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: These questions are based on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.The play reaches reaches the point of denouement Options:
  A) at the family feast
  B) at the reconciliation of the feuding families
  C) when Romeo is informed of Juliet's death
  D) when Romeo kills Paris at the tomb
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 2:

  This question is based on General Literary Principles.

  'There was something very disturbing about his features today, there was something which suggested an untidiness of a sort rather like a cotton dress washed in salty water and worn until it reeks of human sweet. There was something very vulnerable about his looks, something quite restless.

  Nuruddin Farah, 'Sweet and Sour Milk'

  The passage above illustrates the use of

  Options:
  A) climax
  B) deus ex machina
  C) trance
  D) suspense
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 3:

  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 and E.W.Parker (ed.): A Pageant of Longer Poems.

  The villains in this poem by Osundara are

  Options:
  A) the beggars sprawled in gutters
  B) those who squander the wealth of the earth
  C) the thousands buried alive
  D) the people who die in abandon
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 4:

  This question is based on William Shakespeare's Macbeth.

  '...Nay, had I power, I should

  Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell,

  Uproar the universal peace, confound

  All unity on earth .'

  The true intention of the speaker is to

  Options:
  A) assess the integrity of the addressee
  B) get power and authority at all cost
  C) be callous and destructive
  D) stir commotion in the world
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 5:

  This question is based on Femi Osofisan's Morountodun.

  ....We have no electric, and we still drink tanwiji from the stream. Many of our children are in jail... We protested and your police mounted expeditions to maim us and reduce our houses to ashes...'

  The images depicted are those of

  Options:
  A) poverty and opulence
  B) opulence and brutality
  C) suffering and depression
  D) suffering and brutality
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 6:

  This question is based on General Literary Principles.

  A playwright who solves the dilemma of his characters by rescuing them from impossible circumstances using extra human device has employed

  Options:
  A) deus ex machina
  B) dramatis personae
  C) contrived manipulation
  D) dramatic reversals
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 7:

  "From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

  A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life..."Based on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the lines above suggests that the tragedy in the play

  Options:
  A) could have been averted
  B) is predestined
  C) is brought on enmity
  D) brought misfortune on the lovers
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 8:

  This question is based on General Literary Principles and Literary Appreciation

  A poem written in honour and praise of somebody else is

  Options:
  A) a eulogy
  B) an epic
  C) an epigram
  D) a lyric
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 9:

  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.

  ...a huge senseless cathedral of doom'in Kofi Awoonor's The Cathedral implies

  Options:
  A) meaningless foreign religious parctices
  B) meaningless indigenous religious practices
  C) the architectural beaty of the cathedral
  D) the Catholic Church parctices
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 10: Thus question is based on Frank Ogodo Ogbeche's Harvest of CorruptionIt can be deduced from the play that Options:
  A) drug pushing is lucrative
  B) no crime will go unpunished
  C) the wealthy also cry
  D) people will always complain
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .