English Syllabus
English Syllabus
English Syllabus
ENGLISH HONOURS
1st Semester
Except in Paper-1 all Eight papers will consist of One Compulsory Reference to
Context / Short answer question which will carry 20 marks.
POETRY I
Poetry I and II are intended to provide a comprehensive guide to English poetry, its
development, its forms and movements, throughout the ages.
Beginning with Chaucer, the most notable poet of the Middle Ages, representative poets
of the Renaissance in England have been selected. There is the sonnet, the most popular
literary form of the Elizabethan age, and Milton's famous pastoral elegy which displays
his grand style in contrast to Donne's playful handling of 'conceits'. The Metaphysical
School of Poetry and is represented by Donne and Marvell.
The quest motif, taken up by poets in the future, has been effectively used by Vaughan in
this period. Dryden and Pope epitomise the spirit of the Restoration and the Augustan
period (or neo-classicism) in their masterful deployment of satire concerning social and
moral issues. Gray's elegy, the best known of all English elegies, has been included.
Suggested Reading:
2nd Semester
FICTION I
This course is designed to familiarise students with the emergence of the Novel as an art
form in the eighteenth century and its successive development throughout the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It includes five representative texts for non
detailed critical study. It is important that the texts be related to the age in which they
appear.
Course content:
Suggested Reading:
Allen, Walter. The English Novel. Harmondsworth: Penguin Paperback, 1992.
Kettle, Arnold. Introduction to the English Novel (Vols.1 & 2). London: Hutchinson & Co.,
1999.
Watt, Ian. The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding. California:
University of California Press, 1957.
3rd Semester
DRAMA
The course traces the development of drama from the Elizabethan age to the post-war
era of the twentieth century. It introduces drama as a literary as well as dramatic genre
with due emphasis on dramatic elements (like plot, structure, etc).The course also aims
to give students an understanding of the major dramatic works with a sense of their
historical and cultural context and the techniques that inform them.
Suggested Reading:
Branmuller, A.R. & M. Hattaway eds. The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance
Drama. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 1990.
Brooks, C. & R.B.Heilman. Understanding Drama. N.Y: Holt, Reinhart & Winston, 2000.
Indian edition
Leggatt, Alexander. English Drama: Shakespeare to the Restoration, 1590-1660 (Longman
Literature in English Series). London & New York: Longman, 1988.
Innes, Christopher. Modern British Drama. 1890 - 1990. Cambridge: Cambridge U P,
1992
McMillan, S. Restoration and Eighteenth Century Comedy. 2nd edition. NY &
London: W.W. Norton & Co., 1997
Rabey, David Ian. English Drama Since 1940. (Longman Literature in English Series).
London: Longman, 2003
Bevis, Richard W. English Drama: Restoration & Eighteenth Century, 1660-1789.
(Longman Literature in English Series). London & New York: Longman, 1988
4th Semester
This Course will introduce the student to the Literary History of English Literature. It
will provide the necessary background for the study of English Literature. The language
component will sensitise the student to the formal aspects of the English Language.
B: Language 20 marks
Phonetic Transcription
Critical Terminology
Suggested Reading:
Ford, Boris ed) New Pelican Guide to English Literature Vols. 1-7. Harmondsworth:
Penguin, 1999.
McFarlane & Bradbury Modernism, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976.
Albert, Edward .History o f English Literature, Delhi: OUP, 2001.
Sanders, Andrew. The Short Oxford History o f English Literature, Delhi: OUP, 2000.
Abrams, M.H. A Glossary o f Literary Terms.2007
5th Semester
POETRY II
Poetry II begins with a study of the major poets of the Romantic Movement in English
poetry of the nineteenth century. Besides embodying the major preoccupations of
Romantic poetry the poems are also meant to reflect the times. The Victorian period,
with its troubled complexity, is represented by its most celebrated poets. Modern
English poetry is represented by Hopkins 'the proto-modernist' nineteenth-century
poet, Yeats a modern and uncompromising Romantic poet, Eliot the high priest of
Modernism, and Auden the interpreter of social ills. The section ends with Ted Hughes,
a poet laureate, in whose poetry can be found a synthesis of two separate traditions of
twentieth-century verse.
Suggested Reading:
Bate, Jonathan :Shakespeare and the English Romantic Imagination, Oxford, OUP,1986
Bowra, C. M. The Romantic Imagination. New Delhi: OUP, 1999..
Bloom, H : The Best Poems o f the English Language, New York, HarperCollins Publishers,
2004.
Culler, A. D. The Poetry o f Tennyson. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.
Liu,Alan : Wordsworth: the Sense o f History Stanford, Stanford Univ Press,
1989
Manning, Peter: Reading Romantics: Texts and Contexts, New York, Viking, 1990
5th Semester
FICTION II
This Course is designed to acquaint students with important works of fiction of the
second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. The
changes that came over the English novel in the first half of the twentieth century
amounted to a radical redefinition of the nature and function of fiction. Some
representative novels of the period have been included in this course so as to familiarize
the students with the important trends. Special credit will be given to evidence of
background reading in examination answers.
Suggested Reading:
1. Ford, Boris. ed The New Pelican Guide to English Literature: From Dickens to
Hardy. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1999.
2. Friedman, Alan. The Turn o f the Novel. London: OUP, 1966.
3. Stevenson, Randall. Modernist Fiction: An Introduction. Hertfordshire: Harvester
Wheatsheaf, 1992.
4. Fraser, G.S. The Modern Writer and His World. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1953.
5. Bradbury, Malcolm & McFarlane, James. Eds. Modernism. Harmondsworth:
Penguin, 1976.
6. Daiches, David. The Novel and the Modern World. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1960.
6th Semester
LITERARY CRITICISM
The Objective of the Course on Literary Criticism is to orient students with the study of
significant texts on Criticism. This will provide them with the necessary grounding in
the subject.
A. 60
Suggested Reading:
The two optional papers will provide the student with crucial insights into the kind of
literatures that are being written in English. It will open up areas of literature that will
help the student to understand the kind of writing that is currently becoming widely
studied.
Suggested Reading:
Ed: Baym, Nina The Norton Anthology o f American Literature, London: Norton & Co.1998
Vols 1&2
Bigsby, C.W.E. Modern American Drama 1945-1970, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press 1998 (rpt).
Bigsby, C.W.E. A Critical Introduction to Twentieth Century American Drama Vol-1,1900-
1940 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1989.
Ford, Boris ed) New Pelican Guide to English Literature Vol. 8. Harmondsworth: Penguin,
1999.
Indian Writing in English (Option-B)
Suggested Reading:
Iyengar, K.R. Srinivas. Indian Writing in English. New Delhi: Sterling, 1984.
King, Bruce. Modern Indian Poetry in English. 2nd ed. New Delhi: OUP, 2001.
Lall, E. N. The Poetry o f Encounter: Three Indo-Anglian Poets (Dom
Moraes, A K Ramanujan and Nissim Ezekiel). New Delhi: Sterling
Publishers, 1983.
Mehrotra, A.K. (ed.) A History o f Indian Literature in English. New York: Columbia
University Press, 2003.
Mukherjee, Meenakshi. The Twice Born Fiction: Themes and Techniques o f the Indian
Novel in English. New Delhi: Pencraft International, 2001.
Naik, M.K. A History o f Indian English Literature. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1982.
Shahane, Vasant A. & M. Sivaramakrishna eds. Indian Poetry in English: A Critical
Assessment. Delhi: Macmillan, 1980.
ELECTIVE ENGLISH
The Three Elective English Papers to be offered to students from other streams who
wish to take Elective English shall comprise of the following papers (common to
honours students): Poetry 1, Fiction1 and Drama. However the nomenclature of the
papers and the allocation of marks shall be as follows:
ELECTIVE POETRY
Suggested Reading:
2nd Semester
ELECTIVE FICTION
Suggested Reading:
Allen, Walter. The English Novel. Harmondsworth: Penguin Paperback, 1992.
Kettle, Arnold. Introduction to the English Novel (Vols.1 & 2). London: Hutchinson & Co.,
1999.
Watt, Ian. The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding. California:
University of California Press, 1957.
3rd Semester
ELECTIVE DRAMA
Suggested Reading:
Branmuller, A.R. & M. Hattaway eds. The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance
Drama. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 1990.
Brooks, C. & R.B.Heilman. Understanding Drama. N.Y: Holt, Reinhart & Winston, 2000.
Indian edition
Leggatt, Alexander. English Drama: Shakespeare to the Restoration, 1590-1660 (Longman
Literature in English Series). London & New York: Longman, 1988.
Innes, Christopher. Modern British Drama. 1890 - 1990. Cambridge: Cambridge U P,
1992
McMillan, S. Restoration and Eighteenth Century Comedy. 2nd edition. NY &
London: W.W. Norton & Co., 1997
Rabey, David Ian. English Drama Since 1940. (Longman Literature in English Series).
London: Longman, 2003
Bevis, Richard W. English Drama: Restoration & Eighteenth Century, 1660-1789.
(Longman Literature in English Series). London & New York: Longman, 1988
Paper I
A. Poetry
1. Milton 'On His Blindness'
2. Donne 'Sweetest Love I do not Goe'
3. Pope from An Essay on Man.
4. Wordsworth 'Three Years She Grew in Sun and Shower'
5. Coleridge 'Youth and Age'
6. Keats 'She Walks in Beauty'
7. Shelley 'Ozymandias'
8. Tennyson 'Ulysses'
9. Arnold 'Channel Firing'
10. Eliot 'Journey of the Magi'
11. Auden 'Prayer for My Daughter'
B. Drama
Detailed study
C. Non-detailed study
Paper II
B. Fiction
Suggested Reading:
B. Poetry 15 marks
C. Drama
The Boy Comes Home 10 marks
1. Essay writing
1. Prose
2. Poetry
Suggested Reading:
1. Gupta, Nilanjana (1998) English for All, Chennai: Macmillan.
2. Tickoo, Champa and Sasikumar, Jaya (2000) Writing with a Purpose, Delhi: OUP
3. Seely, John (2002) The Oxford Guide to Writing & Speaking, Delhi: OUP
4. Ashley, A (1996) A Handbook of Commercial Correspondence, Delhi: OUP.
5. Jones, Leo. Advanced English. Delhi: CUP, 2005.
COMPULSORY ENGLISH for B.Com 5th semester
PAPER II 100Marks
A. Biographies 20 marks
4. N.R.Narayana Murthy
5. Henry Ford
Prescribed Text: NEHU Anthology o f Short Plays and Biographies (Shillong Forum for English
Studies)
Personnel: Letters calling candidates for written test, drafting interview letters, offer of
appointment, provisional appointment orders, final order of appointment, employee
disciplinary matters, show cause notices, charge sheets, letters of dismissal and discharge.
Miscellaneous: Correspondence with agents and transport companies, public notices and
invitations, representations to trade associations and chambers of commerce, e-
correspondence
Grammar 20 Marks
Suggested Reading:
1. Gupta, Nilanjana (1998) English for All, Chennai: Macmillan.
2. Tickoo, Champa and Sasikumar, Jaya (2000) Writing with a Purpose, Delhi: OUP
3. Seely, John (2002) The Oxford Guide to Writing & Speaking, Delhi: OUP
4. Ashley, A (1996) A Handbook of Commercial Correspondence, Delhi: OUP.
5. Jones, Leo. Advanced English. Delhi: CUP, 2005.
Compulsory English for B. Sc./ B.Sc Home Science 5th semester
A. Novel
B. Drama
Suggested Reading:
1. Dwiwedi, R K and Kumar, A (2001) Macmillan Foundation English, Chennai:
Macmillan India Limited.
2. Thakur, D (2001) A Handbook o f English Grammar and Usage, Patna: Bharati
Bhawan.
3. Yadurajan, K S (2001) Current English, Delhi: OUP.
4. Swan, Michael (2000) Basic English Usage, Delhi: OUP
5. Eastwood, John (2001) Oxford Guide to English Grammar, Delhi: OUP
6. Hornby, A S (2002) Guide to Patterns and Usage in English, Delhi: OUP.
7. Jones, Leo. Advanced English. Delhi: CUP, 2005.
COMPULSORY ENGLISH for Professional Courses
A. Biographies 20 marks
1. N.R.Narayana Murthy
2. Henry Ford
Prescribed Text: NEHU Anthology o f Short Plays and Biographies (Shillong Forum for English
Studies)
Personnel: Letters calling candidates for written test, drafting interview letters, offer of
appointment, provisional appointment orders, final order of appointment, employee
disciplinary matters, show cause notices, charge sheets, letters of dismissal and discharge.
Miscellaneous: Correspondence with agents and transport companies, public notices and
invitations, representations to trade associations and chambers of commerce, e-
correspondence
Grammar 20 Marks
Suggested Reading:
1. Gupta, Nilanjana (1998) English for All, Chennai: Macmillan.
2. Tickoo, Champa and Sasikumar, Jaya (2000) Writing with a Purpose, Delhi: OUP
3. Seely, John (2002) The Oxford Guide to Writing & Speaking, Delhi: OUP
4. Ashley, A (1996) A Handbook of Commercial Correspondence, Delhi: OUP.
5. Jones, Leo. Advanced English. Delhi: CUP, 2005.