JAMB Literature in English 2022 past questions

Checked by the Skolra question team · Last updated 15 October 2026

Ten questions from the 2022 JAMB Literature in English paper, with answers and explanations. We hold 35 questions from this paper, and the Skolra app has all of them.

JAMB Literature in English 2022 questions and answers

1. 1.

   Chanson is a term denoting a

   1. A
      French song or verse form
      Correct
   2. B
      Italian dramatic monologue
   3. C
      Spanish ballad
   4. D
      Greek choral ode
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   Answer: A

   Chanson is a French word meaning 'song.' In literary usage it denotes a type of French lyric poem or song, ranging from medieval chansons de geste (epic songs of heroic deeds) to the modern French art song.

2. 2.From the novel; Kossoh Town Boy

   If we describe Kossoh Town Boy as an autobiography, we mean that it is

   1. A
      A fictional story loosely based on real events
   2. B
      A historical account of a town and its people
   3. C
      A biography written by someone other than the subject
   4. D
      A book written by the person whose life it describes
      Correct
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   Answer: D

   An autobiography is a life story written by its own subject. Calling Kossoh Town Boy an autobiography means Robert Wellesley Cole himself wrote the account of his own life, as distinguished from a biography authored by someone else.

3. 3.

   Which of these is the oldest genre of literature?

   1. A
      Drama
   2. B
      The novel
   3. C
      Prose fiction
   4. D
      Poetry
      Correct
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   Answer: D

   Poetry is regarded as the oldest genre of literature. Oral poetic traditions predated written prose and formal drama; the earliest surviving literary texts — such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and Homeric verse — are all in poetic form.

4. 4.

   One of the following terms applies to the discussion of both tragedy and comedy

   1. A
      Peripeteia
   2. B
      Catharsis
      Correct
   3. C
      Hamartia
   4. D
      Nemesis
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   Answer: B

   Catharsis — the emotional purging or release experienced by an audience — applies to both tragedy and comedy. In tragedy it arises from pity and fear; in comedy from laughter and relief. Hamartia, nemesis, and peripeteia are specific to tragic analysis.

5. 5.

   You cannot know
   And should not bother
   Tide and market come and go
   And so shall yourmother

   
   In this verse the poet uses

   1. A
      Alliteration
   2. B
      Irony
      Correct
   3. C
      Hyperbole
   4. D
      Simile
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   Answer: B

   The verse uses irony: the speaker casually dismisses serious concern ('You cannot know / And should not bother'), then equates a mother's death with the routine ebb of tide and market. The detached, matter-of-fact tone applied to so grave an event creates a sharp ironic effect.

6. 6.

   An irredeemable reversal of the hero's fortune in a tragedy is called.

   1. A
      Hamartia
   2. B
      Hubris
   3. C
      Catharsis
   4. D
      Nemesis
      Correct
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   Answer: D

   Nemesis refers to the inevitable, inescapable punishment or downfall that befalls the tragic hero — the irredeemable reversal of fortune that cannot be undone. It is the just retribution following the hero's fatal error or excessive pride.

7. 7.

   'To see a world in a grain of sand
   And a heaven in a wild flower
   Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
   And eternity in an hour'
   - William Blake
   To see a World In a Grain of Sand.
   The predominant figure of speech used in the lines above is

   1. A
      Simile
   2. B
      Paradox
      Correct
   3. C
      Hyperbole
   4. D
      Metaphor
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   Answer: B

   Blake's lines contain paradox: statements that appear self-contradictory yet reveal a deeper truth — seeing 'a world in a grain of sand' or 'eternity in an hour' are logically impossible on the surface but point to the infinite within the finite.

8. 8.

   One of the following writers is better known as a playwright than as a novelist

   1. A
      Cyprian Ekwensi
   2. B
      Ngugi wa Thiong'o
   3. C
      Chinua Achebe
   4. D
      Wole Soyinka
      Correct
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   Answer: D

   Wole Soyinka is primarily renowned as a playwright — his works include The Lion and the Jewel, Death and the King's Horseman, and A Dance of the Forests. Achebe, Ngugi, and Ekwensi are best known as novelists.

9. 9.

   A narrative poem must

   1. A
      Be written in sonnet form
   2. B
      Describe nature or landscape
   3. C
      Tell a story
      Correct
   4. D
      Rhyme throughout its length
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   Answer: C

   The defining and indispensable characteristic of a narrative poem is that it tells a story — it has a plot, characters, and a sequence of events — regardless of whether it rhymes or follows any fixed form.

10. 10.

    The exclusive right given to authors to protect their works from unlawful production is

    1. A
       Trademark
    2. B
       Patent
    3. C
       Copyright
       Correct
    4. D
       Licence
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: C

    Copyright is the exclusive legal right automatically granted to the creator of an original literary, artistic, or intellectual work to control its reproduction, distribution, and adaptation, thereby protecting it from unlawful use by others.

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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