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 1951:

  A long story narrating a series of complicated events is called a

  Options:
  A) harrangue
  B) discourse
  C) monologue
  D) saga
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 1952:

  This question is based on General Literary Appreciation

  The setting in pastoral poetry is usually

  Options:
  A) oceanic
  B) urban
  C) encumenical
  D) idyllic
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 1953: This question is based on Selected Poems from Johnson,R.et al (eds.): New Poetry from African (ed); Poems of Black Africa; Senanu, K.E. and Vincent, T.(ed): A Selection of African Poetry; Adeoti, G: Naked Soles; Hayward, J. (ed); The Penguin Book of English Vers and Nwoga, D. (ed): West African Verse.The title of Herbert's The Pulley is an example of Options:
  A) fable
  B) euphemism
  C) allegory
  D) symbolism
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 1954:

  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.

  There is a predominance of words associated with________

  Options:
  A) governance
  B) nature
  C) nurture
  D) celebration
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 1955:

  'Had I the heaven's embroidered cloths; Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths of night and light and the half-lighgt i would spread the cloths under your feet: But |, being poor, have only my dreams; l have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams'.

  The poet of these lines

  Options:
  A) shows cheap love
  B) is incapable of seriousness
  C) consider heaven's cloth worthless
  D) is a sensitive, serious lover
  E) is an unrealistic, wishful man
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 1956: When the Franklin declares in the prologue to his tale that he has 'not slept on mount Parnassus' he meant that Options:
  A) his bed has always uncomfortable
  B) he has sleepless nights
  C) he has no literary pretensions
  D) he is well-versed in rhetorics
  E) he is a poor sleeper.
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 1957:

  The second stanza of Awonoor's Anvil and the Hammer ________

  Options:
  A) deals with the conflict between African traditions and westernisation
  B) deals with the disregard for African tradition
  C) offers solution to the conflict between African traditions and westernisation
  D) advocates for a radical change in the perception of Africans about their culture
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 1958:

  This question is based on Literary Principles

  'My heart is a quiet drum, sometimes it flares like a parched thunder cracking through a damask sky it lifts me in its fired spectacle'.

  Cynthia James: Drumology

  The imagery in the excerpt above is largely

  Options:
  A) olfactory and visual
  B) olfactory and tactile
  C) auditory and visual
  D) tactile and auditory
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 1959:

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

  Which of the following character traits will apply to Lakunle?

  Options:
  A) Comic and absurd
  B) Stupid and simplistic
  C) Pompous and spontaneous
  D) Decisive and bold
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 1960: Characterization in a novel means the Options:
  A) list of characters featuring in it
  B) mode of presenting the fictional individuals
  C) peculiar mannerisms of the narrator
  D) resolution of the conflict between the characters.
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .