ABOUT THE COURSE:

B.A. English Honours is a three-year undergraduate course dealing majorly with English literature and language. The students will learn about phonetics and the history of English literature. They will also get acquainted with a vast number of literary texts including novels, drama, poetry, and non-fiction from all over the world. They will gain a deep understanding of the English language and literature. It will help them understand the cultural significance of literature and make them well-equipped to perform comprehensive literary analysis. The students will also get to choose one elective subject of their choice from the field of arts.

SYLLABUS:

Semester 1

• Introduction to poetry: Forms and aspects of poetry, poems by prominent poets such as John Donne, George Herbert, William Blake, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson and more.
• Introduction to Fiction: Aspects of fiction, short stories by prominent writers like Faulker, Joyce, Hawthorne, Steinback, and a novel by Hemingway
• English phonetics and grammar: Organs of speech, Articulation, transcription, Verbs, verb patterns
• Compulsory language subject (other than English)

Semester 2

• Introduction to Drama: Aspects of drama, The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare), The Marriage Proposal (Chekov), The Post Office (Rabindranath Tagore)
• Essentials of Communication: Nature and Objectives of communication, communicative Grammar and Lexis, Communication through mass media, Communication in particular situations, Written communication
• Introduction to Prose: short essays by authors such as Francis Bacon, Samuel Johnson, Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf and more.
• Compulsory language subject

Semester 3

• History of English literature (1350-1660): History of English Literature of this period with its social, cultural and intellectual background.
• English Poetry (1350-1660): major poetic works of the Middle English period and Renaissance, including Chaucer, Donne, Edmund Spenser, Phillip Sidney and more.
• English Drama (1350-1660): three dramas of the Renaissance period by Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and Middleton
• English Prose (1350-1660): major prose works of the age of Chaucer and Renaissance from Thomas More, Francis Bacon, and Thomas Browne

Semester 4

• History of English literature (1660-1798): history of literature of this age with its social, cultural and intellectual background (The Neoclassical Period)
• English Poetry (1660-1798): Works from prominent Neoclassical poets including John Dryden, Alexander Pope, and more
• English Drama (1660-1798): Restoration Drama by William Congreve and Richard Sheridan; Periodical essays by Richard Steele and Joseph Addison
• English Novel (1660-1798): Early novels by Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding and Aphra Behn

Semester 5

• History of English Literature (1798-1914): History of literature of this age with its social, cultural and intellectual background (The Romantic Period and the Victorian age)
• English Poetry (1798-1914): poetic works by major Romantic and Victorian poets
• English Prose (1798-1914): prose essays by Mary Wollstonecraft, J.S. Mill, George Elliot, and T.H Huxley
• English Novel (1798-1914): Romantic and Victorian novels; Elizabeth Gaskell, Thomas Hardy, H.G. Wells

Semester 6

• History of English literature (1914-1968) : History of literature of this age with its social, cultural and intellectual background (The Georgian Period, The Modern Period, The Postmodern Peiod)
• English Poetry (1914-1968): poetic works by major Modern poets like Yeats, Larkin, and Auden
• English Drama (1914-1968): modern and post modern plays by TS Eliot, Bernard Shaw, John Osborne
• English Novel (1914-1968): novels by E.M Forster, Graham Greene, George Orwell

SCOPE:

There is a great number of career opportunities available for English Honours graduates. They can choose from a variety of careers in writing such as content writing, technical writing, copywriting, or editing. In addition to this, they can also pursue a career in related fields like mass communication, journalism, publishing, or marketing. They can also decide to go into the field of higher education by getting a Masters degree in English literature in order to become a teacher/lecturer. The students can also go ahead for a B.Ed degree in order to apply for government teaching jobs.