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LET Reviewer
Afro-Asian Literature
I. Afro-Asian Literature Terms. Encircle the letter of the correct answer.
1. A group of nomadic warriors and herders who were the earliest known migrants in India who brought with them a well-developed
language and literature and a set of religious beliefs.
a. Aryans b. Persians c. Moslems d. Hindus
2. A set of hymns that formed the cornerstone of Aryan culture which the Hindus to be the most sacred of all literature for they
believe these to have been revealed to humans directly by the gods.
a. Sanskrit b. Dravidia c. Vedas d. Samsara
3. This is the main literary language of northern India which means ‘perfect speech’ and is considered a sacred language spoken by
the gods and goddesses. 
a. Sanskrit b. Dravidia c. Vedas d. Samsara
4. These priests’ duty is to perform sacrifices, to study and to teach their literature, and to guard the rules of human purity.
a. Brahmans b. Kshatriyas c. Vaisyas d. Surdas
5. According to the Buddhist belief, this cycle affects a person’s life. The present experiences are the result of past thoughts and
actions, and the present thoughts and actions likewise create those of the future.
a. Nirvana b. Karma c. Samsara d. Maya
6. What are the two major Indian epics which are the literary embodiments of Hinduism?
a. Bhagavad Gita and Ramayana c. Bhagavad Gita and Mahabharata
b. Ramayana and Mahabharata d. Vedas and Samsara
7. This famous epic consists of a mass of legendary and didactic material that tells of the struggle for supremacy between two groups
of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas. It is an exposition on dharma (codes of conduct), including the proper conduct of a king,
of a warrior, of a man living in times of calamity, and of a person seeking to attain emancipation from rebirth.
a. Bhagavad Gita b. Ramayana c. Mahabharata d. Vedas
8. This literally means “The blessed Lord’s Song” is one of the greatest and most beautiful of the Hindu scriptures. It is regarded by
the Hindus in somewhat the same way as the Gospels are by Christians. It is written in the form of a dialogue between the warrior
Prince Arjuna and his friend and charioteer, Krishna, who is also an earthly incarnation of the god Vishnu.
a. Bhagavad Gita b. Ramayana c. Mahabharata d. Vedas
9. This poem is composed in Sanskrit which reflects the Hindu values and forms of social organization, the theory of karma, the ideas
of wifehood, and feelings about caste, honor and promises.
a. Bhagavad Gita b. Ramayana c. Mahabharata d. Vedas
10. The epic Mahabharata is traditionally ascribed to the authorship of ___________?
a. Vsaya b. Valmiki c. Vishnu d. Gautama
11. The epic Ramayana is written by the poet _____________?
a. Vsaya b. Valmiki c. Vishnu d. Gautama
12. Who was the main character of the story Ramayana who was described as of royal birth, who succeeded in bending Siva’s mighty
bow thus winning Sita, the daughter of king Janaka, for his wife?
a. Rama b. Yana c. Lanka d. Laksama
13. This is a collection of Indian beast fables originally written in   Sanskrit. In Europe the work was known under the title The Fables
of Bidpai. This is intended as a textbook of artha (worldly wisdom); which tends to glorify shrewdness and cleverness more than
helping of others.
a. Panchatantra b. Sakuntala c. Gitanjali d. The Taj Mahal
14. This is a Sanskrit drama by Kalidasa in which love is the central emotion that binds the characters Sakuntala (a young girl who
matures beautifully because of her kindness, courage, and strength of will) and king Dushyanta (a noble and pious king who upholds
his duties above personal desire). What begins as a physical attraction for both of them becomes spiritual in the end as their love
endures and surpasses all difficulties.
a. Panchatantra b. Sakuntala c. Gitanjali d. The Taj Mahal
15. This song offering was originally published in India in 1910 and its translation followed in1912. In these prose translations,
Rabindranath Tagore uses imagery from nature to express the themes of love and the internal conflict between spiritual longings
and earthly desires.
a. The Taj Mahal b. Sakuntala c. Gitanjali d. The little Clay Cart (Mrcchakatika)
16. This literary piece is attributed to Shudraka, a king. The characters in this play include a Brahman merchant who has lost his
money through liberality, a rich courtesan in love with a poor young man, much description of resplendent palaces, and both comic
and tragic or near-tragic emotional situations.
a. The Taj Mahal b. Sakuntala c. Gitanjali d. The little Clay Cart (Mrcchakatika)
17. This is a poem by Sahir Ludhianvi which is about the mausoleum in North India built by the mogul emperor Shah Jahan for his
wife Mumtaz-i-Mahal.
a. The Taj Mahal b. Sakuntala c. Gitanjali d. The little Clay Cart (Mrcchakatika)
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18. He is a Sanskrit poet and dramatist who is probably the greatest Indian writer of all time. As with most classical Indian authors,
little is known about this person or his historical relationships. His poems suggest that he was a priest.
a. Kalidasa b. Rabindranath Tagore c. R.K. Narayan d. Anita Desai
19. He is the son of a Great Sage, and is a Bengali poet and mystic who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913.
The death of his wife and two children brought him years to sadness but this also inspired some of his best poetry. He is also gifted
composer and a painter.
a. Kalidasa b. Rabindranath Tagore c. R.K. Narayan d. Anita Desai
20. He is one of the finest Indian authors of his generation writing in English. He briefly worked as a teacher before deciding to
devote himself fulltime to writing. All of his works are set in the fictitious South Indian town of Malgundi. They typically portray the
peculiarities of human relationships and the ironies of Indian daily life, in which modern urban existence clashes with ancient
tradition. His style is graceful, marked by genial humor, elegance, and simplicity.
a. Kalidasa b. Rabindranath Tagore c. R.K. Narayan d. Anita Desai
21. An English-language Indian novelist and author of children’s books, she is considered India’s premier imagist writer. She excelled
in evoking character and mood through visual images. Most of her works reflect her tragic view of life.
a. Kalidasa b. Rabindranath Tagore c. R.K. Narayan d. Anita Desai
22. This literature reflects the political and social history of the country and the impact of powerful religions that came from within
and outside the country. Its tradition goes back thousands of years and has often been inspired by philosophical questions about the
meaning of life, how to live ethically in society, and how to live in spiritual harmony with the natural order of the universe.
a. Hindu b. African c. Chinese d. Aryan
23. During this period, people practiced a religion based on the belief that nature was inhabited by many powerful gods and spirits.
Among the significant advances of this period were bronze working, decimal system, a twelve-month calendar and a system of
writing consisting 3,000 characters.
a. Chou Dynasty b. Shang Dynasty c. Ch’in Dynasty d. T’ang Dynasty
24. The Golden Age of Chinese civilization. Fine arts and literature flourished in this period.
a. Chou Dynasty b. Shang Dynasty c. Ch’in Dynasty d. T’ang Dynasty
25. Chinese literature and all of Chinese culture has been profoundly influenced by three great schools of thought except:
a. Confucianism b. Shintoism c. Buddhism d. Taoism
26. Chinese literature is heavily intertwined with their religions which are based on the perception of life as a process of continual
change in which opposing forces, such as heaven and earth or light and dark, balance one another. Which symbolizes the passive
and feminine force?
a. Yin b. Yang c. Jen d. Li
27. What symbolizes the active and the masculine force?
a. Yin b. Yang c. Jen d. Li
28. This is one of the four Confucian texts which instructs on moderation in all things through moral education, the building of a
harmonious family life and the development of virtues such as loyalty, obedience and a sense of justice.
a. Chuang Tzu b. The Analects (Lun Yu) c. The Tao-Te Ching (Classic of the Way of Power)
29. It is the philosophical work of Lao Tzu’s most important disciple, Chuan Tzu. Written in a witty, imaginative style, this book
consists of fables and anecdotes that teach the Taoist philosophy and questioned the principles of Confucianism.
a. Chuang Tzu b. The Analects (Lun Yu) c. The Tao-Te Ching (Classic of the Way of Power)
30. This book is compiled around the 6th century B.C. which is the oldest collection of Chinese poetry. This collection consists of 305
poems, many of which were originally folk songs, focusing on such themes as farming, love, and war.
a. The Book of Songs (Shih Ching) b. The Book of Changes (I Ching) c. Dream of the Red Chamber
31. This is a novel by Cao Zhan thought to be semiautobiographical and generally considered to be the greatest of all Chinese novels.
a. The Book of Songs (Shih Ching) b. The Book of Changes (I Ching) c. Dream of the Red Chamber
32. He was the greatest of China’s grand historians who dedicated himself to completing the first history of China the Records of the
Historian. His work covers almost three thousand years of Chinese history in more than half a million written characters etched onto
bamboo tablets.
a. Po Chu-I b. Ssu-ma Ch’ien c. Li Ch’ing-chao d. Chou-Shu-jen
33. She is regarded as China’s greatest woman poet and was also one of the most liberated women of her day. Many of her poems
composed in the tz’u form celebrate her happy marriage or express her loneliness when her husband was away.
a. Po Chu-I b. Ssu-ma Ch’ien c. Li Ch’ing-chao d. Chou-Shu-jen
34. He has been called the Father of the modern Chinese short story because of his introduction of Western techniques. He is also
known as Lu Hsun whose stories deal with themes of social concern, the problems of the poor, women and intellectuals.
a. Po Chu-I b. Ssu-ma Ch’ien c. Li Ch’ing-chao d. Chou-Shu-jen
35. This is one of the oldest and most popular means of expression and communication in the Japanese culture. It was an integral
part of daily life in an ancient Japanese society, serving as a means through which anyone could chronicle experiences and express
emotions.
a. Prose b. Poetry c. Song d. Mythology
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36. These are Chinese poems that consist of alternate lines of five and seven syllables with an additional seven-syllable line at the
end. There is no limit to the number of lines which end with envoys, or pithy summations. These envoys consist of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables
that elaborate on or summarize the theme or central idea of the main poem.
a. Haiku b. Tanka c. Choka d. Lyric
37. This is the most prevalent verse form in the traditional Japanese literature. It consists of five lines of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables including
at least one caesura, or pause. This often tells a brief story or express a single thought with the common subjects which are love and
nature.
a. Haiku b. Tanka c. Choka d. Lyric
38. This originally was the opening verse of a renga which developed into a distinct literary form. This consists of 3 lines of 5-7-5
syllable characterized by precision, simplicity, and suggestiveness. This includes a kigo or seasonal words such as snow or cherry
blossom that indicated the time of year being described.
a. Haiku b. Tanka c. Choka d. Lyric
39. He is regarded as the greatest haiku poet. He was born into a samurai family and began writing poems at an early age.
a. Matsuo Basho b. Yosa Buson c. Yasunari Kawabata d. Junichiro Tanizaki
40. He is a major novelist whose writing is characterized by eroticism and ironic wit. He was known as the Asian equivalent of Edgar
Allan Poe.
a. Matsuo Basho b. Yosa Buson c. Yasunari Kawabata d. Junichiro Tanizaki
41. This term which means literally ‘blackness,’ is the literary movement of the 1030s-1950s that began among French-speaking
African and Caribbean writers living in Paris as a protest against French colonial rule and the policy of assimilation.
a. Emancipation b. Caucasian c. Negritude d. Afro
42. He is a Nigerian Playwright, poet, novelist, and critic who was the first black African to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature
in 1986.
a. Chinua Achebe b. Wole Soyinka c. Bessie Head
43. He is called the Father of Chinese Renaissance who advocated the creation of a new national literature based upon the living
language of the people.
a. Wing Yek Lum b. Lian Ch’i-Ch’ao c. Amy Tan
44. Though the early Korea literature owes a great debt to China in terms of themes and styles, it has produced the most enduring
and the most representative form of Korean poetry.
a. Sandae b. Hahoe c. Sijo d. Haeso
45. Korean literary forms are manifested through their mask play known as _______?
a. Sandae b. Hahoe c. Sijo d. Haeso
46. This country, known as “India’s Teardrop” has history and literary heritage that are considered one of the richest in South Asia.
a. Pakistan b. Bangladesh c. Sri Lanka d. Maldives
47. The thrilling adventures of this story were told by the beautiful and intelligent Queen Scheherazade to escape execution from
her own husband. Her husband, the king, married a new girl every day and had her beheaded the following morning. The queen
would tell the king an unfinished story to postpone the beheading. What story is this?
a. Phantom of Opera b. Arabian Knights c. Ali Baba d. Time Machine
48. A short poem that expresses an intense personal emotion.
a. elegy b. ode c. sonnet d. lyric
49. A poem that mourns or reflects on the death of a loved one.
a. elegy b. lyric c. ode d. sonnet
50. A serious meditative poem of a specific and formal structure.
a. elegy b. lyric c. ode d. sonnet

Good news!!! You are done. I hope you passed. =D