POETRY - Jamb Literature in English Past Questions and Answers

Question 186:

• JAMB 1994

"...Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbert."
The emotion evoked in this passage from "Journey of the Magi" is that of

A. Romance
B. Nostalgia
C. Sorrow
D. Fear

Question 187:

• JAMB 1994

"I came down the step with my pitcher
And must wait, must stand and wait, for there he
was at the trough before me."
These lines from "Snakes" suggests that the

A. Snake was regal and that the persona must wait as a subject
B. Snake was venomous and therefore the poet has to be very wary
C. Snake got there first, in the interest of justice, the poet should wait
D. Poet is terrified of the snake

Question 188:

• JAMB 1994

"Keats" "Ode" to a Nightingale" can best be described as

A. An appreciation of nature
B. An appreciation of the beauty of the nightingale
C. A reflection ont he uncertainties of life
D. A description of nature

Question 189:

• JAMB 2001

This question is based on selected poems from R. Johnson and D. Ker, et al (ed.): New poetry from Africa; Wole Soyinka (ed.): poems Black Africa; K.E. senanu and T. Vincent (eds.): A Selection of African poetry; M. Umukoro and A Sani, et al (eds.): Exam Focus: Literature - in - English; A.E. Eruvbetine and M. Jibril, et al (eds.): Longman Examination Guides: poetry: E.W. Parker (ed.): A Pageant of Longer poems and D.I. Nwoga (ed.): West African Verse.
In Niyi Osundare' s ' They Too Are The Earth', musical effect is achieved by

A. Repetition
B. Double rhymes
C. Assonance
D. End rhymes

Question 190:

• JAMB 2001

This question is based on selected poems from R. Johnson and D. Ker, et al (ed.): New poetry from Africa; Wole Soyinka (ed.): poems Black Africa; K.E. senanu and T. Vincent (eds.): A Selection of African poetry; M. Umukoro and A Sani, et al (eds.): Exam Focus: Literature - in - English; A.E. Eruvbetine and M. Jibril, et al (eds.): Longman Examination Guides: poetry: E.W. Parker (ed.): A Pageant of Longer poems and D.I. Nwoga (ed.): West African Verse.
The rhyming pattern in the last stanza of Okigbo' s Hurrah for Thunder' makes the stanza

A. An octave
B. A quatrain
C. A couplet
D. A sestet