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 1491
jamb 1995

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 'Hurrah for Thunder', Christopher Okigbo celebrates

Athunder
Bdestruction
Cchange
Dhunters
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Question 1492
jamb 1995

This question is based on Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer.
X: I am told he's a man of an excellent understanding
Y: Is he?
X: Very generous.
Y: I believe I shall like him.
X: Young and brave.
Y: I'm sure I shall like him.
X: And very handsome.
Y:....,I'll have him.
Who are the speakers X and Y and about whom are they speaking ?

ANeville and Kate about Hastings
BKate and her mother about Marlow
CMiss Hardcastle and Mr. Hardcastle about Tony
DMr. Hardcastle and Kate about Marlow
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Question 1493
jamb 1995

This question is based on Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer.
The play is concerned principally with

Apresenting the problems of social class and British mannerism
Bchanging the traditional view about comedy in England
Cthe construction and handling of situations and incidents
Dthe presentation of a society without morals
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Question 1494
jamb 1995

This question is based on Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer.
The writer's satire is most biting when applied to

Athe Hastings
BMr. Hardcastle
CYoung Marlow
DMrs. Hardcastle
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Question 1495
jamb 1995

This question is based on Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer.
Mrs. Hardcastle is depicted as

Aa potential aristocrat
Ban obedient wife
Ca frustrated mother
Dhighly unsociable
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Question 1496
jamb 1995

This question is based on Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer.
Kate, Hardcastle's daughter, agrees to her father's choice of a husband for her but is critical of the

Amother's non-participation in the choice
Blong notice given her of the suitor's arrival
Ccustom which allows her father to choose for her
Dsuitor's reserved and bashful nature
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Question 1497
jamb 1995

This question is based on Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer.
For Young Marlow, which of the following is the most objectionable aspect of marriage?

ARigours of formal courtship
BBeing introduced to a wife
CDemands by in-laws
DDemands by the wife
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Question 1498
jamb 1995

This question is based on Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer.
In the play, most characters act in ignorance while the audience is aware of the true situation. This is an example of

Adramatic monologue
Bdramatic irony
Ccomic relief
Depilogue
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Question 1499
jamb 1995

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

Amake him finance the building of a church
Buse him to obtain land allocation
Cuse him to arrest Chume
Dpay for his velvet cape
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Question 1500
jamb 1995

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

The most significant factors driving members to Jero's church in the play are

Apoverty and dissatisfaction
Bfulfilment and security
Cwealth and ignorance
Dpoverty and lust for power
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Question 1501
jamb 1995

This question is based on Wole Soyinka's
The Trials of Brother Jero.
Jero is aptly described in the play as

Aneat
Bsuave
Cpolished
Dlofty
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Question 1502
jamb 1995

This question is based on Wole Soyinka's
The Trials of Brother Jero.
'...This morning alone I have been thrice in conflict with the daughters of discord. First there was...'The omission in the conflict in the above statement from the play refers to

ADelila and Jezebel
Bthe girl who goes to swim everyday
Cthe woman chasing the drummer boy
DChume's wife whom he owes money.
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Question 1503
jamb 1995

This question is based on Wole Soyinka's
The Trials of Brother Jero.
The spotlight on the dark stage in the opening of the reveals

AAmope
Bthe prophet
CJero's house
DChume
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Question 1504
jamb 1994
"He considers also a little fragile,because artistic:
I need to be cared for, like a potted plant. A little
pruning, a little watering, a little weeding and
straightening up to bring out the best in me."

Based on Margaret Atwood, Cat's Eye, the "me" in the above passage is seen as
Adynamic, to be cherished
Ban object to be protected
Can ornament to be admired
Dsomething to be tended
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Question 1505
jamb 1994
"Marjorie turns to the fish, They swim slickly
backwards and forwards in the bright heaven of
their tanks:'white gravel,silver bubbles,green weed and the iridescence of their scales.They
cheer her. How much more beautiful fish are than
people, she thinks for the thousandth time.No
ungainliness,no filth;no stupidity."

Based on Lesley Glaister's "Serrusalmus", New Writing, in the passage above, the fish are better than people because they are
Amore radiant
Bmore colourful
Cless awkward
Dless scheming
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Question 1506
jamb 1994
"In the cold hand of death...
his mouth was cotton filled, his man-pike
shrunk to a sub-soil grub
his head was hallowed and his brain
on scales-was this a trick to prove
fore-knowledge after death?"

Based on Wole Soyinka's '' Post Mortem, one of the techniques employed by this poet is the use of
Ajuxtaposition
Brhetoric
Ciambic meter
Dallusions
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Question 1507
jamb 1994
"Full fathom five thy father lies
Of his bones are corals made
Those are pearls that were his eyes
Nothing of him that doth fade."

The rhyme scheme of the above stanza is
Abaab
Babab
Cabba
Daabb
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Question 1508
jamb 1994

"Here lies our sovereign Lord the King,
Whose word no man relies on,
Who never said a foolish thing
Nor ever did a wise one,"

Based on John Wilmot Rochester's Epitaph on King Charles 11, the form of the above stanza is an example of

Apraise poem
Blamentation
Can epigram
Dsatiric poem
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Question 1509
jamb 1994
"The poet needs to be up at night,when the world
sleeps...needs to exist in places where spiders
forge their webs in silence;near the gutters where
the underside of our dreams fester."

Based on Ben Okri's 'Of Poets and their Antagonists', the poet in the passage above is
Asuffering from insomnia
Bone of the numerous living in poverty
Cnot an ordinary individual
Da difficult individual
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Question 1510
jamb 1994
"The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew
The furrow followed free
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea."

Based on Coleridge's 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', the dominant figure of speech in the above lines is
Aalliteration
Bfree verse
Crepetition
Dsarcasm
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