CLEP American Literature case studies
CLEP American Literature · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The CLEP American Literature exam is a standardized, multiple-choice credit-by-examination test covering prose and poetry written in the United States from precolonial times to the present. It is designed for candidates who have read widely in American literature, know the basic literary periods, and can place works in their historical development-typically students seeking college credit for a survey course they have not taken, or independent learners who have studied on their own. The CLEP American Literature case studies are 5 cases and about 3,657 words.
1Labeling Anne Bradstreet at the Meetinghouse
You are consulting for a small historical society opening a six-panel exhibit, 'Worlds and Grace,' in a 1690s meetinghouse. Each panel has a 45-word label, and the director insists the labels be 'accessible, not academic.' The drafts read: (1) Anne Bradstreet, 'America's first feminist, who defied Puritan patriarchy'; (2) Jonathan Edwards, 'a grim preacher who terrified congregations with images of hell'; (3) Benjamin Franklin, 'the first self-made American, a purely secular businessman'; (4) Mary Rowlandson, 'a colonial woman kidnapped by Native Americans.' A board member wants all conflict removed; a local professor wants technical terms such as 'typology' and 'jeremiad' added.
710 words, about 4 min2Pairing the Dark Romantics in a Nine-Page Anthology Slot
You are editing a nine-page slot in a twelfth-grade American literature anthology. The unit question is 'Did American Romanticism have a dark twin?' You can include one complete short story (about eight pages) plus a one-page excerpt.
766 words, about 4 min3Local Color or Critique? A Podcast Episode on Chesnutt and Crane
You are producing a twenty-eight-minute episode for a state humanities council podcast series called 'American Realisms.' The episode will have a four-minute introduction and two twelve-minute segments: one on Charles Chesnutt's 'The Goophered Grapevine' and one on Stephen Crane's 'The Open Boat.' The draft introduction says Chesnutt 'preserves African American folktales' and Crane 'shows nature's indifference to human struggle.' An advisory-board member objects that this treats Chesnutt as a folklorist rather than a satirist of the frame narrator, while another insists Crane's story cannot be naturalist because the men survive. The host has five hours for preparation and no guest is available.
745 words, about 4 min4Wall Order in a Harlem Renaissance Modernism Gallery
You are the curator of a four-wall gallery, 'Modernism at Home,' with an average visitor stay of twelve minutes and four ninety-second audio stops. The works are Wallace Stevens's 'Anecdote of the Jar' (1919), Langston Hughes's 'I, Too' (1925), Robert Frost's 'Fire and Ice' (1920), and a page from Jean Toomer's Cane (1923).
694 words, about 3 min5Revising a Postmodern Rubric for a Contemporary Fiction Prize
You chair the fiction jury for a $2,000 prize in a literary magazine's 'Contemporary American Fiction' issue. Three finalists are on the table.
742 words, about 4 min