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 161:

  This question is based on William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.In Romeo and Juliet, use the excerpt below to answer question 14 and 15.

  '.... So tedious is this day

  As is the night before some festival

  To an important child that hath them.

  New robes and may not wear.

  The literary device used in the excerpt is

  Options:
  A) simile
  B) metaphor
  C) Oxymoron
  D) apostrophe
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 162:

  This question is based on Literary Principles.

  'In the arena

  They began to sing my song,

  We could hear it faintly

  Passing through the air'

  Okot p'Bitek, 'Song of Lawino'

  What is the figure of speech used in the passage above?

  Options:
  A) Metaphor
  B) Irony
  C) Personification
  D) Simile
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 163:

  This question is based on Abubakar Gimba's Witnesses to Tears

  In the novel, Serah dies of

  Options:
  A) haemorrhoids
  B) gunshot wounds
  C) asthma
  D) asphyxiation
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 164:

  This question is based on General Literary Principles

  A body of imaginative men and women of letters is generally referred to as

  Options:
  A) litterateur
  B) laureattes
  C) literaria
  D) literati
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 165:

  "...Lying down in the melting snow.

  There were times we regretted

  The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,

  And the silken girls bringing sherbert."The emotion evoked in this passage from "Journey of the Magi" is that of

  Options:
  A) romance
  B) nostalgia
  C) sorrow
  D) fear
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 166:

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

  ...'the hawk will flutter and turn

  On its wings and swoop for the mouse,

  The dogs will run for the hare,

  The hare for its little life.'

  These lines from Kwesi Brew's 'The Dry Season' mean that

  Options:
  A) this is a hunting season
  B) there is chaos
  C) the hare will be killed
  D) the hawk and the dogs are strong
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 167:

  This question is based on Literary Principles.

  'He sprung about the room in thick socks, from fridge to bread bin to table, where he buttered and chopped and sliced and sprinkled. Deft and efficient; lithe like a cat, or a ballet dancer'.

  Georgina Hammick, Habits

  The passage above suggests

  Options:
  A) haste
  B) lack of organization
  C) controlled movement
  D) untidiness
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 168:

  This question is based on J.C. De Graft's Sons and Daughters

  The Major issues at hand in the Sons and Daughters play is that

  Options:
  A) Laboratory attendant is trying to act as a nurse
  B) The medical doctor is in love with Maanan
  C) James sees Awere as a bad influence
  D) Lawyer B is trying to Kiss Maanan.
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 169:

  This question is based on selected poems 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 and Nwoga D.I. (ed.): Weast African Verse.

  In Clark's Agbor Dancer, the drum is central to the message because it

  Options:
  A) portrays the drummer as an expert
  B) reminds the poet of his cultural roots
  C) provides the rhythm for the dancer
  D) draws the spectators to the dancing arena
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 170:

  These questions are based on selected poems from Ker,D. et al (eds.): New Poetry from Africa; Soyinka,(ed.): Poems of Black Africa; Selection of African Poetry; Umukoro, M et al (eds.): Exam Focus: Literature in English; Eruvbetine, A,E. et al (eds.): Longman Examination Guides and Nwoga, D.I. (eds.): West Africa Verse.'With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness. And three trees on the low sky.'

  In the excerpt above from Eliot's Journey of the Magi, the dominant literary device is

  Options:
  A) oxymoron
  B) hyperbole
  C) alliteration
  D) personification
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .