UNIVERSITY OF GAUHATI

THE B.A. (English) SYLLABUS, 2009

The new BA syllabus has built on the innovative and expansive thrust of the previous syllabus.
The idea is to offer the students more matter and more choices, and with the adoption of this philosophy,
not only new texts, but entirely new papers have also been added. For example, for the students with Major,
there is an all-new compulsory paper on Literary Criticism (Paper 9) and two new papers as optional papers
– one on ‘Book into Film’ and the other on ‘African Fiction in English’. The paper on Language and
Linguistics has been thoroughly overhauled too, and is now almost a new paper. Attention has been paid to
emerging ‘voices,’ that is, voices originating in locations other than in the West. Indian writing continues to
receive the emphasis and importance it deserves, and this syllabus may see the consolidation of a vision
predicated on promoting Indian culture – obviously through its literary manifestations. This is the case in
all genres of writing: novel, drama, poetry, non-fictional prose. Assam’s own Krishna Kanta Handiqui
(1898 – 1982), one of the outstanding Indian scholars of Comparative Literature, is represented in this
syllabus through his English essay ‘German Academic Ideals’, first published as an article in an issue
(March 11, 1928) of Forward edited by Subhas Chandra Bose. The importance given to women’s writing is
underscored through the revisions effected on the Optional Paper on women’s literature. In general, there
are several texts by and on women.
The BA syllabus is a preparatory step to higher studies in English and related disciplines, and
therefore the students are exposed to Theory, the kind that will help to open up their mental horizons and
give them glimpses of the rigour that is now increasingly demanded in English studies which is moving
away from de-contextualized studies of a few ‘great’ isolated texts. Such theory is incorporated particularly
in the compulsory papers on Fiction and Drama and in the optional paper on women’s literature. On the
whole a balance has been sought to be made between canonical works and newer kinds of writing. Most of
the radical changes have been made in the Major course, but the papers on General English, Alternative
English and Elective English have also been adequately revised and every effort has been made to make
them interesting for students who do not wish to or need not specialize in English literature. Some of the
best critical books in a particular area have been chosen to supplement class-room teaching and these are
included in the section Recommended Reading, and it is indeed strongly recommended that students try to
get hold of these books and read them (Many of these books are published by Indian publishers now, and
should therefore be accessible and cheap). On the whole it is hoped that this syllabus will encourage and
equip the students to take the next logical step in their career after getting their BA degrees, that is, enrol in
various MA programmes if they are majoring in English, or pursue higher studies anyway, if they are not.

Marks Rationale: Of the 100 marks that every paper carries, the syllabus covers 90 marks, the remaining 10
being allocated for Internal Assessment.

ENGLISH MAJOR
Paper 1: English Literary History and its Background
Full Marks 90

The object of this paper is to encourage students to acquire a broad overview of the literary process/canon we call
‘English Literature’ through a study of texts/movements/areas that will receive more detailed attention in some of
the other papers. While classroom lectures will focus on the different literary traditions in relation to their historical
contexts or ‘backgrounds’; students will also be encouraged to acquire a general, firsthand knowledge of the works
of writers (e.g. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Johnson, Coleridge, Arnold, Eliot and Heaney) important in terms of
their contribution to the ‘spirit of the age’ and the emergence of these traditions. Students will be required to answer
5 questions of 15 marks each (5x15=75) (at least one from each group), and write 3 short notes of 5 marks each,
covering all the periods (3x5=15).

[A] English Literature: Medieval and Renaissance: The literary history of the period from the Norman
Conquest (1066) to the Restoration (1660) will be studied with reference to the following:
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• Medieval Romances: the late 12th century trouvère Jean Bodel’s division of these romances – the ‘matter of
France’, the ‘matter of Rome’ and the ‘matter of England’ (the ‘matter of England’ to be studied with
particular reference to Sir Gawain and the Greene Knight)
• Fabliau, Lyric, Dream-Allegory, Ballad
• Chaucer, Gower and Langland
• The ‘New Learning’ of the Renaissance, Humanism
• Tottel’s Miscellany: The poetry of Wyatt and Surrey
• Drama: Marlowe, Shakespeare, and the Jacobean playwrights
• Metaphysical Poetry
• Milton: Prose and Poetry
[B] English Literature: Restoration to Romanticism
The literary history and its context: from the Restoration of Charles II and the reopening of theatres in 1660 to the
appearance of Tennyson’s Poems, Chiefly Lyrical (1830)
• Women’s Writing as a distinctive genre: Katherine Philips (1631-64), Anne Killigrew (1660-85), Mary Astell
(1666-1731) and Aphra Behn (1640-89)
• Restoration Drama: tragedy and comedy
• Prose: Sprat, History of the Royal Society; Clarendon, The True Historical Narrative of the Rebellion and Civil
Wars in England
• The poetry of Pope
• The periodical essay: Addison and Steele
• James Thompson, The Seasons
• Defoe and the rise of the Novel – Richardson, Fielding, Smollet and Sterne
• Dr Johnson (1709-84) and his Circle
The Romantic Period:
• The shift from sensibility to romanticism in Gray (1716-71), Cowper (1731-1800), Blake (1757-
1827) and Burns (1759-96)
• The poetry of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley and Keats
• The Novel of Manners; Gothic fiction; the Historical Novel
• The Personal Essay: Hazlitt and Lamb
[C] Victorian to the Present Times
The literary history and its context from 1830 to the present times will be studied with special reference to the
following:
• ‘The Condition of England’ – Carlyle and Dickens
• Victorian fiction with reference to the works of Charles Dickens, the Bronte Sisters, George Eliot and
Thomas Hardy
• Prose: Matthew Arnold
• Poetry: Tennyson, the Brownings, Arnold, D.G. Rossetti and Christina Rossetti, GM Hopkins
[D] Modernism and after:
• Fiction: Virginia Woolf, E. M. Forster, D.H. Lawrence and James Joyce
• The Little Magazines
• The Poetry of WB Yeats, T.S. Eliot and the Auden Circle
• The ‘Rise of English’: Scrutiny and its influence
• The New Theatre: John Osborne, Christopher Fry, Samuel Beckett, John Arden, Arnold Wesker
• Poetry from the Sixties: Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney
• Themes and issues in Post-colonial literature: nation, identity, culture
• Postmodernism: Globalisation and Popular Culture

Recommended Reading:

Margaret Drabble (ed.) The Oxford Companion to English Literature, Oxford: OUP, 2007
Pramod K. Nayar A Short History of English Literature, New Delhi: Foundation Books, 2009
John Peck and Martin Coyle A Brief History of English Literature Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002
Andrew Sanders The Short Oxford History of English Literature, 4E Oxford: OUP, 2004

Paper 2: Poetry: Chaucer to Pope

Marks 90

This paper attempts to define poetic genres from the changing poetic structures in Chaucer’s text to the complexity
of Elizabethan verse forms and finally to Metaphysical and Augustan poetry. The interplay between the dominant
ideals of the court and the influences that shaped the quality of poetic utterances, such as decorum, eloquence, and
the role of the poet defined both the art and craft of poetry. Spenser used the formal eloquence of the epic form to
both explore the political and religious allegorical interpretations of power and the need to illustrate the elegance of
language itself. The Elizabethan age witnessed a flowering of the lyric and sonnet which, while recording virtuosity in
technique and form, dealt with themes that reflected the contemporary concerns. Religion, politics, love and time are
central themes in these poems. These themes are reflected in Metaphysical poetry which highlighted the spurt of
innovations in theme and technique. The eighteenth century poets explored and widened these concepts to suit the
Neo-classical values of form, order and clarity. Lastly, the paper examines common rhetorical devices used in poetic
narratives. There will be two compulsory context questions on the * marked poems (10×2=20); two short questions
on various figures of speech (5×2=10); three short questions on particular genres/forms (5×3=15); and three
questions of 15 marks each on the poets and the poems prescribed, including the major movements in poetry and
the historical and social background (15×3=45).

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Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400): * Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

John Heywood (1497-1580): “A Praise of His Lady”
Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-42): “My Pen! Take pain a little space”
Edmund Spenser (1552-99): Sonnets from Amoretti: (a)”What guyle is this …” ;
(b) “The Merry Cuckow, messenger of Spring”
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86): “My True-Love Hath My Heart” (from Arcadia)
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) : *Sonnets 30, 65, ”All the World’s a Stage …”
(soliloquy from As You Like It)
Sir Walter Raleigh (1554-1618): “Even Such is Time”
John Donne (1572-1631): * “The Good Morrow”, * “The Canonization”
Andrew Marvell (1621-78): * “To his Coy Mistress”
John Milton (1608-74): “Invocation” (from Paradise Lost)
John Dryden (1631-1700): * “Mac Flecknoe”
Alexander Pope (1688-1744): * “Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot”
Prescribed Text:
The Enchanted Grove: A Selection of English Poems. Guwahati: Publications Department, Gauhati University

Recommended Reading:

M. H. Abrams and Geoffrey Galt Harpham A Glossary of Literary Terms, 9E,New Delhi: Cengage, 2009
R.N. Bose and T.S. Sterling, Elements of English Rhetoric and Prosody, Kolkata: Chuckervartty Chatterjee, 1989

Paper 3: Fiction I Defoe to Hardy

Marks 90

This paper will trace the evolution of the novel from its early days in the 18th century to its efflorescence in the
Victorian era. In the process, the student will be acquainted with the way novelists combine a continued faith in
empiricism with essentially middle-class impulses of didacticism and entertainment. As the course progresses, the
student will be confronted with more sophisticated explorations of realism. Such “realism” gains great depths in the
hands of novelists who are buoyed by democratic possibilities of appropriation of diverse experiences on the one
hand, and on the other hand, are forced into troubled recognition of phenomena such as: the destabilisation of social
cohesiveness, the erosion of religious teleology, the disruption of the progressive march of history, and the haunting
question of women’s rights. In addition to novels that deal with or touch upon the above issues and concerns, the
students will have to study a few prose pieces that highlight the growing aesthetic and intellectual awareness on the
part of the novelists themselves about the implications of novel-writing. There will be six questions of 15 marks each
on the texts prescribed, out of which the students will attempt five (15×5=75). Questions may require a textual
interpretation or a broader response incorporating contemporary ideas (as conveyed in the general essays prescribed)
into the specific interpretation. Students will also be required to write three short notes (5×3=15) on characters,
events and episodes from the texts.

George Eliot (1819-90): “Silly Novels by Lady Novelists”

Henry James (1843-1916): “The Art of Fiction”
Daniel Defoe (1660-1731): Moll Flanders
Jane Austen (1775-1817): Pride and Prejudice
George Eliot (1819-90): Silas Marner
Charles Dickens (1812-70): A Tale of Two Cities
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928): “The Distracted Preacher,” and “The Withered Arm” (from Wessex Tales)

Recommended Reading:
Lord David Cecil, Early Victorian Novelists (1934), Ludhiana: Kalyani Publishers, 1972
Terry Eagleton, The English Novel, Oxford: Blackwell, 2005
Deirdre David, (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to the Victorian Novel, Cambridge: CUP, 2001

Paper 4: Drama I (Medieval to the Neo-Classical)

Marks 90

This paper will introduce students to English drama, its traditions and stagecraft, its development from the medieval
miracles and morality plays; its generic dominance during the Elizabethan period when it was intimately connected to
the communal and socio-cultural life of the people; to further shifts during the Jacobean period, and ultimately, the
politically charged context of the time when the theatres were closed down. The Restoration demonstrates the
manner in which the reopened theatres would adapt themselves to the changed circumstances and particularly to the
influences from the Continent; signifying the direction that it was to take during the eighteenth century where as a
literary genre it had largely lost its privileged status. Students would be expected to keep such literary-historical
conditions in mind as they negotiate with representative dramatic texts.

Section I (8+10=18)
In this section students are required to study Aristotle’s classic work and be thoroughly acquainted with the elements
that would influence all subsequent dramatic theory and practice. They will also gain knowledge of the meaning and
function of certain dramatic devices such as the aside and the soliloquy by studying instances of such devices from
certain plays. Students will be expected to answer one short question (of 8 marks) on concepts on the basis of their
reading of Aristotle's Poetics and two questions of 5 marks (5×2=10) on dramatic devices and techniques:

Aristotle (384-322 BCE): Poetics --- Tragedy; Comedy; Epic. (Tragedy: Definitions and Analysis -- Definition,
component parts, primacy of plot, the ranking completed); (Plot: Basic concepts – completeness, magnitude,
unity, determinate structure, universality, defective plots); (Other aspects of tragedy – character, kinds of
tragedy).

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Dramatic devices and techniques such as:

Aside – Soliloquy – entries and exits – Play within a play – Chorus – Songs and Music – Masques
– Disguises – Mime – Dance – Deux ex machina

Section II (56+16=72)
Students will have to answer 4 questions of 14 marks each (14×4=56), and two reference questions (8×2=16) from
the * marked plays only.

Anonymous: Everyman (composed c.1485)

Christopher Marlowe (1564-93): Dr. Faustus*
William Shakespeare (1564-1616): (a) Othello (b) As You Like It*
John Webster (c.1578-c.1626: The Duchess of Malfi*
William Congreve (1670-1729): The Way of the World
Oliver Goldsmith (1730-74): She Stoops to Conquer

Prescribed Text:
Ideas of the Stage: Selections from Drama Theory, Guwahati: Publications Department, Gauhati University

Recommended Reading:
Amlan Das Gupta,. Ed. Poetics, New Delhi: Pearson, 2007
Andrew. Gurr, The Shakespearean Stage, 1574-1642, 3E, Cambridge: CUP, 1992
M C. Bradbrook, Themes and Conventions of Elizabethan Tragedy, Cambridge: CUP, 1960

Paper 5: English Poetry: Burns to Heaney

Marks 90

This paper charts the range of poetry from the late eighteenth century till the present. It starts with an exploration of
the first stirrings of revolt against neoclassicism in English literature, expressed in experiments in form and technique
and ushering in a spirit of Romantic protest that culminated in the poetry of that age. The social, cultural and
intellectual contexts of Romanticism, the key themes and issues like childhood, nature and the Romantic imagination
and the use of various poetic genres will be studied. The paper examines the generic variety of the Victorian poetry,
as well as what has been seen as the Victorian mood of introspection, Darwin’s theory of evolution and the ‘crisis of
faith’ that characterise the Victorian period, innovations in poetic practice, and the appropriation of late nineteenth-
century poets like Hopkins by later poets. The effect of the great wars of the 20th century on literature; Modernism;
the contemporary scene are other aspects that will be keyed into the reading of the individual poems. Students will be
required to familiarize themselves with innovations in technique and form while analyzing newer ideas like identity,
ethnicity and nationalism.
There will be three compulsory context questions from the * marked texts (6x3=18). There will be six
questions on the poets and the poems prescribed including the major movements in poetry and the historical and
social background (12x6=72).

William Blake (1757-1827): The Lamb; The Tyger*

Robert Burns (1759-96): Song: For a’ that and a’ that
William Wordsworth (1770-1850): Tintern Abbey
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834): Kubla Khan
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822): To a Skylark*
John Keats (1795-1821): Ode to a Nightingale*, Ode on a Grecian Urn*
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-92): Tears, Idle Tears; Break, break, break
Robert Browning (1812-89): Last Ride Together*
Matthew Arnold (1822-88): To Marguerite (“Yes! in the sea of life enisled”)
G. M. Hopkins (1844-89): Thou art indeed just, my Lord
W.B. Yeats (1865-1939): Easter 1916*
T.S. Eliot (1888-1965): The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock*
Robert Graves (1895-1985): The Next War
W.H. Auden (1907-73): The Shield of Achilles*
Dylan Thomas (1914-53): Poem in October *
Seamus Heaney (1939-): Digging*; Skunk

Prescribed Text:
A Treasury of English Poetry: Robert Burns to Seamus Heaney, Guwahati: Publications Department, Gauhati University

Recommended Reading:
Neil Roberts ed. A Companion to Twentieth Century Poetry, Oxford: Blackwell, 2003

Paper 6: Fiction II: Conrad to Rushdie

Total marks 90

The twentieth century is remarkable for the diversity of its fictional experimentation and achievement. The novel, ‘a
mighty melting pot’ (in the words of Terry Eagleton), becomes even more of a melting pot in this period as it
accommodates an astonishing range of philosophical and ideological positions, literary modes and techniques, and
even political and nationalistic aspirations and agendas. The student, coming from the works produced in the more
homogeneous 18th and 19th centuries which are on offer in Fiction I, will appreciate the variety and innovativeness
of fiction-making in the period under survey in this paper. The student will also appreciate that the novel sheds its
insularity and becomes a more international form and that it is no longer the preserve or bastion of writers from the
British Isles. The composition of this course tries to reflect this cosmopolitan development through a selection of

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writings from outside the British Isles in addition to well-known works by British authors. Students will also be
alerted to the fact that while there is an enlargement of subject matter with the opening up of geographical,
economic, and cultural frontiers, there is also an intensification due to the novelists’ predilection for more compact
kinds of writing in contrast to the Victorian fondness for prolix and expansive story-telling, a growing self-
consciousness regarding the “alienating” effects of serious art, the need to experiment with narrative art in response
to changes in perceived relations between peoples and races, and the compulsion to absorb psychological insights
about the inner world of human beings. The course also includes an essay to underscore the increasing dominance of
“theories” in the realm of narrative writing apart from an essay by a path-breaking exponent of modern fiction to
give the student an important perspective on modern literature itself. Students will be expected to answer five essay-
type questions out of six, each carrying 15 marks (15x5=75). In addition students will be required to write three
short notes of 5 marks each (5x3=15) out of six given on characters and episodes depicted in the novels, and critical
concepts/ideas from the critical essays.

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924): Lord Jim

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941): To the Lighthouse
James Joyce (1882-1941): A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Ralph Ellison (1914-94): The Invisible Man
Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1928-): “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World”
Salman Rushdie (1947-): Shame
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941): “Modern Fiction”
Jonathan Culler (1944-): “Story and Discourse in the Analysis of Narratives”

Recommended Reading:
Terry Eagleton, The English Novel Oxford: Blackwell, 2005
Malcolm Bradbury, The Modern British Novel London: Penguin, 1993

Paper 7: Drama II (Twentieth Century Drama)

Marks 90

This paper will introduce students to 20th century drama. While the plays selected for study are English plays, it is to
be noted that by the turn of the century, the European avant-garde had completely altered the theatre that helped
shape them. Drama at this juncture seems to become a pan-European phenomenon, replete with stylistic and
technical innovations and thematic experimentation. The impact of current ideas and philosophical movements such
as existentialism, expressionism, impressionism, Marxism and the Absurd reverberates in modern drama. These
innovations in form and content co-exist alongside certain revivalist tendencies such as poetic drama. This epoch
therefore marks the proliferation of avant-garde theory within the practice of theatre that makes it self-reflexive as
never before. Students are expected to acquaint themselves with the European historical and cultural situation in
order to negotiate with the prescribed theoretical texts in Section I and the plays in Section II.

Section I
This section will introduce students to theories of modern drama. Students will be expected to answer 2 short
questions (9×2=18)

Antonin Artaud (1896-1948): “No More Masterpieces”

B. Brecht (1898-1956): “On the Theatre”
Arthur Miller (1915-2005): “Introduction” to the Collected Plays
Martin Esslin (1918-2002): “Introduction” to The Theatre of the Absurd

Section II
Students will have to answer 4 questions of 14 marks (14×4=56) each and two reference questions (8×2=16) from
the * marked plays

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950): St. Joan*

T.S. Eliot (1888-1965): Murder in the Cathedral
Samuel Beckett (1906-1989): Waiting for Godot*
Arthur Miller (1915-2005): Death of A Salesman*
John Osborne (1929-1994): Look Back in Anger
Prescribed Text:
Ideas of the Stage: Selections from Drama Theory, Guwahati: Publications Department, Gauhati University

Recommended Reading:

Antonin Artaud, The Theatre and Its Double, trans. M.C. Richards New York: Grove Press, 1958
Bertolt Brecht, Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic. Ed. and trans. John Willett, London: Methuen,
1964
Arthur Miller, Collected Plays, (1957) Delhi: Allied Pub., 1973 rpt.
Martin Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd, (1961) London: Methuen, 2004 rpt

Paper 8: Non-Fictional Prose Eighteenth Century to Modern

90 marks

This paper will seek to contest the conventional notion of non-fictional prose as a literary type that is limited in
scope and ambition, by exposing the students to the efforts of essayists who explore different realms of human
thought, behaviour, history and culture in their essays. The essay and other forms of non-fiction are pliable forms
which have kept pace with the progression and evolution of literature and have also responded to historical and
social changes. Non-fictional prose can be romantic, philosophical, didactic, argumentative, descriptive, narrational,

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nationalistic, and ‘modern.’ This paper aims at acquainting the students with the formal variety of English prose, with
the selection of certain representative types such as the personal essay, the polemical essay, the travelogue and
biography. Through an exposure to diverse kinds of prose-writings in differing cultural contexts, the students should
be able to appreciate the possibilities of the genre, ranging as it does from lucid and detached exposition and
description to complex and involved argumentation, humorous and intimate sketches to political discourses with
global implications. Adequate emphasis has been placed on the increasing importance of Indian writing in English
through the inclusion of works written by Indians on issues vital to this country.
Group A: Essays
The questions will be divided as follows:
(a) Essay-type questions: 18×3=54
There will be five questions requiring essay-type answers. The first of these five questions, which is compulsory, will
be of a general nature and may focus on English prose style, its development over the ages and its varieties with
reference to the authors and the texts prescribed. The next four questions will be on individual essayists, their
outlook on life, attitude to society etc. as reflected in the pieces, and students will be expected to answer any two.
(b) Reference to context: 10×2=20
Four extracts from the star-marked essays will be given out of which two will have to be explained with reference to
the context.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719): The Fairy Way of Writing*

Richard Steele (1672-1729): Recollections of Childhood
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): A Dissertation on the Art of Flying (from Rasselas)
Charles Lamb (1775-1834): South-Sea House*
William Hazlitt (1778-1830): The Indian Jugglers
Charles Dickens (1812-1870): Washington: The Legislature and the President’s House (Chapter VIII of
American Notes)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970): Postulates of Modern Educational Theory (from On Education)
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941): Women and Fiction*
D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930): Why the Novel Matters*
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964): The Panorama of India’s Past (from The Discovery of India)
Verrier Elwin (1902-1964): A Pilgrimage to Tawang
George Orwell (1903-1950): Politics and the English Language*

Group B: Life Writing

There will be two or three questions requiring essay-type answers, out of which the students will have to answer any
one. (16x1=16) Students will be expected to study the two pieces prescribed as examples of
biographical/autobiographical writing. Questions will cover both content and form of the pieces.

M. K. Gandhi (1869-1948): An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, trans. Mahadev H. Desai
(First Five Chapters)
Anne Frank (1929-1945): The Diary of a Young Girl (First Five Chapters)

Prescribed Text:
Expressions: A Collection of Non-Fictional Prose, Guwahati: Publications Department, Gauhati University

Recommended Reading:

Linda Anderson, Autobiography, London and New York: Routledge, 2001

Paper 9: Literary Criticism

Full Marks 90

The objective of this paper is to enable students to acquire a broad overview of the Western critical tradition through
a study of concepts and texts. The paper comprises two sections, the first aiming to familiarize them with some of
the important ideas of western literary criticism, and the second dealing with the history of criticism with special
emphasis on a) Romantic Criticism and (b) Victorian and Modern Criticism. Students will be required to write 5 short
notes of 6 marks each (5x6=30) from the terms mentioned in the first section. From the second section, students
will be expected to make an intensive study of the essays prescribed in the context of contemporary critical theory
and practice. There will be four questions, two each from parts (a) and (b) from this section of 15 marks each
(15x4=60) covering the essays prescribed.

Section I: Ideas

The Sublime - Readers and Reading - Mimesis - The author - The text and the world – Narrative – Character –
Catharsis - Figures and tropes – Laughter - The Comic - The Tragic – Imagination - Sexual difference – Ideology -
The colony - The performative – Pleasure

Section II:
Part A: Romantic Criticism
William Wordsworth (1770-1850): “Preface” to the second edition of The Lyrical Ballads
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834): Chapters XIV and XVII of Biographia Literaria
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822): “A Defence of Poetry”

Part B: Victorian and Modern Criticism

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888): “The Study of Poetry”
T. S. Eliot (1888-1965): “Tradition and the Individual Talent”

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F. R. Leavis (1895-1978): “Keats”

Recommended Reading:

Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle. Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory New Delhi: Pearson, 2007 (for
Section I)
D.J. Enright and Ernst de Chickera. (eds.) English Critical Texts, Oxford: OUP, 1991 (for Section II)
W.K. Wimsatt and Cleanth Brooks. Literary Criticism: A Short History, New Delhi: Oxford & IBH, 1967. 2004 rpt.
(for both sections)

Paper 10: Option A: Indian Writing in English

90 marks

This paper seeks to introduce students to the distinctive literature produced in India in the wake of English
education first under British colonial rule and then after independence. Since there has been a distinction made in the
study of this literature between pre and post independence concerns, this is an element that should be kept in mind
while studying the texts in this paper. At the same time, given the student’s present location in modern India an
attempt has to be made to place texts in this context and read them in the light of the historical, cultural and political
circumstances of their productions. A conception of modern India along with some preliminary knowledge of the
politics of British ideas about the entity India is desirable for entry into and understanding of the area that has come
to be called Indian English Literature. It is expected that knowledge of this literature against this particular
intellectual backdrop and its vigorous and idiosyncratic interpretations of modern India, will help students to
articulate themselves as individuals, readers and critics, and develop reading positions that will facilitate their
engagement with all literature.
Indeed, since the development of a critical position is perceived to be as important as interpreting
literature, the first section of this paper offers a couple of basic readings that address some of the questions relevant
to this area. With these preliminary issues in mind students are expected to embark on the reading of the other
sections. Questions in sections B, C, D, and E will try and elicit from students their understanding of texts against
this background. At the same time the generic developments in each section should be addressed through issues of
influence, conventions, and the development of a particular idiom for particular genres.

Section A:
Students will answer one question of 10 marks or two short questions of 5 marks each on the argument and the
issues raised by the texts prescribed.

Sara Suleri (1953-): The Rhetoric of English India (from English in India)
Sunil Khilnani: Who is an Indian? (from The Idea of India)

Section B:
Non-fictional Prose (10+5 or 5+5+5) Questions in this section may be both on style and content, with ideas of
nationhood and Indian identity being stressed in the pieces by Gandhi and Nehru. K.K. Handiqui’s essay, on the
other hand, allows the students to have a glimpse of his first hand knowledge of German education and scholarship.
M.K. Gandhi (1869-1948): “The Gita and Satyagraha” (from The writings of Gandhi edited by
Ronald Duncan, New Delhi: Rupa, 1993)
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964): “The Indian Philosophical Approach” (Chapter 5); “The
Techniques of British Rule” (Chapter 7); “The Importance of the National Idea” (Chapter 10) (all
selections from The Discovery of India)
K.K. Handiqui (1898-1982): “German Academic Ideals” (1928)

Section C:
Poetry (10+5x2) In this section students will answer two short questions (which may be context questions) and one
long question which could be on an individual poet, on trends, themes or on the poetry set against a cultural and
historical background. For example the poetry of Toru Dutt may be read in the light of the development of early
nationalist consciousness as well as in the context of ‘women and nationalism.’

Toru Dutt (1856-1877): Our Casuarina Tree, Sita

A.K. Ramanujan (1929-1993): Self Portrait, Breaded Fish, Love Poems for a Wife 2
Eunice de Souza (1940-): Advice to Women, For Rita’s Daughter, Twice Born
Agha Shahid Ali (1949-2001): Postcard from Kashmir, Snowmen, The Season of the Plains, Cracked
Portraits

Section D:
Fiction (10x2+10 or 5x2) Questions here may be on the location of each writer, the development of a ‘narrative
world’ in each text, and the modern Indian milieu with its class and caste divisions, social and moral values, and
human relationships that each text represents in unique and individual ways.

R.K. Narayan (1906-2001): The English Teacher

Anita Desai (1937-): Fire on the Mountain
Kaveri Nambisan: Mango-coloured fish

Section E:
Drama (10+5) The plays in this section, translated from regional languages into English are deeply embedded in folk
and classical dramatic traditions and are expected to be studied against this context. At the same time the adaptation
of these traditional forms, themes and conventions to interpret contemporary issues will also be kept in mind.
Questions will accordingly address these issues.
Girish Karnad (1938-): Tughlak

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Vijay Tendulkar (1928-2008): Kanyadaan

Prescribed Text:
A Garland of Indian Writing in English: Prose and Poetry Selections, Guwahati: Publications Department, Gauhati
University
Recommended Reading:
Sumit Sarkar: Modern India: 1885-1947 (2nd Edition), Basingtoke: Macmillan , 1989.
Rajeswari Sundar Rajan ed. The Lie of the Land: English Literary Studies in India, Delhi: Oxford University Press,
1993.
Naik, M.K. History of Indian English Literature, New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1980
M.K. Naik and Shyamala Narayan eds. Indian English Literature 1980-2000: A Critical Survey, New Delhi:
Pencraft, 2004
Meenakshi Mukherjee, The Perishable Empire. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Meenakshi Mukherjee, The Twice-Born Fiction. New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann Publishers, 1971

Paper 10: Option B: American Literature

Total marks: 90
This paper introduces students to the distinctive flavour of American Literature. Students will be expected to have a
broad overview of the historical development of this literature and study texts against their socio-historical contexts.
For example, a novel by Melville will be studied against the panorama of the American Renaissance of the 19th
century, which includes the literary-philosophical impetus of Transcendentalism, and it is expected that students will
familiarize themselves with other literary experiments of the period. In keeping with current developments in the
approaches to American literature, students will also be expected to consider the axes of race and gender as vital
components of literary production. Therefore, while no attempt is made to be exhaustive, a fair sample of texts
produced under varied conditions is required to be studied. Short pieces are prescribed in order to facilitate
comprehension. However, the large number of texts will in no way provide an opportunity for random omission,
since questions may often be cross-referential, or on a cluster of texts, and not necessarily confined to one text or
author.

Section A: Cultural Documents

In this section students will use the prescribed texts to study the beginnings of the construction of the American self
and writer, the issues that vitalize concerns and doubts about themselves, the importance of slavery and the historical
erasure of the native American, and of course the confidence and assertions of the American writer. There will be
two questions of 10 marks each.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826): Notes on the State of Virginia (On North American Indians)
Phillis Wheatley (1753-84): On Being Brought from Africa to America
R.W. Emerson (1803-82): Last of the Anti-Slavery Lectures 1854
H.D. Thoreau (1817-62): Brute Neighbors (from Walden)

Section B: Poetry
Walt Whitman (1819-92): The Wound Dresser; There was a Child went Forth; I hear America Singing
Emily Dickinson (1830-86): A Bird Came down the Walk; This is My Letter to the World; Pain – has an
Element of Blank; Some keep the Sabbath going to Church
Robert Frost (1874-1963): Mending Wall; The Road Not Taken; The Oven Bird
Marianne Moore (1887-1972): The Fish; The Monkeys

Questions in this section will be a blend of the textual and the contextual – one long question carrying 15 marks, and
one short carrying 5.

Section C: Fiction
This section, slightly longer than the others, offers short examples of fictional and autobiographical writing (a form
used most widely to bear witness to race and gender oppressions). A close reading of the texts will be accompanied
by an understanding of the larger issues involved. Students will be expected to answer two questions of 15 marks
each, and one or two short ones (10 or 5x2).

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849): The Fall of the House of Usher

Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897): A Perilous Passage in a Slave Girl’s Life (Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl)
Zitkala Sa (1876-1938): Impressions of an Indian Girlhood
Richard Wright (1908-1960): Long Black Song
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961): The Snows of Kilimanjaro

Section D: Drama
This section contains one play and students will be expected to answer one long question of 10 marks. The play will
be studied in the broad context of developments in American dramatic literature.
Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953): The Hairy Ape
Prescribed Text:
Rainbow Bridge: A Collection of American Prose, Poetry and Fiction, Guwahati: Publications Department, Gauhati
University

Recommended Reading:
Richard Gray: A History of American Literature, Oxford: Blackwell, 2004

Paper 10: Option C: Women and Literature

Total marks: 90

This paper seeks to familiarize students with literature written by women and to acquaint them with feminist theory

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so as to make available the interpretive apparatus to read texts written by women. This definitely does not close other
interpretive possibilities but the purpose behind the emphasis on feminist theory is feminism’s contribution in
recuperating many of these texts and giving voice to women’s issues and experiences.

Group A: Fiction
Questions seeking Essay-type answers: 14×3=42
The examinees will be given a choice of five questions seeking essay-type answers, of which they have to attempt
only three. Each question will carry 14 marks. The questions will deal with various aspects of the novels prescribed;
they will be designed to test the student’s basic knowledge and appreciation of the given texts.

Mary Shelley (1797-1851): Frankenstein

Charlotte Brontë (1816-55): Villette
Louisa May Alcott (1832-88): Little Women
Toni Morrison (1931-): Sula
Shashi Deshpande (1938-): Small Remedies

Group B: Poetry
Questions seeking Essay-type answers: 14×2=28
The examinees will be given a choice of four questions seeking essay-type answers, from the prescribed poems, of
which they have to attempt only two. Each question shall carry 14 marks. The questions will deal with various aspects
of the texts prescribed; they will be designed to test the student’s basic knowledge and appreciation of the given
texts. The poems with the * mark are for detailed study.

Explanations: 5×2=10
The students will be given four extracts from the prescribed poems. They will have to explain the significance of only
two of these extracts.

Anne Bradstreet (c.1612-72): To My Dear and Loving Husband; To Her Father with Some Verses
Elizabeth B. Browning (1806-61): Grief; To George Sand: A Recognition
Emily Dickinson (1830-86): I dwell in Possibility; Tell all the Truth but Tell it Slant*
H.D. (1886-1961): Garden*; Orchard
Stevie Smith (1902-1971): The Wanderers
Anne Sexton (1928-1974): Housewife*
Adrienne Rich (1929-): Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law*
Kamala Das (1934-2009): An Introduction*; The Dance of the Eunuchs

Group C: Feminist Theory

In this section the students will have to answer one essay-type question (10 marks) on critical terms based on the
texts prescribed.

Margaret Fuller (1810-1850): From Women in the Nineteenth Century (Prejudice against Women)
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941): A Room of One’s Own
Simone De Beauvoir (1908-1986): The Second Sex Part 1 (Destiny)

Recommended Reading:
Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar. eds. The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women: The Traditions in English, 2nd ed.
(New York and London: Norton, 1996)
Robyn R. Warhol and Diane Price Herndl eds. Feminisms: An Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism (Houndmills,
Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997)
Sonya Andermahr et al A Glossary of Feminist Theory (London: Arnold, 2000)

Paper 10: Option D: English Language and Linguistics

Marks: 90

This paper, divided into three sections, seeks to introduce students to Linguistics as the scientific study of language
and to familiarize them with the various aspects of the English language and the different levels of language
organization. Students will also be acquainted with the history of the English language as it will enable them to
appreciate the language of literary texts written in different periods of history. Besides, they will be introduced to
stylistics as the interface between linguistics and literature.

Section A:
Introduction to Linguistics: 55 marks
(a)The scope of Linguistics, its goals, its differences from traditional grammar, basic concepts like langue/parole,
synchrony/diachrony.
(b)The phonological structure of English
The organs of speech, vowel and consonant sounds, the syllable, word stress and sentence stress, basic intonation
patterns, phonemic transcription.
(c)The morphological structure of English
Morphemes/Allomorphs/Morphs, word-formation processes in English, inflectional and derivational suffixes.
(d)The syntactic structure of English
Layers of meaning, surface and deep structure, I.C. analysis
Students will answer three questions of 15 marks each and two short questions or short notes of 5 marks each from
this section.

Section B:

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History of the English Language: 10+5 = 15 marks

This section aims at familiarizing students with the development of the English language from the Middle English
period taking into account the various influences at work like the French influence, the Latin influence, and so on.
They will be required to be familiar with the language of major writers like Shakespeare and Milton. Besides, the
development of the English language in America, its differences from British English will be another area of
concern. Students will answer one question of 10 marks and a short note of 5 marks from this section.

Section C:
Stylistics: 20 marks
The concept of style, style in literature, features of style-sounds, word-choices, sentence structures and other
grammatical features, stylistic appreciation of a poem or a prose piece. Students will answer one question of 15
marks and a short note of 5 marks from this section.

Recommended Reading:
Crystal, David Linguistics. Penguin, 1990
Lyons, John. Language and Linguistics: An Introduction Cambridge: CUP, 1981
Balasubramanian, T. A Textbook of English Phonetics for Indian Students, Macmillan, 1981
Jones, Daniel. An Outline of English Phonetics. Ludhiana& NewDelhi: Kalyani, 1979
Baugh, A.C & Cable, Thomas. A History of the English Language 5E, London & New York: Routledge, 2004
Jespersen, Otto. Growth and Structure of the English Language (OUP)
Toolan, Michael. Language in Literature: An Introduction to Stylistics London: Arnold, 1999
Joanna Thornborrow & Shan Wareing. Patterns in Language: An Introduction to Language and Literary Style, London &
New York: Routledge, 1998
Misra, Partha Sarathi. A Introduction to Stylistics: Theory and Practice, Hyderabad: Orient BlackSwan, 2009
Verdonk, Peter. Stylistics Oxford: OUP, 2002

Paper 10: Option E: African Fiction in English

Marks 90

Although the African continent has a very rich tradition of oral and written literatures in an astonishingly large
number of languages, international recognition of African literature came only with the writings of African authors
who have used European languages in their work since the 1950s. In many ways, Chinua Achebe’s first novel Things
Fall Apart published in 1958, marks the moment of recognition and world-wide acclaim for African literature. Within
a remarkably short period of time, however, African literature has become an important area of study, particularly in
countries where the English language is used as a first or an important second language. For most Indians, studying
African literature means studying African literature in English or in English translation. A large number of books
published by African writers today are in English while a lot of books published in native African languages get
translated into English. Some African critics have questioned the wisdom of having an ‘African literature’ course in
college and university English departments around the world, but interest in African literature is only increasing by
the day. African writers have proved their mettle in a variety of genres, but perhaps fiction is the most important of
them all. Students pursuing this course in African fiction will be required to study four novels and four short stories.
There will be 4 questions of 15 marks each from section A below, and 3 questions of 10 marks each from section B.
No questions will be asked from the ‘suggested reading’ section, but reading the essays mentioned in that section will
enable students to grapple with some of the major issues that continue to invigorate African writing today.

Texts: A. Novels:
Peter Abrahams (1919-): Mine Boy (1946)
Chinua Achebe (1930-): Arrow of God (1964)
Ngugi wa Thiong’o (1938-): Weep Not Child (1964)
Ben Okri (1959-): In Arcadia(2002)

B. Short Stories:
Njabulo S. Ndebele (1948-): The Prophetess
Ken Saro Wiwa (1941-1995): Africa Kills Her Sons
Nadine Gordimer (1923-): Amnesty
Kyalo Mativo: On the Market Day

[The Anchor Book of Modern African Stories ed. Nadezda Obradovic. 1994. The Heinemann Book of Contemporary African
Stories eds. Chinua Achebe and C. L. Innes. 1992.]

Recommended reading:
Chinua Achebe: ‘The Novelist as Teacher’ (1965) [Included in Morning Yet on Creation Day: Essays, Heinemann, 1975.]
Adeleke Adeeko: ‘My Signifier is More Native than Yours: Issues in Making a Literature African’. [Included in
Proverbs, Textuality and Nativism in African Literature. University Press of Florida, 1998.]

Book into Film

Full marks: 90

Literature has contributed extensively to cinema, and some of the most significant films of all time happen to be
adapted from a ‘literary’ text. This course is designed to introduce students to film theory, narrative techniques and
the language of cinema (screenplay, camerawork, sound, editing, politics of the gaze, and authorship). The course
would then analyze the mechanics of adaptation involved in translating the written script/text into the audio-visual.
The processes of screen adaptation, acting, misé en scene and the audience will be looked into with illustrations from
existing films. Students will be required to answer 5 questions of 15 marks each (5x15=75) (two from Part I & three
from Part II), and write 3 short notes of 5 marks each, covering both sections (3x5=15)

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Part I: Film Theory

Students would be expected to acquaint themselves with the following texts on film theory to familiarize them with
the genre.

Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948): “Word and Image”; “Colour and Meaning” from The Film Sense (1943)
André Bazin, (1918-1948): “The Evolution of the Language of Cinema”; “Theatre and Cinema” from
What is Cinema? (1971)
Christian Metz, (1931-1993): “The Cinema: Language or Language System?”; “Some points in the
Semiotics of the Cinema”; and “the Modern Cinema and Narrativity” from A Semiotics of the
Cinema (1974)
Seymour Chatman (1928-): “What Novels Can Do That Films Can’t (and Vice Versa)” in Mast, G. and
M Cohen, Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings (1972)
Dudley Andrews, “Adaptation” from Concepts in Film Theory

Part II
Students would be required to acquaint themselves with the following texts and their filmed versions as specified:

Lew Wallace (1827-1904): Ben Hur; William Wyler (1902-1981) Ben Hur (1959)
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) Hamlet: Laurence Olivier (1907-1989) (1946)
William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Romeo and Juliet: Baz Luhrmann (1996)
William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth: Vishal Bharadwaj (2004)
Charles Dickens (1812-1870): Great Expectations: Alfonso Cuarón (1998)
Jane Austen (1775-1817): Pride and Prejudice Joe Wright (2005)
Tennessee Williams (1911-83): Cat on a Hot Tin Roof : Peter Brooks (1958)
Mahesh Dattani (1958-): Dance Like a Man: Pamela Rooks (2004)

Recommended Reading:
Dudley Andrew: Concepts in Film Theory, New York: Oxford University Press, 1984
André Bazin, What is Cinema? Essays selected and translated by Hugh Gray, Berkeley: U of California P, 1971
Robert Stam, Film Theory: An Introduction, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2000
_______ The Oxford Guide to Film Studies, Oxford University Press, 1998.
Laura Mulvey,.“Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” in Visual and Other Pleasures Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2009
G.Mast, and M. Cohen, Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings New York: Oxford University Press, 2004

B.A. ENGLISH (GENERAL)

Paper 1
Total Marks: 90

In this paper students will be acquainted with the best of English poetry with the selections spanning a period from
the Romantic Age to the Modern Era. Representative and well-known poets have been chosen for study in this
course. Students will also be required to read a few short stories by acknowledged masters of the craft. Indian
authors find a presence in the paper, to underscore the growing importance of Indian writing in English. Finally,
some grammar and composition is included to ensure competence in the writing of effective and correct English.

Group A (Poetry)

Questions will be divided as follows:

a) Questions of essay-type answers: 11x2=22
Four questions asking for essay-type answers will be given on the poems prescribed out of which students will have
to answer any two. The questions will test the students’ knowledge as well as their analytical abilities and powers of
expression.

b) Explanation: 8x1=8
Three extracts from poems marked * will be given for explanation with reference to the context. Out of these,
students will be required to answer one.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): “Upon Westminster Bridge”*

John Keats (1795-1821): “Terror of Death”
Robert Browning (1812-1889): “Love among the Ruins”*
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888): “Shakespeare”
Walt Whitman (1819-1892): Song of Myself (1-4)
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928): “The Darkling Thrush”
W. B. Yeats (1865-1939): “An Irish Airman Foresees his Death”
T. S. Eliot (1888-1965): “Preludes”
Robert Frost (1874-1963): “The Road not Taken”
Nissim Ezekiel (1924-2004): “Night of the Scorpion”*
Jayanta Mahapatra (1928-): “Dawn at Puri”
Vikram Seth (1952-): “The Frog and the Nightingale”*

Group B (Short Stories)

Two questions asking for essay-type answers will be given on the stories prescribed out of which the students will
have to answer one. The question will test knowledge of the text as well as powers of expression (10x1=10)
Stories prescribed:
W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965): “Rain”

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Amrita Pritam (1919-2005): “The Weed”

Group C: (Grammar and Composition): 50

Essay Writing 10
Letter/Application writing 10
Precis writing of given unseen prose-passage 10
Grammar (substitution by single word, prepositions, phrases and idioms, transformation of sentences) 20

Paper 2
Total marks: 90

This paper is designed to expose students to some of the finest samples of non-fiction English, the idea being that
by reading and analyzing such prose not only can students sharpen their interpretive skills, but may also hope to
emulate the effective writing strategies of the great prose masters. Once again, there is an Indian focus, as Section B
devoted to Drama and Fiction comprises works by Indian writers only. In Section A too Indian writing is
represented. Finally, some grammar and composition appropriate for this level is also included.
Group A (Prose):
Questions will be divided as follows: a) 13x2=26
Two or three questions asking for essay-type answers will be given out of which the students will have to answer one.
b)Explanations: 7x2=14
Four extracts from star-marked essays will be given out of which two will have to be explained with reference to
context.

Lord Chesterfield (1694 - 1773): “Upon Affectation”*

Oliver Goldsmith (c.1730-1774): “On Dress”*
Lord Macaulay (1800-1859): “Civilization and its Effect on the Mass of the People”*
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948): “The Swadeshi Movement”*
C.P Snow (1905-1980): “Einstein”*

Group B (Novel/Drama): 10x2=20

Students will be expected to answer two questions of 10 marks on each of the two texts prescribed:

Mulk Raj Anand (1905-2004): Two Leaves and a Bud

Vijay Tendulkar (1928-2008): Ghasiram Kotwal

Group C (Grammar and Composition and Letter Writing): 30

Report writing (Official or commercial correspondence for making enquiries, placing orders, reporting activities such
as functions and festivals etc.) 8
Comprehension of an unseen passage 12
Grammar: Correction of sentences 6
Change of narration 4
Prescribed Text:
Signatures: Prose and Poetry Selections for BA Students, Guwahati: Publications Department, Gauhati University

Recommended Reading:
R. Quirk et al, A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, London: Longman, 1985.
---- A Grammar of Contemporary English, London: Longman, 1972
Rodney Huddleston, Introduction to the Grammar of English, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984
B.A. Elective English
Paper 1: Poetry Total Marks: 90

Questions in this paper will be in two parts as given below.

(a) Questions requiring essay type answers 10x5=50
There will be seven questions requiring essay type answers on different poets or groups of poets, each carrying 10
marks. Students will have to answer any five.

(b) Explanations 10x3=30

Five extracts from different poems prescribed for detailed study (* marked) will be given for explanation with
reference to the context. Students will be required to attempt any three.

Poems Prescribed:
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) : Sonnets 19 (“Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws”), 20 (“A
Woman’s face with Nature’s own hand painted”)
John Donne (1572-1631): Song (“Goe and Catch a falling starre”)
John Milton (1608-74): “On His Blindness”
William Wordsworth (1770-1850): “Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey”*
S. T. Coleridge (1772-1834): “Dejection: An Ode”
P. B. Shelley (1792-1822): “Ozymandias of Egypt”
Lord Tennyson (1809-92): “Ulysses”
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888): “Dover Beach”*
W. B. Yeats (1865-1939): “The Second Coming” *
Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967): “The Rear-Guard”
T. S. Eliot (1888-1965): “Marina”*
W.H. Auden (1907-1973): “In Memory of W.B. Yeats”
D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930): “Snake”*

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Dylan Thomas (1914-53): “Fern Hill”

Sylvia Plath (1932-1963): “Daddy”
Ted Hughes (1930-1998): “Hawk Roosting”

(C) Prosody (metre, rhyme, stanza etc.) 2x5=10

Paper 2: Drama Total Marks: 90

Questions in this paper will be in two parts as given below.

(a) Questions requiring essay type answers 15x5=75
There will be seven questions requiring essay type answers on individual playwrights with special reference to the
plays prescribed or on the contents of the plays, each carrying 14 marks. Students will have to answer any five.

(b) Explanations 5x3=15

Five extracts of dialogues selected from the prescribed plays will be given for explanation with reference to the
context. Students will be required to attempt any three.

Plays Prescribed:
Christopher Marlowe (1564-93): Dr. Faustus
William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Merchant of Venice
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950): Candida
Samuel Beckett (1906-89): Waiting for Godot
John Osborne (1929-1994): Look Back in Anger

Paper 3: Fiction Total Marks: 90

Questions in this paper will be in two parts as given below.

Group A: Novels 66 marks

(a) Questions requiring essay type answers 12x4=48
Five questions requiring essay type answers will be given here, each carrying 12 marks. Students will have to answer
any four. The questions may be on individual novelists prescribed or on the contents of the novel.

(b) Short Notes 9x2=18

Some minor but important characters of the prescribed novels, some small events or lesser situations of significance
in them, certain phrases or clauses picked up from the novels will be the topics for writing short notes. There will be
four such topics given of which students will be required to write short notes on any two.
Daniel Defoe (c.1659-1731): Moll Flanders
Jane Austen (1775-1817): Persuasion
Charles Dickens (1812-1870): Great Expectations
James Joyce (1882-1941): A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
George Orwell (1903-1950): Animal Farm

Group B: Short Stories 24 marks

Questions in this paper will be in two parts as given below.
(a) Questions requiring essay type answers 15x1=15
Questions requiring essay type answers of 15 marks each covering the three prescribed short stories will be given
here out of which students will be required to answer any one.
(b) Explanations 9x1 = 9
Three extracts from the three short stories will be given for explanation with reference to the context. Students will
have to attempt any one.
O. Henry (1862-1910): “The Romance of a Busy Broker”
D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930): “The Rocking Horse Winner”
Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923): “The Garden Party”

Paper 4: Non-fictional Prose Total Marks: 90

Questions in this paper will be in two parts as given below.

(a) Questions requiring essay type answers 14 x 5 = 70
There will be seven questions requiring essay type answers on individual essays or essayists, each carrying 14 marks.
Students will have to answer any five.
(b) Explanations 10 x 2 = 20
Four extracts from different essays prescribed but not already covered in questions set for part (a) will be given for
explanation with reference to the context. Students will be required to attempt any two.
Essays Prescribed:

Francis Bacon (1561-1626): “Of Studies”

Izaak Walton (1593-1683): “Donne on his Death Bed” (from The Life of Dr. John Donne)
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745): Gulliver’s Travels : Chapter 3
William Hazlitt (1778-1830): “My first Acquaintance with the Poets”
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888): “Literature and Science”
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950): “Freedom”
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970): “Road to Happiness”
George Orwell (1903-1950): “Reflections on Gandhi”
Graham Greene (1904-1991): “The Lost Childhood”

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V. S. Naipaul (1932-): Columbus and Crusoe

Paper 5: Written English Total Marks 90

An essay on a topic of general interest 20

Three or four topics of essay covering aspects of society, environment, science and technology, some contemporary
event, etc. – all of general interest – may be given, of which students will be required to choose any one for his/her
answer.

Substance–writing of a poem or an extract of a poem with comments on certain words or expressions underlined in
the passage. 15

Precis-writing of a prose passage with comments on certain words or expressions underlined in the passage 10

Expansion of ideas: Two or three proverbs or pithy sayings will be given for expanding the ideas given in them.
Students will have to choose any one for his/her answer. 15

Report of a topic with a given outline 10

Letter writing of various types like business letters, letters to the editor, & Applications 10

Dialogue writing on a given topic 10

Books recommended:
David Cameron, Mastering Modern English, Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan, 1978 (rpt. 1989, 1993, 1995, 1998)
Sarah Freeman, Written Communication in English, Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan, 1977 (21st Impression, 2007)
V.R. Narayanswami, Mumbai: Orient Blackswan, 2009-06-18
Vandana R. Singh, The Written Word. New Delhi: Oxford university Press, 2003 (3rd Impression, 2007)
John Seely, Oxford Guide to Effective Writing and Speaking. New Delhi: Oxford university Press, 2000 (4th Impression,
2008)

B.A. Alternative English

Students opting for Alternative English are a fairly advanced section so far as proficiency in English is concerned and
so these two papers seek to introduce them to selections from all the genres. In addition to the canonical English
texts, the papers will also familiarize students with the writings of American, Irish, and Indian English writers.

Paper 1: Poetry, Drama and Passage Appreciation

Total Marks :90

Group A: Poetry 42 Marks

The questions in this group will be of the two types indicated below:
(a) Questions seeking essay-type answers 12x2=24
Students will be given a choice of five questions seeking essay-type answers, out of which they will have to attempt
two. The questions will deal with the various thematic and formal aspects of the poems prescribed and will test the
students’ basic knowledge and appreciation of the given poems.

(b) Explanations 6 x3=18

Students will be given six extracts from the prescribed poems out of which they will have to explain the significance
of three extracts each carrying 6 marks.

Poems:
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) “Sonnet 116”
Alexander Pope (1688-1744) “Ode on Solitude”
William Wordsworth (1770-1850) “The World is too much with us”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) “Recollections of Love”
John Keats (1795-1821) “Ode to Psyche”
Emily Bronte (1818-48) “Stars”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-61) “A Year's Spinning”
Lord, Alfred Tennyson (1809-92) “The Lotos Eaters”
Robert Browning (1812-89) “Two in a Campagna”
D.H Lawrence (1885-1930) “Piano”
T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) “Journey of the Magi”
Langston Hughes (1902-67) “Harlem”
Seamus Heaney (1939-) “Punishment”

Group B: Drama 36 Marks

The questions in this group will be of the two types indicated below:
(a) Questions seeking essay-type answers 12x 2=24
Students will be given a choice of four questions seeking essay-type answers from the two prescribed plays out of
which they have to attempt two questions. The questions will deal with the various thematic and formal aspects of
the plays prescribed.

(b) Explanations 6x2=12

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Students will be given four extracts from the prescribed plays out of which they will have to explain the significance
of two extracts each carrying 6 marks.

Plays
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950): Candida
J. B. Priestley (1894-1984): An Inspector Calls

Group C: Passage Appreciation 12 marks

Students in this section will be given a choice of two verse passages from poems not prescribed in Group A out of
which they will be required to appreciate the nuances of one passage.

Paper 2: Prose (Fiction and Non-Fiction) and Essay-Writing

Total marks: 90

Group A: Fiction 15x2=30 marks

Students in this group will be given a choice of four questions from the two novels prescribed out of which they will
have to attempt two questions .Each question will carry 15 marks.

Novels:
George Orwell (1903-1950): Animal Farm
Mark Twain (1835-1910): The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Group B: Non-fictional Prose 50 marks

Questions in this section will be of the two types indicated below:
(a) Questions seeking essay-type answers 12x3=36

Students will be given a choice of five questions each carrying 12 marks from the prescribed prose pieces out of
which they will have to answer three questions. The questions will deal with various aspects of the prescribed pieces
and test the students’ understanding and appreciation of the given texts.
(b) Explanations 7x2=14
Students will be provided four extracts from the prescribed prose pieces out of which they will have to explain the
significance of two extracts.
Essays
Joseph Addison (1672-1719): “On Ghosts and Apparitions”
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745): “Meditation Upon a Broomstick”
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): “On Idleness”
William Hazlitt (1778-1830): “On Going a Journey”
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894): “Pan's Pipes”
G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936): “On the Pleasures of no longer being very young”
A.G. Gardiner (1865-1946) “On Letter Writing”
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) “Science and Human Life”

Group C: Essay Writing 10 Marks

Students in this section will be given a choice of three topics for essay writing. The subjects will be drawn from areas
of contemporary interest.

Prescribed Text:
Insignia: Prose and Poetry Selections for Alternative English, Guwahati: Publications Department, Gauhati University

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