ELECTIVE ENGLISH

Aims:
1. To provide candidates with a wider course in 2. To expose candidates to a deeper knowledge and
Elective English than offered in the compulsory appreciation of literary works in English.
English paper.
(viii)Stylistic and narrative devices.
CLASS XI
(ix) Students’ personal response to and
There will be one paper of three hours duration of assessment of the novel/play.
100 marks with questions set from the prescribed (x) Humour, pathos, tragedy, sarcasm and
textbooks. Candidates will be required to answer so on in the texts.
five questions on any three of the prescribed (xi) The novel/play in the context of
textbooks.
contemporary society.
CLASS XII (b) Poetry
There will be one paper of three hours duration of (i) Different types of poems with their
100 marks with questions set from the prescribed characteristics and features:
textbooks. Candidates will be required to answer  lyric
five questions on any three of the prescribed  sonnet – both Petrarchan (Italian)
textbooks. and Shakespearean
1. The questions in the paper will be broadly based  ballad
on the following categories:  elegy
(i) Prose  blank verse
(ii) Drama  free verse
 narrative poetry
(iii) Poetry
 pastoral poetry
The question may be character-based, incident
based, general broad based, theme based or  dramatic monologue
require critical evaluation.  romantic poetry
(ii) All literary devices in detail and how to
2. Students will need to study and have a
recognize them:
knowledge of the following:
 simile
(a) Prose and Drama
 metaphor
(i) Life of the playwright and novelist and
important events therein.  personification
(ii) Evaluation of characters and the roles  apostrophe
played by them in the text.  alliteration
(iii) Description of each incident in the play  assonance
or novel and its significance.
 repetition
(iv) Important themes and motifs of the text.
(v) Relationships between characters and  irony
incidents.  imagery
(vi) Patterns and nuances of the text.  enjambment
(vii) Fantasy and the supernatural.  pun
18
  contrast  Type of poem
 climax and anti-climax  Setting
 onomatopoeia  Theme
 hyperbole  Mood and atmosphere
 oxymoron  Different levels of meaning in the
 litotes poem, if any

 symbolism  Rhyme scheme and its significance

 Symbolism
(iii) A thorough knowledge of the poets’
lives and styles of writing.  Imagery
(iv) Important themes of the poems.  Literary devices
(v) Patterns and nuances of the poems.  The student’s own personal
response to the poem.
(vi) Fantasy and the supernatural if present
in any poem. Note: Credit is given for textual detail and for the
(vii) Symbolism and Imagery. candidate’s own response.
(viii)How to write a proper Critical Candidates are advised to exercise their options
Evaluation / Appreciation, which must with great care, keeping in view their knowledge and
contain the following components: understanding of the question(s) chosen. Candidates
are also expected to be precise and to avoid
 Life of the poet and how it has unnecessary details.
impacted his/her style of writing
 Autobiographical element in the For list of prescribed Textbooks, see Appendix I.
poem

19