MA I Sem ( New Syllabus: 2025-26) Paper: I (Poetry)

Hareshwar Roy,

 Semester- I; Paper:I (Poetry)

Syllabus (Session 2025-26 onward)
MA English Literature: PG 2- Year Programme
Semester: I
Course Title: Poetry (Paper I)
Course Type: Core Course
Credit Value: Option I= 5, II & III= 4
Max Marks- 40+60; Min. Passing Marks- 40
Content of the Course
Unit I: Lyric Poetry
John Donne: The Good-Morrow, The Sun Rising
William Blake: The Lamb, The Tyger
Emily Dickinson: I heard a Fly buzz- when I died, Because I could not stop for Death
Activities:
1. Creative Monologue / Dramatic Reading: Students perform a dramatic monologue from the perspective of the speaker addressing his lover, drawing on imagery and tone from the poems.
2. Symbolism Scavenger Hunt: Assign students to find modern symbols in media, advertising, or art that represent innocence or danger and link them to Blake’s themes.
Unit II: Narrative Poetry
Geoffrey Chaucer: Prologue, The Canterbury Tales,
Robert Frost: The Death of the Hired Man
Activities:
1. Character Trading Cards: Create ‘pilgrim trading cards’ featuring Chaucer’s characters. Each card includes an illustration, personality traits, quote from the Prologue, and modern equivalent {e.g., Miller = reality TV star?).
2. Tableau or Readers’ Theatre: Perform a dramatic reading of the poem using voice and rhythm to highlight shifting tones and relationships.
UNIT III: Dramatic Poetry
Robert Browning: My Last Duchess, A Grammarian's Funeral, Porphyria’s Lovers
T. S. Eliot: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Activities:
1. Court Case Role Play: Put the Duke on trial for the Duchess’s death. Assign roles: prosecutor, defense, Witnesses (e.g., the artist, the servant), jury. Debate guilt/ innocence.
2. Prufrock’s Social Media Profile: Design a fictional Instagram or Twitter page for Prufrock. Include bios, hash tags, posts, and DMs that reflect his character and mindset.
Unit IV: Ode, Elegy
John Keats: Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on a Grecian Urn
P. B. Shelley: Ozymandias
Thomas Gray: Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
W. H. Auden: In Memory of W. B. Yeats
Activities:
1. Dramatic Reading & Tone Exploration: Assign groups to perform different stanzas with varied tones (melancholy, ecstatic, contemplative) and explain their interpretive choices.
2. Poetry Pairing: Compare with a modern political or protest poem (e.g., Maya Angelou, Amanda Gorman). Discuss how both address power and legacy.
UNIT V: Satirical, Didactic and Allegorical Poetry
Alexander Pope: The Rape of the Lock
John Dryden: Absalom and Achitophel
W. H. Auden: The Unknown Citizen
Activities:
1. Character Courtroom Drama: Hold a mock trial where characters (Belinda, the Baron, Ariel) defend or justify their actions. Use evidence from the poem and present arguments with wit and flair.
2. Historical-Poetic Parallels Chart: Create a visual chart comparing the biblical story, the poem’s characters, and the real political figures (e.g., Absalom = Monmouth, Achitophel = Shaftesbury, David = Charles II).
Keywords/Tags: Poetic Forms, Lyric and Narrative Poetry, Dramatic Monologue, Ode and Elegy, Satire and Allegory.
*****
Location: B-37, City Homes Colony, Jawahar Nagar Satna, Madhya Pradesh, India
Currently Dr. Roy is working as Professor of English at Govt. P.G. College Satna, Madhya Pradesh. He is the author of the following books: (1) Diasporic Articulation in the Novels of M.G. Vassanji (2) A Study of M.G. Vassanji 's Novels (3) Varieties of Indianity in the Works of M.G. Vassanji & Rohinton Mistry (4)Diaspora & Indian Diaspora: A Brief Study (5) Short Notes of English Literature - I (6) Short Notes of English Literature - II (7) हमार पहचान ह भोजपुरी - भोजपुरी कविता संकलन (8) हमरा प्यार हो गइल - भोजपुरी गज़ल संकलन (9) भोजपुरी कविताएँ

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