English Optional Syllabus

The English Optional for the UPSC Civil Services Exam is an excellent choice for candidates with a strong command of English literature and language. The syllabus covers a wide range of topics, including British, American, and Indian literature, along with a detailed study of literary criticism, drama, poetry, and prose. With its focus on major literary movements, authors, and works, this optional subject allows aspirants to dive deep into English literary traditions. This post provides a detailed breakdown of the syllabus.

Paper I: English Optional Syllabus

1. Section A:

   1. William Shakespeare : King Lear and The Tempest.
   2. John Donne. The following poems:
      – Canonization.
      – Death be not proud
      – The Good Morrow.
      – On his Mistress going to bed.
      – The Relic.
   3. John Milton : Paradise Lost, I, II, IV, IX.
   4. Alexander Pope. The Rape of the Lock.
   5. William Wordsworth. The following poems :
      – Ode on Intimations of Immortality.
      – Tintern Abbey.
      – Three years she grew.
      – She dwelt among untrodden ways.
      – Michael.
      – Resolution and Independence.
      – The World is too much with us.
      – Milton, thou shouldst be living at this hour.
      – Upon Westminster Bridge.
   6. Alfred Tennyson : In Memoriam.
   7. Henrik Ibsen : A Doll’s House.

2. Section B:

   1. Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels.
   2. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
   3. Henry Fielding. Tom Jones.
   4. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
   5. George Eliot. The Mill on the Floss.
   6. Thomas Hardy. Tess of the d’Urbervilles.
   7. Mark Twain. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Paper II: English Optional Syllabus

1. Section A:

   1. William Butler Yeats. The following poems :
      – Easter 1916.
      – The Second Coming.
      – A Prayer for my daughter.
      – Sailing to Byzantium.
      – The Tower.
      – Among School Children.
      – Leda and the Swan.
      – Meru.
      – Lapis Lazuli.
      – The Second Coming.
      – Byzantium.
   2. T.S. Eliot. The following poems :
      – The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.
      – Journey of the Magi.
      – Burnt Norton.
   3. W.H. Auden. The following poems :
      – Partition
      – Musee des Beaux Arts
      – In Memory of W.B. Yeats
      – Lay your sleeping head, my love
      – The Unknown Citizen
      – Consider
      – Mundus Et Infans
      – The Shield of Achilles
      – September 1, 1939
      – Petition
   4. John Osborne : Look Back in Anger.
   5. Samuel Beckett. Waiting for Godot.
   6. Philip Larkin. The following poems :
      – Next
      – Please
      – Deceptions
      – Afternoons
      – Days
      – Mr. Bleaney
   7. A.K. Ramanujan. The following poems :
      – Looking for a Cousin on a Swing
      – A River
      – Of Mothers, among other Things
      – Love Poem for a Wife 1
      – Small-Scale Reflections on a Great House
      – Obituary

2. Section B:

   1. Joseph Conrad. Lord Jim.
   2. James Joyce. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
   3. D.H. Lawrence. Sons and Lovers.
   4. E.M. Forster. A Passage to India.
   5. Virginia Woolf. Mrs. Dalloway.
   6. Raja Rao. Kanthapura.
   7. V.S. Naipaul. A House for Mr. Biswas.