A blackguard is a rude or corrupt person. Based
on Bierce's definition of a cynic, in which literary
category would the writings of cynics most likely
be placed?
realism
romanticism
transcendentalism

ANSWER: REALISM

Allusion and illusion. an allusion is an indirect reference, whereas an illusion is something that is unreal or incorrect. each of the nouns has a related verb form: allude “to refer indirectly to,” and illude (not a very common word), which may mean “to delude or deceive” or “to subject to an illusion.”