Literature in English past questions and Answer, 1978 JAMB

Literature in English, JAMB 1978:

1. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy because

1. it is full of noblemen and ladies
2. it is set in Verona
3. it ends unhappily
4. Juliet is only fourteen years old
5. it has five acts

 

2. Essentially, plays are meant

1. to be read for sheer pleasure
2. to make us laugh
3. to be presented on stage through words and action
4. to keep people out of trouble
5. to change the whole world

 

3. In “Fulani Cattle”, J.P. Clark expresses

1. the anger and sympathy he feels at seeing cattle driven all the way from the North to the South of Nigeria to be slaughtered
2. admiration for the beauty of Fulani cattle
3. grief at the gradual destruction of his fine breed of cattle
4. the joy of the cattle at being driven over pleasant fields
5. the idea that more cattle should be taken to the south to be slaughtered

 

4. Dinny, Lippy, Steepy and Fatty are characters in

1. Kossoh Town Boy
2. Kontiki Expedition
3. Tell Freedom
4. The Concubine
5. No Longer at Ease

 

5.

In one of the three jugs,

The three jugs where on certain evenings return

The tranquil souls,

The breaths of the ancestors,

The ancestors who were men,

The ancestors who were sages,

Mother has dipped three fingers;

Three fingers of her left hand:

Thumb, forefinger and middle finger

I have dipped three fingers;

Three fingers of my right hand:

Thumb, forefinger and middle finger

(From “Viaticum” by B. Diop)

In this poem, the repetitive pattern suggests

1. pain, agony and misery
2. ritual or established form of worship
3. the love of mother for her child
4. the beauty of the full moon
5. the glorious lives of our ancestors

 

6. The language of David Diop’s “Africa” suggests

1. the beauty of the African countryside
2. that black is beautiful
3. that the poet remembers the great empire of Africa
4. that the poet sees Africa as a colonial power

 

7. In “I Will Pronounce Your Name”, Senghor writes:

Naett, that is the dry tornado, the hard clap of lightning

The figure of speech used in the above line is:

1. metaphor
2. simile
3. hyperbole
4. irony
5. synecdoche

 

8. In the “Duel”, Thomas ends his narrative

1. with a wish to see more duels fought
2. in celebration of female fidelity
3. in hopeless despair and anger
4. with an unexpected turn of events
5. in praise of matrimonial bliss

 

9. In “T.S. Eliot’s Journey of the Magi”, the old choirmaster could not be buried in the manner he wished because he unfortunately died

1. in summer
2. in spring
3. at night
4. in winter
5. in the chapel

 

10. In “The Castle”, Muir writes:

Our only enemy was gold!

This is true because

1. the castle was made of gold
2. all the men swallowed gold
3. there were no gold to pay for arms
4. the captain stole all available gold
5. gold was the cause of their betrayal

 

11. In “The Flight to Australia”, the following line occurs:

Tier upon tier it towered, the terrible Apenninies

The figure of speech used in this line is known as

1. alliteration
2. litotes
3. exaggeration
4. parody
5. metonymy

 

12. If we described Kossoh Town Boy as an autobiography, we mean that it is

1. a historical novel
2. a piece of writing telling us about the life of its author
3. a short story
4. a narrative tale
5. a book well written

 

13.

You cannot know

And should not bother;

Tide and market come and go

And so shall your mother.

In this verse, the poet uses

1. alternate rhymes
2. monorhyme
3. couplets
4. triplets
5. blank verse

 

14. The Comstocks belonged to the most dismal of all classes, the middle-middle class, the landless gentry. In their miserable poverty they had not even the snobbish consolation of regarding themselves as an ‘old’ family fallen on evil days.

The writer’s tone is a

1. melancholic
2. matter-of-fact
3. bitterly humorous
4. sympathetic
5. sad

 

Read part 2 of Literature in English, 1978 JAMB here

Read part 3 of Literature in English, 1978 JAMB here

Read part 4 of Literature in English, 1978 JAMB here. ANSWERS ARE PRESENT HERE

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