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:

  You cannot know
  And should not bother
  Tide and market come and go
  And so shall yourmother

  
  In this verse the poet uses

  Options:
  A) alternate rhymes
  B) monomyme
  C) couplets
  D) triplets
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 2:

  This question is based on selected Poems from Ker, D. et al (eds.): New poetry from African; Syinka, W. (ed.): poems of Black African; Senanu, K.E. and Vincent, T. (eds.): A 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. (ed.): West African Verse.

  The dominant imagery in Kofi Awoonor's 'The Cathedral' is

  Options:
  A) olfactory
  B) auditory
  C) tactile
  D) visual
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 3: 'My room was the smallest space I'D ever been in on which a door had closed. There was a bed, built in wardrobe, chair and small table, and above in the ceiling was screwed a one-candlepower bulb it really made you feel welcome....'The last statement in this passage is an example of Options:
  A) understatement
  B) overstatement
  C) hyperbole
  D) sarcastic humour
  E) poetic diction
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 4: What we call 'tragic flaw' is the Options:
  A) element of plot that makes a work dramatic
  B) typographical error occuring in a work of drama
  C) pronunciation error made by an actor on stage
  D) unsuccessful play written by an other wise great dramatist
  E) weakness in character responsible for the downfall of a dramatic hero.
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is E .
• Question 5:

  This question is based on General Literary Principles and Appreciation.'If it is true that the world talks too much

  Then let's all keep quiet

  And hear the eloquence

  Of silence'

  If it is True' by Richard Ntini

  One striking device used by the poet above is

  Options:
  A) rhythm
  B) contrast
  C) alliteration
  D) end-rhyme
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 6:

  This question is based on William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.DUKE:...Thou know'st no less but all; I have unclasped To thee the book even of my secret soul.

  What exactly has the Duke unclasped?

  Options:
  A) The book of his relationship with Olivia
  B) The secret book of his soul
  C) The details of his relationship with Viola
  D) The details of his relationship with Olivia.
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 7:

  'There was a time when meadow, grove and stream,

  The earth and every common sight

  To me did seem

  Appareled in celestial light

  The glory and the freshness of a dream.

  It is not now as it hath been of yore:

  Turn wheresoever i may,

  By night or day

  The things which have seen i now can see no more.'

  The mood captured in this passage is one of

  Options:
  A) nostalgia
  B) despair
  C) confidence
  D) hope
  E) joy
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 8: Eliza is Mine Boy is representative of Options:
  A) European female sophistication
  B) the disaster of an African wishing to be European
  C) moral decadence in South African where women smoke
  D) the hardship of a black female teacher
  E) the loneliness of a female teacher in Malay Camp
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 9:

  This question is based on selected poems from Ker, D. et al (eds.): New Poetry from Africa; Soyinka, W. (ed.): Poems of Black Africa; Senanu, K.E. and Vincent, T.(eds.): A 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. (ed.): Weast African Verse.

  In Cheney-Coker's Myopia, the attitude of the poet is one of

  Options:
  A) sympathy
  B) joy
  C) empathy
  D) envy
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 10:

  'I am jealous and passonate
  Like Jehovah, God of the Jews.'
  J.P Clark: Olokun
  A device used in the second line of the excerpt above is

  Options:
  A) simile
  B) paradox
  C) metaphor
  D) hyperbole
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .