Literature in English is one of the most important subjects in the JAMB subject combination, especially for art students who might want to study courses like law, mass communication, theater arts, and others.
Literature in English is, in fact, one of the most important subjects in the JAMB subject combination if you are going for a top course in art fields in any Nigerian university.
Based on structure, every year JAMB has maintained a structured syllabus in Literature in English that focuses on selected drama, prose, plays, and poems for the purpose of selecting and extracting examination questions from it.
Literature in English is a subject with too much text that a student can cover, but with a well-detailed and structured syllabus from JAMB, any student can easily take on any literature in English questions during the JAMB examination.
Whether you are just taking UTME and you are planning to take Literature in English as part of the JAMB subject examination or you are trying to retake the JAMB examination, this guide will help you understand what Literature in English entails, the recommended text, and how JAMB determines which texts to include.
WAEC Shifts Full CBT Examination Rollout to 2027
Agbami Scholarship Programme 2026: Complete Application Guide for Nigerian Students
Nigerian Police Force Aptitude Test Past Questions and Answers – Complete Guide 2025/2026
What Is Literature in English in UTME?
Literature in English in UTME is an art subject that is meant to test candidates’ ability to read, interpret, and analyze literary work in examination.
In UTME, Literature in English questions usually cover areas from prose, drama, poetry, and general literary principles.
Candidates who sit for UTME are tested in different areas like theme and subject.
characterization, plot development,
setting, literary devices, tone and mood, and author intention.
How JAMB Selects Recommended Texts
JAMB’s selection of Literature in English is not based on just picking a random Literature in English text, but it is based on specific examination and academic requirements.
Some of the key factors that JAMB does consider when selecting text include educational relevance, thematic richness, literary balance, longevity, and exam suitability.
JAMB 2025/2026 Recommended Texts List
JAMB Literature in English – Poetry Texts 2026
African Poetry
| Category | Poem Title | Author |
|---|---|---|
| African Poetry | Black Woman | Leopold Sedar Senghor |
| African Poetry | The Leader and the Led | Niyi Osundare |
| African Poetry | The Grieved Lands | Agostinho Neto |
| African Poetry | The Song of the Women of My Land | Oumar Farouk Sesay |
| African Poetry | Raider of the Treasure Trove | Lade Wosornu |
| African Poetry | A Government Driver on His Retirement | Onu Chibuike |
| African Poetry | Path of Lucas: The Journey He Endured | Susanne Bellefeuille |
| African Poetry | Night | Wole Soyinka |
| African Poetry | New Tongue | Elizabeth L. A. Kamara |
| African Poetry | Once Upon a Time | Gabriel Okara |
| African Poetry | Not My Business | Niyi Osundare |
| African Poetry | Hearty Garlands | S. O. H. Afriyie-Vidza |
| African Poetry | The Breast of the Sea | Syl Cheney-Coker |
Non-African Poetry
| Category | Poem Title | Author |
|---|---|---|
| Non-African Poetry | The Good-Morrow | John Donne |
| Non-African Poetry | Caged Bird | Maya Angelou |
| Non-African Poetry | The Journey of the Magi | T. S. Eliot |
| Non-African Poetry | Do Not Go Gentle into the Good Night | Dylan Thomas |
| Non-African Poetry | Binsey Poplars (Felled 1879) | G. M. Hopkins |
| Non-African Poetry | Bat | D. H. Lawrence |
| Non-African Poetry | She Walks in Beauty | Lord Byron |
| Non-African Poetry | The Nun’s Priest’s Tale (Shortened) | Geoffrey Chaucer |
| Non-African Poetry | The Telephone Call | Fleur Adcock |
| Non-African Poetry | The Stone | Wilfred Wilson Gibson |
JAMB Literature in English – Prose Texts 2026
| Category | Text Title | Author |
|---|---|---|
| African Prose | Second Class Citizen | Buchi Emecheta |
| African Prose | Unexpected Joy at Dawn (2018 Edition) | Alex Agyei-Agyiri |
| African Prose | So the Path Does Not Die | Pede Hollist |
| African Prose | Redemption Road | Elma Shaw |
| Non-African Prose | Invisible Man | Ralph Ellison |
| Non-African Prose | Wuthering Heights | Emily Brontë |
JAMB Literature in English – Drama Texts (2025/2026)
| Category | Text Title | Author |
|---|---|---|
| Shakespeare | A Midsummer Night’s Dream | William Shakespeare |
| Shakespeare | Antony and Cleopatra | William Shakespeare |
| African Drama | Let Me Die Alone | John K. Kargbo |
| African Drama | The Lion and the Jewel | Wole Soyinka |
| African Drama | Marriage of Anansewa | Efua Sutherland |
| Non-African Drama | Look Back in Anger | John Osborne |
| Non-African Drama | Fences | August Wilson |
Essential JAMB Literature Anthologies & General Texts – COMPLETE
| Text Title | Author / Editor | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Naked Soles | Gbemisola | Poetry collection |
| The Penguin Book of English Verse | Hayward, J. | English poetry anthology |
| New Poetry from Africa | Johnson, R. | African poetry collection |
| Oxford Anthology of English Literature, Vol. II | Kermode, F. | Comprehensive guide |
| West African Verse | Nwoga, D. | Regional poetry |
| A Selection of African Poetry | Senanu, K. E. & Vincent, T. | African poetry compilation |
| Poems of Black Africa | Wole Soyinka | African poetry |
| Of Shadows and Rainbows: Musings in Times of Covid | — | Contemporary anthology |
| Camouflage: Best of Contemporary Writing from Nigeria | Mace Books Association | Nigerian anthology |
| A Pageant of Longer Poems | Longman (London) | Poetry anthology |
Recommended JAMB Literature Critical Texts – COMPLETE
| Critical Text | Author | Edition / Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| A Dictionary of Literature | Emeaba, O. E. | Literary reference |
| A Glossary of Literary Terms | Abrams, M. H. | 4th Edition |
| Understanding Unseen | Murphy, M. J. | Poetry analysis |
Study Tips For UTME Literature in English
● Read the recommended text directly
Candidates who want to take Literature in English in UTME are strongly advised to read the recommended text themselves and not rely on summary as the question can come out of anywhere in the recommended text
● Understand Theme and Message
Understanding theme and message most especially for literature text like drama and poetry is important as this is where most questions from prose and drama text do come out.
● Know Character and Role
Don’t just study the text content without knowing the character and the role performed, especially in drama texts where roles are played by different characters.
● Learn literary devices.
Learn devices that hold literature in English, like metaphor, simile, irony, and others.
● Practice past Questions
One of the most factor that will contribute to sucess in literature in English UTME is continous practice of past question,this aline can save you a lot of time and makes you focus on what JAMB do set every year instead of beating around the bush.
2025 JAMB UTME REVISION QUESTIONS – LITERATURE (40 QUESTIONS)
- A literary device in which parts of a sentence are grammatically similar is
A. Simile
B. Aside
C. Parallelism
D. Irony - The climax in a literary work is the
A. beginning of the story
B. middle of the work
C. most intense point of the conflict
D. central part of the dialogue - A literary work that ridicules ideas or human follies is called
A. satire
B. elegy
C. lullaby
D. mask - A symbolic representation of ideas, actions, and situations is
A. fable
B. allegory
C. romance
D. parody - A grouped set of lines in a poem is known as a
A verse
B. refrain
C. stanza
D. lyric - The phrase “living death” is an example of
A. synecdoche
B. prose
C. oxymoron
D. aside - An extended fictional narrative that is realistic is a
A. diary
B. novella
C. novel
D. short story - In drama, the protagonist is the
A writer of the play
B. leading character
C. antagonist
D. narrator - A sonnet consists of a sestet and two
A. rhyming lines
B. rhyming couplets
C. rhyming quatrains
D. rhyming stanzas - Which of the following is NOT a type of drama?
A. burlesque
B. resolution
C. tragedy
D. pantomime - “Peter’s pretty partner paid the bills” illustrates
A. rhyme
B. satire
C. alliteration
D. digression - Verbal irony occurs when a speaker
A. is misunderstood
B. deceives the audience
C. says the opposite of what is meant.
D. is alone. - The main effect of comedy on the audience is
A. anxiety
B. sadness
C. laughter
D. suspense - A group of lines in poetry is called
A. sentences
B. stanzas
C. danzas
D. line grouping - The use of two contrasting words placed side by side is
A. Prologue
B. oxymoron
C. apostrophe
D. costume
Read the passage below and answer questions 16–20.
I wonder how long, you awful parasite,
Shall share with me this little bed,
And make me from sweet dreams be lost,
By sucking blood from my poor head.
I should say man has much blood.
Which you and your families do feed on;
For supper, dinner, and lunch,
And besides, you do breed in my bed.
Clever thou art, tiny creature.
You attend to me when I am deep asleep.
When thou art sure I can’t capture you,
Just at the time I snore deep.
’Tis strange that before twilight,
The bed clear of you would seem;
For not one of you is in my sight,
As if your presence were a dream.
- The subject of the poem is a
A. mosquito
B. flea
C. bedbug
D. louse - Lines 1 and 2 of the second stanza illustrate
A. caesura
B. meter
C. enjambment
D. ellipsis - The creature in the poem is best described as
A. sluggish
B. awkward
C. clever
D. foolish - The mood of the persona is
A. sarcasm
B. indifference
C. despair
D. joy - The device used in “’Tis strange” is
A. assonance
B. alliteration
C. onomatopoeia
D. pun - He who writes prose is a
A poet
B. writer
C. author
D. actor - “O ceremony, show me but thy worth” uses
A. antithesis
B. apostrophe
C. personification
D. euphemism - The ending of most comedies is
A. happy
B. calm
C. natural
D. uncertain - The rhyme scheme of
“A cursing rogue with a merry farce,
A bundle of rags upon a crunch…”
is
A. aabb
B. abab
C. bbaa
D. abba - Tension between the protagonist and antagonist is
A. Climax
B. conflict
C. concrete
D. confidence - “The cell is a cruel place; sometimes a haven” illustrates
A. paradox
B. sarcasm
C. anticlimax
D. personification - The playwright
A. writes a poem
B. writes a book
C. writes a play
D. directs a drama - The subject matter of a passage describing shaking earth and collapsing houses is
A. earthquake
B. demolition
C. flood
D. storm - The structure of poetry is
A. sentences and paragraphs
B. sentences and stanzas
C. lines and paragraphs
D. lines and stanzas - “Tell me not, sweet, I am unkind” illustrates
A. inversion
B. paradox
C. humor
D. mood - The repetition of an ending sound is known as
A. simile
B. alliteration
C. rhyme
D. assonance - “Your head is like a drum beaten for spirits” is an example of
A. caricature
B. ridicule
C. satire
D. lampoon - In drama, a sub-chapter is called a
A. act
B. setting
C. verse
D. scene - As chapter is to prose, so is ______ to poetry.
A couplet
B. stanza
C. line
D. chorus - The meaning of “cast” in drama is
A. List of characters
B. dialogue
C. playwright
D. protagonists only - The time and place of a drama is the
A. place
B. scene
C. setting
D. act - An elegy expresses
A. euphoria
B. confusion
C. grandeur
D. sorrow - Which is an example of a rhyme scheme?
A. Roses are red, violets are blue.
B. I went to the mall today.
C. I love pie, and my friend does.
D. I saw a frog sitting on a log. - “The wretched beggar cleaned his nails with dry saliva” uses
A. anticlimax
B. oxymoron
C. anecdote
D. antithesis - The main subject of the poem about parasites in bed is
A. pets
B. insects
C. food
D. dreams
Frequently Asked Questions
● Are all Jamb Literature questions taken from the recommended text?
Yes, all JAMB questions come from the recommended, which comes from the official syllabus.
● Can I read summaries instead of the full text?
Reading literature in English recommended by JAMB is dangerous and not a welcome move, as JAMB can pick a question from a particular scene or even a quote.
● Is poetry compulsory in Literature in English?
Yes. Poetry questions form a significant part of the literature section.
Conclusion
You can attain the success you want in your Literature in English UTME depending on familiarity with the recommended text and consistent practice. Candidates who study all the recommended text stand a higher chance of scoring a higher mark.
I am ready for the job pils Nigeria is a very bad country no job in the city of the country and kingpin people are really by fullani
So 2026 JAMB questions,for literature are both old and new texts
So JAMB literature questions for 2026 are both old and new