WAEC Literature in English past questions and answers

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

WAEC Literature in English: 185 objective past questions from 3 papers between 2022 and 2024, each with the answer and an explanation. Here are ten.

How the WAEC Literature in English paper is set. On WAEC's 2026 timetable for private candidates, Paper 1 (objective) takes 1 hour, Paper 2 (prose) 1 hour 15 minutes and Paper 3 (drama and poetry) 2 hours 30 minutes. If the question paper on the day gives another time, follow the question paper. The questions here are from Paper 1. See WAEC's set texts for 2026 to 2030.

1. 1.

   A fable is also known as

   1. A
      an apologue
      Correct
   2. B
      a myth
   3. C
      a parable
   4. D
      an allegory
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: A

   A fable is also known as an apologue. An apologue is a short moral tale, typically featuring animals or inanimate objects as characters, designed to illustrate a moral lesson — which is precisely the definition of a fable. The term 'apologue' comes from the Greek 'apologos', meaning a story with a moral.

2. 2.

   WOLE SOYINKA: The Lion and the Jewel

   Discuss the significance of the use of play-within-a play technique.

   1. A
      The technique demonstrates Soyinka's rejection of indigenous African performance conventions in favour of Western theatrical forms
   2. B
      The technique is used mainly to confuse the audience and heighten dramatic suspense
   3. C
      The play-within-a-play is used exclusively to provide comic relief in an otherwise serious drama
   4. D
      The technique allows past events to be enacted on stage as mime, enriching the narrative through visual and performance-based storytelling rooted in African theatrical tradition
      Correct
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: D

   Soyinka uses mime sequences to dramatise flashback events — such as the photographer's earlier visit — transforming reported narrative into living theatre and drawing on Yoruba performance traditions to fuse storytelling with immediate dramatic action.

3. 3.

   A novel that recounts the adventures of a likeable rogue is

   1. A
      a picaresque novel
      Correct
   2. B
      a gothic novel
   3. C
      a roman à clef
   4. D
      a bildungsroman
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: A

   A picaresque novel features a charming, roguish protagonist of humble origins who survives by wit and cunning across a series of episodic adventures, making it the genre that precisely fits this description.

4. 4.

   Read the lines below and answer the question:
   The closing of the day

   Is the beginning of the day

   The lines

   1. A
      present a hyperbole
   2. B
      contain a paradox
      Correct
   3. C
      illustrate a simile
   4. D
      use alliteration
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: B

   'The closing of the day is the beginning of the day' appears self-contradictory yet points to the truth of the daily cycle. An apparent contradiction that conceals a deeper truth is a paradox.
5. 5.

   Exaggerating one's personal features for comic effect is

   1. A
      caricature
      Correct
   2. B
      parody
   3. C
      burlesque
   4. D
      satire
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: A

   Caricature is the technique of exaggerating a person's distinctive physical or personal features, usually for comic or satirical effect. Unlike parody (which imitates a style or work) or satire (which criticises society or individuals through irony), caricature specifically targets personal features through exaggeration to create a humorous or grotesque portrait.

6. 6.

   More haste, less speed illustrates the use of

   1. A
      Paradox
      Correct
   2. B
      Simile
   3. C
      Hyperbole
   4. D
      Onomatopoeia
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: A

   The expression appears self-contradictory because going faster should produce more speed, yet the proverb asserts the opposite is true; an apparent contradiction that holds a deeper truth is the defining feature of paradox.

7. 7.

   
   John K. Kargbo: Let me Die Alone

   How do men behave towards women in the play?

   1. A
      Men treat women with open hostility and actively seek to exclude them from every sphere of public life
   2. B
      Men largely treat women as subordinate figures valued for political alliance and social utility, a pattern that Yoko's rise powerfully challenges
      Correct
   3. C
      Men are portrayed as entirely subservient to women throughout the play, reversing conventional gender hierarchies
   4. D
      Men treat women with full equality throughout the play, consistently respecting their opinions and authority
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: B

   The play depicts a patriarchal society in which women are traded as wives and pawns in political arrangements, yet Yoko's exceptional agency disrupts this norm, exposing the tension between the roles imposed on women and their actual capacities for leadership.

8. 8.

   The literary term describing individuals in a work of literature is

   1. A
      Motifs
   2. B
      Themes
   3. C
      Characters
      Correct
   4. D
      Symbols
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: C

   The literary term for the individuals who populate a work of fiction, poetry, or drama is "characters." They are the agents through whom plot, theme, and conflict are developed.

9. 9.

   A word or a phrase that is repeated at regular intervals in a poem or a play is a

   1. A
      Refrain
      Correct
   2. B
      Couplet
   3. C
      Stanza
   4. D
      Soliloquy
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: A

   A refrain is the technical term for a word, line, or phrase that recurs at regular intervals throughout a poem or play, creating rhythm, emphasis, and a sense of musical repetition distinct from the structural units of verse.

10. 10.

    Consider the mood of the person in The Good Morrow .

    1. A
       The mood is joyful and confident as the speaker celebrates the total completeness found in his beloved
       Correct
    2. B
       The mood is contemplative and uncertain as the speaker questions the nature of true love
    3. C
       The mood is melancholic as the speaker mourns past loves that have ended
    4. D
       The speaker is anxious about how long the intensity of his love can last
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: A

    In The Good Morrow, Donne's speaker is in a state of exultant contentment, asserting that true love makes two people a complete world unto themselves; the dominant mood is one of triumphant joy and absolute certainty.

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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