English syllabus - Gauhati University

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24PAPER 17NatureMarks 75 (60+15) [15 Marks Internal Assessment]. Credits: 6Ecological literary criticism, or ecocriticism, emerged as a powerful field of study in the early 1990s,and has now become, like race, class and gender, an important dimension of literary and culturalstudies. It is “the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment”, examiningliterary texts through “an earth-centred approach”. This paper seeks to explore the process throughwhich language and literature – as manifestations of culture – are produced by the interconnectionsbetween both nature and culture; it addresses nature not just as a passive background in literary textsbut as a central presence determining the dynamic interpretations of the text itself.It seeks to understand and interrogate the representations of nature in literary texts; to examinewhether there is a difference between how men and women depict and respond to nature; to ponderover the possibility of characterising nature writing as a completely new genre; to look at ways throughwhich our understanding of and relationship has changed over the centuries as the human race hasachieved varying degrees of ‘progress’; and to question the very idea of ‘progress’ itself and itsmanifestations in the face of a serious environmental crisis. It will also be an attempt to revisit textsgenerated at various ages in history with a view to re-appraise the relationship between the human andthe natural world as reflected in literature.Section IThis section will attempt to look at the changing notions of the relationship between humans andnature and between nature and culture over the ages. For example, during the Anglo-Saxon age, natureconstituted a synthesis of ‘pagan’ elements (like animism and mother worship) and early Christiannotions. A sense of fatalism and resignation to the ways of nature defined the medieval response tonature, while in the Elizabethan age nature was invested with moral attributes. The Enlightenmentregistered the beginnings of the split between nature and culture. During the later 17 th century therewere attempts to conquer or mould nature into cultural patterns by rigorous attention to geometricalorder and symmetry in the creation of gardens. This trend continued well into the 18 th century whengardens registered changing notions of nature (see Pope’s “Epistle to Burlington”). However, that agealso saw the emergence of a newer notion of the garden (particularly in England) that tried to recreatethe natural environment with its asymmetry within the bounds of the garden itself. Romantic attitudesto nature, Transcendentalism, and later, nature as an irrevocable agent of destruction are trends thatdefined the 19 th century. The 20 th century registers a quest for the reinstatement of nature as a positivecreative process in the context of modernity and urbanisation.
25In this section students will study concepts and ideas that have been integral to the understanding ofnature in the various ages in England and America and answer 2 questions of 10 marks each or 4questions of 5 marks each. (2x10 / 4x5) The Sublime (Burke) The Picturesque Landscaping and improvement Romanticism and Nature Pastoral Reason/Nature Women and natureSection IIIn this section students will study diverse texts representing attitudes to nature at different points oftime in England and America and answer 4 questions of 10 marks each. (4x10)Texts: Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Epistle to Burlington Charlotte Smith(1749-1806): Written at the Close of Spring, The Sea View William Blake (1757-1827): To Spring, To Autumn William Wordsworth (1770-1850): Selection from The Prelude (The Boat Stealing Episode,Book I, ll. 357-400) John Clare (1793-1864): The Peasant Poet, The Cat Runs Races With Her Tail Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862): Selections from Walden [The Ponds] Emily Dickinson (1830-1886): A Bird Came Down the Walk, A Narrow Fellow in theGrass Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892): From In Memoriam [Sections 55, 56] Charles Darwin (1809-1882): From The Origin of Species [‘Struggle for Existence’] G. M. Hopkins (1844-1889): Spring Edward Thomas (1878-1917): Rain D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930): Snake, Pan in America Dylan Thomas (1914-1953): Fern Hill Ted Hughes (1930-1998): The Jaguar, Second Glance at a Jaguar Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961): The Old Man and the Sea M. S. Swaminathan (1925-): ‘What Should We Do with Genetically Modified Foods inthe Twenty-First Century?: India: Resist Them, Unless ...’in World and I, Vol. 14, Issue 12, December 1999.
Page 1 and 2: 1BA ENGLISH SYLLABUS FOR SEMESTER C
Page 3 and 4: 3SEMESTER IPAPER 1The Social and Li
Page 5 and 6: 5Gurr, Andrew, The Shakespearean St
Page 7 and 8: 7PAPER 4English Poetry, Drama and F
Page 10 and 11: 10SEMESTER IVPAPER 7The Social and
Page 12 and 13: 12SEMESTER VPAPER 9Modern Drama IMa
Page 14 and 15: 14PAPER 11The Essay in English: Add
Page 16 and 17: 16PAPER 13Life Writing: Biographies
Page 18 and 19: 18PAPER 14Women’s WritingMarks 75
Page 20 and 21: 20SEMESTER VIPAPER 15Literary Criti
Page 22 and 23: 22 T.S.Eliot (1888 - 1965) - “imp
Page 26 and 27: 26Recommended ReadingArmbruster, Ka
Page 28 and 29: symbolic manifestation in the follo
Page 30 and 31: 30Section B: Non-Fictional ProseStu
Page 32 and 33: 32Option B: American LiteraturePape
Page 34 and 35: 34accompanied by an understanding o
Page 36 and 37: 36examine specific and distinctive
Page 38 and 39: 38Bilingualism and multilingualismC
Page 40 and 41: 40Option E: African Literature in E
Page 42 and 43: 42Option F: Book into FilmLiteratur
Page 44 and 45: Russell Jackson, The Cambridge Comp
Page 46 and 47: 46Paper II / Total Marks: 50 (40+10
Page 48 and 49: 48Texts: William Shakespeare (1564-
Page 50 and 51: 50 M.K. Gandhi(1869-1948): “The P
Page 52 and 53: 52• The Personal Essay: Hazlitt a
Page 54 and 55: 54SEMESTER IIIPAPER 3DramaMarks 100
Page 56 and 57: 56Students will have to answer any
Page 58 and 59: 58Women and natureSection BIn this
Page 60: 60List of Books (B.A. English Sylla

English syllabus - Gauhati University

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