2018 - JAMB Literature Past Questions and Answers - page 1

A story with (count 'em) two levels of meaning is known as an allegory. The surface of the story comes first. That is , the obvious stuff like the characters and the plot. Then there is the deeper meaning that all the jazz on the surface reflects, or the symbolic level.

Allegories are literary or rhetorical devices that writers and speakers usually employ to express (semi-)hidden or complex meanings through symbolic figures, acts, imagery, or events. These elements work together to generate the moral, spiritual, or political meaning the author wants to convey.

Verbal Irony is when a speaker expresses the opposite of what they truly say, feels or means. It is the act of using words to express something contrary to the truth. Verbal irony is usually sarcastic.

 

Aside, in theatre and drama refers to the act whereby a character speaks directly to the audience but not heard by other characters or actors on the stage.

A drama is a specialized form of fiction or narrative that is performed. A play, opera, mime, ballet, etc. that is performed on stage in a theater, over the radio, or on television is regarded as a form of poetry in general.

Meter is a unit of rhythm in poetry, the pattern of the beats. It is also called a foot. Each foot has a certain number of syllables in it, usually two or three syllables. The difference in types of meter is which syllables are accented and which are not.

Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized (given human qualities, such as the ability to speak human language) and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral lesson...