

Possible Answers:

Cretic Dimeter

Iambic Pentameter

Spondaic Pentameter

Dactylic Hexameter

Trochaic Tetrameter

Correct answer:

Iambic Pentameter

Explanation:

The poetry of William Shakespeare fit most of the conventions of sixteenth century English poetry, and as such he used the meter of iambic pentameter almost exclusively. Iambs refer to the "feet," or stress breaks, in poetry that are a short syllable followed by a long syllable, while "pentamater" refers to there being five, from the Greek "penta," feet. Thus, an iambic pentameter line is meant to be said with a rhythm of "da-DUH, da-DUH, da-DUH, da-DUH, da-DUH."

Example Question #258 : Literature

When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least,

Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

(Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate,

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings,

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

What is the rhyme scheme of the given passage?

Possible Answers:

a b a b
c d c d
e f e f
e f

a b a b
c d c d
e f e f
a b

a b a b
c d c d
e f e f
b b

a b a b
c d c d
e f e f
g g 

a b a b
c d c d
e f e f
c d 

Correct answer:

a b a b
c d c d
e f e f
g g 

Explanation:

The poem is Sonnet 29 by William Shakespeare. The rhyme scheme is four quatrains and an ending couplet. The couplet, or last two lines, rhyme with each other, but not with other lines earlier in the poem.

Example Question #261 : Clep: Humanities

Who was the poet who wrote the medieval collection of stories The Canterbury Tales?

Possible Answers:

Geoffrey of Monmouth

John Gower

William Langland

The Venerable Bede

Geoffrey Chaucer

Correct answer:

Geoffrey Chaucer

Explanation:

The Canterbury Tales was a landmark work in English literature as one of the earliest works written in vernacular English, which in the late fourteenth century was Middle English. The Canterbury Tales' author, Geoffrey Chaucer, was most likely inspired by the works of Bocaccio and Dante, which he would have encountered in diplomatic trips to Italy. The Canterbury Tales consist of over twenty unrelated tales, loosely bound together by the fact that they are all told by pilgrims on a trip to Canterbury cathedral.

Example Question #262 : Clep: Humanities

Who is the Persian poet who is considered an Islamic mystic in the branch of Islam called Sufism?

Possible Answers:

Omar Khayyam

Rashid-al-Din Hamadani

Jalal al-Din Rumi

Saadi

Hafez

Correct answer:

Jalal al-Din Rumi

Explanation:

Rumi was a distinctly accomplished Persian poet viewed strictly from a literary standpoint. His thoughts on Islam were also formative in developing the mystical form of the religion known as Sufism. His works are still read in their original language, but have also gained recognition from around the world.

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