LITERARY APPRECIATION - Jamb Literature in English Past Questions and Answers

Question 36:

• JAMB 1978

Another shoal of cars swam past.One in particular caught his eye,a long slender thing,elegant as a swallow,all gleaming blue and silver,a thousand guineas it would have cost,he tought.
In the first sentence,cars are described in terms of

A. Birds
B. Ants
C. Fish
D. Lamp-posts
E. Pretty girls

Question 37:

• JAMB 1978

Point out the odd item:

A. Raisin in the sun
B. Twelfth Night
C. Ozidi
D. The Concubine
E. Romeo and Juliet

Question 38:

• JAMB 1978

'That year the harvest was sad,like a funeral,and many farmers wept as they dug up the miserable yams.One man tied his cloth to a tree branch and hanged himself'. The mood conveyed here is one of

A. Excitement
B. Sadness
C. Joy
D. Triumph
E. Elation

Question 39:

• JAMB 1978

All this was a long time ago,i remember
And i would do it again,but set down
This set down
This:were we led all that way for
Birth and Death?There was a Birth,certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt.I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different;this birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us,like Death,our death
We returned to our places,these kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here,in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.
(From T.S Elliott's 'Journey Of The Magi')
The Magi are no longer at ease because

A. They suffered alot on their way to Bethlehem
B. They found greater spiritual satisfaction from their journey
C. Death and birth are one and the same thing
D. Their kingdoms can no longer offer them satisfaction
E. The world has changed for the worse

Question 40:

• JAMB 1978

New Year's Eve Midnight
Now the bells are tolling-
A year is dead.
And my heart is slowly beating
the Nunc Dimittis
to all my hopes and mute
yewnings of a year
and ghosts hover round
dream beyond dream
Dream beyond dream
mingling with the dying
bell-sounds fading
into memories
like rain drops
falling into a river.
And now the bells are chimming-
A year is born.
And my heart-bell is ringing
in dawn
But it's shrouded things i see
dimly stride
on heart-canopied paths
to a riverside
The mood of the above poem is

A. Optimism
B. Pessimism
C. Optimism mixed with pessimism
D. Much optimism qualified by a little pessimism
E. Much pessimism lightened by a little optimism