JAMB Literature in English 2017

11 reviewed questions with answers and explanations.

Practice selection: full-paper coverage has not been confirmed.

Question 6

“She is abused, stol’n from me, and corrupted / By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks.” — Othello.

Whose suspicion is expressed in the passage?

  1. Brabantio’s suspicion
  2. Iago’s distrust of Emilia
  3. Othello’s suspicion
  4. Cassio’s disaffection for Iago
Answer and explanation

A: Brabantio’s suspicion

Brabantio alleges that Desdemona was taken from him through spells and drugs. These accusations express his suspicion that her choice of Othello could not have been voluntary.

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Question 7

Where was the earliest recorded performance of Shakespeare’s Othello staged?

  1. Liverpool stadium
  2. Manchester stadium
  3. Whitehall Palace, London
  4. London Theatre
Answer and explanation

C: Whitehall Palace, London

The earliest surviving performance record places Othello at Whitehall in November 1604. Earlier public performances may have occurred, so the surviving record establishes the earliest documented venue.

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Question 8

`All's One-Good faith, how foolish are our minds! If I do die before thee, prithee, shroud me. In one of those same sheets.' The plea in the excerpt above is made by

Who makes this plea, and to whom?

  1. Desdemona to Emilia
  2. Othello to Iago
  3. Iago to Emilia
  4. Cassio to Bianca
Answer and explanation

A: Desdemona to Emilia

Desdemona asks Emilia to wrap her in the wedding sheets if she dies first. The intimate request belongs to their conversation before the final tragedy.

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Question 9

„Let him do his spite; My services which I have done the signiory Shall out-tongue his complaints.'Tis yet to know Which, when I know that boasting is an honour,' The speaker in the excerpt above is

Who speaks these words?

  1. Brabantio
  2. Othello
  3. Cassio
  4. Iago
Answer and explanation

B: Othello

Othello believes his service to Venice will outweigh Brabantio’s accusations. His confidence in his public standing identifies him as the speaker of this defence.

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Question 11

What device is created by the reference to the biblical places Sodom and Gomorrah in Faceless?

  1. Mixed metaphor
  2. Allusion
  3. Synecdoche
  4. Euphemism
Answer and explanation

B: Allusion

Sodom and Gomorrah invokes places known from the biblical story. Referring to that earlier cultural or religious narrative is allusion, rather than substituting a part for a whole.

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Question 12

In Amma Darko’s Faceless, which group’s failure of responsibility is a central focus?

  1. stubborn children
  2. negligent parents
  3. greedy politicians
  4. peer group influence
Answer and explanation

B: negligent parents

Faceless shows how failures of parental care expose children such as Fofo and Baby T to life on the streets. The emphasis is on adults neglecting their responsibilities, rather than simply blaming children for stubbornness.

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Question 24

Which mood best fits the speaker’s anticipation in Tennyson’s Crossing the Bar?

  1. pain
  2. frustration
  3. hope
  4. love
Answer and explanation

C: hope

The speaker anticipates crossing beyond death and hopes to meet the Pilot. This calm expectation gives the poem a hopeful mood rather than frustration or physical pain.

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Question 32

Which art form combines a dramatic text with singing and instrumental music?

  1. concert
  2. opera
  3. theatre
  4. pantomime
Answer and explanation

B: opera

Opera combines dramatic action with singing and instrumental music. A concert need not tell a staged dramatic story, while pantomime communicates chiefly through movement.

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Question 33

In literature, is local colour universal or particular to a locality?

  1. Universal
  2. Restricted
  3. Only English
  4. Only American
Answer and explanation

B: Restricted

Local colour presents the distinctive customs, speech and surroundings of a particular place. Its scope is therefore locally restricted, rather than universal or limited to one named country.

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Question 37

Then I sat myself quiet... for five / And forty turbulent years I waited, sapped, famished, / For love to wake from her sickly slumber.

Which figure of speech appears in the final line?

  1. assonance
  2. personification
  3. metaphor
  4. oxymoron
Answer and explanation

B: personification

Love is represented as a woman who can sleep and wake. Giving an abstract feeling these human capacities is personification, rather than merely repeating vowel sounds.

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Question 38

We have rain but hate to plant / We have the heat and the glory of the rainbow / But we kill our own suns with hurtful glee.

What feeling does the speaker express?

  1. disappointment
  2. indifference
  3. anxiety
  4. joy
Answer and explanation

A: disappointment

The speaker contrasts available resources with people’s refusal to cultivate them and their destruction of their own promise. This criticism expresses disappointment at wasted opportunity.

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