In David Diop’s ‘The Vultures’, the statement ‘And the monotonous rhythm of the paternoster Drowned the howing on the plantations,’ suggests that
- A. music was more important than work
- B. boredom received more attention than suffering
- C. music was more pleasant than cries
- D. religion received more attention than the suffering slaves.
In ‘Vanity’, Birage Diop portrays the African predicament as arising from
- A. sad complaining voices of beggars
- B. pitiful anger bowing like a tumour
- C. not listening to the dead
- D. clamouring and crying roughly over our torments
In The Victims, the affection between Ubaka and Bomboy is significant because it
- A. results in the death of Ubaka
- B. shows that young people are more affectionate than their elders
- C. contrasts with the general hatred in their family
- D. leads to reconciliation in the family
An antagonist is a character in a narrative who
- A. uses abusive language to antagonize other characters
- B. works against the interest the interests of the protagonist
- C. works against the interests of other characters
- D. champions the cause of the protagonist
A sonnet is a poem of
- A. fourteen lines
- B. ten lines
- C. seven stanzas
- D. six stanzas
A couplet is a
- A. succession of three rhyming lines
- B. succession of two rhyming lines
- C. poem of two stanzas
- D. poem of three stanzas
An allegory is a story
- A. in which people or things or events have another meaning
- B. which aims at teaching a moral lesson
- C. in which allegations are made about the characters
- D. told in verse
Alliteration is
- A. the use of figures of speech to achieve poetic effect
- B. the repetition of two or more words having the same initial consonant sound
- C. usually employed to set the scene for a conflict
- D. All of the above
An ode is best described as a
- A. story told in poetic from
- B. poetic composition of fourteen lines
- C. narration about nature and natural objects
- D. lyrical poem addressed to some persons things
She said you just had to make an emotional commitment in marriage. It was like skiing, you could not see in advance what would happen but you had to let go. Maybe that was why I failed, because I didn’t know what I had to let go of. For me it hadn’t been like skiing, it was more like jumping off a cliff. That was the feeling I had all the time I was married, in the air, going down, waiting for the smash at the bottom.
The passage indicates that the author’s experience in marriage was
- A. exhilarating like skiing
- B. steeped in boredom and monotony
- C. full of fear of the unknown
- D. fraught with grief and despair
‘A white ball of fire tore through the dome of the night. It exploded into the branches of a colossal tree of fire – whose stem instantly leapt towards the earth’.
The passage directs is appeal primarily to the sense of
- A. hearing
- B. sight
- C. touch
- D. smell.
‘what happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-
And then run?’
In the above lines, the poet achieves special effect by the use of
- A. transferred epithet
- B. synecdoche
- C. alliteration
- D. simile.
”…her vesper done of all its wreathed pearls her hair she fees. Unclasps her warmed jewels one by one; Loosens her fragrant bodice; by degrees
Her rich attire creeps rustling to her knees”.
The passage gives ample evidence of the poet”s
- A. sensuous description
- B. meticulous attension to matters concerning women
- C. mastery of the Spenserian stanza
- D. sensual feelings and emotions.
‘For i have known them all already, known them all.
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons’.
The tone in these lines suggest
- A. the authors desire to accomplish more in life
- B. anxiety and tension
- C. tediousness and boredom
- D. anger and exasperation.
‘Olu hissed, slammed the door and dash out screaming’.
The dominant figure of speech in the above sentence is
- A. zeugma
- B. oxymoron
- C. hyperbole
- D. onomotopoeia
‘A dungeon horrible, one all sides round’
As one great furnace flamed, yet for those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible’.
The phrase ‘darkness visible’ in the above lines is an example of
- A. metaphor
- B. hyperbole
- C. oxymoron
- D. litotes.
‘Was it for this you took such constant care
The bodkin, comb and essence to prepare?
For this your locks in paper durance bound?
For this with tort’ring iron wreath’d round?
The dominant figure of speech in the above passage is
- A. synecdoche
- B. rhetorical questions
- C. parody
- D. apostrophe.
‘The early morning smoke had now gone off the eyes of the day. Trees and houses were still wet from last night’s rain, but a cool breeze caressed the world like a gentle hand.’
The dominant literary device in this passage is
- A. metaphor
- B. oxymoron
- C. synecdoche
- D. personification
‘Have you got any hands today?
‘No, i am working alone. My helpers are on strike
‘Would you like to engage me? My fees are reasonable.’
‘No thank you’.
In this brief dialogue, the first line contains the device known as
- A. syncedoche
- B. paradox
- C. oxymoron
- D. hyperbole
The novel, The Novella and the Short Story are the major sub-genres
- A. non-fiction
- B. prose fiction
- C. poetry
- D. drama
Any work of literature which sets out to instruct may be called
- A. dialetic
- B. decadent
- C. definitive
- D. didactic.