Literature-In-English Exam Past Questions and Answers | JAMB, WAEC and NECO

Literature in English is the study of works written in the English language. It includes all forms of writing, such as novels, plays, short stories, and poetry. This subject involves exploring and analyzing these texts to understand their themes and meanings.

• Question 1:

  This question is based on General Literary Principles and Appreciation.

  'A great city is a battlefield...You need to be a fighter to live in it, not exist, mark you, live. Anybody can exist, dragging his soul around behind him like a worn-out coat; but living is different'

  'To Sir with Love' by E.R. Braithwaite

  The literary device predominantly used in this passage is

  Options:
  A) simile
  B) oxymoron
  C) symbolism
  D) sarcasm
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 2: These questions are based on selected poems from Ker,D. et al (eds.): New Poetry from Africa; Soyinka,(ed.): Poems of Black Africa; Selection of African Poetry; Umukoro, M et al (eds.): Exam Focus: Literature in English; Eruvbetine, A,E. et al (eds.): Longman Examination Guides and Nwoga, D.I. (eds.): West Africa Verse.Marvell, in To His Coy Mistress uses the imagery of death to Options:
  A) appreciates God's power
  B) condemn the lady
  C) scare the lady
  D) underscore life's transcience
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 3: In literary devices, pun deals with Options:
  A) placing words side by side
  B) playing on words
  C) arrangement of words placing two opposite phrases Answer
  D) placing two opposite phrases
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 4:

  What structure is poetry written in?

  Options:
  A) sentences and paragraphs
  B) sentences and stanzas
  C) lines and paragraphs
  D) lines and stanzas
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 5:

  This question is based on General Literary Appreciation.....They do not see the funeral piles

  At home eating up the forests..." J.P. Clark:CasualtiesThe imagery created in the above excerpt is achieved through

  Options:
  A) metaphor
  B) personification
  C) synedoche
  D) metonym
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 6:

  This question is based on Literary Principles.

  'Slowly the silence on the mountain-top deepened till the click of the fire and the soft hiss of roasting meat could be heard clearly...

  Lord of the Files by William Golding

  'Soft hiss of roasting meat' in the passage above refers to the

  Options:
  A) gentle response of the animal being roasted
  B) rudeness of the animal to the hunter
  C) gentle process of roasting on the fire
  D) fropping of the fat of the meat in the fire
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 7: This question is based on Amma Darko's Facesless.The street phenomenon in the novel is a universal theme because Options:
  A) It only occurs in Ghana
  B) It could be found only in Africa
  C) It is common to almost all nations of the world
  D) the novel is read in all parts of the world
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 8: 'Hence! Wilt thou lift up Olympus?'is a memorable lines from Julius Caesar by Options:
  A) Brutus
  B) Mark Antony
  C) Octavius Caesar
  D) Cassius
  E) Julius Caesar
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is E .
• Question 9:

  This question is based on General Literary Principles

  'Whereat: with blade, with bloody blameful blade.

  He bravely broached his boiling bloody best'.

  The dominant figure of speech in the lines above is

  Options:
  A) simile
  B) alliteration
  C) assonance
  D) repetition
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 10: This question is based on General Literary Principles
  The part of a play when climax approaches is known as Options:
  A) epitasis
  B) protasis
  C) catharsis
  D) catastasis
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .