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 601:

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

  Santiago loses his catch to the sharks because

  Options:
  A) the blood attracts them
  B) he does not sail home early
  C) the sharks are predators
  D) it is too dark
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 602:

  This question is based on selected poems from R. Johnson and D. Ker, et al (ed.): New poetry from Africa; Wole Soyinka (ed.): poems 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: E.W. Parker (ed.): A Pageant of Longer poems and D.I. Nwoga (ed.): West African Verse.

  John Keats' 'Old on a Grecian Urn' expresses the idea that

  Options:
  A) the Grecian Urn is ancient
  B) the Grecian Urn is mysterious
  C) every work of art is beautiful
  D) life is long, art is longer
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 603: In his judgement over the elders,Ovonramwen reveals his preference for Options:
  A) diplomacy
  B) intimidation
  C) loyalty
  D) consensus
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 604:

  This question is based on General Literature Principles and Literary Appreciation

  'America! there it lay, handy and tantalizing, allheat and scurry. All morning they had kept catching glimpses of it beyond the potholes as they stood in long lines, waiting to reach the tables where the immigration men in dacrion shirts checked their visas, inspected the X-ray pictures of their lungs that they held in their hands, decided whether to admit them or not. Getting into America was, it seemed, quite as hard as getting into heaven; and the trouble was... that as with heaven one couldn't know whether one would like it when one got there'.

  The picture of America presented in this passage is that of a place

  Options:
  A) of unknown and uncertain qualities
  B) choked with red tape
  C) as inviting as heaven itself
  D) off-putting on account of the heat
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 605:

  This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) poems of Black Africa, E.K. Senanu and T. Vincent (eds.) Selection of African poetry and E.W. Parker (ed.) A Pageant of Longer Poems.

  T.S. Eliot's 'Journey of the Magi' could be side to examine the issue of

  Options:
  A) three trees on the low sky
  B) empty wine-skins
  C) spiritual rebirth
  D) night -fires going out
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 606:

  This question is based on BAT.

  Read the excerpt and answer the question:
  "Bat!
  Creatures that hang themselves up like an old rag, to sleep, And disgustingly upside down."

  The theme of this excerpt is____

  Options:
  A) All of the above
  B) the poet's right to Individual choice
  C) the poet's admiration of the beauty of nature
  D) the poet's appalling remarks about the bird
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 607:

  This question is based on Wole Soyinka's

  The Trials of Brother Jero.

  The most immediate service that Jero wishes to saddle MEMBER with at the end of the play is to

  Options:
  A) make him finance the building of a church
  B) use him to obtain land allocation
  C) use him to arrest Chume
  D) pay for his velvet cape
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 608: This question is based on General Literary Principles
  A poetic device in which an idea in a line runs into another is called Options:
  A) rhyme scheme
  B) enjambment
  C) end rhyme
  D) pathos
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 609:

  This question is based on Wole Soyinka's

  The Trials of Brother Jero.

  CHUME: Who said you were? Does the prophet live here?

  SAME MAN: Yes. Over there. That house

  CHUME: So...so..so...s...

  Chume's reaction in the exchange above reflects

  Options:
  A) disappointment
  B) rumination
  C) contemplation
  D) awareness
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 610: Hallowell's The Dining Table can be referred to as a
  Options:
  A) traditional poem
  B) a lyric
  C) dramatic monologue
  D) ballad
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .