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 selected poems from R. Johnson and D. Ker et al (eds.): New Poetry from Africa : Wole Soyinka (ed.): Poems of Black Africa; K.E. Senanu and T. Vincent (eds.): A selection of African Poetry and E.W.Parker (ed.): A Pageant of Longer Poems.

  The villains in this poem by Osundara are

  Options:
  A) the beggars sprawled in gutters
  B) those who squander the wealth of the earth
  C) the thousands buried alive
  D) the people who die in abandon
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 2:

  This question is based on General Literary Principles and Appreciation.

  A speech made at the end of a dramatic performance is generally called

  Options:
  A) a prologue
  B) an epilogue
  C) a dirge
  D) a monoloque
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 3:

  'Will college make you a better Olokun priest?
  Will it make you serve our ancestors better?
  Look at me. An able-bodied, strong-hearted priest of Olokun.
  Did I go to college?
  Gracy Osifo:Dizzy Angel

  The literary device used in the passage above is

  Options:
  A) onomatopoeia
  B) parallelism
  C) metaphor
  D) simile
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 4:

  Tunde's long and vigorous speech was followed by a deafening silence.

  The phrase deafening silence is used as a figure of speech called

  Options:
  A) oxymoron
  B) metaphor
  C) simile
  D) hyperbole.
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 5:

  These question is based on Literary Appreciation.The body perishes, the heart stays young.

  The platter wears away with serving food.

  No log retains its bark when old,

  No lover peaceful while the rival weeps.From the poem above, "No lover peaceful while the rival weeps" means that

  Options:
  A) the pain of one lover is felt by the other
  B) there is no permanent love
  C) there is true and permanent love
  D) the two lovers weep together
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 6:

  This question is based on General Literary Principles and Appreciation.

  ''From here the island of Fogo is a presence

  At Sunset

  The palm trees are slow singers of farewell

  The sail on the sea

  Writes in geometry of spume

  - departure of he who remains

  And the clouds carried by incessant soft breezes

  -journey of he who never left!''

  Which of the following figures of speech is used prominently in the poem?

  Options:
  A) apostrophe
  B) litotes
  C) hyperbole
  D) personification
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 7: Brother Jero himself identifies ONE of the following as his main weakness Options:
  A) Avarice
  B) Treachery
  C) Lustfulness
  D) Self-doubt
  E) condemnation
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 8:

  "The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew

  The furrow followed free

  We were the first that ever burst

  Into that silent sea."Based on Coleridge's 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', the dominant figure of speech in the above lines is

  Options:
  A) alliteration
  B) free verse
  C) repetition
  D) sarcasm
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 9:

  This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) poems of Black Africa, E.K. Senanu and T. Vincent (eds.) Selection of African poetry and E.W. Parker (ed.) A Pageant of Longer Poems.

  T.S. Eliot's 'Journey of the Magi' could be side to examine the issue of

  Options:
  A) three trees on the low sky
  B) empty wine-skins
  C) spiritual rebirth
  D) night -fires going out
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 10: A question put, not chiefly to elicit an answer, but to make an emphatic statement is known as Options:
  A) paradoxial
  B) metaphysical
  C) logical
  D) rhetorical
  E) leading
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .