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 21:

  This question is based on Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God

  '''It is good for a misfortune like this to happen once in a while,'he said, 'so that we can know the thoughts of our friends and neighbours. Unless the wind blows we do not see the fowl's rump.''

  The 'misfortune' referred to in this extract was the

  Options:
  A) misunderstanding between Akueke and her husand
  B) outrage which Oduche committed against the sacred python
  C) sending away of Ezeulu's sons to worship the whiteman's God
  D) ominous vist of Ezeulu's in-laws to his compound
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 22:

  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 23:

  Brenda suddenly stiffened in her chair and half turned her ear to the window, silent like an animal waiting to spring, an alertness that transformed her face to temporary ugliness. Arthur noticed it,

  'He's coming', she said 'i heard the gate open.'In this short passage, the writer succeeds in creating

  Options:
  A) anti-climax
  B) pity
  C) comic relief
  D) suspense
  E) characters.
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 24:

  This question is based on General Literary Appreciation

  A dramatic composition or musical play in which many or all the words are sung is called

  Options:
  A) an oratorio
  B) a motet
  C) an opera
  D) a concert
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 25:

  This question is based on Literary Appreciation

  'For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground,

  And tell sad stories of the death of kings;

  How some have been deposed, some slain in war

  Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed

  Some poisoned by their wives, some sleeping killed,

  All murdered;

  William Shakespeare:King Richard II

  The subject matter of the speech above is

  Options:
  A) regicide
  B) suicide
  C) infanticide
  D) parricide
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 26:

  ... a didactic poem, especially such with animals as characters may be distinctively described as a/an_________

  Options:
  A) Romance
  B) gothic poem
  C) limerick
  D) apologue
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 27: These question is based on J.C. De Graft's Sons and Daughters. James: Let me swear, woman. And I will swear by my father's coffin that if....The speaker is referring to Options:
  A) Fosuwa
  B) Awere
  C) Maanan
  D) Hannah
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 28:

  This question is based on Ola Rotimi's Ovonramwen Nogbaisi.

  '...Then, let her take another husband from among her own people. A woman without a man is like rich farm soil without the feel of roots.

  Beautiful woman without a man is a crab-over-protected by shells: selfish...'

  This statement in the play refers to the

  Options:
  A) attack on Benin customs by the whitemen
  B) marital status of Queen Victoria
  C) hatred the Oba has for unmarried white women
  D) Oba's desire to marry Queen Victoria
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 29:

  This question is based on General Literary Appreciation.

  Weep not child, weep not my darling

  With these kisses let me remove your tears

  The ravening clouds shall no long be victorious

  They shall no longer possess the sky....

  The speaker of the lines is

  Options:
  A) optimistic
  B) carefree
  C) helpless
  D) pessimistic
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 30:

  This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) Poems of Black Africa and D.I Nwoga (ed) West African Verse.

  'And since we did not understand our dead since we have never listened to their cries

  If we weep gently....'

  What heart will listen to our clamouring 'Vanity' expresses

  Options:
  A) regret and disappointment
  B) disillusion and despair
  C) disdain and disgust
  D) satisfaction and pleasure
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .