Lift not the painted veil which those who live

call life:through unreal shapes be pictured there,

And it mimic all we would believe

With colors idly spread,-behind, lurk fear.'

P.B. Shelley:Sonnet

The stanza above is an example of a

• A. couplet
• B. sestet
• C. quatrain
• D. sonnet

This question is based on General Literature Principles and Literary Appreciation.

Which of the following is central to narrative fiction?

• A. Sequence of events
• B. Dialogue
• C. Objectivity
• D. Subjectivity

Unseen Prose and Poetry

Read the passage below and answer the following questions

Marooned, Akpatse felt imprisoned. It was fifteen days since the storm. The flood waters were not receding; neither did Akpatse see any sign of help coming. Akpatse could not swim the expanse of flood waters. He meditated: when one looks upon the mountain for help and help comes from the Lord ... where does the Lord sit - in the cloud or on the mountain, or in the valley?

Well, Akpatse looked for salvation in the distance, far across the ocean of flood - the intimidating expense of his great gaoler - up to where the sky and the lips of the flood waters met in a mocking kiss. He had forgotten the feeling of hunger but knew he did not have any energy. What a foolish thing to think! He had not had any food for days. True. But hunger never said hello from the hollow of his 'person-tree' as they say in his language. Akpatse saw no help coming.

Flood waters met in a mocking kiss illustrates

• A. contrast
• B. euphemism
• C. personification
• D. litotes

NON-AFRICAN POETRY

Examine the poet's attitude to man in "Upon An Honest Man's Fortune"

Read the extract and answer the question

If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,

Speak to me;

That may be any good thing to be grace to me,

Speak to me;

If thou art privy to thy country's fate,

Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid,

O, speak!

Or if thou has uphoarded in thy life

Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,

For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death

Speak of it:

(Act 1 scene one, lines 129-139)

The speech is made after

• A. the killing of Polonius
• B. Hamlet's arrival at the palace
• C. the arrival of the players
• D. the appearance of the ghost

The recurrent device used is ________

• A. synecdoche
• B. apostrophe
• C. metonymy
• D. paradox

This question is based on Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God

'The crisis over the New Yam Feast arose because

• A. Ezeulu refused to eat the sacred yams at the appropriate time
• B. the harvest season came too early
• C. the Christians in Umuaro diverted their own yams to their church
• D. Ezeulu's absence from Umuaro had prevented him from eating the sacred yams at the right time

The question is based on William’s Shakespeare's OTHELLO

O heaven; How got she out?

O treason of the blood!

Father; from hence trust not your daughters' minds

By what you see them act. Is there not charms

By which the property of youth and maid-hood

May be abused?

The speaker of the excerpt above is________

• A. Brabantio
• B. Othello
• C. Gratiano
• D. Roderigo

Which of the following is not a type of drama?

• A. burleque
• B. resolution
• C. tragedy
• D. pantomime

These qustion is based on selected poems from Johnson, R, et al (eds.): New Poetry from Africa; Soyinka, W. (ED.): Poems of Black Africa; Senanu, K.E. and Vincent, T. (eds.): A Selection of African Poetry: U. Maduka, C.T et al: Exam Focus: Literature Examination Guides; Nwoga, D.I. (ed.): West African Verse and Adeoti G: Naked Soles.

Give Me The Minstrel's Seat ends on a clarion call for

• A. freedom
• B. peace
• C. rectitude
• D. commitment