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: This question is based on selected poem from Ker, D. et al (eds.):New Poetry from Africa; Soyinka, W. (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 Guides; Nwoga, D.I.(ed.); West Africa Verse and Adeoti G.: Naked Soles
  The end of Give Me The Minstrel's seatseems to suggest that one needs the Options:
  A) support of others
  B) complete command of one's wives
  C) support of one's kinsmen
  D) aid of pots
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 2:

  This question is based on George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man.

  Catherine's natural looks portray her as a

  Options:
  A) sophisticated lady
  B) soldier's wife
  C) mountain farmer's wife
  D) business woman
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 3:

  This question is based on Ernest Hermingway's The Old Man and the Sea

  The character 'boy' is used alongside 'the old Man' in the novel to demonstrate.

  Options:
  A) the humiliation that is in old age
  B) man's refudeal to grow old
  C) different types of characters in the story
  D) the failing productivity that accompanies old age
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 4:

  "... They do not see the funeral plies, At home eating up the forests..." J.P Clark: Casualties"

  The imagery created in the above excerpt is achieved through______

  Options:
  A) Metaphor
  B) Personification
  C) Synecdoche
  D) Metonymy
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 5:

  This question is based on Literary Principles.

  'He would hear the heavy uneven breathing of the child. It was as if she were carrying a weight with great effort up a long hill...He prayed again ''Father, look after her. Give her peace...Take away my peace forever, but give her peace'' Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter.

  The man's reactions to the presence of the dying child show that he is

  Options:
  A) tolerant
  B) compassionate
  C) prayerful
  D) loving
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 6:

  These question is based on Literary Appreciation."Busy old fool

  Unruly sun

  Why dost thou thus

  Through windows

  And through curtains

  Call on us?" J. Donne: The Sun RisingThe excerpts above suggests

  Options:
  A) welcoming the sun
  B) indictment of the sun
  C) praise of nature
  D) invitation to the sun
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 7:

  This question is based on Femi Osofisan''s Morountodun.

  The war in the play symbolizes the struggle between the

  Options:
  A) capitalists and the socialists
  B) bourgeoisie and the proteriat
  C) market women and the men
  D) farmers and the consumers
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 8:

  Use the following excerpt to answer the question.

  
  "I wonder how long, you awful parasites,
  Shall share with me this little bed.
  And make me,from my sweet dreams be lost,
  by sucking blood from my poor head...
  Mbure: "To Bed-Bug"

  The lines are an example of a________?

  Options:
  A) limerick
  B) lampoon
  C) light verse
  D) light opera
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 9:

  This question is based on Literary Principles.

  'In the cold hands of death...

  His mouth was cotton filled, his brain on scales-was this a trick to prove fore-knowledge after death ?

  Wole Soyinka: Post Mortem'

  These two stanzas capture the

  Options:
  A) fear of death
  B) ugliness of death
  C) mystery of death
  D) knowledge of death
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 10:

  Use the lines below to answer these two questions.A cursing rogue with a merry fảrce,

  A bundle of rags upon a crutch,

  Stumbled upon that windy place

  Called cruachan, and it was as much.

  The rhyme scheme of the stanza above is

  Options:
  A) abab
  B) bbaa
  C) abba
  D) aabb
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .