Skill and Form Number: Literary Genres #1

Literary Genres

A little brother and sister were once playing by a well, and while they were playing, they both fell in. A water nixie lived down below, who said, "Now I have got you. Now you shall work hard for me." She carried them off with her. She gave the girl dirty tangled flax to spin and made her fetch water in a bucket with a hole in it. The boy had to hew down a tree with a blunt axe, and the boy and the girl got nothing to eat but dumplings as hard as stones.
Then at last the children became so impatient that they ran away one Sunday when the nixie was at church. But when church was over, the nixie saw that the birds had flown and followed them with great strides. The children saw her from afar, and the girl threw a brush behind her, which formed an immense hill of bristles with thousands and thousands of spikes, over which the nixie was forced to scramble with great difficulty. At last, however, she got over.
When the children saw this, the boy threw behind him a comb, which made a great ridge with a thousand times a thousand teeth, but the nixie managed to keep herself steady on them and, at last, crossed over. Then the girl threw behind her a looking glass, which formed a hill of mirrors that was so slippery it was impossible for the nixie to cross it. Then, the nixie thought, I will go home quickly, fetch my axe, and cut the hill of glass in half. Long before she returned, however, and had hewn through the glass, the children had escaped to a great distance, and the water nixie was obliged to trundle back to her well again.
adapted from "The Water-Nix" by the Brothers Grimm

1. The fairy tale above is an example of what kind of writing?

A. poetry

B. biography

C. essay

D. fiction

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A very long time ago, man and animal lived together in peace and harmony. Then suddenly this changed, when some greedy people began to hunt animals only to sell the meat and fur. This caused the animal population to dwindle, greatly concerning the animals.
The white bear called a council of animals to decide on how to avenge themselves. They argued for a long time, but they could not agree. Then the oldest and wisest flies offered a suggestion. "Let us call upon the spirits" he said. "We will ask them to send great sickness on the people, and we will carry the diseases".
Not long after that, a great sickness spread indeed through all the Native American villages—attacking the good as well as the bad. Since the animals only wanted to punish the bad people, they were saddened to see the good ones were suffering as well. They called another council to discuss what was to be done.
The lowly herbs came with a solution; they promised to heal the sick. Then, spirit dreams were sent to the Shamans to guide them to the herbs. This is how healing medicine was brought to the Native Americans.
adapted from "The Coming of Medicine" by Micha F. Lindemans

2. The folktale above is an example of what kind of writing?

A. essay

B. fiction

C. poetry

D. biography

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Country Summers
My childhood
in the country
taught me things.
Summer heat
can upset
many beings.
Cows can run,
and create
earthquakes.
They might want
to escape—
break the rope
that ties them,
from the shed
that confines them.
Cows can chase you,
as if you know,
where their calves
have disappeared.

3. The passage above is an example of

A. a poem.

B. a biography.

C. nonfiction.

D. a journal.

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Read the three pieces below, and then answer the question.

A long time ago
There used to be no kings,
nobody ruled the other,
people were all the same.
One day a man
sat on top of a hill.
The view was beautiful.
The land was vast.
He wanted to own it.
The question was asked:
What if it can be mine? / Umbrella Man
The man with an umbrella
often has a hope
for rain or sun.
The umbrella man
is often somber.
Perhaps the shade
hides his smile.
The umbrella man
uses a cane,
but he is young.
The hopeful-somber-young-old-man
with a black umbrella,
always boards
on the yellow bus. / Bee
It is too small
to be so brave,
to announce
its arrival
with a buzz.
It is too vicious
to sting,
after walking
on flowers
all day.

4. The items above are examples of what type of writing?

A. novel

B. play

C. poetry

D. autobiography

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5. An unverified story handed down from earlier times, especially one popularly believed to be historical, is called

A. an epic.

B. a poem.

C. a myth.

D. a legend.

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6. With the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in December of 1865, slavery was officially abolished in all areas of the United States. The Reconstruction era was under way in the South, the period during which the 11 Confederate states would be gradually reintroduced to the Union. In the meantime, Northern armies continued to occupy the South and to enforce the decrees of Congress. Frederick Douglass was then 47 years old, an active man in the prime of his life. No longer enlisted in the war on slavery, he thought about buying a farm and settling down to a quiet life. But black Americans still desperately needed a spokesperson, and Douglass soon rejected any notion of an early retirement.
This excerpt is most likely from

A. a novel.

B. a journal.

C. an autobiography.

D. a biography.

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Emerging viruses: Scientists scramble to find the natural hosts before they spawn another outbreak.
by Joanne Lee-Young
Popular Science July 2003

In April of 2003, when Canadian scientists sequenced the genetic code of the SARS virus, they discovered a microbe unlike any other ever seen in humans or animals. On its genome "there is a long stretch of nucleotides and then one big piece that sticks out," says University of Hong Kong microbiologist Malik Peiris, who first linked SARS to a novel coronavirus. "When we then looked to see if antibodies for it exist in human blood samples, there were none."
So where did the SARS virus come from? At press time, eight months after the first case was diagnosed in a bird and snake merchant in the Chinese city of Shunde, the source of the virus was still unknown. But researchers are narrowing the suspects to animals found in southern China, where humans and critters often live cheek by jowl.
Michael Lai, a virologist at the University of Southern California, says the virus's genome is similar to that of both a mouse and a bird virus, hinting that it may be a mix of the two. "My analysis suggests that it likely existed in a wild animal, probably a bird. It jumped species only recently when it came into contact with a human being," he says.
The prose above is an example of

A. historical fiction.

B. nonfiction.

C. a novella.

D. fiction.

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8. Which type of prose would most likely take the longest to read?

A. Novel

B. Essay

C. Fairy tale

D. Short story

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There was once a king who was so much beloved by his subjects that he thought himself the happiest monarch in the whole world, and he had everything his heart could desire. His palace was filled with the rarest of curiosities, and his gardens with the sweetest flowers, while in the marble stalls of his stables stood a row of milk-white Arabs, with big brown eyes.
Strangers who had heard of the marvels which the king had collected, and made long journeys to see them, were, however, surprised to find the most splendid stall of all occupied by a donkey, with particularly large and drooping ears. It was a very fine donkey; but still, as far as they could tell, nothing so very remarkable as to account for the care with which it was lodged; and they went away wondering, for they could not know that every night, when it was asleep, bushels of gold pieces tumbled out of its ears, which were picked up each morning by the attendants.
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/index.html

9. Which line from the prose piece above gives you the BEST clue that this is a piece of fiction?

A. His palace was filled with the rarest of curiosities, and his gardens with the sweetest flowers, while in the marble stalls of his stables stood a row of milk-white horses, with big brown eyes.

B. THERE was once was a king who was so much beloved by his subjects...

C. It was a very fine donkey.

D. ...bushels of gold pieces tumbled out of its ears, which were picked up each morning by the attendants.

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10. The prose above is an example of

A. historical fiction.

B. fiction.

C. a novella.

D. nonfiction.

Write your response here:
(show your work)

Answers

1. D
2. B
3. A
4. C
5. D
6. D
7. B
8. A
9. D
10. B

1. fiction
2. fiction
3. a poem.
4. poetry
5. a legend.
6. a biography.
7. nonfiction.
8. Novel
9. ...bushels of gold pieces tumbled out of its ears, which were picked up each morning by the attendants.
10. fiction.

Explanations

1. Fiction is a literary work whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact.

2. Fiction is a literary work whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact. In this case, the folktale looks to explain how medicine was invented. While this is entertaining, it is a Native American folktale which is considered fiction.

3. The reader can tell this is a poem by its condensed language, unusual meter, and line breaks.

4. The reader can tell these are poems by their condensed language, their form, and their use of metaphor.

5. A legend is a popular story handed down from earlier times. Its truth has not been ascertained (verified).

6. A biography is a book that a person writes about somebody else's life. This passage focuses on the life of Frederick Douglass. If it was the autobiography of Frederick Douglass, it would most likely be written in FIRST PERSON.

7. Nonfiction is prose works other than fiction. Nonfiction is based in fact.

8. A novel is, by definition, a work of considerable length.

9. Gold can't really come out of an animal's ears, so we know this a piece of fiction.

10. Fiction is a literary work whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact.