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.

50 questions JAMB 2378 WAEC 1459 CUSTOM 2
Download PHP app Ask a Question Check Syllabus Past Question Videos Topic Video Lessons

Take a test

Past Questions

50 questions
Question 1 of 20 50 total questions
Question 1
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 'Hurrah for Thunder' , Christopher Okigbo recommends

Aimmediate action and fairplay
Bdestruction and re-creation
Cdiligence and reconstruction
Dless promises and more tolerance
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 2
jamb 1997
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?
AMetaphor
BIrony
CPersonification
DSimile
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 3
jamb 1997
This question is based on Literary Principles.
'SINCE I am coming to that Holy roome,
Where, with thy Quire of Saints for evermore
I shall be made thy Musique; As I come
I tune the Instrument here at the dore,
And what I must doe then, thinke here before.'
John Donne, 'hymn to God my God'
In the stanza above, the poet recognizes that
AGod is his creator
Bhe is a choir master
Cthere is music in heaven
Dhe is near his death
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 4
jamb 1997
This question is based on Literary Principles.
'Ocol rejects the old type.
He is in love with a modern woman
He is in love with a beautiful girl
Who speaks English.'
Okot p'Bitek, 'Song of Lawino'
The writer of the lines above
Aridicules Ocol's value judgment
Bis critical of the modern woman
Cappraises people who speak English
Dshuns the old type of woman
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 5
jamb 1997
This question is based on Literary Principles.

'The reception for this third marriage was being held at the home of the young girl's parents. In this, ancient custom was being more tan just respected, it was revived. The house had been invaded since early morning.
Male female griots welcomed guests'.
Sembene Ousmane, 'Xala'
The atmosphere captured in the passage above is
Asolemn and gay
Bjoyful and gloomy
Cgrandiose and joyful
Dgracious and solemn
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 6
jamb 1997
This question is based on Literary Principles.
'Otto's wife was a potter. Nessa remembered Sandra Davis telling her this. Not just a wife, not just a mother - as Nessa's own mother had been, as all the women in her childhood were and were expected to be; cooks and floor scrubbers, fanatical table polishers and chairback starchers, nest builders.
Georgina Hammick, 'Habits'
In the passage above, it can be inferred that Otto's wife
Ascrubbed floors and polished tables like the other women
Bwas a potter and was thereforespared other domestic jobs
Cwas a potter like Nessa's mother
Dwas a potter in addition to being a wife andmother
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 7
jamb 1997

This question is based on General Literary Principles.
The Christs
are still in performing miracles
in the market places
heroding the masses with imperatives
feeding the hungry
with 21-gun salutes
for victories that are yet to be won.'
Odia Ofeimun, 'The Messiahs'
The attitude of the poet to his subject in the lines above is

Aironic
Bsarcastic
Cbenevolent
Dexplosive
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 8
jamb 1997
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
Adeus ex machina
Bdramatis personae
Ccontrived manipulation
Ddramatic reversals
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 9
jamb 1997
This question is based on General Literary Principles.
When a statement is made on stage to the hearing of only the audience, it is called
Aa prologue
Ba soliloquy
Can aside
Da diatribe
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 10
jamb 1997
This question is based on General Literary Principles.
When a protagonist is purged of the dominant emotions of pity and fear at the end of a tragedy, it is called
Acatharsis
Bdementia
Cpurgation
Dredemption
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 11
jamb 1997

This question is based on General Literary Principles.
Sound effects in the theater are realizable through the use of

Aprops
Bacoustics
Cproscenium
Dechoes
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 12
jamb 1997
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
Aclimax
Bdeus ex machina
Ctrance
Dsuspense
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 13
jamb 1997
This question is based on General Literary Principles.
I have received your letter. By way of a reply, I am beginning this diary, my prop is my distress. Our long association has taught me that confiding in others allays pain.
Mariama Ba, 'So Long a Letter'
By employing the first person narrator, the author of the passage above achieves
Asympathy
Bconfidentiality
Cauthenticity
Dirony
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 14
jamb 1997
This question is based on General Literary Principles.
A story which explains the origin of a natural phenomenon is a
Afiction
Blegend
Cparable
Dmyth
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 15
jamb 1997
This question is based on General Literary Principles.
The term assonance refers of
Arepetition of alphabets in lines of a poem
Bagreement of vowel sounds in a line
Crepetition of vowels in a line
Dagreement of consonants in a line
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 16
jamb 1997
This question is based on General Literary Principles.
Hyperbole refers specifically to
Aexaggeration for adornment
Bexaggeration for emphasis
Cunderstatement of ideas
Drestatement of ideas
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 17
jamb 1997
This question is based on General Literary Principles.
'When to the Sessions of sweet silent thought,
I summon up remembrance of things past,...
Shakespeare, 'Sonnet XXX'
The lines above contain the predominant use of
Aa motif
Birony
Csarcasm
Dalliteration
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 18
jamb 1997
This question is based on General Literary Principles.
'From Debbie's room comes the sound of the typewriter. It is an old mechanical typewriter, its noises are metallic and clicking. It chitters onto the end of a line musical, or almost musical 'cling' of the little bell.'
A.S Byatt, 'Artwork'
A striking figure of speech used in the passage above is
Aonomatopoeia
Bzeugma
Cassonance
Dparadox
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 19
jamb 1997
This question is based on General Literary Principles.
The technique found in drama in which the audience knows what the actor does not know is called
Astage direction
Bdramatic irony
Csetting
Dimprovisation
View Explanation & Discuss
Question 20
jamb 1997
This question is based on General Literary Principles.
Point of view is a technique that is commonly associated with
Athe narrative structure
Bcharacterization
Cplot
Datmosphere
View Explanation & Discuss
Question Navigator
Current
MathsFaculty