JAMB Literature in English 1983 past questions and answers

Marcus Antonius roused the public to mutiny in his funeral speech in Julius Caesar partly because he succeeded in discrediting Brutus and Cassius by calling them 'honourable men', when in fact he consciously organized his speech to prove that they were dishonourable. This device is known as

1. A.allegory
2. B.hyperbole
3. C.irony
4. D.contrast
5. E.parallelism.

From Julius Caesar (Shakespeare)

These lines were spoken by

1. A.Cassius before the corpse of Brutus
2. B.Cassius before the corpse of Caesar
3. C.Brutus before the corpse of Cassius
4. D.Titinius before the corpse of Cato
5. E.Brutus before the corpse of Portia.

Caesar's ghost appears to Brutus

1. A.just as he is about to surrender to Antony
2. B.as he is about to leave the forum after the assassination of Caesar
3. C.just as he is about to address his fellow citizens
4. D.after Cassius and Brutus have resolved their differences
5. E.before Brutus receives the news of his wife's death.

'Night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest, that have but laboured to attain this hour'. Brutus' words in the above lines come

1. A.after the conclusion of the plan to kill Caesar
2. B.soon after his wife's insistent demand to know the object of his unusual brooding
3. C.as part of his famous address to his fellow Romans
4. D.during a brief meeting between him and Cassius on how to counter the forces of Octavius and Antony
5. E.after his defeat by the forces of Octavius and Antony.

From Julius Caesar (Shakespeare)

This is a statement made by

1. A.Antony, urging Caesar to take the crown
2. B.Cassius, urging Brutus to join in the struggle to remove Caesar before he grows into a tyrant
3. C.Brutus, urging that Cassius and himself lead out their forces to meet those of Antony and Octavius at Philippi
4. D.Casca, urging that the conspirators explain their cause to the populace before their motives are misunderstood
5. E.Messala, urging Titinius to search for Pindarus.

Most of the information in the Trials of Brother Jero is conveyed when Brother Jero speaks to himself in dramatic monologues otherwise known as a

1. A.stream of consciousness technique
2. B.personal conversation
3. C.dialogue
4. D.narration
5. E.soliloquy.

The hero of The Trials of Brother Jero is

1. A.Amope
2. B.the Old Prophet
3. C.the Politician
4. D.Brother Chume
5. E.Brother Jero.

Soyinka's main concern in The Trials of Brother Jero is to

1. A.expose the corrupt politicians in the society
2. B.expose the religious charlatans in the society
3. C.expose women's power to seduction
4. D.condemn men who beat their wives
5. E.show the significance of religion in our lives.

Brother Jero himself identifies ONE of the following as his main weakness

1. A.Avarice
2. B.Treachery
3. C.Lustfulness
4. D.Self-doubt
5. E.Hypocrisy.

The poem 'When a Strainer Takes in Water' is

1. A.a dirge
2. B.an incantation
3. C.an ode
4. D.a lullaby
5. E.a ballad.

In addition to describing scenes of an African village night, Senghor's poem, 'Nuit de Sine' makes a definite statement about

1. A.black soldiers killed in Europe
2. B.fishermen diving in the sea
3. C.technological development in Africa
4. D.population movement from rural to urban centres
5. E.communicating with dead ancestors.

From Awoonor's 'More Message'

A poetic device consciously used by Awoonor in these lines (from More Message) is

1. A.apostrophe
2. B.alliteration
3. C.simile
4. D.onomatopoeia
5. E.personification.

The 'run on' lines in J.P. Clark's poem, 'Night Rain', suggest the

1. A.poet's ignorance of punctuation rules
2. B.long duration of that night
3. C.intensity of the darkness of that night
4. D.deep, soothing sleep of the poet under the night rain
5. E.continuous pouring down of the night rain.

In 'Fulani Cattle', the poet expresses

1. A.his belief that cattle are meant to be slaughtered by men
2. B.regret that there will soon not be enough cattle to go round
3. C.the idea that cattle are created strong to enable them endure the long journey from the North to the South
4. D.sympathy for the cattle that are driven from the North to the South of Nigeria to be slaughtered
5. E.admiration for the sharp knife with which the cattle are slaughtered.

In the poem, 'The Cathedral', Kofi Awoonor expresses

1. A.sorrow at the disappearance of his village
2. B.his feeling about traditional religion
3. C.disapproval of the change from Africa's past life to the present and the modern
4. D.anger at slavery and colonialism
5. E.his approval for the building of a cathedral in his village.

'The Fence' (Lenrie Peters) is a

1. A.lyrical poem which celebrates the beauty of fences
2. B.dramatic poem in which the poet demonstrates how to overcome problems
3. C.moral poem which deals with the poet's dilemma
4. D.free verse which teaches us how to sit on the fence
5. E.free verse which says sitting on the fence is admirable.

The overall mood conveyed in Wole Soyinka's poem, 'Night', can be accurately described as

1. A.calm
2. B.agitated
3. C.cheerful
4. D.aggressive
5. E.uneasy.

In Animal Farm, Boxer represents the dedicated worker who serves the revolutionary cause to the best of his ability and is

1. A.gently consigned to obscurity in the end
2. B.justly rewarded in the end
3. C.unfairly, ruthlessly treated in the end
4. D.given national honours in the end
5. E.allowed a graceful retirement in old age.

From Animal Farm (George Orwell)

In this passage taken from Animal Farm, the truth is that the

1. A.cause of the hens' death is unknown
2. B.official explanation given is unacceptable
3. C.issue is not worth considering
4. D.official explanation is acceptable
5. E.hens died of old-age.

Animal Farm is a fable illustrating the inevitable degeneration of revolutionary ideals. According to the novel, this degeneration occurs because

1. A.social equality, the goal of such idealism, is actually undesirable
2. B.revolutionary ideals are dreamed by blood-thirsty individuals
3. C.man's greedy individualistic nature always subverts the realization of ideals
4. D.revolutionary ideals are inimical to progress
5. E.animals are the wrong characters to illustrate man's weaknesses.

'No sentimentality, comrade! War is war. The only good human being is a dead one'. This statement in Animal Farm was made by

1. A.Squealer
2. B.Boxer
3. C.Major
4. D.Snowball
5. E.Benjamin.

From Animal Farm (George Orwell)

It is obvious from this passage that the narrator

1. A.agrees with the animals' good opinion of Napoleon
2. B.thinks the hens are correct while the cows are wrong
3. C.agrees with the cows and disagrees with the hens
4. D.feels it is not possible to know the truth
5. E.is being ironic since neither the cows nor the hens are correct.

Which of the following adjectives best describes the character of Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart?

1. A.Gentle
2. B.Quick-tempered
3. C.Considerate
4. D.Meek
5. E.Wicked.

From Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe)

The truth, which Okonkwo knows but cannot bring himself to state, is that Nwoye is what he is because there is in him too much of

1. A.his father
2. B.his grandfather
3. C.Ikemefuna
4. D.his grandmother
5. E.Ezinma.

The title of Achebe's Things Fall Apart is taken from poem written by

1. A.T.S. Eliot
2. B.William Shakespeare
3. C.William Wordsworth
4. D.Wole Soyinka
5. E.W.B. Yeats.

The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe was first published in

1. A.1948
2. B.1952
3. C.1958
4. D.1960
5. E.1962.

A Sonnet is a poem of

1. A.seven lines
2. B.three lines
3. C.four lines
4. D.fourteen lines
5. E.twelve lines.

Point out the odd term

1. A.Enjambment
2. B.Rhyme
3. C.Alliteration
4. D.Assonance
5. E.Plot.

The antagonist in a tragedy is

1. A.any character in the tragedy
2. B.the wife of the protagonist
3. C.the character who provides comic relief
4. D.the character set in opposition to the main character
5. E.the leading chorus.

In 'In Memoriam' Senghor writes 'That from the dangerous safety of the tower, I may go down into the street...' 'Dangerous safety' used in this poem is an example of

1. A.oxymoron
2. B.metaphor
3. C.simile
4. D.personification
5. E.apostrophe.

A statement that appears to say something opposite to common sense or the truth, but which may contain a truth is

1. A.an oxymoron
2. B.a parable
3. C.an irony
4. D.an inversion
5. E.a paradox.

Dialogue is important in drama because it

1. A.helps the audience to improve their English
2. B.is usually funny and lively
3. C.helps the audience to relax
4. D.prolongs the action of the play
5. E.reveals the minds of the characters.

A novel is

1. A.a long prose narrative fiction
2. B.an interesting story about a hero
3. C.a prose writing that deals with various people
4. D.a long story in which human characters represent abstract qualities
5. E.a prose writing about the lives of great or interesting people.

Identify the odd item in the following list

1. A.Prose
2. B.Poetry
3. C.Melodrama
4. D.Catastrophe
5. E.Drama.

Verse extract (Question 39)

Which of the following authors chose the title of one of his novels from the above lines?

1. A.Eddie Iroh
2. B.Onuora Nzekwu
3. C.Cyprian Ekwensi
4. D.Elechi Amadi
5. E.Chinua Achebe.

It is obvious from this passage that Simi is

1. A.famous for her love of children
2. B.a goddess worshipped by children, women and men
3. C.a woman other women like to befriend
4. D.an alluring, irresistible man-snatcher
5. E.disliked for teaching sex-education.

The tendency in words to echo the meaning by the actual sound is called

1. A.onomatopoeia
2. B.assonance
3. C.alliteration
4. D.rhyme
5. E.phonetics.

The expression 'All the world is a stage' is a good example of the figure of speech known as

1. A.personification
2. B.paradox
3. C.onomatopoeia
4. D.simile
5. E.metaphor.

The 'Setting' in a novel refers to

1. A.the point in the story where we first encounter the main character
2. B.the overall social and physical background of the main events in the novel
3. C.the home country of the hero or heroine
4. D.the location where the main event in the novel takes place
5. E.all the various places mentioned in the novel.

Prose extract (Question 44)

The mood of the lady in this passage is one of

1. A.defeat
2. B.depression
3. C.triumphant defiance
4. D.simple elation
5. E.sorrow.

The quality which this passage displays is

1. A.inaccessibility
2. B.seriousness
3. C.humour
4. D.gloom
5. E.nervousness.

There is in line 2 ('like a gasping messenger...') an example of

1. A.oxymoron
2. B.metonymy
3. C.alliteration
4. D.simile
5. E.personification.

For the writer of these lines, living is an experience to be described as

1. A.pleasant
2. B.difficult
3. C.rewarding
4. D.exciting
5. E.bracing.

This passage achieves its beautiful effect partly because of its repeated appeal to the sense of

1. A.taste
2. B.touch
3. C.sight
4. D.smell
5. E.hearing.

This passage achieves vividness through the use of

1. A.details
2. B.simple words
3. C.short sentences
4. D.the past tense
5. E.punctuation.