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 1981:

  Baba Fakunle: How much did he give you boy?

  Boy: Ten cowries, Baba.

  Baba Fakunle: Hand him back nine.

  The order to return nine cowries was given by Baba Fakunle because he

  Options:
  A) wanted to spit the King by taking only one cowrie
  B) felt insulted that he was given only ten cowries
  C) did not want to meddle with leprous monry given with bloody hands
  D) wanted to emphasize that the messanger of Olodumare takes only one cowrie.
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 1982:

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

  In his reaction to his friend's death, the mood of the poet, in 'For CHristopher Okigbo' is that of

  Options:
  A) shock
  B) disbelief
  C) acceptance
  D) grief
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 1983:

  'All was quiet in this park

  Until the wind, like a gasping messenger, announced

  The tyrant's coming

  Then did the branches talk in agony'.

  There is in line 2 ('like a gasping messenger...') an example of

  Options:
  A) oxymoron
  B) metonymy
  C) alliteration
  D) simile
  E) personification.
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 1984: This question is based on selection poems from Johnson, R. et al (eds.): New Poetry from Africa; Soyinka, W.. (ed.):Poems of Black African; Senanu, K.E. and Vincent, T. (eds.):A Selection of African Poetry; Maduka, C.T. et al: Exam Focus: Literature in English; Eruvbetine, A.E. et al (eds.): Longman Examination Guides and Nwoga, D. I. (ed.):West African Verse
  In Brutus'A Troubadour I Traverse, the poet juxtaposes Options:
  A) love with hatred
  B) defiance with submission
  C) suffering with pleasure
  D) safety with danger
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 1985:

  These questions are based on Buchi Emecheta's The Joy of Motherhood.

  For attempted murder , Nnaife was jailed for

  Options:
  A) four months
  B) five months
  C) two months
  D) three months
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 1986:

  This question is based on William Shakespeare' s Twelfth Night.

  Duke:

  Be clamorous, and leap all civil bounds,

  Rather than make unprofited return.

  Duke's statement above to Cesario means that he should

  Options:
  A) make trouble to see Olivia
  B) jump the fence to see Olivia
  C) shout be seen and heard by Olivia
  D) fortify himself against any denial to see Olivia
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 1987:

  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 mood of the poet is one of________

  Options:
  A) loneliness
  B) hopelessness
  C) happiness
  D) recklessness
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 1988: This question is based on William Shakespeare's Hamlet.In The Mouse-trap, the murderer is Options:
  A) Claudius
  B) Lucianus
  C) Gozango
  D) Baptista
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 1989: I am alone
  And the murmur of my lips carry song and tears homewards from a plain away from home
  Okogbule Wonodi. "Lament for Shola".
  The poet-persona here expresses a feeling of Options:
  A) love
  B) anger
  C) nostalgia
  D) sorrow
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 1990: This question is based on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
  Shakespeare depicts love and idealism through the Options:
  A) party at the Capulets'
  B) lovers' tomb at the end
  C) brawl between Romeo and Tybalt
  D) balcony scene in the second Act
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .