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 2011:

  » This question is based on Literary Principles.

  LINDA: (hearing WILLY outside the bedroom, calls with some trepidation):

  Willy WILLY: Its all right, I came back.

  LINDA: Why? What happened? (slight pause). Did something happen, Willy?

  WILLY: No, nothing happened.

  Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman

  Willy's first words show that his coming back is

  Options:
  A) ill-timed
  B) too early
  C) not expected
  D) normal
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 2012:

  This question is based on George Orwell's Animal Farm

  The turn of events in the novel shows that the novelist is

  Options:
  A) iconoclastic
  B) fatalistic
  C) rhetorical
  D) optimistic
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 2013: This question is based on General Literary Principles
  That quality in a literary work which evokes tenderness, pity or sorrow is Options:
  A) pathopoeia
  B) pathos
  C) pataphysics
  D) patois
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 2014:

  This question is based on George Orwell's Animal Farm

  The ideological leader of the revolution in the novel is

  Options:
  A) Napoleon
  B) Snowball
  C) Old Major
  D) Squealer
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 2015:

  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; M. Umukoro and A Sani et al (eds.): Exam Focus: Literature in English; A.E. Eruvbetine and M. Jibril et al (eds.): Longman Examination Guides: Poetry and E.W. Parker (ed.): A Pageant of Longer Poems.

  '... It is not yet dawn

  And we wake from one nightmara

  To another.'

  In these lines from Ojaide's The Owl Wake Us', the mood is that of a

  Options:
  A) terrifying dream
  B) seemingly endless night
  C) vicious cycle of oppression
  D) persona's experience
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 2016: 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.The predominant device in Launko's End of war is Options:
  A) antithesis
  B) oxymoron
  C) paradox
  D) onomatopoeia
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 2017: This question is based on selected poems from Ker, D, et al (eds.): New Poetry from Africa; 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-Enghish; Eruvbetine, A. E. et al (eds.): Longman Examination Guides and Nwoga, D. I. (ed.)west African Verse.
  'Love and loveless hate' and 'Love lusterless word' in Lenrie Peters 'She Came in Silken Drapes ] suggest that Options:
  A) love is a meaningless word
  B) joy and sadness often mingle
  C) love is forever sweet
  D) love breeds hate
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 2018:

  This question is based on Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge.

  'Come, 'said Donald quietly, 'a man o'your position should ken better, sir!It is tyrannical and no worthy of you.'

  Which of Henchard's actions is tyrannical?

  Options:
  A) He says Donald must not befriend Elizabeth - Jane
  B) He asks Abel Whittle to go to Blackmoor vale half naked
  C) He dismisses Jopp, his former manager
  D) He decides not to marry Lucetta on Susan's return.
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 2019: Which of the following statement is NOT true of the two 'Abiku' poems by J.P Clark and Wole Soyinka? Options:
  A) in each of the two poems, the voice of the Abiku is heard
  B) while the tone of Clark's poem is conciliatory, that of Soyinka is defiant
  C) it would appear that making body marks on the two Abiku has not served the customary purpose of stopping them from coming again
  D) as the two poet portray them, Clark's Abiku can choose to stay or not to stay, but Soyinka's Abiku cannot.
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 2020:

  'All day long, all along the line

  Through tiny station, each exactly like the last chattering little black girls uncaged from school all day long,...'

  For the girls mentioned here, the hours spent at school means

  Options:
  A) creativity
  B) amusement
  C) relaxation
  D) restriction
  E) freedom.
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .