British Literature I

Programme: BA Course: British Literature: Anglo-Saxon to Early Victorian Semester: I Code: OEN101 Objectives • To introduce the students to the socio-political, religious, cultural, and linguistic aspects of the UK through English literary texts • To help the students realise texts as products of a historical, political and cultural processes • To enable students identify different forms, genres and subgenres in literature Level of Knowledge: Working knowledge of English and literature Module I 10 Hrs The Anglo-Saxon Period Emergence of English language; History of England from 42 BC to Norman Conquest- salient features The Medieval Period Impact of Norman rule on English social structure; English language in the medieval period; morality plays and miracle plays; feudalism Chaucer: Wife of Bath Module II 20 Hrs The Renaissance Period and after Protestantism; Bible translation; religious literature; humanism: Baroque Style, and later, Rococo Style William Shakespeare: Sonnets 18, 116 John Donne: Canonisation George Herbert: The Collar John Milton: Paradise Lost Book I (Lines 1-26) William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet Francis Bacon: Of Studies Module III 20 Hrs Reformation, Restoration and after Metaphysical Poetry; Epic conventions; Mock epic; Puritanism, Restoration, Rise of the novel; the English novel in the eighteenth century; Gunpowder plot, Oliver Cromwell, Dissolving the parliament; Periodical essays, empiricism, Influence of French culture through restoration; The enlightenment John Dryden: Alexander’s Feast Thomas Gray: Elegy Written in the Country Church Yard Alexander Pope: Rape of the Lock (Canto I) William Congreve: The Way of the World Addison and Steele: Character of Will Wimble Oliver Goldsmith: Man in Black, At the Theatre

Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe Module IV 20 Hrs Romanticism and early Victorian Age Romanticism, notion of literary creation and poets, closet drama, the French Revolution; Victorian morality, industrial revolution, utilitarianism, rise of nationstates, impact of colonialism on England, emergence of universal education in England William Blake: The Lamb, The Tyger William Wordsworth: Daffodils S.T. Coleridge: Kubla Khan Shelley- Ode to the West Wind Keats: Ode on a Grecian Urn Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey Note: The students should be able to identify major figures of speech, and rhetorical terms, forms and genres of literature, forms and genres in poetry, drama and fiction. Totals No of Hrs: 60 Skill Development Close reading of at least one poem by student and teachers response to it. Bibliography Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 8th Ed. New York: Wardworth, 2005. Ferguson, Margaret, Mary Jo Salter and Jon Stallworthy. Eds. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. 4th Ed. New York: WW Norton, 1996. Gordden, Malcom, and Michael Lapidge. The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature. Rpt Cambridge: CUP, 2006. Gupta, Ambika Sen. Selected College Poems. Rpt. Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 1999. Herman, Daniel. The Cambridge Companion to Narrative. Cambridge: CUP, 2007. John, Eileen, and Dominic McIver Lopes. Philosophy of Literature: Contemporary and Classic Readings. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004. Maxwell, Richard, and Katie Trumpener. The Cambridge Companion to Fiction in the Romantic Period. Cambridge: CUP, 2008. Sampson, George. The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature, 3rd Ed. Cambridge: CUP, 2005. Ramarao, Vimala,. Ed. Explorations. Vol I. Bangalore: Prasaranga, Bangalore University, 2004. Shingle, Michael. Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe. New York: WW Norton, 1994. Notes: 1. For all texts Norton Editions are to be treated as the official prescribed editions. 2. For critical material The Cambridge Companion Series of CUP, Case Book Series of Macmillan and Palgrave, and Norton series of WW Norton are officially prescribed.

Testing Pattern: Mid Semester Section A: Short Notes – 4x5=20 4 questions to answer out of minimum 6 One question has to be annotation oriented. Section B: Essay Question 3x10=30 3 questions to answer out of minimum 4. End Semester and end semester pattern Section A: Annotation 2x10= 20 Two stanzas from different poems to be given. Both compulsory. Section A: Short Notes – 4x5=20 4 questions to answer out of minimum 6 Section B: Essay Question 6x10=60 Two each from poetry, prose and drama. Answer one from each genre compulsory. 6 questions to be answered out of minimum 8