WAEC Literature in English 2002 past questions and answers

A couplet is two lines in a row that rhyme.

The first eight lines of a (Petrarchan) sonnet form the octave.

An ode praises or celebrates its subject, e.g. Keats's 'Ode on a Grecian Urn'.

Euphemism softens something unpleasant, e.g. 'passed away' for 'died'.

A ballad is a song-like poem that tells a story.

A stanza groups lines in a poem as a paragraph groups sentences in prose.

Poetry is marked by language that stirs up (evokes) feelings in the reader.

Putting two contradictory words together (e.g. 'bitter sweet') is an oxymoron.

It is a traditional (oral) praise poem.

A pair of successive rhyming lines forms a couplet.

'Grace', 'uncle' and 'grace' are repeated again and again: repetition.

The person is called 'salt' directly, without 'like' or 'as': a metaphor.

The flow of beats (stressed and unstressed syllables) is rhythm.

This neat, memorable saying with a witty contrast is an epigram.

Imagery creates pictures in the reader's mind.

An epigram is a short, clever, witty saying.

Not literally everyone in the town attended: it is an exaggeration (hyperbole).

A clown's jokes give the audience relief from tension.

The sudden drop from serious state business to drinking tea is bathos (anticlimax).

The passage describes a forty-eight-hour downpour: rainfall.

July is described as if it could creep, an implied comparison: metaphor.

The sky is given a human action, wearing black like a monk: personification.

'High and low' means people of every class: the rich and the poor.

'Destructive' and 'blessing' are contradictory words placed together: oxymoron.

The poem laments the lack of money and the hardship ordinary people face.

'Money' is repeated throughout and is addressed as a person who may 'desert' the commoners.

The speaker mourns the suffering caused by lack of money.

Questions like 'Money O! where are you?' stress the poet's point.

The comparisons use 'as' and 'like': similes.

In the opening scene Solanio teases Antonio about his sadness.

Antonio cannot explain why he is sad.

Sad and merry, laughing and not sad are set against each other: contrast.

Solanio is talking about Antonio's unexplained sadness (melancholy).

'Laugh and leap' repeat the 'l' sound: alliteration.

Jessica, Shylock's daughter, says goodbye to Launcelot.

Launcelot Gobbo is leaving Shylock's service.

Jessica gives Launcelot a ducat and a letter for Lorenzo.

'Merry' and 'devil' seem contradictory side by side: oxymoron.

Jessica is planning to run away with Lorenzo.

Portia mocks her suitors, here the Duke of Saxony's nephew.

Portia is talking with her waiting-woman Nerissa.

The drunken suitor described is the Duke of Saxony's nephew.

Portia and Nerissa review the suitors, weighing who would be acceptable.

'Very vilely ... most vilely', 'when he is best ... when he is worst': repeated words and patterns.

Shylock orders Jessica to lock up the house against the Christian masque.

The audience knows Jessica plans to run away with Lorenzo that night, while Shylock, warning her to lock up the house, does not. This gap between what he believes and what will happen is dramatic irony.

Shylock gives these orders to his daughter Jessica.

That night Jessica elopes with Lorenzo.

Thoni: Remi's widow by custom (wife of his dead brother, inherited); traditional, patient, loyal, loving; suffers neglect; dies when Remi rejects her.
Jane: Remi's girlfriend in the city; modern, educated, independent; represents the city and Western values.
Both love Remi and are hurt by him.
Contrast: village versus city, tradition versus modernity.
Roles: Thoni shows the cost of Remi's flight from tribe; Jane shows his alienation; together they show his divided self.

Compare and contrast traits and roles.

Christianity through the Pastor: tries to win Remi back for the church; mixes religion with politics.
Traditional religion through the elders and the medicine man; charms to bring Remi home.
Mother's faith; prayer.
Ngugi shows both as used for selfish ends and as sources of division.
Conflict of religion with politics and tribalism.

Show how each form of religion appears and the writer's attitude.

Baroka's senior wife; loyal, talkative, superstitious, proud of her position.
Acts as go-between: carries Baroka's proposal to Sidi.
Believes Baroka is impotent and celebrates the 'women's victory' with a dance.
Her gossip lures Sidi to Baroka's house, where he seduces her.
Role: comic figure; instrument of Baroka's trick; represents tradition.

Traits with evidence and role in the plot.

Lakunle (modern teacher) versus Baroka (traditional chief).
Bride price: Lakunle rejects it, Sidi insists.
Baroka blocks the railway; prefers village ways but uses a stamp machine.
Sidi's photographs in the magazine; vanity from modern media.
Sidi chooses Baroka: tradition wins, but Baroka adapts.
Soyinka satirises shallow modernism and shows tradition can be cunning.

Show both sides and the outcome.

Audience knows 'Ensign Beverley' is Captain Jack Absolute; Lydia, Mrs Malaprop and Sir Anthony don't.
Jack woos Lydia in two roles; scenes with Mrs Malaprop reading his insulting letter.
Sir Anthony urges Jack to marry the very girl he loves.
Acres challenges 'Beverley' using Jack as messenger.
Effect: comedy, suspense, exposure of characters' follies.

Give examples and explain the effect.

Lydia's romantic notions drive Jack's disguise.
Mrs Malaprop's misused words and vanity create comedy; Lucius O'Trigger's letters.
Sir Anthony's temper and authority push the arranged match.
Faulkland's jealousy creates the sub-plot with Julia.
Acres's cowardice and the duel; servants carry messages.
Characters' traits create complications and resolution.

Link traits to plot events.

The women of Canterbury, ordinary people.
Express fear and foreboding at Becket's return.
Comment on events and link audience to action, as in Greek drama.
Their growth from passive fear to acceptance of martyrdom.
Provide poetic atmosphere and religious meaning.

Explain the chorus's functions with examples.

Four tempters visit Becket in Part I.
First: pleasures of youth; second: worldly power as Chancellor; third: alliance with barons against the king.
Fourth: spiritual pride, seeking martyrdom for glory.
Show Becket's inner conflict; the fourth is the most dangerous.
Becket overcomes them: 'to do the right deed for the wrong reason'.
Prepare for his true martyrdom; dramatise the theme of will.

Describe each tempter and their dramatic purpose.

Lenrie Peters's poem on soldiers returning from war.
Images of death, blood and destruction left by war.
Images of loss of identity and spirit.
Images of hope and peace sought.
Successful: vivid, emotional, shows futility of war.

Give images and assess their effect.

Theme: the abiku (born-to-die child) and parents' attempts to keep it; mystery of infant death.
J.P. Clark/Soyinka: voice of the child (Soyinka) or parents' plea (Clark).
Style: first-person voice, repetition, imagery of charms, bangles, cycles; tone mocking or pleading.
Traditional belief presented poetically.

Discuss theme then style with examples.

A.E. Housman; dialogue between a dead young man and his living friend.
Theme: life goes on after death; transience and indifference; betrayal (friend now with his sweetheart).
Style: question-and-answer stanzas; simple diction; regular quatrains with rhyme; irony in the last stanza.
Tone: wistful, ironic.

Theme with evidence, then style features.

Thomas Gray: evening scene in a churchyard.
Images of fading day: curfew, lowing herd, ploughman going home.
Stillness and darkness; owl's complaint; graves.
Diction and slow rhythm create solemn, melancholy mood.
Reflection on death of the poor ('paths of glory lead but to the grave').

Show how imagery, sound and diction build the atmosphere.

Military dictatorship in Kangan; His Excellency (Sam) becomes power-hungry.
Corruption, sycophancy of cabinet; abuse of power, State Research Council.
Suppression of press freedom (Ikem's sacking and murder).
Neglect of the people (Abazon drought delegation).
Hope through women (Beatrice) and new generation (naming ceremony).

Show the picture of society with incidents.

Multiple narrators: Chris, Ikem, Beatrice in first person, plus third-person narrator.
Different viewpoints on the same events.
Use of stories, myths, proverbs and Ikem's prose poem.
Effect: rounded picture, immediacy, irony.

Describe techniques and their effects.

Symbolism: banister, bus, latrine, Koomson's sweets.
Vivid, often disgusting imagery of filth and decay representing corruption.
Unnamed protagonist ('the man'): everyman.
Third-person narrative with flashbacks; slow plot.
Pessimistic tone; satire.

Identify features with examples and effects.

Teacher: the man's friend; disillusioned, withdrawn, lives alone; voice of reflection; tells of Maanan and Kofi Billy.
Maanan: beautiful woman, friend of Teacher's group; ruined by wee (Indian hemp) and disillusionment; ends mad.
Contributions: through them we see the failure of independence hopes, flashbacks to the past.
Show despair and decay in society.

Describe both and show their part in the story.

Poverty pushes her family to send her to the d'Urbervilles.
Seduced/raped by Alec, then judged by society's double standards.
Angel rejects her after the wedding night confession though he had sinned too.
Hard labour at Flintcomb-Ash; forced back to Alec to support her family.
Executed for killing Alec.
Also fate and chance; but society's morality crushes her.

Assess with evidence.

Colour red: blood, roses, Prince's death, Tess's ribbons; foreshadows violence.
Stonehenge: pagan sacrifice; Tess as victim.
The death of Prince the horse.
Seasons and landscapes (Talbothays fertility versus Flintcomb-Ash barrenness).
The threshing machine; the d'Urberville portraits.

Name symbols and explain them.

Xury: boy he escapes with from slavery in Sallee; loyal, helpful; Crusoe later sells him to the Portuguese captain.
Friday: rescued from cannibals; becomes servant and companion; taught English and Christianity.
Relationship is master-servant, affectionate but unequal.
Shows Crusoe's attitudes to race and colonial ideas.

Describe both relationships and comment.

Crusoe's disobedience to his father seen as original sin.
Illness and dream lead to conversion; reads the Bible.
Sees Providence in his survival and supplies.
Teaches Friday Christianity.
Religion gives him hope and meaning; Puritan view.

Show his spiritual journey with incidents.