Figures of speech - Jamb Literature in English Past Questions and Answers

Question 56:

• JAMB 1995

This question is based on General Literary Principles.
'I love to pass my fingers,
As tide through weeds of the sea
And wind the tall fern-fronds
Through the strands of your hair
Dark as night that screens the naked moon.'
J.P. Clark, 'Olokun'
The dominant poetic techniques employed in the lines above is

A. Metaphor
B. Alliteration
C. Rhythm
D. Simile

Question 57:

• JAMB 1995

This question is based on Literary Principles.
'You Kiss her on the cheek
As white people do,
You Kiss her open-sore lips
As white people do,
You suck slimy saliva
From each other's mouths,
As white people do.'
Okot p' Bitek 'Song of Lawino'
The writer of the lines above uses repetition

A. For emphasis
B. To underscore disapproval
C. To enhance irony
D. For imitation

Question 58:

• JAMB 1997

This question is based on General Literary Principles.
'From Debbie's room comes the sound of the typewriter. It is an old mechanical typewriter, its noises are metallic and clicking. It chitters onto the end of a line musical, or almost musical 'cling' of the little bell.'
A.S Byatt, 'Artwork'
A striking figure of speech used in the passage above is

A. Onomatopoeia
B. Zeugma
C. Assonance
D. Paradox

Question 59:

• JAMB 1997

This question is based on General Literary Principles.
'When to the Sessions of sweet silent thought,
I summon up remembrance of things past,...
Shakespeare, 'Sonnet XXX'
The lines above contain the predominant use of

A. A motif
B. Irony
C. Sarcasm
D. Alliteration

Question 60:

• JAMB 1997

This question is based on General Literary Principles.
Hyperbole refers specifically to

A. Exaggeration for adornment
B. Exaggeration for emphasis
C. Understatement of ideas
D. Restatement of ideas