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JAMB Literature in English 2021 past questions and answers

25 questions. Try each one, then open the answer to check yourself and read the explanation.

Question 2

African Poetry

In 'Black Woman' Sedar Senghor expresses

  1. A.hatred for African woman
  2. B.dislike for African beauty
  3. C.beauty of African women
  4. D.joy of African man
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C (beauty of African women)

Explanation

Senghor's poem praises the black woman, celebrating her natural beauty as a symbol of Africa.

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Question 3

Other Set Texts: Non-African Drama

Rose Lee, Jim Bono and Gabriel Maxson are characters in

  1. A.Look Back in Anger
  2. B.Fences
  3. C.Second Class Citizen
  4. D.Invisible man
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: B (Fences)

Explanation

Rose (Troy's wife), Jim Bono (his friend) and Gabriel (his brother) are characters in August Wilson's play Fences.

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Question 4

Non-African Poetry
Gerard Manley Hopkins: Binsey Poplars (felled 1879) (extract)
The passage, as printed

In this poem, the repetitive pattern suggests

  1. A.height of the fallen trees
  2. B.shows how inconsolable the poet-persona feels about his fallen trees
  3. C.shows how the poet-persona loves to fell trees
  4. D.he loves trees with sweet fruits
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: B (shows how inconsolable the poet-persona feels about his fallen trees)

Explanation

Repeating 'rural scene' over and over is like a lament: the speaker cannot stop mourning the lost trees and the spoilt landscape.

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Question 5

African Poetry

The language of Augustino Neto's 'The Grieved Lands' suggested

  1. A.the beauty of African country side
  2. B.that black is beautiful
  3. C.that the poet is pained by wrongs done to Africa in the past
  4. D.that the poet sees Africa as a colonial power
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C (that the poet is pained by wrongs done to Africa in the past)

Explanation

Neto writes of the 'grieved lands' of Africa, mourning the suffering caused by slavery and colonial exploitation.

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Question 6

African Poetry
Niyi Osundare: The Leader and the Led (extract)
The passage, as printed

In 'The Leader and the Led' Niyi Osundare writes the lines above. The figure of speech used in the above line is

  1. A.Metaphor
  2. B.Simile
  3. C.Irony
  4. D.Synecdoche
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: A (Metaphor)

Explanation

The leader is called 'a little bit of a lion, a little bit of lamb' directly, without 'like' or 'as': a metaphor.

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Question 7

Non-African Poetry

In D. H. Lawrence's 'BAT' the poet expresses

  1. A.his love for bats
  2. B.his love for swallows
  3. C.his hatred for swallows
  4. D.his disgust for bats
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: D (his disgust for bats)

Explanation

The speaker first mistakes the bats for swallows, then recoils from them as ugly and repulsive: he is disgusted by bats.

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Question 9

Non-African Poetry
Dylan Thomas: Do not go Gentle into that Good Night (extract for question 9)
The passage, as printed

In Dylan Thomas's 'Do not go Gentle into that Good Night', the following line occur. The figure of speech used in the above lines are

  1. A.Oxymoron
  2. B.Alliteration
  3. C.Litotes
  4. D.Metonymy
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: A (Oxymoron)

Explanation

'Blinding sight' and 'fierce tears' that 'curse, bless' put opposite ideas side by side: oxymoron.

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Question 10

Set Text: The Lion and the Jewel

The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka

  1. A.Baroka is a socialist
  2. B.Baroka is a democratic ruler
  3. C.Baroka is a dictator
  4. D.Baroka is a monogamist
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C (Baroka is a dictator)

Explanation

Baroka rules Ilujinle as he pleases, even bribing the surveyor to keep the railway away; he is an autocratic ruler, and certainly not monogamous.

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Question 11

Set Text: A Midsummer Night's Dream

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hippolyta is the queen of

  1. A.Thenians
  2. B.Romans
  3. C.Celes
  4. D.Amazons
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: D (Amazons)

Explanation

Hippolyta, whom Theseus is about to marry, is queen of the Amazons.

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Question 12

Set Text: A Midsummer Night's Dream

One of the themes of A Midsummer Night's Dream is

  1. A.how to become a duke
  2. B.the defeat of evil by good
  3. C.romantic love as a blind force that can be cruel and forgiving
  4. D.night dream
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C (romantic love as a blind force that can be cruel and forgiving)

Explanation

The lovers fall in and out of love blindly, often hurting one another, which shows love as an irrational, unpredictable force.

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Question 15

Other Set Texts: African Prose
Buchi Emecheta: Second Class Citizen (extract)
The passage, as printed

The speaker in the novel second class citizen is

  1. A.Adah
  2. B.Francis
  3. C.Mama
  4. D.Peggy
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: A (Adah)

Explanation

It is Adah who is shocked at the poor slum conditions Francis has brought the family to in London and protests in these words.

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Question 16

Other Set Texts: African Drama

The author of Let me die Alone is

  1. A.Shakespeare
  2. B.Kolosa John Kargbo
  3. C.Chimmanda Adichie
  4. D.Buchi Emecheta
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: B (Kolosa John Kargbo)

Explanation

Let Me Die Alone is a play by the Sierra Leonean writer John Kolosa Kargbo.

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Question 17

Set Text: The Lion and the Jewel

The jewel in Wole Soyinka's The Lion and the Jewel is

  1. A.Sadiku
  2. B.Baroka
  3. C.Sidi
  4. D.Lakunle
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C (Sidi)

Explanation

Sidi, the village belle, is the jewel; Baroka is the lion.

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Question 18

Set Text: The Lion and the Jewel

The Lion and the Jewel is a novel based on

  1. A.cultural clash
  2. B.politics
  3. C.folktales
  4. D.traditional marriage ceremonies
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: A (cultural clash)

Explanation

The work (actually a play) is built on the clash between traditional African culture and Western modernity.

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Question 19

Set Text: A Midsummer Night's Dream

In Midsummer Night's Dream, who complained of his daughter's refusal to marry Demetrius?

  1. A.Duke of Athens
  2. B.Egeus
  3. C.Theseus
  4. D.Shakespeare
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: B (Egeus)

Explanation

Egeus brings his daughter Hermia before Theseus because she refuses to marry Demetrius.

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Question 20

Set Text: A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream (extract for question 20)
The passage, as printed

These words are spoken by

  1. A.Lysander
  2. B.Hermia
  3. C.Oberon
  4. D.Titania
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: A (Lysander)

Explanation

In the wood Lysander begs Hermia to let him lie near her, saying their two hearts are knit into one; she asks him to lie further off.

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Question 21

Set Text: A Midsummer Night's Dream

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hermia refused to marry Demetrius because

  1. A.Demetrius is blind
  2. B.Demstrius is of a lower class
  3. C.she is in love with Lysander
  4. D.she is in love with Theseus
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C (she is in love with Lysander)

Explanation

Hermia loves Lysander and will not marry the man her father has chosen.

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Question 22

Set Text: A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream (extract for question 22)
The passage, as printed

In the above quote, Egeus sees his daughter, Hermia as a

  1. A.maid
  2. B.good daughter
  3. C.mere property
  4. D.slave
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C (mere property)

Explanation

Egeus speaks of Hermia as 'mine' and of his 'right of her' which he can 'estate' (hand over) to Demetrius, as if she were property.

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Question 23

Set Text: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Which group of characters appears in Midsummer Night:s Dream?

  1. A.Duncan, Macdoff, Theseus
  2. B.Shakespeare, Egeus, Hermia
  3. C.Macbeth, Hermia, Demetrius
  4. D.Lysander, Hermia, Egeus
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: D (Lysander, Hermia, Egeus)

Explanation

Lysander, Hermia and Egeus are all in A Midsummer Night's Dream; Duncan, Macduff and Macbeth belong to Macbeth.

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Question 24

Set Text: A Midsummer Night's Dream

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Duke of Athens, plans to marry Hippolyta when

  1. A.he lost his wife
  2. B.he defeated Hippolyta in a war
  3. C.Hippolyta assisted him
  4. D.he saw the beauty of Hippolyta
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: B (he defeated Hippolyta in a war)

Explanation

Theseus tells Hippolyta, 'I wooed thee with my sword': he won her by defeating the Amazons in battle.

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Question 25

Literary Appreciation: Poetry
Extract for question 25
The passage, as printed

The poetic device consciously used here is

  1. A.personification
  2. B.apostrophe
  3. C.alliteration
  4. D.oxymoron
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C (alliteration)

Explanation

The 'f' sound is repeated at the start of nearby words: fair, fancy, few. That is alliteration.

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Question 28

Literary Appreciation: Poetry

This verse is taken from a poem written by a soldier at the battle-front. He clearly sees dying in battle as

  1. A.glorious
  2. B.patriotic
  3. C.brave and desirable
  4. D.a good experience
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C (brave and desirable)

Explanation

The soldier compares himself with the hero Achilles, who has already faced death; he sees dying in battle as a brave act that he can look towards.

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Question 32

Literary Appreciation: Poetry

The above passage derives its theme from

  1. A.the repetition of nature images
  2. B.contrastive use of images
  3. C.the consistency of its rhyme scheme
  4. D.the use of the same figures of speech
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: A (the repetition of nature images)

Explanation

The theme of autumn's ripeness and plenty is built up through image after image of nature: apples, gourds, hazel shells, flowers and bees.

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Question 34

Literary Appreciation: Poetry

The poetic device consciously used by Dylan Thomas in 'Do not go Gentle into that Good Night' in the following lines is

  1. A.simile
  2. B.oxymoron
  3. C.anaphora
  4. D.paradox
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: B (oxymoron)

Explanation

'Blinding sight' joins two opposite words, and 'fierce tears' that 'curse, bless' do the same: oxymoron.

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Question 37

Literary Terms and Devices

Point out the odd item

  1. A.enjambment
  2. B.rhyme
  3. C.alliteration
  4. D.plot
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: D (plot)

Explanation

Enjambment, rhyme and alliteration are poetic devices; plot is the storyline of a narrative or play.

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