All 50 questions from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Literature in English 2019 Objective paper, with the correct answer and a full explanation for each. Free, no signup needed.
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A literary work which is intended to teach a moral lesson is
A literary work intended to teach moral is didactic. An example is Harvest of Corruption by Frank Ogodo, which upholds moral discipline and condemns corrupt practices.
A short account of an interesting event is
An anecdote is an oral or written short account of an interesting, amusing or intriguing event. There are several instances of anecdote in Faceless by Amma Darko.
"He is a citizen of no mean city" illustrates
This is litotes — a figurative expression characterised by negations (e.g. 'no', 'not', 'un-'), often combining double negation to reduce the seriousness of an utterance.
The introductory part of a play, a novel or a poem is
A prologue is a short piece used to introduce the main text, giving the reader foreknowledge of its thematic concerns. Examples: Lonely Days by Bayo Adebowale; Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot.
An elegy is a poem of
An elegy mourns the death of a loved one or important person, highlighting their good qualities. Examples: Kofi Awoonor's 'Songs of Sorrow'; Thomas Gray's 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard'.
"The trees bowed their heads in shame" illustrates
Personification attributes human/animate qualities to nature and things. Other examples: 'The sun smiled on Sunday morning'; 'Pregnant clouds and angry winds'.
A character whose actions are predictable in a literary work is
A flat character is defined by fixed traits and is predictable, unlike a round (protean) character. Examples: Iago in Othello; Bigger in Native Son.
A scene in fiction enacting past events is
Flashback captures past events as commentary on the present, filling gaps in plot structure. Examples: Ola Rotimi's The Gods Are Not to Blame; Bayo Adebowale's Lonely Days.
Poetic licence is a term applied to a poet's
Poetic licence is a poet's freedom in the use of language — liberty poets have assumed to speak in verse things beyond the severity of prose (John Dryden).
"Milton! Thou should'st be living at this hour" — The literary device used in the line above is
This is apostrophe — an address to an absent or non-living entity as if present. Other examples: 'Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo.'
"Here lie I, Martin Elginbrodde / Have mercy on my soul, Lord God." The extract above illustrates
An epitaph is a short inscription/text honoring a deceased person, such as on a tombstone.
"We live to die, we die to live" is an example of
This is a paradox — an expression that looks contradictory on the surface but carries deeper meaning. Oxymoron and antithesis are derivatives of paradox.
The poem is about a/an
The extract is from a song by Robert Herrick, 'Epitaph upon a child that died.' 'A pretty bud' refers to a little child, reinforced by 'Lately made of flesh and blood'.
The persona's mood is one of
The persona's mood is one of admiration — the poet admires the little child, metaphorising her qualities.
The rhyme pattern is
The rhyme scheme is aa (bud, blood), bb (asleep, peep), cc (stir, her) — a couplet rhyme pattern.
A play in which characters act through gestures and facial expressions is a
Pantomime uses gesture and expression to convey meaning without words; a derivative of mime. Examples: Dele Charley's The Blood of a Stranger; Wole Soyinka's The Lion and the Jewel.
Characterization refers to
Characterization is how characters are portrayed — through their words, dress, and relationships with others. Example: Harvest of Corruption by Frank Ogodo.
In a literary work, the foil is one who
A foil is a character that contrasts with (and is usually inferior to) the main character, heightening the main character's qualities. Example: Aloho is a foil to Ogeyi in Harvest of Corruption; Laertes is a foil to Hamlet.
Dramatis personae refers to
Dramatis personae is the list of characters in a play/theatre, usually given at the beginning, stating the characters and their roles.
A literary device used to enhance sound effect in poetry is
Alliteration enhances sound effect using several words beginning with the same/similar consonants, e.g. 'The black bird with broken beak.'
"...supine eyes..." illustrates
'Supine eyes' illustrates synecdoche — using a part ('eye') to represent the whole (person).
'Rumbling' as used in the 1st paragraph is
Onomatopoeia uses sounds to suggest meaning; 'rumbling' is an onomatopoeic word.
The dominant theme is
The theme of hunger echoes throughout: 'continual rumbling in his belly'; 'a hungry man'.
The narrative technique is
Third person narration is evident in pronouns 'his' and 'he'; the narrator is an observer describing outward appearance and experience.
The writer's attitude is one of
The writer's attitude/tone is one of sympathy, evident in the tonality of 'Mark lies sleepless,' and 'lying dejected on his bed, a hungry man'.
The stanzas are written in
The stanzas are quatrains (four-line stanzas).
The recurrent device used is
Apostrophe recurs — the persona addresses the absent 'Walker' directly in each stanza.
The mood of the poet is
The mood is melancholic — pensive and gently sad, e.g. 'The light of hope you flashed at dawn has dimmed.'
The opening lines of the stanzas are
The opening lines are trochaic — a stressed syllable precedes an unstressed syllable, e.g. 'Walker, / stop and / let me / move and / check you.'
The first stanza rhymes
The first stanza rhymes abcb: you (a), birth (b), dimmed (c), earth (b).
The speaker is
The speaker is the Duke, who advises Brabantio to accept the love relationship between Othello and Desdemona.
The speech is directly addressed to
The Duke's speech is directly addressed to Brabantio, consoling him after his complaints against Othello.
The speech is about
The speech responds to Brabantio's complaint that Othello, amidst state matters, stole his daughter's heart through 'magic powers'.
By the speech, the speaker attempts to
The Duke attempts to console Brabantio, after which Brabantio withdraws his argument and Othello proceeds to state matters in Cyprus.
The underlined expression means
'The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief' means one is bound to lose something in life — Brabantio must accept that Desdemona is leaving him.
The speaker and the addressee are
The speaker and addressee are Iago and Roderigo, working together to deprive Cassio of his position and destroy Othello's marriage.
What binds the speaker and the addressee together is their
Their shared hatred for Othello binds them: 'I hate the Moor. My cause is hearted; thine hath no less reason.' Iago hates Othello for promoting Cassio; Roderigo, for marrying Desdemona whom he loves.
The addressee is enjoined to Go, make money for
Roderigo is urged to 'make money' to woo Desdemona, though in truth Iago intends to spend the money himself.
The underlined expression means
The expression means gaining by causing Othello's wife to cheat on him — Iago urges Roderigo to befriend Desdemona toward this end.
The speaker's attitude towards the addressee is one of
Iago's attitude to Roderigo is one of spite — he uses Roderigo as a tool, knowing Desdemona can never love him.
The speaker is
The speaker is Othello, the war General for Venice, whose service is venerated by the Duke before the senators.
The setting is
The setting is Desdemona's chamber, and this speech follows the killing of Desdemona in the bed.
The speaker is addressing
Othello addresses Lodovico and others; Cassio and Gratiano are also present, and Iago has just been arrested.
The speech is intended to
The speech is intended to preserve Othello's reputation, asking that the state remember his services to Venice despite the mistake of killing Desdemona.
Among these unlucky deeds, the immediate one is
The immediate 'unlucky deed' is the killing of Desdemona, which Othello now regrets bitterly, realizing his emotions got the better of him.
The speaker is
The speaker is Othello, who has just realized the Turks he prepared to fight have been defeated by wind and storm.
The occasion is
The occasion is Othello's return from war/arrival in Cyprus after the Turks were defeated by the storm.
The dominant images are associated with
The dominant images are associated with nature — 'tempest', 'winds', 'hills' — nature being the cause of the Turks' defeat.
The scene reveals the speaker's
The scene reveals Othello's affection for Desdemona: 'It gives me wonder great as my content to see you here before me, O my soul's joy!'
The language of the extract is best described as
The language is best described as ironical, using contradictions such as 'If after every tempest come such calms' and ''T were now to be most happy'.
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