Literature in English Past Questions

Study and practice Literature in English past questions with answers and detailed explanations. Then test your knowledge using our interactive CBT practice platform and prepare confidently for your upcoming examinations.

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Past Questions

3,839 questions
Question 1 of 20 3,839 total questions
Question 1461
jamb 1997

This question is based on Zaynab Alkali's The Stillborn.
Habu Adams ends up in the novel as a

Amarried man
Brepentant husband
Csuccessful businessman
Dlame lover
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Question 1462
jamb 1997

This question is based on Zaynab Alkali's The Stillborn.
What is the author's final message in the novel?

AHuman beings are born evil
BLovers should never separate
Cman must confront his fate
DThe city is a wicked place
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Question 1463
jamb 1997

This question is based on Zaynab Alkali's The Stillborn.
What is the most striking feature of the setting in the novel?

AThe simple but effective description of the landscape
BThe reliance on straight forward presentations
CThe effective employment of contrasts
DThe use of difficult and mystifying language.
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Question 1464
jamb 1997

This question is based on Zaynab Alkali's The Stillborn.
The dialogue at the end of the novel reveals

ALi's resolve to sustain her marriage
BLi's tragic end
CAwa's role as the man of the house
Dthe cycle of life in Li's family
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Question 1465
jamb 1997

This question is based on Zaynab Alkali's The Stillborn.
The two major pervasive sources of social problems in the community of the stillborn are

Aignorance and poverty
Bmodrnization and foreign culture
CChristianity and the quest for wealth
Dwitchcraft and Christianity
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Question 1466
jamb 1997

This question is based on selected poems from D. Ker, C. Maduka 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.
In my last Duchess', the poet complains about the Duchess'

Aindiscriminate love and admiration
Bunrestrained blushing
Cofficious fool
Dintermitent smiles
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Question 1467
jamb 1997

This question is based on selected poems from D. Ker, C. Maduka 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.
'BEHOLD her, single in the field,
You solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;...
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.'
The lines above from William Wordsworth's 'The Solitary Reaper' constitute

Aa soliloguy
Ban aside
Can apostrophe
Dan interior monologue
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Question 1468
jamb 1997

This question is based on selected poems from D. Ker, C. Maduka 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.
What notion dominates Oswald Mtshali's 'The washerwoman's Prayer'?

APiety
BAgeing
CIndifference
DInequality
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Question 1469
jamb 1997

This question is based on selected poems from D. Ker, C. Maduka 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 recurrence of the first person pronoun 'I' in Gabriel Okara's 'The callof the River Nun' creates the feeling of

Adetachment
Bimmediacy
Calienation
Dnostalgia
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Question 1470
jamb 1997

This question is based on selected poems from D. Ker, C. Maduka 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 phrase, 'pressurized good-breeding' from Wole Soyinka's 'Telephone Conversation', refers to the

Aspeaker's personality
Bwhiteman's upbringing
Clady's personality
Dpersona's upbringing
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Question 1471
jamb 1997

This question is based on selected poems from D. Ker, C. Maduka 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 disenchantment in Kofi Awoonor's 'Songs of Sorrow' is best explained by the

Alamentation of the death of a friend
Balienation of Africans
Cdiscussion of the sad events that afflict Africa
Dloneliness of the person in the wildernes.s
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Question 1472
jamb 1997

This question is based on selected poems from D. Ker, C. Maduka 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 tone of 'They Too are the Earth' by Osundara is

Amilitant
Bhilarious
Charsh
Dassertive
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Question 1473
jamb 1997

This question is based on selected poems from D. Ker, C. Maduka 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.
What is the dominant poetic device used in Christopher Okigbo's 'Hurrah for Thunder?

AIrony
BSymbolism
CParallelism
DRhythm
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Question 1474
jamb 1997

This question is based on Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops To Conquer.
Mrs. Hard: ..Anybody that looks in his face may
see he's consumptive.
Hard: Ay, if growing too fat be one of
the symptoms.
Mrs. Hard: He coughs sometimes,
Hard: Yes, when his liquor goes the wrong way
Mrs. Hard: I'm actually afraid of his lungs.
Hard: And truly so am I;...
What takes place immediately after this brief exchange?

AMr. and Mrs. Hardcastle exit
BTony walks across the stage
CThere is a knocking at the door
DKate enters begging for calm
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Question 1475
jamb 1997

This question is based on Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops To Conquer.
'...My son is not to live by his learning. I don't think a boy wants much learning to spend fifteen hundred a year.'
What provokes this response from the speaker is the accusation that

ATony is in reality without a fortune
BTony is not a man of consequence
CMarlow is too bashful and reserved
DTony has not had a good breeding
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Question 1476
jamb 1997

This question is based on Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops To Conquer.
Mr. Hardcastle asks Young Marlow to leave his house because

AMarlow is not fit to be Kate's husband
BYoung Marlow is more demanding than Hasting
Che is fed up with Marlow annoying behaviour
DKate objects to being betrothed in absentia
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Question 1477
jamb 1997

This question is based on Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops To Conquer.
The comic in the play is found in the

AMiss Hardcastle-Marlow main plot
BMiss Hardcastle Marlow main plot two sub-plots
CMiss Hardcastle-Marlow main plot and Hasting-Neville sub-plot
DMiss Hardcastle-Marlow and Hasting-Neville series of sub-plots
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Question 1478
jamb 1997

This question is based on Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops To Conquer.
One of the enriching factors of the comedy is the

Alopsided resolution of conflicts
Bmanipulation of appearance and reality
Ccontrived misrepresentation of characters
Dmatch making attempts by Mrs. Hardcastle
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Question 1479
jamb 1997

This question is based on Wole Soyinka's
The Trials of Brother Jero.
The most sensitive of Jero's disciples is

Athe Faithful Penitent
BBrother Chume
Cthe Old Couple
Dthe woman with the exposed thigh
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Question 1480
jamb 1997

This question is based on Wole Soyinka's
The Trials of Brother Jero.
Jero's opening speech in the is a

Asoliloquy
Bmonologue
Cnarrative
Dconfession
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