JAMB Literature in English past questions and answers

Checked by the Skolra question team · Last updated 23 October 2026

JAMB Literature in English: 430 past questions from 7 papers between 2018 and 2025, each with the answer and an explanation. In the UTME you answer 40 Literature in English questions, with Use of English and two other subjects, in 2 hours. Here are ten.

1. 1.

   This question is based on THE NUN'S PRIEST'S TALE.

   The final escape of Chanticleer is due to—

   1. A
      A moment of the fox's genuine repentance for seizing him
   2. B
      The widow's dogs catching up and forcing the fox to drop him
   3. C
      The fox's sudden fear of the approaching farmhands with sticks
   4. D
      His own cunning in persuading the fox to open its mouth and boast at the pursuers
      Correct
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   Answer: D

   In The Nun's Priest's Tale, once the fox Russell has Chanticleer clamped in his jaws and is fleeing with the widow, her daughters, the dogs and the whole barnyard in noisy pursuit, it is Chanticleer's own wit that saves him, not any rescuer catching up.

2. 2.

   The bar in Tennyson's "Crossing the Bar" is a symbol for the___________

   1. A
      A sandbar blocking a ship's passage
   2. B
      A legal restriction placed on the poet
   3. C
      The boundary between life and death
      Correct
   4. D
      The entrance to a busy harbour
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   Answer: C

   Tennyson wrote 'Crossing the Bar' near the end of his life as a meditation on death. The sandbar at a harbour mouth becomes a sustained symbol for the threshold between mortal life and the afterlife. Crossing it represents the soul's passage to eternity, where the poet hopes to 'see my Pilot face to face.'

3. 3.

   Adeoti's Ambush may be best described as____________

   1. A
      A pastoral poem celebrating nature
   2. B
      An elegy mourning fallen soldiers
   3. C
      A romantic lyric about unrequited love
   4. D
      A war poem depicting military threat and tension
      Correct
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   Answer: D

   Adeoti's poem recreates the atmosphere of a military ambush — the silence, the lurking danger, and the imminent violence — placing it firmly in the tradition of war poetry that foregrounds the brutal realities of armed conflict.

4. 4.

   This question is based on General Literature Principles and Literary Appreciation.

   A melodramatic play is based on:

   1. A
      Strict adherence to the three classical unities of time, place, and action
   2. B
      A single character's private, internal psychological conflict
   3. C
      Exaggerated emotions, a sensational plot, and stereotyped characters in a struggle between good and evil
      Correct
   4. D
      A realistic, understated portrayal of ordinary everyday life
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   Answer: C

   Melodrama is a play built on heightened, exaggerated emotion. The plot is sensational, the characters are stereotyped (a clearly virtuous hero or heroine and a clearly wicked villain), and the conflict is a simple, dramatic struggle between good and evil that is usually resolved with the triumph of good — often with music or strong stage effects used to intensify feeling (the word "melo" refers to music). This is why exaggerated emotions, a sensational plot, and stereotyped characters describes a melodramatic play correctly.

5. 5.A folk-tale is a__________?
   1. A
      A poem about animals with a moral lesson
   2. B
      A written account of historical events
   3. C
      A story written by a single known author
   4. D
      A traditional oral story passed down through generations
      Correct
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   Answer: D

   A folk-tale is a traditional oral story passed down through generations, usually containing a moral lesson and rooted in the culture of a community.

6. 6.From the novel;

   This question is based on Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights.

   From the events in the novel, one can conclude that Joseph is

   1. A
      a fair-minded peacemaker who calms the quarrels between the Earnshaws and the Lintons
   2. B
      an illiterate labourer who shows no interest in religion or in judging other people's conduct
   3. C
      a loyal, warm-hearted servant who treats everyone in the household with equal kindness
   4. D
      a sanctimonious old servant whose harsh, censorious nature hides behind constant religious quotation
      Correct
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   Answer: D

   Joseph, the old servant at Wuthering Heights in Emily Brontë's novel, is presented throughout the story as a religious hypocrite. He is forever quoting the Bible and condemning the "wickedness" of others — Catherine, Heathcliff, Hindley, Hareton — while himself being spiteful, unkind, sour-tempered and enjoying other people's misfortunes. His piety is a mask for a censorious, mean-spirited nature rather than genuine goodness.

7. 7.Group of lines are called _____
   1. A
      Stanza
      Correct
   2. B
      Paragraph
   3. C
      Couplet
   4. D
      Verse
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   Answer: A

   A group of lines in a poem is called a stanza. It is the poetic equivalent of a paragraph in prose, dividing the poem into sections.

8. 8.Tension between the protagonist and the antagonist is called______
   1. A
      Theme
   2. B
      Climax
   3. C
      Conflict
      Correct
   4. D
      Plot
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   Answer: C

   Conflict is the tension or struggle between the protagonist (hero) and the antagonist (opposing force) in a literary work. It is the central engine that drives the plot.

9. 9.From the novel; The Wives' Revolt

   This question is based on J.P Clark's The Wives Revolt.

   
   Characterization in the play is

   1. A
      symbolic and abstract
   2. B
      comic and farcical
   3. C
      realistic and vivid
      Correct
   4. D
      stereotypical and flat
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   Answer: C

   Characterization in The Wives' Revolt is realistic and vivid. J.P. Clark creates characters that reflect authentic human motivations and social pressures, giving each figure a credible, fully drawn presence rather than relying on types or caricature.

10. 10.

    A tragic hero, according to the Aristotelian precept, must be a

    1. A
       Person of low birth
    2. B
       Villain
    3. C
       Person of noble birth
       Correct
    4. D
       Common person
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: C

    According to Aristotle's Poetics, a tragic hero must be a person of noble birth or high social standing whose fall from prosperity to adversity evokes both pity and fear in the audience, resulting in catharsis. The elevated status is essential so that the fall is significant enough to produce the required emotional effect.

The questions come from past JAMB, WAEC and NECO papers. We use software to help write the answer options and explanations, and every answer is checked twice before it goes on the site. How we check

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