Brabu M.A English Syllabus 


Semester-1 

Semester-2  

Semester-3  

Semester-4  

CC-1

CC-5

CC-10

EC-1

CC-2

CC-6

CC-11

EC-2

CC-3

CC-7

CC-12

DSE-1/GE-1

CC-4

CC-8

CC-13


AECC-1

CC-9

CC-14



AEC-1

AECC-1



CC: Core Course/Main course

AECC: Ability Enhancement Compulsory Course

AEC: Ability Enhancement Course

EC: Elective Course

DSC: Discipline-Specific Elective Course

GE: Generic Elective Course

Semester-1 

CC-1  English poetry from Chaucer to Milton


  1. The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer

  1. The General Prologue 

  2. The Wife Of Bath

  1. The Faerie Queene, Book-1 - Edmund Spencer

  2. Shakesperean Sonnets 

  • From fairest creatures we desire increase  1/154

  • Devouring Time blunt thou the lion's paws  19/154

  • What is your substance whereof are you made  53/154

  • Not marble, nor the gilded monuments  55/154

  • In the old age black was not counted fair  127/154

  • My mistress's eyes are nothing like the sun  130/154

  • Two loves I have of comfort and despair  144/154


  1. Metaphysical Poetry of John Donne, George Herbert & Andrew Marvell

  1. John Donne -

  1. The Good Morrow

  2. The Canonization

  3. The Flea, Hymn to God my Father

  4. The Anniversary

  5. Valediction Forbidding Mourning

  1. George Herbert- 

  1. Redemption

  2. Jordan

  3. The Collar

  4. Love (not sure about love-1 or 2 or 3)

  1. Andrew Marvell-

  1. To His Coy Mistress

  2. Definition of Love


  1. Paradise Lost, Book-1: John Milton


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36




CC-2: Shakespearean Drama

  1. Hamlet

  2. King Lear

  3. The Tempest

  4. Twelfth Night

  5. Henry 4, part-1

Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context requiring critical analysis: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36



CC-3  15th to 16th century drama

  1. The Spanish Tragedy: Thomas Kyd

  2. Doctor Faustus: Christopher Marlowe

  3. Volpone: Ben Jonson

  4. The Duchess of Malfi: John Webster

  5. The Rover: Aphra Behn

Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context requiring critical analysis: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36



CC-4  15th to 16th-Century Literature

  1. An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot: Alexander Pope

  2. Gulliver's Travels: Jonathan Swift

  3. An Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard: Thomas Gray

  4. Tom Jones: Henry Fielding

  5. Songs of Innocence and of Experience: William Blake

Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context requiring critical analysis: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36


[AECC-1] Ability Enhancement Compulsory Course

  1. Environmental Sustainability

  2. Swachchha Bharat Abhiyan Activities

Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs


Semester - 2

CC-5: Film and Literature

  1. RN Tagore: Home and the World [Satyajit Ray: Ghare Baire, 1984]

  2. Khushwant Singh: Train to Pakistan [Pamela Rooks: Train to Pakistan, 1998]

  3. EM Forster: A Passage to India [David Lean: A Passage to India, 1984]

  4. Herman Hesse: Siddhartha [Conrad Rooks: Siddhartha, 1972]

  5. Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird [Robert Patrick: To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962]


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36



CC-6: 19th Century Poetry

  1. William Wordsworth: The Prelude, Book 1

  2. ST Coleridge: 

  1. Dejection; an ode

John Keats: 

  1. Ode to Autumn

  2.  Ode on a Grecian Urn


  1. Lord Byron: Don Juan; Book1 and Book2


  1. A) Robert Browning:

  1.  Rabbi Ben Ezra, 

  2. Porphyria's Lover, 

  3. Love Among the Ruins, 

  4. A Grammarian's Funeral, 


          B) Alfred Lord Tennyson:

               a) In Memoriam

  1. GM Hopkins: 

  1.  God's Grandeur,

  2. The Windhover

  3. Pied Beauty

  4. The Starlit Night


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context requiring critical analysis: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36



CC-7: Indian and British Criticism

  1. Indian Criticism: 

  1. Introduction and key concepts-

  1. Rasa

  2. Dhwani

  3. Alankar

  4. Vakrokti

  5. Arthprakriti

  6. Pratimukha

  7. Sphota

  1. Bharatmuni on Natya and Rasa- Aesthetic of Dramatic Experience

  2. Anandvardhan- The structure of Poetic meaning

  3. Kuntaka- Language of poetry and Metaphor 

  4. Amir Khusro - Multilingual culture


  1. Aristotle- Poetics, Longinus-Peri Hypsos (On the Sublime)


  1. John Dryden- An Essay of Dramatic Poesy 

William Wordsworth- Preface to Lyrical Ballads

Dr. Johnson- Lives of Poets

S.T. Coleridge- Biographia Literaria


  1. Lawrence- Why The Novel Matters 

Eliot- Metaphysical Poetry,

          Hamlet and his Problems


  1. Practical Criticism


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36



CC-8: Modern and Contemporary Critical Theory

  1. From Liberal Humanism to Theory:

  1.  Formalism:

  1. key terms,

  2.  Jacobson's Theory Regarding Formalism

  3.  Shklovsky's Theory Regarding Formalism

  4. Tomashevsky’s Theory Regarding Formalism

  1. Structuralism:

  1. key terms, 

  2. Saussure’s Theory Regarding Structuralism

  1. Narratology:

  1. key terms,

  2. Propp’s Theory Regarding Narratology

  3. Gerard Genette’s Theory Regarding Narratology


  1. Psychoanalysis: Freud, Lacon; 

Feminism: Virginia Woolf, Spivak; 

Eco-criticism: Cheryll Glofelty, Patsy Hallen


  1. Marxism: Capital (Rivkin to Ryan), Max Horkheimer and Adorno; 

New Historicism: Nancy Armstrong, Louis Montrose; 

Cultural Materialism: Marvin Harris; 

Postcolonialism: Homi Bhabha, Ania Loomba


  1. Post structuralism: Jacques Derrida, Foucault


  1. Postmodernism: Lyotard, Baudrillard, Deleuze and Guattari


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36



CC-9: 19th Century Friction and Non-Friction

  1. Jane Austen: Emma

  2. George Eliot: Mill on the Floss

  3. Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre

  4. Charles Dickens: Hard Times

  5. Matthew Arnold: Culture and Anarchy


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36



[AEC-1] Ability Enhancement Course

  1. Computer and Information Technology

  2. Life and Communication Skill Development

  3. Yogic Studies

Note: Select any one topic according to your 

choice at the time of filling out the examination form 

Total  Marks:100 (Theory-50 & Practical-50)               Duration of Exam: 3 hrs


Semester - 3


CC-10: Modern and Contemporary Poetry 

  1. WB Yeats: 

  1. Adam's Curse, 5) Byzantium, 

  2. A Coat, No Second Troy, 6) Leda and 

  3. A Prayer for My Daughter, 7) Swan,

  4. Easter 1916


  1. TS Eliot: The Waste Land


  1. WH Auden: 

  1. Musee Des Beaux Arts, 3) Though the Night is Gone

  2. In Memory of WB Yeats, 


Stephen Spender: 

  1. A Childhood  2) The Shapes of Death


  1. Ted Hughes: 

  1. The Thought Fox, 2) Hawk Roosting


Sylvia Plath: 

  1. Mirror, 2) Lady Lazarus


Philip Larkin: 

  1. The Whitsun Weddings, 3) Please

  2. Next, 


  1. Seamus Heaney: 

  1. Digging, 6) Traditions,

  2. The Forge, 7) Punishment, 

  3. Punishment, 8) The Railway Children,

  4. The Skunk, 9) From the Frontier of Writing

  5. A Dream of Jealousy, 


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36



CC-11: Modern and Contemporary Drama

  1. Waiting for Godot: Samuel Beckett

  2. Look Back in Anger: John Osborne

  3. Mourning Becomes Electra: Eugene O'Neill

  4. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead: Tom Stoppard

  5. Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf: Edward Albee


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context requiring critical analysis: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36




CC-12: Modern and Contemporary Fiction

  1. Heart of Darkness: Joseph Conrad

  2. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: James Joyce

  3. Things Fall Apart: Chinua Achebe

  4. Midnight's Children: Salman Rushdie

  5. Disagree: JM Coetzee


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context requiring critical analysis: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36



CC-13: Indian Literature in English and Translation

  1. Novel

  1. Gora: RN Tagore

  2. The Shadow Line: Amitabh Ghosh

  3. Sangati: Bama 

  1. Play/Drama

  1. Tughlaq: Girish Karnad


  1. Indian Poetry in English: 

  1. Derozio - Poetry, 

  2. Toru Dutt -The Lotus, 

  3. RN Tagore - Breezy April, 

  4. Sarojini Naidu - Village Song, 

  5. Nissim Ezekiel -   ⤵

  1. Philosophy, b) Lover,


  1. AK Ramanujam - Another View of Grace, 

  2. Shiv K Kumar - A Mango Vendor, 

  3. R Parsarthy - Home Coming,

  4. Kolatkar -  ⤵

  1. Women, b) The Bus,


  1. De Souza -  ⤵

  1. Sweet Sixteen, c) Meeting Poets

  2. De Souza Prabhu, 


  1. Agha Sahid Ali - ⤵

  1. Postcard from Kashmir, 

  2. The Season of the Plains, 

  3. Cracked Portraits


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context requiring critical analysis: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36




CC-14: Linguistic

  1. Descriptive Linguistics:

  1. Phonetics & Phonology c) Syntax

  2. Morphology d) Semantics


  1. Historical Linguistics:

  1. The origin of English Language, 

  2. Grimm's Law, d) Scandinavian Influence, 

  3. Verner's Law, e) Synthesis-Analysis


  1. Socio-Linguistics: 

  1. Varieties of Language e) Bilingualism

  2. Dialect, Register f) Code Switching & Mixing

  3. Standard Language g) Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis 

  4. Multilingualism h) Diglossia


  1. Linguistics and Language Teaching: 

  1. Teaching English as a Second Language; 

  2. Methods, e) Syntax,

  3. Technique, f) Contrastive & Error Analysis                 

  4. Vocabulary, g) Testing


  1. Linguistics and Literature: 

  1. Style d) Stylistics

  2. Russian Formalism e) Literary Competence

  3. Prague School 


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context requiring critical analysis: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36



[AECC-2] Ability Enhancement Compulsory Course

  1. Human Values

  2. Professional Ethics and Gender Sensitization

Total  Marks:100 (Theory-50 & Viva-50)                 Duration of Exam: 3 hrs


Semester - 4


Elective Course

Elective Course

[DSE-1/GE-1] 

New Literature

Translation, Theory & Practice


American Literature

Partition Narrative


Women’s Literature

Writing In English From Bihar


16th and 17th Century Prose



Cultural Studies



Note: Select any one topic according to your 

choice at the time of filling out the examination form

Note: Select any one topic according to your 

choice at the time of filling out the examination form




[EC-1]   Elective Course


[EC-1]  (A) New Literature

  1. Maria Campbell: Halfbreed

  2. David Malouf: An Imaginary Life

  3. Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar: The Mysterious Illness of Rupi Bhaskey

  4. Micere Githae-Mugo & Ngugi wa Thiong'o: The Trial of Dedan Kimathi


  1. A Selection of Poems: 

  1. Margaret Atwood - 

  1. The Moment b) Is/Not


  1. Pablo Neruda - 

  1. A Dog Has Died, 

  2. Nothing But Death c) Keeping Quiet


  1. Derek Walcott - 

  1. A Far Cry from Africa b)  Love After Love


  1. Langston Hughes - 

  1. Let America be Great Again, 

  2. Democracy c) The Negro Mother


  1. Maya Angelou - 

  1. Phenomenal Woman b) Still I Rise


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36




[EC-1]  (B) American Literature

  1. Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn

  2. Walt Whitman: Song of Myself [1-10]

  3. Robert Frost: Selected Poems; 

  1. Design, 4) Meeting and Passing

  2. The Road not Taken, 5) The Gift Outright

  3. Stopping by Woods On a Snowy Evening, 


  1. Tennessee Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire (Play)

  2. Alice Walker: The Color Purple             (Novel)


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context requiring critical analysis: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36



[EC-1]  (C) Women’s Literature

  1. Virginia Woolf: A Room of One's Own

  2. Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid's Tale

  3. Poem

  1. Sylvia Plath: 

  1. The Moon and the Yew Tree, 4) Daddy

  2. The Arrival of Bee Box, Edge, 5) Spinster

  3. Childless Woman, 6) Mary's Song   

                                                              Maya

  1. Angelou: 

  1. Phenomenal Woman, 4) Alone

  2. Still I Rise 5) Caged Bird

  3. Touched by an Angel


  1. Mahasweta Devi: Mother of 1024 (translated by Bandhopadhyay)

  2. Kiran Desai: The Inheritance of Loss (Novel)


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context requiring critical analysis: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36



[EC-1]  (D) 16th and 17th Century Prose

  1. The Bible: The Book of Job (Authorised Version)

  2. Francis Bacon: Essays- 

  1. Of Truth, 6) Of Friendship

  2. The Unity of Religion, 7) Of Riches

  3. Of Revenge, Of Love, 8) Of Ambition

  4. Of Superstition, 9) Of Honour and  

                                                              Reputation

  1. Of Marriage and Single Life   10) Of Garden



  1. Machiavelli: The Prince- Chapters- 6, 7, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 23, 25

  2. Thomas Moore: Utopia- 

  1. Travel and Trade, 4) Delight in Learning

  2. Gold and Silver, 5) Marriage Customs

  3. Moral and Philosophy, 6) Slaves


  1. John Bunyan: The Pilgrim's Progress    


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context requiring critical analysis: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36



[EC-1]  (E) Cultural Studies

  1. Introduction to Cultural Studies

  2. Stuart Hall: 

  1. The Formation of Cultural Studies,

  2. Encoding-Decoding, 

  3. Dominant Hegemonic, 

  4. Negotiated, Oppositional


  1. Culture, Power and Equality: 

  1. Marxism,

  2. Ideology and Ideological State Apparatus, 

  3. Hegemony, The Frankfurt School


  1. Gender, Age, Race, Ethnicity, Class Caste

  2. Power, Discourse and the Body


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context requiring critical analysis: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36




[EC-2]   Elective Course


[EC-2]  (A) Translation, Theory and Practice

  1. Translation: 

  1. Definition; 

  2. Areas; Types. 

Transcreation: Its relevance today Translation as Science and Art: Tool for translation


  1. Translation Theory; 

  1. Models of Catford and Nida; 

  2. The Craft of translation: translation methods


  1. Linguistics and Translation, 

  1. Western and Indian Tradition. 

  2. The Role of Semantics and Grammar Morphology and Syntax

  3. Technical Terminology in English and Indian Languages

  4.  Culture and Translation

  5. Translation and Socio-linguistics -

  6. Varieties, and Dialects and various registers - 

  7. Scientific Texts 

  8. Technological Texts

  9. legal texts

  10. finance and Banking

  11. Administration 

  12. Journalism


  1. Translation of literary texts. 

  1. Problems, 6) Criticism,

  2. Implications & Significance - 7) Poetry

  3. Proverbs and Idioms. 8) Drama

  4. Stylistics and Translation 9) Fiction

  5.  Machine Translation 10) Communication and 

                                                      Translation


  1. The question paper will contain a brief text for translation into English from a choice of Passage in Hindi, Urdu or Bangla.


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context requiring critical analysis: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36



[EC-2]  (B) Partition Narrative

  1. Urvashi Butalia: The Other Side of Silence

  2. Chaman Nahal: Azadi

  3. Bhisham Sahni - The Train has reached Amritsar 

Saadat Hasan Manto -Toba Tek Singh

Rajindra Singh Bedi - Lajwanti


  1. Prafulla Roy - Father; 

Samresh Basu - Farewell; 

Gulzar - Raavi Paar; 

Intizaar Hussain - excerpts from Basti 

From Crossing Over: Frank Stuart & Sukrita Paul Kumar)


  1. Amrita Pritam: Pinjar


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context requiring critical analysis: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36



[EC-2]  (C) Writing In English From Bihar

  1. Non-Fiction- Sake Dean Mahomed: The Travel of Dean Mahomet

  2. Drama- Syed Mehdi Imam: The Drama of Prince Arjun

  3. Fiction- 

  1. Amitav Kumar: Husband of a Fanatic

  2. Tabish Khair: How to Fight Islamic Terror from a Missionary Position


  1. Poetry- 

  1. Avadh Bihari Lall: 

  1. An Address to Ind 

  2. The White's Man True Burden 

  1. Gurudas Mukherjee: 

  1. Hollyhock 

  2. Each Day

  1. Amrendra Kumar: 

  1. Poetic Myth 

  2. Day and Night


  1. Criticism- 

  1. Kalimuddin Ahmad: Meaning of Criticism

  2. Damodar Thakur: Spectrum: Intention and Idiom in Modern Poetry

  3. Meenakshi Mukherjee: The Perishable Emperor


Total  Marks:100 (Theory-70 & Practical/Viva-30)     Duration of Exam: 3 hrs

  • Ten MCQ from each unit: 10x1= 10

  • Four short-answer questions with reference to the context requiring critical analysis: 4x6=24

  • Three long-answer questions: 3x12= 36




[DSE-1/GE-1]                                                General Paper