Literature in English - Post-UTME Study Guide
Literature in English in the Post-UTME tests understanding of prose, drama and poetry, plus literary devices and close reading. You are expected to explain how meaning is made, not merely to summarise a plot.
Core rules
- Prose: plot, setting, characterisation, conflict, theme and narrative voice.
- Drama: dialogue, stage directions, soliloquy, dramatic irony and tragedy.
- Poetry: speaker, tone, imagery, rhythm, rhyme and stanza form.
- Devices: simile uses like or as; metaphor states one thing is another; personification gives human qualities to non-human things; irony says one thing while implying another.
Worked example
The line 'The moon is a silver coin' is a metaphor, not a simile. A simile would say 'The moon is like a silver coin'. The metaphor compresses the comparison and suggests brightness, value and perhaps coldness. In an exam answer, name the device and then state its effect; do not stop at the label.
Traps
Do not call every comparison a simile. Do not confuse irony with sarcasm: sarcasm is a mocking form of irony. Do not retell the plot when asked about theme. Do not treat the narrator as the author. In drama, stage directions are part of the text and can reveal character or mood.