JAMB Syllabus for Literature in English & Textbooks 2023/2024

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Here is the latest JAMB Syllabus for Literature in English & Textbooks 2023/2024. The JAMB Literature in English syllabus is the topic you must study for the UTME examination.

Using the JAMB syllabus to study for your examination is the open secret to getting a high score.

The JAMB Literature in English syllabus also contains objectives for each topic. These objectives are what you must know for every topic you study.

This post contains the complete list of topics in the JAMB Literature in English syllabus.

Let me know in the comment section if you have any questions.

JAMB Syllabus for Literature in English & Textbooks 2023/2024

Here is the list of texts for the JAMB Literature in English 2022;

1. Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka
2. Look Back in Anger by John Osborne
3. Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta
4. Unexpected Joy at Dawn by Alex Agyei Agyiri
5. Wuthering Heights by Emile Bronte

JAMB Literature Poetry Texts

Here are the JAMB Literature Poetry Texts;

• The Panic of Growing Older by Lenrie Peter.
• Vanity by Birago Diop.
• The Leader and the Led by Niyi Osundare.
• Ambush by Gbemisola Adeoti.
• The Song of the Woman of my Land by Oumar Farouk Sesay.
• Piano and Drums by Gabriel Okara.
• The Dining Table by Gbanabam Hallowell.

JAMB Syllabus for Literature in English 2023

Drama

Objectives

Candidates should be able to:

1. Identify the various types of drama.
2. Analyse the contents of the various types of drama.
3. Compare and contrast the features of different dramatic types.
4. Demonstrate adequate knowledge of dramatic techniques used in each prescribed text.
5. Differentiate between styles of selected playwrights.
6. Determine the theme of any prescribed text.
7. Identify the plot of the play.
8. Apply the lessons of the play to everyday living.
9. Identify the spatial and temporal setting of the play.

Content

1. Types:
   • Tragedy
   • Comedy
   • Tragicomedy
   • Melodrama
   • Farce
   • Opera etc.
2. Dramatic Techniques
   • Characterisation
   • Dialogue
   • Flashback
   • Mime
   • Costume
   • Music/Dance
   • Décor/scenery
   • Acts/Scenes
   • Soliloquy/aside
   • Lighting etc.
3. Interpretation of the Prescribed Texts
   • Theme
   • Plot
   • Socio-political context
   • Setting.

General Literary Principles

Objectives

Candidates should be able to:

1. identify literary terms in drama, prose and poetry.
2. identify the general principles of Literature.
3. differentiate between literary terms and principles.
4. Use literary terms appropriately.

Content

1. Literary terms: Foreshadowing, suspense, theatre, monologue, dialogue, soliloquy, symbolism, protagonist, antagonist, figures of speech, satire, stream of consciousness, synecdoche, metonymy, etc, in addition to those listed above under the different genres.
2. Literary principles
   • Direct imitation in play.
   • Versification in drama and poetry.
   • Narration of people’s experiences.
   • Achievement of aesthetic value, etc.
3. Relationship between literary terms and principles.

Literary Appreciation

Objectives

Candidates should be able to:

1. determine literary devices used in a given passage/extract.
2. provide a meaningful interpretation of the given passage/extract.
3. Relate the extract to true life experiences.

Content

Unseen passages/extracts from Drama, Prose and Poetry.

Poetry

Objectives

Candidates should be able to:

1. identify different types of poetry.
2. compare and contrast the features of different poetic types.
3. determine the devices used by various poets.
4. show how poetic devices are used for aesthetic effect in each poem.
5. deduce the poet’s preoccupation from the poem.
6. appraise poetry as an art with moral values.
7. Apply the lessons from the poem to real-life situations.

Content

1. Types:
   • Sonnet
   • Ode
   • Lyrics
   • Elegy
   • Ballad
   • Panegyric
   • Epic
   • Blank Verse, etc.
2. Poetic devices
   • Structure
   • Imagery
   • Sound(Rhyme/Rhythm, repetition, pun, onomatopoeia, etc.
   • Diction
   • Persona
3. Appreciation
   • Thematic preoccupation
   • Socio-political relevance
   • Style.

Prose

Objectives

Candidates should be able to:

1. differentiate between types of prose.
2. identify the category to that each prescribed text belongs.
3. analyse the components of each type of prose.
4. identify the narrative techniques used in each of the prescribed texts.
5. determine an author’s narrative style.
6. distinguish between one type of character from another.
7. determine the thematic pre-occupation of the author of the prescribed text.
8. indicate the plot of the novel; identify the temporal and spatial setting of the novel.
9. identify the temporal and spatial setting of the novel.
10. relate the prescribed text to real-life situations.

Content

• Types:
  • Fiction
    • Novel
    • Novella/Novelette
    • Short story
  • Non-fiction
    • Biography
    • Autobiography
    • Memoir
    • Faction: a combination of fact and fiction
  • Narrative Techniques/Devices:
    • Point of view
    • Omniscient/Third Person
    • First Person
    • Characterisation
    • Round, flat, foil, hero, antihero, etc
    • Language
  • Textual Analysis
    • Theme
    • Plot
    • Setting (Temporal/Spatial)
    • Socio-political context

JAMB Syllabus for Literature in English & Textbooks 2023/2024 JAMB Syllabus for Literature in English & Textbooks 2023/2024 JAMB Syllabus for Literature in English & Textbooks 2023/2024 JAMB Syllabus for Literature in English & Textbooks 2023/2024

JAMB Recommended Textbooks for Literature 2023

Drama

African

1. Frank Ogodo Ogbeche: Harvest of Corruption

Non-African

1. William Shakespeare: Othello

Prose

African

1. Amma Darko: Faceless

Non-African

1. Richard Wright: Native Son

Poetry

African

1. Birago Diop: Vanity
2. ii. Gbemisola Adeoti: Ambush
3. iii. Gabriel Okara : Piano and Drums
4. iv. Gbanabam Hallowell: The Dining Table
5. v. Lenrie Peter: The Panic of Growing Older
6. vi. Kofi Awoonor: The Anvil and the Hammer

Non-African

1. Alfred Tennyson: Crossing the Bar
2. George Herbert: The Pulley
3. William Blake: The School Boy
4. William Morris: The Proud King

Anthologies

• Gbemisola, A. (2005) Naked Soles, Ibadan: Kraft
• Hayward, J. (ed.) (1968) The Penguin Book of English Verse, London: Penguin
• Johnson, R. et al (eds.) (1996) New Poetry from Africa, Ibadan: UP Plc
• Kermode, F. et al (1964) Oxford Anthology of English Literature,Vol. II, London: OUP
• Nwoga D. (ed.) (1967) West African Verse, London: Longman
• Senanu, K. E. and Vincent, T. (eds.) (1993) A Selection of African Poetry, Lagos: Longman
• Soyinka, W. (ed.) (1987) Poems of Black Africa, Ibadan: Heinemann

Critical Text

• Abrams, M. H. (1981) A Glossary of Literary Terms, (4th Edition) New York, Holt Rinehalt and Winston
• Emeaba, O. E. (1982)A Dictionary of Literature, Aba: Inteks Press
• Murphy, M. J. (1972) Understanding Unseen, An Introduction to English Poetry and English Novel for Overseas Students, George Allen and Unwin Ltd.