OAU Literature-In-English 2017/2018 Past Questions

Section A: DRAMA Questions 1-3 are based on Femi Osofisan's Women of Owu.

'WOMAN: Bless the kindness which has rescued as from tyranny in order to plunge us into slavery'. The figurative devices used to give the speech above its rhetorical effect are

A.metaphor and Irony
B.allusion and assonance
C.irony and paradox
D.litotes and hyperbole

Objective

Question 2

Section A: DRAMA Questions 1-3 are based on Femi Osofisan's Women of Owu.

The Commanding Officer of the Allied Forces is

A.Anlugbua
B.Aderogun
C.Erelu
D.Maye

Objective

Question 3

Section A: DRAMA Questions 1-3 are based on Femi Osofisan's Women of Owu.

The pre text of Osofisan's Women of Owu can be found in

A.Prometheus Bound
B.Oedipus at Cotonus
C.The Pot of Gold
D.The Trojan Women

Objective

Question 4

Questions 4-5 are drawn from William Shakespeare's The Tempest

The Epilogue in the play is marked by the use of

A.Trochaic pentameter
B.rhyming couplet
C.olfactory imagery
D.free verse

Objective

Question 5

Questions 4-5 are drawn from William Shakespeare's The Tempest

I pray thee, mark me I thus neglecting worldly end, all dedicated To closeness and the bettering of my mind 'Thee' in the excerpt above refers to

A.Trineulo
B.Prospero
C.Miranda
D.Alonso

Objective

Question 6

Use the excerpt below to answer Questions 6 and 7
My language! Heavens!
I am the best of them that speak this speech
, Were I but where 't is spoken'.

The language being referred to in the excerpt above is

A.English
B.Greek
C.Spanish
D.Italian

Objective

Question 7

Use the excerpt below to answer Questions 6 and 7
My language! Heavens!
I am the best of them that speak this speech
, Were I but where 't is spoken'.

The Speaker in the excerpt above is

A.Caliban
B.Ferdinand
C.Stephano
D.Sebastian

Objective

Question 8

Section B: PROSE Questions 8 and 9 are based on Ernest Hemingway's OLD Man and the Sea.

The central theme in the novella is

A.the joy of fishing expedition
B.life and living in coastal areas
C.futility of human struggle
D.ignorance is bliss

Objective

Question 9

Section B: PROSE Questions 8 and 9 are based on Ernest Hemingway's OLD Man and the Sea.

The most remarkable attribute of Santiago is

A.Honesty
B.Fortitude
C.sharp memory
D.generosity

Objective

Question 10

Questions 10 and 11 are based on Asare Konadu's A Woman in Her Prime.

In order to avert another miscarriage, Pokuwaa agrees to

A.rest well at home
B.marry another husband
C.sacrifice to the gods
D.stay with her mother

Objective

Question 11

Questions 10 and 11 are based on Asare Konadu's A Woman in Her Prime.

When fire consumes the Wawa tree outside Brenhoma, the people generally believe that it

A.is a sign of gods' vengeance
B.will affect harvest that year
C.is not caused by lightning
D.heralds the coming of ancestors

Objective

Question 12

Questions 12 and 13 are based on Chimamanda Adichie's Purple Hibiscus.

Father Benedict is a Priest from

A.Ireland
B.Britain
C.Denmark
D.America

Objective

Question 13

Questions 12 and 13 are based on Chimamanda Adichie's Purple Hibiscus.

The newspaper reputed for speaking the truth to power is owned by

A.Coker
B.Benedict
C.Eugene
D.Nduama

Objective

Question 14

Section C: POETRY Questions 14-17 are based on African and Non-African Poetry.

The setting of P. O. C Umeh's 'The Ambassadors of Poverty' is

A.Pre-colonial Nigeria
B.Post-cold war Asia
C.Colonial Gold Coast
D.Post-colonial Africa

Objective

Question 15

Section C: POETRY Questions 14-17 are based on African and Non-African Poetry.

In Gbemisola Adeoti's 'Hard Lines' , 'tears' refers to

A.sorrow
B.rain
C.poison
D.pills

Objective

Question 16

Section C: POETRY Questions 14-17 are based on African and Non-African Poetry.

The tone of Sola Owonibi's 'Homeless, but not Hopeless' is that of

A.defiance
B.supplication
C.resignation
D.optimism

Objective

Question 17

Section C: POETRY Questions 14-17 are based on African and Non-African Poetry.

The poet-persona in 'Serenade' can be described as a

A.sanguine lover
B.deceptive suitor
C.jilted husband
D.romantic minstrel

Objective

Question 18

Section D. GENERAL LITERARY PRINCIPLES Questions 18-21 are based on General literary principles.

The part of a play when the plot thickens before catastrophe is called

A.anagnorisis
B.denouement
C.epitasis
D.epilogue

Objective

Question 19

Section D. GENERAL LITERARY PRINCIPLES Questions 18-21 are based on General literary principles.

Verfremdungeffekt is often associated with the plays of

A.Samuel Becket
B.Luigi Pirandello
C.Jean-Baptiste Poquelin
D.Bertolt Brecht

Objective

Question 20

Section D. GENERAL LITERARY PRINCIPLES Questions 18-21 are based on General literary principles.

A closet! drama is a play meant to be

A.read rather than performed
B.read and performed
C.performed and screened
D.performed behind closed door

Objective

Question 21

Section D. GENERAL LITERARY PRINCIPLES Questions 18-21 are based on General literary principles.

A comic play performed or spoken to music is called

A.burletta
B.opera
C.melodrama
D.farce

Objective

Question 22

Section E: LITERARY APPRECIATION Questions 22-25 are based on Literary Appreciation.
'I was born by the stroke of wars
I was born by the ravages of disease
By the events of plagues
I know the stench of this land'
Sipho Sepamla (The Soweto I Love, p. 17 )

The central concern of the excerpt above is

A.war
B.disease
C.the poet's homeland
D.the plagues of stench

Objective

Question 23

Section E: LITERARY APPRECIATION Questions 22-25 are based on Literary Appreciation.
'I was born by the stroke of wars
I was born by the ravages of disease
By the events of plagues
I know the stench of this land'
Sipho Sepamla (The Soweto I Love, p. 17 )

'Look at my father! He never had a bath in his life; and he lived to be ninety-eight, the healthiest man in Bulgaria'. Benard Shaw (Arms and the Man, p. 39.)
From the excerpt above, it can be deduced that

A.the speaker loathes bathing
B.there is a connection between bath and longevity
C.Bulgarians out-law bathing
D.The speaker condemns his father

Objective

Question 24

Section E: LITERARY APPRECIATION Questions 22-25 are based on Literary Appreciation.
'I was born by the stroke of wars
I was born by the ravages of disease
By the events of plagues
I know the stench of this land'
Sipho Sepamla (The Soweto I Love, p. 17 )

'I felt unsafe, with scratches of uncertain weather security in the detention camp'
(Jared Angira Silent Voices, p. 42)
The mood of the poet persona in the excerpt above is that of

A.vertigo
B.euphoria
C.coyness
D.anxiety

Objective

Question 25

Section E: LITERARY APPRECIATION Questions 22-25 are based on Literary Appreciation.
'I was born by the stroke of wars
I was born by the ravages of disease
By the events of plagues
I know the stench of this land'
Sipho Sepamla (The Soweto I Love, p. 17 )

'A parade of legal robbers The state sponsored assembly of Terminators of the less privileged Colleagues of the underworld'. (Kayode Ariyo 'Licensed Robbers' p. 20.)
The tone of the excerpt above is that of

A.flattery
B.sarcasm
C.admiration
D.despair

Objective