TOPIC: Revision: Unseen Prose and Unseen Poem

LESSON OBJECTIVES: At the end of the lesson the students should be

able to:
a. Differentiate between unseen poem and unseen prose
b. Identify the tools for unseen poem and unseen prose
c. Features of Seen and an Unseen poem
REFERENCE MATERIALS:
i. Exam Focus Literature-In-English (2016 – 2020) for WAEC and
NECO by J.O.J. Nwachukwu Agbada et al
ii. Essential of Literature – In English by- for 2016 – 2020 by Ibitola
A.O.
iii. Complete Guide to Literature- in -English for WAEC and NECO
Candidates by Ehis .O. Osajie
AN UNSEEN PROSE:
An unseen prose can be defined as a passage which must be
explained or translated without prior knowledge of the reader. This
type of passage is set to examine the students’ ability to appreciate
written literature. The question dwells on the central theme of
discussion, figures of speech and other language devices in the
passage. However, unseen passages are dedicated to any author.
Hence, to answer questions under unseen prose, there is the need to
understand the subject matter.
UNSEEN POEM
This is a short but meaningful poem aimed at ascertaining the
students’ level of understanding of a poet’s work of art. In this,
questions are raised from the poem, ranging from the mood of the
poet to the language device(s) used.

Identify the tools for seen and unseen prose

a. Read the text
 b. Consider your first impressions
c. Get to grips with the meaning
d. Identify how the text is written: What kind of text is this: a poem, a
piece of travel writing, an extract from a novel?
Features of an Unseen poem
i. It is a short poem: Poems under this category are short so as to enable
the reader(s) understand the essence of the poet’s point of view.
ii. Its language is simple: This means that ambiguous or difficult words are
not used.
iii. Poetic devices such as irony, metaphor, personification are also found in
an unseen poem.

Features of an Unseen Prose

1. The comprehension passage of an unseen prose is usually short and
without a title.
2. The plot and structure of an unseen prose is usually straight forward.
3. The passage of an unseen prose is usually within the range of the
students’ experience.
ASSIGNMENT
Answer unseen prose and unseen poem questions in WAEC Past
Questions year 2016 - 2019