WAEC Literature in English 2003 past questions and answers

A folktale is a story passed on by word of mouth, and it can contain legends and fables.

An epitaph is the short inscription or poem written on a tomb.

A prologue comes at the beginning and introduces or comments on the work; an epilogue comes at the end.

Tragedy, comedy and farce are kinds of play; a stanza is a group of lines in a poem.

Pastoral literature describes country life, especially shepherds and rural people.

Satire uses humour and ridicule to expose the faults of society; a lampoon attacks one person.

Thomas Gray, author of 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard', was English. Lenrie Peters (Gambia), J. P. Clark (Nigeria) and Syl Cheney-Coker (Sierra Leone) are African poets.

The first three are plays; Robinson Crusoe is a novel.

An elegy is a poem of mourning for someone who has died.

Death is given hands and a human action (laying hands on kings), so it is personification.

A motif is an image or idea that keeps coming back in a work and helps to develop its theme.

Diction means the words a writer chooses.

In enjambment a sentence runs on from one line of poetry into the next without a pause.

A stanza is one of the divisions (groups of lines) into which a poem is arranged, like a paragraph in prose.

The words echo Longfellow's 'A Psalm of Life' ('Life is but an empty dream'); referring to another well-known work is allusion.

The denouement is the final part of a plot where the complications are untied and explained.

Elegy, ballad and ode are kinds of poem; a metaphor is a figure of speech.

Mood is the feeling or atmosphere in a work, which reflects the writer's feelings and attitude.

An autobiography is the story of a person's life written by that person; a biography is written by someone else.

He remembers his murdered wife and children and his violated, slaughtered sister: the mood is gloomy and sorrowful.

A 'sword in the heart of the land', 'the strife' and the killings by 'beasts in khaki' (soldiers) show the suffering caused by war.

'He remembered...' is repeated again and again to build up the man's painful memories.

The sister is called a rose directly, without 'like' or 'as', so it is a metaphor.

A sword plunged into the land pictures war breaking out among its people. The passage itself goes on to call it 'the strife', which drained away his life's sweat.

The poem (Wilfred Owen's 'Futility') mourns a dead soldier, so it is an elegy.

The poet speaks of the earth as 'a cold star' and of man as 'clay' that 'grew tall': these are metaphors.

'O what made fatuous sunbeams toil / To break earth's sleep at all?' is a cry of grief and bitterness: a lament.

Portia is leaving Belmont and asks Lorenzo and Jessica to look after her house while she and Bassanio are away.

Lorenzo, who will look after Belmont with Jessica, wishes Portia well.

Portia tells Lorenzo she has vowed to live in prayer at a monastery while her husband is away; this hides her plan to go to Venice.

Lorenzo is with his wife Jessica, and Portia names them both as keepers of her house.

Portia means her servants at Belmont, who already know they must treat Lorenzo and Jessica as their master and mistress.

In Act II Scene VII the Prince of Morocco considers the caskets and decides he deserves Portia.

Morocco is reasoning about which casket to choose; the silver casket promises 'as much as he deserves'.

Morocco chooses the gold casket, finds a skull inside and loses Portia.

The suitors choose caskets to win Portia, the lady of Belmont.

Morocco speaks at length, thinking aloud, while Portia and her train are on stage: a monologue.

In Act I Scene I Bassanio admits he owes Antonio much and asks him for more money.

Bassanio is speaking to his friend Antonio, the merchant who has lent him money before.

Bassanio needs money so that he can go to Belmont and woo Portia.

'Like a wilful youth' is a comparison using 'like': a simile.

'To shoot another arrow' stands for lending more money in the hope of recovering both loans: a metaphor.

In Act III Scene II Bassanio rejects the gold casket because outward show deceives.

Ornament is a 'guiled' (treacherous) shore to a dangerous sea: an attractive surface hiding danger, that is, deception.

'Cunning times' are said to put on a false appearance to trap people, as if they were persons: personification.

Bassanio refers to the Greek myth of King Midas, whose food turned to gold; a brief reference like this is an allusion.

Bassanio chooses the lead casket, which holds Portia's portrait, and wins her.

Introduction: the play shows a village community whose life is ruled by belief in gods, spirits, curses and medicine.
Deaths and misfortunes (such as the death of Remi's brother) are explained by the villagers as the work of gods or a curse.
Remi's flight to the city, his refusal of Thoni and his abandoning of the tribe are seen by the elders as unnatural and caused by evil forces.
The elders turn to the medicine man and take a charm/medicine to the city to draw Remi back to the tribe.
Significance: it shows the strength of tradition and the clash between tribal belief, Christianity (the Pastor, Nyobi) and Remi's modern outlook.
It also drives the plot: the elders' journey to the city and Remi's return.
Conclusion: the supernatural reflects the community's world view and deepens the conflict between old and new.

Give examples from the play and say what each shows.

Remi, the 'black hermit', runs from the tribe to the city to be free, yet he is lonely and unsettled there: his escape fails.
He refuses to inherit Thoni as tribal custom demands, but on his return he finds he loves her: when he comes back she is already dead.
Thoni waits faithfully for Remi, but kills herself when she hears he is rejecting her; his return brings death, not joy.
The elders and Nyobi hope his return will save the tribe, but it ends in tragedy.
Jane hopes to marry Remi, while the audience knows he will leave her (dramatic irony).
Remi plans to lead the people politically and reform them, but his own actions destroy the people closest to him.
Conclusion: the irony underlines the conflict between tradition and modernity.

Explain each ironic situation and its effect.

The title: Baroka is the lion (strong, cunning, predatory) and Sidi the jewel (beautiful, precious prize).
Lakunle stands for half-baked Western education and shallow modernity; Baroka for tradition, wisdom and craft; Sidi for the village caught between the two.
The photographs in the magazine symbolise modern influence and make Sidi vain.
The mime of the Lost Traveller, the railway ('iron snake') and the stranger's camera symbolise the arrival of the modern world.
The bride price symbolises respect for tradition and the bride's worth.
Sadiku's dance of triumph round Baroka's carved figure symbolises women's supposed victory over men (ironic, as Baroka has tricked her).
The stamp-making machine shows Baroka can use modern things for his own ends.
Conclusion: the symbols bring out the play's main conflict between tradition and modernity.

Name each symbol and say what it stands for.

Sidi insists that Lakunle must pay the bride price before she marries him.
To Sidi and Ilujinle, bride price is a mark of respect and honour; a girl married without it is thought worthless, not a virgin, and is mocked.
Lakunle calls it a savage, backward custom, like buying a heifer at the market, and refuses to pay; this reveals his shallow modern ideas (and his meanness).
The quarrel over the bride price keeps the two apart and leaves Sidi open to Baroka.
After Baroka seduces Sidi, Lakunle offers to marry her without bride price, saying she is no longer a virgin; she rejects him and marries Baroka.
Significance: it brings out the conflict between tradition and modernity, the position of women and the characters of Sidi and Lakunle; it shapes the plot and its ending.

Show how the bride price affects plot, character and theme.

A martyr dies willingly for his faith, submitting his will to God's.
Becket returns to Canterbury after seven years in exile knowing his life is in danger.
He rejects the Tempters: worldly pleasure, political power as Chancellor, an alliance with the barons.
The Fourth Tempter offers martyrdom for glory; Becket sees that dying for pride would be 'the right deed for the wrong reason' and purifies his motive.
His Christmas sermon explains that a true martyr is made by God's design, not by his own will.
He refuses to save himself, orders the doors to be opened, and dies in the cathedral for the authority of the Church.
The Chorus's suffering is redeemed by his death; the Church later makes him a saint.
Conclusion: he is a true martyr; the Knights' excuses do not change that.

Use events from the play as evidence.

After the murder the Knights step forward and speak directly to the audience in modern prose.
They claim to be disinterested: they gain nothing personally and acted only from duty.
They argue that Becket, once the King's loyal Chancellor, became an enemy of the state when he became Archbishop; killing him restored the proper rule of the state over the Church.
They argue that Becket provoked his own death and was virtually a suicide, 'of unsound mind'.
Significance: the sudden switch to prose and modern political language shocks the audience and makes them judge.
It exposes how people justify violence with clever arguments, and makes the audience share the guilt.
Their weak excuses actually confirm that Becket died a martyr.

Give each reason, then show what it adds to the play.

Lydia is a young, wealthy heiress, niece and ward of Mrs Malaprop.
She is over-romantic, filled with ideas from sentimental novels from the circulating library.
She wants a poor lover and a secret elopement, and would accept losing part of her fortune to marry without her aunt's consent.
She is wilful, stubborn and capricious; she quarrels on purpose to make her romance more exciting.
Role: Captain Jack Absolute courts her disguised as the poor Ensign Beverley, which creates the main plot and its mistaken identities.
She is angry when she learns Beverley is Jack Absolute, but finally accepts him; through her Sheridan satirises sentimental romance.
She contrasts with the sensible Julia.

Cover both character and role.

Jack Absolute disguises himself as Ensign Beverley to win the romantic Lydia: this is the main source of the plot.
Sir Anthony arranges for Jack to marry Lydia; Jack must hide that he is also Beverley, which creates comic scenes (e.g. in front of Mrs Malaprop and Lydia).
Mrs Malaprop writes love letters as 'Delia' to Sir Lucius O'Trigger through Lucy, who lets him believe he is writing to Lydia.
Bob Acres challenges 'Beverley' to a duel not knowing that Beverley is his friend Jack.
These confusions bring the rivals together for the duel at King's Mead Fields, the climax.
When the identities are revealed the problems are solved: Jack wins Lydia, Sir Lucius learns 'Delia' is Mrs Malaprop, Acres withdraws.
Mistaken identity therefore creates the comedy, suspense, conflict and resolution.

Trace the confusions from start to resolution.

Niyi Osundare's poem calls on man to care for the earth and not exploit it.
Contrasting pairs of words that sound alike: 'plough' / 'plunder', 'man' / 'maim', 'work' / 'waste' carry the message.
Alliteration and repetition make the lines memorable, like a chant or proverb.
Imagery of the earth as something living (a body, a farm) shows it can be wounded.
Imperative/instructive tone: the poet commands and teaches.
Simple, everyday diction from farming makes the message clear to ordinary people.
Conclusion: the language makes the theme of responsible use of the environment forceful.

Quote short phrases and explain their effect.

Jared Angira's poem tells of a powerful politician who is assassinated.
He had planned a grand funeral and a costly coffin under the jacaranda tree by his palace, but he is left with no coffin and no grave.
Instead of doctors, scavengers (vultures) perform his autopsy.
The rifle that kills him gives him a 'gun salute'.
His only mourners are his bullet-riddled car and its licence plate.
Effect: the irony mocks the vanity, greed and violence of politicians and shows that power cannot protect them.

Explain the contrast in each example.

John Donne's speaker, about to travel, tells his beloved not to mourn their parting.
Opens with the image of virtuous men dying quietly: the lovers should part as calmly, with no 'tear-floods' or 'sigh-tempests'.
Contrasts 'dull sublunary lovers', whose love depends on the body and cannot bear absence, with their own refined, spiritual love.
Their souls are one, so parting is not a breach but an 'expansion', like gold beaten to airy thinness.
Ends with the conceit of a pair of compasses: she is the fixed foot, he the moving one; her firmness makes his circle complete and brings him back.
The theme, that true spiritual love survives separation, develops through a logical argument and a series of images.

Follow the poem from start to end.

Robert Frost's poem: two lovers climbing a mountain at dusk stop at a tumbled wall.
A doe and then a buck come to the other side of the wall and look at them without fear.
Nature is shown as alive and responsive: the animals study the humans as the humans study them.
The wall separates the human world from nature, but for a moment the two meet.
The lovers feel 'as if the earth in one unlooked-for favour' had returned their love.
So it is a poem about nature, but also about human love and the bond between man and nature.
Conclusion: agree in part; nature is the setting and source of the lovers' insight.

Take a position and support it from the poem.

Sam (His Excellency), Chris Oriko and Ikem Osodi were friends from their school days at Lord Byron's College.
When Sam becomes Head of State he makes Chris Commissioner for Information; Ikem is editor of the National Gazette.
Power destroys the friendship: Sam becomes suspicious and dictatorial, Ikem criticises the government, and Chris is caught in between.
Sam orders Ikem's dismissal; Ikem is later murdered by security men; Chris refuses to betray Ikem and has to flee.
Sam is himself overthrown and killed; Chris is shot by a policeman on the way north.
Genuine friendships survive: Beatrice and Chris, Beatrice and Elewa, Chris and Emmanuel and Braimoh, the people who shelter Chris.
At the end the surviving friends gather for the naming of Elewa's baby, suggesting hope.
Conclusion: Achebe shows how personal friendship is corrupted when mixed with power.

Use events from the novel.

Beatrice Okoh is a senior civil servant in the Ministry of Finance, educated in England; Chris's lover and Ikem's friend.
She is intelligent, independent, outspoken and confident.
She is compassionate and loyal: she supports Elewa after Ikem's death and cares for others.
She has a spiritual, almost prophetic side, linked with the goddess Idemili.
Role: she narrates parts of the story and links the main characters.
At the dinner at the presidential lodge she warns Sam and sees through the American journalist.
She draws the survivors together and leads the naming ceremony of Elewa's baby, giving the novel a hopeful ending.
She represents the new, strong African woman.

Cover both character and role.

Joseph Koomson was once a dock worker and the man's schoolmate; he becomes a government Minister and party man.
He is corrupt, greedy, materialistic: big car, rich house, foreign goods.
He is vain and contemptuous of the poor, though he came from them.
He lures the man's family into a boat deal; Oyo and her mother admire his wealth.
When the coup comes he is a coward: he hides in the man's house and escapes through the latrine hole, then by boat.
Role: he is the symbol of the rotten, corrupt leadership of the new nation and the contrast to the honest man.
His fall shows the emptiness of corrupt wealth.

Cover both character and role.

Amankwa, the timber merchant, comes to the railway booking office and asks the man to allocate wagons for his timber.
He offers a bribe, which the man refuses.
Amankwa thinks the man wants more money and cannot believe someone would refuse a bribe.
He leaves and gets his booking anyway through another (corrupt) clerk.
Significance: it shows how deep corruption is in society; honesty is seen as foolishness.
It establishes the man's integrity and his loneliness as an honest man.
It foreshadows the pressure from his family and society to 'chop' like others.

Describe the event, then its significance.

John Durbeyfield, told by the parson that he descends from the noble d'Urbervilles, becomes boastful, idle and drunk.
Because he is too drunk to drive, Tess takes the hive to market at night and the horse Prince is killed; she feels guilty.
Joan Durbeyfield sends Tess to the rich 'cousins' at Trantridge, hoping for a good marriage; this puts Tess in Alec's power.
Joan never warned Tess about men, so Tess is innocent and unprepared.
Joan advises Tess not to tell Angel about her past, which leads to the crisis on the wedding night.
After John's death the family is evicted and left in poverty; to save them Tess goes back to Alec.
Conclusion: their weakness and poverty are major causes of her tragedy, together with fate and society.

Name each parent's actions and their result.

Alec d'Urberville is the son of a rich merchant who bought the d'Urberville name; Tess is sent to his mother's home.
He is a selfish, sensual, smooth-tongued pursuer; he seduces (rapes) Tess in The Chase.
Tess bears his child, Sorrow, who dies: this is the start of her ruin and the 'past' that Angel cannot forgive.
He reappears as a preacher, but gives it up when he sees Tess again and harasses her at Flintcomb-Ash.
He helps her family after her father's death and so persuades her to live with him at Sandbourne.
When Angel returns, Tess kills Alec, for which she is hanged.
Role: he is the villain and the main agent of her tragedy; he also represents the abuse of wealth and class.

Show his effect at each stage of Tess's life.

At first Crusoe disobeys his father's advice to stay home; his storms and shipwrecks are later seen as punishment for this 'original sin'.
On the island, a dream during his fever and the reading of a Bible from the wreck lead to his repentance and conversion.
He prays, reads the Bible daily and keeps the anniversary of his landing as a day of fasting.
He sees providence in events: the sprouting corn, his survival, finding supplies.
Religion comforts him in solitude and helps him accept his life.
He teaches Friday about God and converts him.
Conclusion: religion changes Crusoe from a restless rebel into a thankful, patient man.

Use examples from the novel.

Restless and adventurous: goes to sea against his father's wishes.
Practical, hard-working and resourceful: builds shelters, makes tools, pottery, boat, farms and tames goats.
Methodical: keeps a journal and a calendar, plans and stores carefully.
Becomes religious and reflective after his conversion.
Courageous: fights the cannibals, rescues Friday and the captain.
Self-centred and a coloniser: sees the island as his kingdom, treats Friday as servant and names him.
Conclusion: a symbol of human survival, industry and individualism.

Support each trait with an incident.