UGC NET English Literature syllabus for 2025, with detailed information on each unit.
UGC NET English Literature Syllabus 2025 (PDF Download)
Preparing for the UGC NET English Literature exam in 2025 requires a detailed understanding of the syllabus. The exam covers a broad spectrum of topics, including historical periods, literary movements, theory, criticism, and more. Here is a comprehensive breakdown of the syllabus with detailed elaborations for each unit:
Unit 1: The History of English Literature (Early Period)
This unit covers the roots of English literature, from its Anglo-Saxon beginnings to the Elizabethan era. The key focus is on the works of early poets and playwrights, alongside an understanding of the historical context in which they wrote.
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Key Topics:
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Old English Period: Beowulf
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Middle English Period: Geoffrey Chaucer and "The Canterbury Tales"
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Renaissance Literature: Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Sir Philip Sidney
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Early Prose Writers: Sir Thomas More, John Foxe
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Unit 2: The History of English Literature (Restoration and 18th Century)
This unit focuses on the Restoration period and the 18th century, examining the rise of drama, satire, and early novels.
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Key Topics:
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Restoration Drama: John Dryden, Aphra Behn, William Congreve
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The Augustan Age: Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, Samuel Johnson
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The Rise of the Novel: Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding
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Satire and Social Commentary: Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels,” Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock”
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Unit 3: The History of English Literature (Romanticism to Victorian Era)
This unit delves into the Romantic and Victorian periods, focusing on the shift from neoclassical to romantic ideals and the expansion of the novel genre.
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Key Topics:
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Romantic Poetry: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats
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Victorian Novel: Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy
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Social Reform in Literature: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti
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The Pre-Raphaelite Movement
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Unit 4: The History of English Literature (Modern and Postmodern)
This unit looks at the 20th and 21st centuries, focusing on the evolution of modernist and postmodernist thought and their representation in literature.
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Key Topics:
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Modernism: T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner
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Postmodernism: Samuel Beckett, Thomas Pynchon, Salman Rushdie
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Stream-of-consciousness and experimental techniques
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The impact of wars and politics on literature
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Unit 5: Literary Theory and Criticism (Classical to Modern)
This unit introduces students to important literary theories and critical perspectives that have influenced the study and interpretation of literature.
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Key Topics:
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Classical Criticism: Aristotle’s "Poetics"
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Formalism and Structuralism: Roman Jakobson, Claude Lévi-Strauss
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Marxist Criticism: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels
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Psychoanalytic Criticism: Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan
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New Criticism, Deconstruction, and Poststructuralism
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Unit 6: Literary Movements and Schools of Criticism
A closer look at the key movements and schools of thought that have shaped literary traditions. It provides a deeper understanding of how various movements responded to historical and cultural contexts.
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Key Topics:
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Renaissance Humanism and Neoclassicism
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Romanticism and Transcendentalism
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Realism and Naturalism
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Symbolism, Surrealism, and Modernism
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Feminist, Queer, and Postcolonial Criticism
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Unit 7: English Literature in India
This unit explores the rich and diverse body of English literature produced in India, from colonial times to contemporary works.
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Key Topics:
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Colonial and Postcolonial Literature: Rabindranath Tagore, R.K. Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand
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Contemporary Indian Writing in English: Arundhati Roy, Vikram Seth, Kamala Das
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The Partition of India in Literature
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Indian Feminist Literature
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Unit 8: Major British Writers
This section covers the prominent British writers who had a significant impact on both their era and the course of literature as a whole.
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Key Topics:
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Geoffrey Chaucer
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William Shakespeare (including his plays and sonnets)
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John Milton (Paradise Lost)
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The Romantic Poets (Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, Byron)
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Modern British Literature (Virginia Woolf, James Joyce)
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Unit 9: Drama and Theatre Studies
A deep dive into the dramatic traditions and notable playwrights of British literature. Students will study the history of the theatre and its evolution.
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Key Topics:
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Shakespearean Drama: Comedies, Tragedies, and Histories
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Restoration Comedy
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Modern Drama: Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard
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Indian Drama in English: Girish Karnad, Vijay Tendulkar
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Unit 10: Poetry from the 16th to 20th Century
In this unit, students analyze a range of poets and their work from the Elizabethan period to the 20th century.
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Key Topics:
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Elizabethan Poets: Edmund Spenser, Sir Philip Sidney
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Metaphysical Poets: John Donne, Andrew Marvell
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Romantic Poets: William Blake, Percy Bysshe Shelley
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Modern Poets: T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats, W.H. Auden
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Unit 11: Fiction and Short Stories
This unit focuses on the development of the novel and the short story, examining how narrative techniques, character development, and social issues have been depicted in prose.
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Key Topics:
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Early Novelists: Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding
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Victorian Novels: George Eliot, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy
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20th-Century Novelists: Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Joseph Conrad
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Short Story Writers: Anton Chekhov, Edgar Allan Poe, Katherine Mansfield
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Unit 12: Research Methodology in English Literature
The final unit helps students understand how to approach academic research and writing within the field of English literature. It covers techniques for analyzing literary texts and conducting independent research.
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Key Topics:
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Literary Analysis Methods
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Research Tools and Techniques
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Writing Literary Essays and Critiques
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Referencing and Citations (MLA, APA styles)
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Research Ethics and Plagiarism
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