WAEC Literature in English 2003 Past Questions

Practice each question, then open it to see the full details.

Question 15
UNSEEN PROSE AND POETRY

Read the extract below and answer the question

His mind flitted back memory lane. He remembered how time walked quietly in. like a thief in the night and then put a sword in the heart of the land. He remembered all his life's sweat. drained away by the strife.He remembered his wife and two lovely kids, all slain pitilessly by the beasts in khaki. He remembered his only sister, a tender rose, defiled in turns by them and then slaughtered like a lamb upon the ritual table.

The mood of the extract is one of
  • A.gloom
  • B.serenity
  • C.anxiety
  • D.indifference
Objective
Question 16
UNSEEN PROSE AND POETRY

Read the extract below and answer the question

His mind flitted back memory lane. He remembered how time walked quietly in. like a thief in the night and then put a sword in the heart of the land. He remembered all his life's sweat. drained away by the strife.He remembered his wife and two lovely kids, all slain pitilessly by the beasts in khaki. He remembered his only sister, a tender rose, defiled in turns by them and then slaughtered like a lamb upon the ritual table.

The extract is about
  • A.armed robbery
  • B.ritual killing
  • C.the tragedy of war
  • D.the tragedy of oppression
Objective
Question 17
UNSEEN PROSE AND POETRY

Read the extract below and answer the question

His mind flitted back memory lane. He remembered how time walked quietly in. like a thief in the night and then put a sword in the heart of the land. He remembered all his life's sweat. drained away by the strife.He remembered his wife and two lovely kids, all slain pitilessly by the beasts in khaki. He remembered his only sister, a tender rose, defiled in turns by them and then slaughtered like a lamb upon the ritual table.

The dominant literary device used is
  • A.metaphor
  • B.repetition
  • C.simile
  • D.personification
Objective
Question 18
UNSEEN PROSE AND POETRY

Read the extract below and answer the question

His mind flitted back memory lane. He remembered how time walked quietly in. like a thief in the night and then put a sword in the heart of the land. He remembered all his life's sweat. drained away by the strife.He remembered his wife and two lovely kids, all slain pitilessly by the beasts in khaki. He remembered his only sister, a tender rose, defiled in turns by them and then slaughtered like a lamb upon the ritual table.

''....a tender rose'' is an example of a/an
  • A.personification
  • B.imagery
  • C.symbolism
  • D.metaphor
Objective
Question 19
UNSEEN PROSE AND POETRY

Read the extract below and answer the question

His mind flitted back memory lane. He remembered how time walked quietly in. like a thief in the night and then put a sword in the heart of the land. He remembered all his life's sweat. drained away by the strife.He remembered his wife and two lovely kids, all slain pitilessly by the beasts in khaki. He remembered his only sister, a tender rose, defiled in turns by them and then slaughtered like a lamb upon the ritual table.

''.....put a sword in the heart of the land'' implies
  • A.murder
  • B.danger
  • C.strife
  • D.destruction.
Objective
Question 20
Read the poem and answer the question

Move him into the sun
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields unsown
Always it woke him even in France
Until this morning and this snow
If anything might rouse him now
This kind old sun will know
Think how it wakes the seeds
Woke,once, the clays of a cold star
Are limbs, so dear achieved, are sides,
Full-nerved still warm too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?

The poem is a/an
  • A.elegy
  • B.epic
  • C.sonnet
  • D.lyric
Objective
Question 21
Read the poem and answer the question

Move him into the sun
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields unsown
Always it woke him even in France
Until this morning and this snow
If anything might rouse him now
This kind old sun will know
Think how it wakes the seeds
Woke,once, the clays of a cold star
Are limbs, so dear achieved, are sides,
Full-nerved still warm too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?

One of the dominant literary devices used in the poem is
  • A.hyperbole
  • B.simile
  • C.assonance
  • D.metaphhor
Objective
Question 22
Read the poem and answer the question

Move him into the sun
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields unsown
Always it woke him even in France
Until this morning and this snow
If anything might rouse him now
This kind old sun will know
Think how it wakes the seeds
Woke,once, the clays of a cold star
Are limbs, so dear achieved, are sides,
Full-nerved still warm too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?

The theme of the poem is the ...of life
  • A.vanity
  • B.creation
  • C.distortion
  • D.futility
Objective
Question 23
Read the poem and answer the question

Move him into the sun
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields unsown
Always it woke him even in France
Until this morning and this snow
If anything might rouse him now
This kind old sun will know
Think how it wakes the seeds
Woke,once, the clays of a cold star
Are limbs, so dear achieved, are sides,
Full-nerved still warm too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?

The mood in the last two lines is one of
  • A.surprise
  • B.lament
  • C.uncertainty
  • D.indifference
Objective
Question 24
Read the poem and answer the question

Move him into the sun
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields unsown
Always it woke him even in France
Until this morning and this snow
If anything might rouse him now
This kind old sun will know
Think how it wakes the seeds
Woke,once, the clays of a cold star
Are limbs, so dear achieved, are sides,
Full-nerved still warm too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?

The dominant images are associated with
  • A.Death
  • B.Nature
  • C.Life
  • D.Age
Objective