The CLEP American Literature examination evaluates your knowledge of American literature from precolonial times to the present. This 90-minute test consists of approximately 100 questions and requires not only familiarity with literary works and their authors but also the ability to interpret poetry, fiction, and nonfiction prose. The exam emphasizes fiction and poetry while covering essays, drama, and autobiography to a lesser extent. Most colleges award three semester hours of credit for a passing score, though specific credit policies vary by institution.
Let's explore what you need to know for success on this exam! The test evaluates four main skill areas: understanding and interpreting literary texts (35-40% of the exam), knowledge of specific literary works (25-30%), familiarity with critical terms and literary devices (15-20%), and understanding of historical and social contexts (15-20%). The exam content is organized chronologically across five major periods of American literature. Let's examine each period in detail:
Beginning with Native American oral traditions and extending through 1800, this period establishes the foundations of American literature. You'll encounter works shaped by religious devotion, colonial experiences, and revolutionary ideals. Study the sermons and historical accounts of the Puritans, including writers like William Bradford and Cotton Mather. Pay special attention to early poets such as Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor, as well as political writers like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine. Understanding the period's emphasis on religious themes, practical instruction, and emerging political discourse is crucial.
From 1800 to 1865, American literature developed its distinctive voice through romanticism and transcendentalism. This period features major figures like Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose essays shaped American philosophical thought, and Henry David Thoreau, who championed individualism and nature. Study the dark romanticism of Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, along with Herman Melville's complex narratives. Don't overlook the poetry of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, who revolutionized American verse through their innovative styles and profound themes.
Spanning 1865 to 1910, this era saw American writers turning toward more realistic portrayals of life and society. Master the works of Mark Twain, whose writings captured authentic American voices and experiences. Study Henry James's psychological realism and the naturalistic works of Stephen Crane and Theodore Dreiser. This period's literature often focuses on social issues, regional dialects, and the impact of industrialization, reflecting the nation's rapid changes after the Civil War.
From 1910 to 1945, American literature underwent radical transformation. Understand how World War I and social upheaval influenced writers like Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Study the innovative poetry of T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and Robert Frost. This period's literature often features experimental techniques, psychological complexity, and challenges to traditional forms. William Faulkner's complex narratives and Eugene O'Neill's groundbreaking plays exemplify the period's innovative spirit.
The largest section covers 1945 to the present, reflecting the diversity and complexity of recent American literature. Study post-World War II authors like Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams, along with the Beat Generation writers. Understand how the Civil Rights movement influenced African American literature, and familiarize yourself with diverse voices in contemporary poetry and prose. This section emphasizes multicultural perspectives, postmodern techniques, and evolving definitions of American identity.
Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean. - William Bradford, "Of Plymouth Plantation"
Correct Answer: B. Religious imagery
Explanation: The passage demonstrates the Puritans' deep religious devotion by showing them immediately thanking God upon arrival. This religious imagery is characteristic of Colonial literature, which often focused on Providence and divine guidance. The phrase "God of Heaven" and the act of falling "upon their knees" are explicit religious images.
Now I may say with David, 'I am in a great strait.' If I keep in my wounded state, or get means to heal, I must run; if I run, I shall fall into the hands of the Indians, and if I yield to them, I shall end my days miserably. - Mary Rowlandson
Correct Answer: C. Captivity narrative
Explanation: While the text contains religious elements, it primarily belongs to the captivity narrative genre, a unique form of early American literature. These narratives detailed experiences of colonists captured by Native Americans and often served both as entertainment and as religious instruction about Providence and redemption.
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting / On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; / And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming - Edgar Allan Poe
Correct Answer: E. Create mounting psychological tension
Explanation: The repetition of "Nevermore" builds psychological tension throughout the poem as the narrator becomes increasingly distressed by the raven's unchanging response. This reflects Poe's focus on psychological horror and the gradual descent into madness.
Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Correct Answer: D. Individual intuition surpasses traditional authority
Explanation: The central theme of "Self-Reliance" is the supreme importance of trusting one's own intuition and judgment above societal conventions. This reflects the core Transcendentalist belief in individual spiritual and intellectual authority.
The minister's black veil had done its office. From that time, no attempted confidence could quite bring back the faces around him from their darker thoughts. - Nathaniel Hawthorne
Correct Answer: B. The consequences of hidden sin
Explanation: The black veil symbolizes hidden sin and its effects on both the individual and community. Hawthorne explores how unacknowledged guilt creates barriers between people and affects spiritual life, a common theme in his work.
The front pattern does move—and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it! Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over. - Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Correct Answer: C. Patriarchal oppression
Explanation: The woman trapped behind the wallpaper represents the oppressive patriarchal society that constrains the narrator. Her obsession with the pattern reflects her struggle against male-dominated medical and social systems that dismiss women's experiences and needs.
I was a-trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: 'All right then, I'll go to hell.' - Mark Twain
Correct Answer: B. Moral growth through personal conscience
Explanation: This pivotal moment shows Huck choosing to help Jim despite believing he'll be damned for it, representing the triumph of personal moral judgment over societal rules. The vernacular language authentically captures the character's inner conflict.
None of them knew the color of the sky. Their eyes glanced level, and were fastened upon the waves that swept toward them. - Stephen Crane
Correct Answer: A. Naturalism
Explanation: The passage's focus on humans at the mercy of indifferent natural forces exemplifies Naturalism. The objective tone and emphasis on environmental determinism distinguish it from pure Realism, showing how nature controls human destiny regardless of individual will or morality.
April is the cruellest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Memory and desire, stirring / Dull roots with spring rain. - T.S. Eliot
Correct Answer: C. Modernist subversion of traditional imagery
Explanation: Eliot subverts traditional spring imagery, typically associated with renewal, to express modern civilization's spiritual sterility. The fragmented style and mixed imagery exemplify Modernist techniques of disrupting conventional poetic expectations.
He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. - Ernest Hemingway
Correct Answer: B. Minimalist prose with implied meaning
Explanation: This seemingly simple opening contains layers of meaning beneath its surface, exemplifying Hemingway's "iceberg theory" where most of the story's meaning lies beneath sparse, direct prose. The style revolutionized American literary expression.
When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house. - William Faulkner
Correct Answer: C. Reveal community attitudes toward tradition
Explanation: The collective first-person narrative voice ("our") reveals how the town views Emily as a symbol of the declining Old South, while also showing their complicity in her isolation. This perspective is crucial to the story's exploration of community and change.
124 was spiteful. Full of a baby's venom. The women in the house knew it and so did the children. For years each put up with the spite in his own way, but by 1873 Sethe and her daughter Denver were its only victims. - Toni Morrison
Correct Answer: C. The persistent trauma of slavery
Explanation: The haunted house serves as a metaphor for the way slavery's trauma continues to affect survivors and their descendants. The "spite" represents both personal and collective historical memory that cannot be escaped.
All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true. One guy I knew really was shot in Dresden for taking a teapot that wasn't his. - Kurt Vonnegut
Correct Answer: C. A blending of fact and fiction
Explanation: Vonnegut's unconventional opening immediately signals the novel's complex relationship with truth and memory. The casual tone and mixing of fact and fiction reflect both the difficulty of capturing war's reality and the narrator's PTSD-influenced perception.
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, / dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix - Allen Ginsberg
Correct Answer: D. Challenge social conventions through raw expression
Explanation: Ginsberg's provocative imagery and unconventional form deliberately challenge both literary and social conventions. The raw, emotional language establishes the poem's critique of 1950s American society while creating a new poetic voice.
You do not do, you do not do / Any more, black shoe / In which I have lived like a foot / For thirty years, poor and white, / Barely daring to breathe or Achoo - Sylvia Plath
Correct Answer: A. Oppressive patriarchal control
Explanation: The "black shoe" metaphor represents oppressive male authority, particularly connecting to the speaker's relationship with her father. The image suggests both confinement and the speaker's feelings of worthlessness, themes that run throughout the poem.
While quite short on the study side of things, the official CLEP book is the go-to final practice test. Since this is the only official practice test available, I normally use it as my final spot check before taking the test.
Textbooks are great as far as they go, but I’d generally recommend you opt for this exam guide instead. It tends to cut through the confusion and help you accelerate your learning process.
The website looks like it was made before the internet, but it’s legitimately the single most useful study guide I’ve found yet. Basically it’s a series of flashcards that help you study in a fast paced and fun way.
