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Home > Articles > MA English Syllabus: Subjects, Semester Wise, Books, Entrance Exam Syllabus, Top Colleges
MA English Syllabus: Subjects, Semester Wise, Books, Entrance Exam Syllabus, Top Colleges
Lipi Kaushik
Updated on 08th July, 2024 , 6 min read
About MA English
MA English is a 2-year program that examines cultural, historical, and societal themes in works of literature by authors of various ages. MA English courses are open to students with a graduation degree and 45–50%. The course of MA English syllabus is broken down into four semesters. The selection of literature for the MA English syllabus is made by the universities. Because of their superior MA English syllabus, top universities are in high demand. Core and elective courses may be included in an MA in English curriculum. Typical topics covered in an English MA curriculum include:
- Modern English usage and grammar
- English poetry from Chaucer to Milton
- Eighteenth-century English literature
- American literature
- Language and linguistics
- Works of Shakespeare
- Indian literature
- 19th and 20th century novels
- 20th century poetry and drama
- European comedy
- Foreign languages
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MA English Course Highlights
The information about the MA English course is given below -
| Particulars | MA English Details |
| Level of Course | Postgraduate |
| Duration of MA English Course | 2 Years |
| MA English Eligibility Criteria | Candidates who have pursued a BA in English or equivalent degree with a minimum overall aggregate of 50% are eligible. |
| MA English Admission Process | Entrance based admission process and direct admission process |
| MA English Top Entrance Exams | CUET |
| MA English Average Course Fee | English and Foreign Language University Entrance Examination (EFLU Entrance Exam) |
| Average Starting Salary | INR 40K - INR 60K |
| Job Options | Content Writer Copywriter Teacher Translator Stenographer Editor |
| Top Recruiters | Times of India, Hindustan Times, Popxo, India Today, IDiva, British Council, Zomato, Accenture, etc. |
MA English Syllabus
| MA English Syllabus: First Year | |
| English Poetry from Chaucer to Milton | Eighteenth Century English Literature |
| Literary Criticism I | European Comedy |
| Seventeenth Century Drama | Eighteenth Century Drama |
| Language and Linguistics | Shakespeare |
| Literature and Gender | Romantic Paper |
| New Literatures in English | - |
| MA English Syllabus: Second Year | |
| Indian Literature I | 20th Century Poetry and Drama |
| 19th Century Novel | Literature and the Visual Arts in Europe |
| 20th Century Novel | Literature and the Visual Arts in American Literature |
| Literary Criticism 2 | Indian Literature I |
| The Novel in India | Ancient Greek and Latin Literature |
Also Check:-
MA English Semester Wise Syllabus
The MA English curriculum is broken up into four semesters. The MA in English program lasts for two years. At various points during the course, students are able to select which prose, poem, or novel they will be studying.
MA English First Semester Subjects -
| MA English Syllabus Topics | Subjects |
| Structure of Modern English | Communication |
| Phonology | |
| Morphology | |
| Syntax | |
| Semantics | |
| English Fiction | Jonathan Swift: Gulliver’s Travels |
| Henry Fielding: Joseph Andrews | |
| Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice | |
| Charles Dickens: David Copperfield | |
| George Eliot: Middlemarch | |
| Traditional English Drama | Ben Jonson: Volpone |
| Christopher Marlowe: Dr Faustus | |
| William Congreve: The Way of the World | |
| Sheridan: The School for Scandal | |
| William Goldsmith: She Stoops To Conquer | |
| Indian Verses (Elective) | Background to Indian English Poetry |
| Nissim Ezekiel | |
| Arun Kolatkar – Jejuri | |
| The Old Playhouse and Other Poems – Kamala Das | |
| English Language and Literature Teaching (Elective) | Methods and Approaches to Language Teaching |
| Teaching of Grammar | |
| Teaching of Language Skills | |
| Dimensions of Research in English Language and English Literature | |
| Teaching of Poetry, Drama, Fiction | |
| Approaches to Teaching of Literature | |
| Research Methodology (Elective) | What is Research? |
| Constructing Research Design | |
| Research Process | |
| Dimensions of Research in English Language and English Literature | |
| Development, Hypothesis and Preparation of Research Proposal | |
| Research Process | |
| Dimensions of Research in English Language and English Literature | |
| Development, Hypothesis and Preparation of Research Proposal |
Read More: MA Subjects and Syllabus
MA English Second Semester Subjects
| MA English Syllabus Topics | Subjects |
| The Structure of Modern English | Language and Society |
| Distinctive Features of British, American and Indian English | |
| Pragmatics | |
| English in India | |
| Introduction to Stylistics | |
| English Fiction | Thomas Hardy: Jude the Obscure |
| Joseph Conrad: Lord Jim | |
| D. H. Lawrence: Sons and Lovers | |
| Graham Greene: The Power and the Glory | |
| EM Forster: A Passage to India | |
| Modern English Drama | GB Shaw: Candida |
| TS Eliot: Murder in the Cathedral | |
| Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot | |
| Harold Pinter: Home Coming | |
| John Osborne: Look Back in Anger | |
| Indian Prose Works (Elective) | Background to Indian Prose |
| Kanthapura | |
| Lokmanya Tilak – Essays from Bal Gangadhar Tilak | |
| RK Narayan: An Astrologer’s Day | |
| Rohinton Mistry: A Fine Balance |
MA English Third Semester Subjects
| MA English Syllabus Topics | Subjects |
| Literary Theory and Criticism | Aristotle: The Poetics |
| Philip Sidney: An Apology of Poetry | |
| Dr Johnson: A Preface to Shakespeare | |
| William Wordsworth: A Preface to Lyrical Ballads | |
| Matthew Arnold: The Study of Poetry | |
| English Poetry | John Milton: Paradise Lost Book |
| John Donne: The Sun Rising | |
| Andrew Marvell: To His Coy Mistress | |
| Alexander Pope: The Rape of The Lock | |
| William Blake: From Songs of Innocence | |
| English Language and Literature Teaching (Elective) | Methods and Approaches to Language Teaching |
| Teaching of Grammar | |
| Relationship between Psychology and Teaching of Language | |
| Teaching of Language Skills | |
| Approaches to the Teaching of Literature | |
| Teaching of Poetry, Drama and Fiction |
MA English Fourth Semester Subjects
| MA English Syllabus Topics | Subjects |
| Literary Theory and Criticism | T.S.Eliot: Tradition and the Individual Talent |
| F.R.Leavis: Literature and Society | |
| Northrope Frye: The Archetypes of Literature | |
| Ronald Barthes: The Death of the Author | |
| Elaine Showalter: Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness | |
| English Poetry | Coleridge: The Rime of Ancient Mariner |
| William Wordsworth Poetry | |
| Tennyson Poetry | |
| Robert Browning Poetry | |
| W. B. Yeats Poetry | |
| Shakespeare | King Lear |
| Macbeth | |
| Julius Caesar | |
| Measure for Measure | |
| Tempest | |
| American Literature (Elective) | Background Topics |
| Arthur Miller: The Death of a Salesman | |
| Edward Albee: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf | |
| John Steinbeck: Of Mice and Men | |
| Poetry |
MA English Syllabus: Top Colleges
Below are some of the leading universities offering the literary works found in MA English are more pertinent to today's literary enthusiasts. The MA English syllabus includes topics on more contemporary ideas in our society.
DU MA English Syllabus -
MA English course is offered in Delhi University. The candidates who are interested in studying the course should make sure to know about the complete syllabus. Furthermore, the MA English Syllabus DU can be found below:-
MA English Syllabus: Year 1
| MA English Subjects: Semester 1 | MA English Subjects: Semester 2 |
| Life, Literature and Culture: Medieval Literature | Life, Literature and Culture: 16th and 17th Century |
| Life, Literature and Culture: Early Modern World | Criticism and Theory |
| Classical To Pre Modern Literature | Introduction to the Study of Language |
| Poetry 1 | Poetry II |
| Aesthetics and Literature | Fiction Literature of the Americas |
| Politics Literature and Philosophy | Dalit Studies |
MA English Syllabus: Year 2
| MA English Subjects: Semester 3 | MA English Subjects: Semester 4 |
| Life, Literature and Culture in the 18th Century | Life, Literature and Culture in the 20th Century |
| Life, Literature and Culture in the 19th Century | Post-Independence India Literature |
| Postcolonial Literature and Theory | Religion and Literature |
| Research Methodology | Dissertation |
| Criticism and Theory | - |
| Gender Studies | - |
IGNOU MA English Syllabus
| First Year | |
| British Poetry | British Drama |
| British Novel | Aspects of Language |
| Second Year | |
| Literary Criticism and Theory | American Literature |
| Indian English Literature | New Literatures in English |
| Australian Literature | English Studies in India |
| American Novel | A Survey Course in 20th Century Canadian Literature |
| Writings from the Margins | Contemporary Indian Literature in English Translation |
| Comparative Literature: Theory and Practice | Indian Folk Literature |
MA English Syllabus in JNU
| First Year | |
| Modern English Usage Phonetics & Language | Grammar and usage |
| Theme Writing | |
| Word substitution, Idioms and Phrases, Synonyms and Antonyms | |
| Literary Appreciation | |
| Advanced Comprehension | |
| Aspects of Pronunciation and Word Structure | |
| English Literature : Elizabethans and Augustans | The Duchess of Malfi |
| King Lear | |
| The Tempest | |
| Paradise Lost | |
| The Battle of the Books | |
| Ode to Simplicity | |
| English Literature : Pre-romantics and Romantics | Ode to Evening |
| Ode on the Distant Prospect of Eton College | |
| Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat | |
| Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard | |
| The Rivals | |
| The Prelude, Book 1 | |
| The Rime of Ancient Mariner | |
| Kubla Khan | |
| Ode to Grecian Um | |
| Victorian Literature | Mansfield Park |
| Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus | |
| Spring and Fall | |
| Pied Beauty | |
| A Tale of Two Cities | |
| Wuthering Heights | |
| Jude the Obscure | |
| Second Year Syllabus | |
| Literary Theory | Poetics |
| Natyashastra (Chapter I) and Rasadhyaya (Chapter VI) | |
| Essay on Dramatic Poesy | |
| Essay on Criticism | |
| Biographia Literaria | |
| Tradition Individual Talent | |
| Twentieth Century Literature : Poetry and Drama | From A Pocket Book of Modern Verse |
| The Waste Land | |
| Toad, Coming, At Grass, The Whitsun Wedding | |
| Pike, View of a Pig, Home Roosting, Thistles | |
| Saint Joan | |
| Riders to the Sea | |
| Waiting for Godot | |
| The Birthday Party | |
| Shooting an Elephant | |
| A Portrait of the Artist as a Youngman | |
| The Rainbow | |
| To the Lighthouse | |
| The Toy Shop | |
| American Literature | - |
| Applied Linguistics and Contemporary English Grammar | - |
MA English Syllabus in BHU
| Semester 1 | Semester 2 |
| Introduction to Linguistics | Linguistics and English Language Teaching |
| Poetry I (Chaucer to Blake) | Poetry II (Wordsworth to Arnold) |
| Drama I (Marlowe to Wilde excluding Shakespeare) | Drama II (Shakespeare) |
| Prose | Fiction I (Defoe to Hardy) |
| Semester 3 | Semester 4 |
| Poetry III (Hopkins to Ted Hughes) | Fiction II |
| Drama III (Twentieth Century Drama) | Literary Criticism & Theory II |
| Literary Criticism & Theory 1 | Indian Literature in English II |
| Indian Literature in English I | Indian Literature in Translation or New Literatures in English |
| American Literature I | Women Writing |
MA English Syllabus PU
| Semester 1 | Semester 2 |
| Greek and Classical Literature | Modern Drama |
| Classical Poetry | Renaissance and Neoclassical Literature |
| Study Skills | 19th Century Poetry |
| 17th Century Poetry | Twentieth-Century Novel |
| 18th Century Novel | Victorian Novel |
| Elizabethan Drama | Literary Criticism |
| Semester 3 | Semester 4 |
| Critical Theory | 20th Century Poetry |
| American Fiction | Post-Colonial Fiction |
| American Drama | Twentieth-Century Drama |
| American Poetry | Linguistics |
| 20th Century Prose | Literature in English around the World Short Stories |
| Research Methodology | Essays |
MA English Entrance Exam Syllabus
In order to get admission to prestigious colleges for an MA in English, students must pass entrance exams. The following is a list of the MA English syllabus:
- Medieval Poetry
- Modern and Postmodern Critical Theories
- Early 20th-Century Fiction and Drama
- Neo-classical Criticism and Theory
- 18th-Century Poetry, Drama and Fiction
- Early 20th-Century Poetry (up to WWII)
- American Literature
- Classical Theory
- Contemporary Writings
- Romantic Criticism
- Indian Literature
- Indian Writing in English
- Dalit Literature
- Language and Comprehension
- Research Methodology
- 17th-Century Poetry
- Early Modern Poetry
- 19th-Century Poetry, Drama and Novel
MA English Books
| Books | Author |
| Hamlet | William Shakespeare |
| King Lear | |
| Troilus and Cressida | |
| Measure for Measure | |
| Tempest | |
| The Winter’s Tale | |
| Dr Faustus | Marlowe |
| Kyd: The Spanish Tragedy | |
| The Duchess of Malf | Webster |
| Massinger: A New Way to Pay Old Debts | |
| Samson Agonistes | John Milton |
| Congreve: The Way of the World | John Dryden |
| Gulliver’s Travels | Jonathan Swift |
| Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience | William Blake |
Top MA English Colleges in India
| College Name | Fees (INR) |
| Lady Shri Ram College for Women | 17,976 |
| Loyola College, Chennai | 11,400 |
| Christ University, Bangalore | 61,500 |
| Miranda House, New Delhi | 14,530 |
| Hindu College, New Delhi | 18,010 |
| Fergusson College, Pune | 9,680 |
| Presidency University, Kolkata | 2,220 |
| Gargi College, New Delhi | 12,081 |
| St Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad | 31,670 |
| Lady Brabourne College, Kolkata | 27,174 |
Check out the Course wise Subjects Breakdown in the section below -
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the MA English Syllabus?
Ans. The MA English syllabus focuses on several topics such as 20th Century Poetry and Drama, 19th Century Novel, Elective Papers: Literature and the Visual Arts in Europe or American Literature, etc. MA English syllabus is structured on the basis of the 2-year course.
How many subjects are in the course of MA English?
Ans. There are majorly 4 subjects in the MA English course. Additionally, the MA English subjects include Poetry, Prose, Drama and Linguistics.
What is the scope in the field of MA English?
Ans. There is a huge scope in MA English. The candidates who complete the course of MA in English will have the scope opportunity in the following courses:- Editor Web Content Writer Teacher SEO Blogger Public servant Proofreader Copywriter
Is a Masters in English hard?
Ans. No, the course of Masters in English is really easy, given the candidate is consistent and hard working with the studies.
Is MA in English a good course?
Ans. MA in English is an amazing course. Through this course, the candidates can develop various skills like written skills, critical thinking skills, etc.