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:

  Read the poem and answer questions

  At dawn must I rise to till the rock
  That our land has turned into
  The land where on we'd gleefully harvested paddy
  Planted and nurtured and tended on plots marshy
  Our woes are bloody woes of accursed revenges
  Of the land spirits aggrieved by paltry human respect
  For the life of fellow man by his fellow
  Kindred blood has counted for less than no value
  Brother's wife has been wife to other brother's brother
  Communal loot has emptied our country silos
  The earth has stopped breathing and sighed
  Soldered tears has the moon shed
  The earth was scorched at noon-day night
  And our land has turned to hoeing rock.

  'The earth has stopped breathing and sighed' illustrates__________

  Options:
  A) bathos
  B) paradox
  C) climax
  D) personification
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 2:

  This question is based on Wole Soyinka's The Lion and the Jewel.

  The immediate consequence of the publication of Sidi's pictures is to make her

  Options:
  A) want to marry the photographer
  B) feel more important than Baroka
  C) want to go to the city
  D) appreciate Lakunle's learning
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 3:

  "I came down the step with my pitcher

  And must wait, must stand and wait, for there he

  Was at the trough before me."These lines from "Snakes" suggests that the

  Options:
  A) snake was regal and that the persona must wait as a subject
  B) snake was venomous and therefore the poet has to be very wary
  C) snake got there first, in the interest of justice, the poet should wait
  D) poet is terrified of the snake
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 4: Chaucer presents The Franklin as Options:
  A) a great noble man
  B) a devout christain
  C) an apicurian in taste
  D) a jovial character
  E) an ambitious man
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 5:

  'Serrating down your back and front

  Like beak of the sword-fish,

  And both your ears, notched

  As a bondsman to this house...'

  The dominant figure of speech in the above lines from J.P. Clark's 'Abiku' is

  Options:
  A) onomatopoeia
  B) synecdoche
  C) simile
  D) metaphor
  E) verismilitude.
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 6:

  This question is based on selected poems from D. Ker, C. Maduka 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.

  Dzogbesa Lisa in Kofi Awoonor's 'Songs of Sorrow' can be equated to

  Options:
  A) salvation
  B) despondence
  C) poverty
  D) fate
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 7:

  This question is based on the Literary Appreciation

  As virtuous men pass mildly away, and whisper to their souls to go.

  Whilst some of their sad friends do say '' The breath goes now', and some say ''No''

  The tone of this poem is generally

  Options:
  A) appreciative
  B) serious
  C) imaginative
  D) conversational
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 8:

  This question is based on Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops To Conquer.

  The epilogue of the play deals with the

  Options:
  A) impermanence of nature
  B) impermanence of love
  C) impermanence of nature and womanhood
  D) shortness of love and life
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 9: These question are based on selected poems from Ker, D.et al (eds.)New poetry from Africa; Soyinka, (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 Guide and Nwoga, D.I. (eds.): West African Verse.In Lawrence's Bat, the poet persona mistakes the bats for Options:
  A) swallows
  B) pipistrello
  C) sparrows
  D) owls
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 10:

  This question is based on Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer.

  The writer's satire is most biting when applied to

  Options:
  A) the Hastings
  B) Mr. Hardcastle
  C) Young Marlow
  D) Mrs. Hardcastle
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .