English Comprehensive Exams -- Academic Year 13-14
Literature Concentration Majors – English Comprehensive Exam Subject Areas
You must choose one reading list (A or B or C or D) from EACH of the three areas.
Area I
(Choose one reading list; A or B or C or D)
A. Classical Foundations: Dawn of Time - 476
These works should be read in chronological order:
 Homer, Odyssey. 1-11. Trans. Robert Fagles with Introduction by Ronald Knox (Note. Read the
Introduction after your first reading of the text.)
 Aeschylus. Oresteia. Recommended translations: (1) Fagles, (2) Lattimore
 Euripides. The Bacchae. Any verse translation after 1960; recommended—Stephen Esposito
 Virgil. The Aeneid. 1-6. Trans. Robert Fagles with Introduction by Ronald Knox (Note. Read the
Introduction after your first reading of the text.)
 Ovid. Metamorphoses. 1, 3, 10. Any verse translation since 1960.
 Apuleius. Metamorphoses. (The Golden Ass). Recommended translation: Kinney
B. Medieval: 650 1500
Background (especially important for this period): Norton Anthology Introduction to the Middle Ages
and introductions to authors)
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Beowulf (in translation). Notes: Recommended translation: Howell Chickering. Not recommended:
Burton Raffel, Seamus Heaney (the translation in Norton).
Langland, Piers Plowman, B-text, Prologue, Passus 18. Trans. E. Talbot Donaldson. NOTE:
This is
the required translation—the only reliable one—in Norton.)
Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale, Merchant’s Tale,
Franklin’s Tale. NOTE: You’re welcome to read modern versions first [recommended: Hieatt and Hieatt,
Coghill], but you must read and know the material in Middle English. Exam questions may require you
to identify and discuss in detail excerpts in the original language.
The York Play of the Cricifixion.
C. Renaissance: 1500-1670
Students should be able to explain what is happening in literature of the Renaissance that makes it
different from other literature, including a consideration of the milieu out of which it arose. What were
these writers trying to do? What events and forces drove the new world view? What key events in
other fields of human creative, social, cultural, and scientific endeavor affected the literature?
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Sir Philip Sidney, “The Defense of Poesie.”
Christopher Marlowe, “The Passionate Shepherd to his Love.”
Sir Walter Ralegh, “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd.”
John Donne, “The Baite.”
William Shakespeare, “Macbeth.”
William Shakespeare, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
D. Restoration and 18th Century
Introductory Reading/Critical Commentary:
 The Norton Anthology of British Literature, vol. C, pp. 2177-2207
Texts:
 Defoe, Moll Flanders
 Pope, The Rape of the Lock
 Wycherley, The Country Wife
 Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield
 Behn, Oroonoko
Area II
(Choose one reading list; A or B)
A. 19th Century British
Poetry:
See the following poems online at www.poetry.org or in The Norton Anthology of English Literature,
Vols. D and E. Read introductory short biographies of each poet, as well as critical commentary listed.
Also read general introductions to Romanticism and Victorian periods in the Nortons and at
www.poets.org.
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William Wordsworth, short bio, “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads” (“The Subject and Language of
Poetry,” “What is a Poet?”, “Emotion Recollected in Tranquillity”) in: The Norton Anthology of
English Literature, vol. D: The Romantic Period). See also: www.wordsworth.org.uk
Wordsworth, , “Michael” and “Tintern Abbey”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, short bio, “The Lady of Shalott,” “Ulysses”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Aurora Leigh,” Books 1, 2, 5. Read also critical essays:
1. Alison Case, “Gender and Narration in ‘Aurora Leigh.’” Victorian Poetry, vol. 29 n.1 (Spring
1991): 17-32. (Jstor: 40002051)
2. “The Author of Aurora Leigh.” Cosmopolitan Art Journal, vol. 2 n.1 (December 1857): 21. (Jstor:
20487117)
Robert Browning, “Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister”; “My Last Duchess”. See also www.poets.org
for these poems, and for the essay, “Poetic Technique on Dramatic Monologue”. Also see www,
Victorianweb.org for further information on Browning.
Novel:
 Eliot, George. The Mill on the Floss.
 Critical essay: Margaret Homans, “Dinah’s Blush, Maggie’s Arm: Class, Gender, and Sexuality in
George Eliot’s Early Novels.” Victorian Studies, vol. 36 n. 2 (Winter 1993): 155-178. Available on Jstor
at: www.jstor.org/stable/3827820.
Additional Background reading:
 J.A. Hobsen, “The Political Significance of Imperialism” (Norton, Vol. E)
 See also www.thevictorianweb.org
B. 19th Century American
Students choosing this area of American Literature should be conversant with the major themes of the
19th century; they should be able to demonstrate a knowledge of the major writers of the period, as
well as show they are conversant with their works, and most importantly they should be able to analyze
the elements of a uniquely American brand of literature and show how they differed from other
national literatures.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American Scholar.”
Margaret Fuller, “Things and Thoughts in Europe,” No. 18 (In Bedford Anthology of American Lit,
Vol. 1)
James Fenimore Cooper, The Pioneers, Chapters 1 and XXII.
Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass, “Song of Myself,” verses 1 through 10.
Henry David Thoreau, “On Resistance to Civil Government.”
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, an American Slave, Chapters 1 and 10.
Essay, “The Era of Reform,” 607-616. Bedford Anthology of American Literature, Vol. 1.
Area III
(Choose one reading list; A or B or C)
A. Literary Modernism: 1900-1945
Primary Readings:
Poetry: Read poems and short biographies at www.Poets.org website (sponsored by The Academy of
American Poets):
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Richard Aldington, “Images” at: www.poets.org/viewmedia/pho/prm/MID/21788
H.D., “Sea Rose”; “Oread”
Ezra Pound, “In a Station at the Meto”
Critical Essay: “A Brief Guide to Imagism” at: www.poets.org/viewmedia/php/prm/MID/5658
Novella:
• Larsen, Nella. Passing. (A Norton Critical Edition.) Ed., Carla Kaplan. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007.
• Kaplan, Carla, “Introduction: Nella Larsen’s Erotics of Race”
• Davis, Thadious M., “Nella Larsen’s Harlem Aesthetic”
For a quick overview of Larsen’s life and accomplishments, see: www.brblarchive.library.yale.edu/exhibitions/cvvpw/-gallergy/larsen.html
Novel:
• Woolf, Virginia. Jacob’s Room. Ed., Suzanne Raitt. Norton Critical Edition. NY: W.W. Norton, 2007.
• Critical reading: Zwerdling, Alex. “Jacob’s Room: Woolf’s Satiric Elegy” in Jacob’s Room. Ed., Suzanne
Rait. Norton Critical Edition. NY: W.W. Norton, 2007: 244 – 263
• (Suggested): Hussey, Mark. Virginia Woolf A-Z: The Essential Reference to Her Life and Writings.
Oxford: OUP, 1995. This offers a helpful synopsis and commentary on Jacob’s Room: p. 124 – 130
Background Reading on Literary Modernism:
• “The Twentieth Century and After: Historical Background” in The Norton Anthology of English
Literature, Vol. F: The Twentieth Century and After. (New York: Norton, 2012): pgs. 1887-1913
B. Contemporary: 1945 – present
Background Texts:
 "American Literature since 1945." The Bedford Anthology of American Literature: Volume II:
1865 to the Present. Susan Belasco and Linck Johnson, eds. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. Print.
1038-1078
 Connor, Steven. "Postmodernism and literature." The Cambridge Companion to Postmodernism.
Steven Connor, ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004. Print. 62-81
Literary Texts:
• Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot (play)
• Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon (novel)
• Flannery O'Connor, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" (short story)
• Salman Rushdie, "The Prophet's Hair" (short story)
• Seamus Heaney, "Digging," "The Forge," "North," "Punishment" (poems)
• Adrienne Rich, "Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law," "Diving into the Wreck" (poems)
C. Literary Theory
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T.S. Eliot, “Tradition and the Individual Talent.” (p. 534)
Kenneth Burke, “Literature as Equipment for Living.” (p. 645)
Susan Sontag, “Against Interpretation.” (p. 740)
These three essays are found in David H. Richter, The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary
Trends, 3rd ed., Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007. If you do not have access to this text contact the
English Department and we will make a copy available.
Additionally, scholars will choose three from the following:
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Victor Shklovsky, “Art as Technique.”
Roland Barthes, “The Death of the Author.”
Jacques Derrida, “Differance.”
Stanley Fish, “Is There a Text for this Class?”
Peter Brooks, “Freud’s Masterplot.”
Raymond Williams, “Marxism and Literature.”
Stephen Greenblatt, Introduction to “The Power of Forms in the English Renaissance.”
Annette Kolodny, “Dancing through the Minefield: Some Observations on the Theory, Practice, and
Politics of a Feminist Literary Criticism.”
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.., “Writing, ‘Race,’ and Difference It Makes.”
Writing Concentration Majors – English Comprehensive Exam Subject Areas
You must choose one reading list (A or B or C) from EACH of the two Writing areas and one
category from any of the Literature areas above.
Area I
(Choose one reading list; A or B or C)
A. Classical Rhetoric
Background/context:
 Sharon Crowley and Deborah Hawhee. “Ancient Rhetorics and Modern Students.” Ancient Rhetorics
for Contemporary Students. 2nd Ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 1-17.
 Patricia Bizzell and and Bruce Herzberg, eds. Introduction. The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from
Classical Times to the Present. 2nd Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2001. 1-36.
 “The Sophists.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://www.iep.utm.edu/sophists/.
Texts:
 From Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg’s anthology, The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from
Classical Times to the Present.
Students should read the introductions to each of the pieces on the reading list below.
 From Dissoi Logoi (Anon)
 From Gorgias (Plato)
 From Phadedrus (Plato)
 From Rhetoric (Aristotle)
 From Institutes of Oratory (Quintilian)
B. Women’s Literature and Rhetoric
Background/context:
 Andrea Lunsford. Introduction. “On Reclaiming Rhetorica.” Reclaiming Rhetorica: Women in the
Rhetorical Tradition. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1995.
 Jenny Redfern. “Christine de Pizan and The Treasure of the City of Ladies: A Medieval Rhetorician
and her Rhetoric.” Reclaiming Rhetorica: Women in the Rhetorical Tradition. Andrea Lunsford.
Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1995.
 Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar: “Literature of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries” and
“Turn of the Century Literature.” The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women: Volume I.
 Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar: “Early Twentieth Century Literature” and “Later TwentiethCentury and Contemporary Literature.” The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women: Volume II.
Texts:
 Anne Bradstreet. “A Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment”
 Virginia Woolf. The “Shakespeare’s Sister” section from “A Room of One’s Own”; and “Professions
for Women”
 Flannery O’Connor. “Good Country People”
 From Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg’s anthology, The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from
Classical Times to the Present:
 “Biography of Aspasia” (Bizzell and Herzberg)
 From The Treasure of the City of Ladies (Christine de Pizan)
 From Women's Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed by the Scriptures (Margaret Fell)
 From Women in the Pulpit and Women and Temperance (Frances Willard)
C. Literary and Rhetorical Theory*
Background/context:
 Peter Barry. “Theory before ‘Theory’: Liberal Humanism.” Beginning Theory: An Introduction to
Literary and Cultural Theory. 3rd Edition. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2009.
 Jeanne Fahnestock, and Marie Secor, M. “The Rhetoric of Literary Criticism.” Textual Dynamics of
the Professions: Historical and Contemporary Studies of Writing in Professional Communities. Eds.
Bazerman and Paradis. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1991. 77-96. Available at:
http://wac.colostate.edu/books/textual_dynamics/chapter3.pdf. Although not required, students
may want to read Laura Wilder’s rejoinder, “‘The Rhetoric of Literary Criticism Revisited’: Mistaken
Critics, Complex Contexts, and Social Justice,” which appeared in Written Communication (vol. 22,
no. 1, 2005), available at: http://wcx.sagepub.com/content/22/1/76.full.pdf.
Texts:
 Aristotle, Poetics. Trans. S.H. Butcher. Available online through MIT’s Internet Classics Archive:
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.mb.txt. Also see
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng215/aristotle-Poetics-large-type.htm for a helpful overview.
 Kenneth Burke. “Literature as Equipment for Living.” Direction 1 (1938): 10-13. Rpt. in The
Philosophy of Literary Form: Studies in Symbolic Action. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1941. Rpt.
New York: Vintage, 1957. 253-262.
 T.S. Eliot, “Tradition and the Individual Talent.” The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism.
New York: Knopf, 1921. Available at: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/essay/237868
 Stanley Fish. “Is There a Text in this Class?” Is There a Text in this Class? The Authority of Interpretive
Communities. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1980. 303-321.
 Amy Devitt. “Generalizing about Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept.” College Composition
and Communication (vol. 44, no. 4, 1993). Available through JSTOR.
*Students who choose this list may not select the Literary Theory list for their literature area.
Area II
(Choose one reading list; A or B or C)
A. Theory and Teaching of Writing
Background/context:
 Miller, Susan, ed. Norton Anthology of Composition Studies. Introduction. New York: Norton, 2008.
 “A Brief History of Rhetoric and Composition.” The Bedford Bibliography for Teachers of Writing:
http://bedfordstmartins.com/catalog/static/bsm/bb/history.html.
Texts:
 From Susan Miller’s Norton Anthology of Composition Studies:
 Fulkerson, Richard. “Four Philosophies of Composition.”
 Rose, Mike. “The Language of Exclusion at the University.”
 Faigley, Lester. “Competing Theories of Process.”
 Williams, Joseph. “The Phenomenology of Error.”
 Hesse, Doug. “Who Owns Writing?”
 Howard, Rebecca Moore. “Sexuality, Textuality: The Cultural Work of Plagiarism.”
B. Nonfiction Prose
Primary Readings:
 Bell, Vanessa. Selected Letters of Vanessa Bell. Ed., Regina Marler. New York: Pantheon, 1993. Read
the following:
 A Note on the Text, xv – xvi
 Biographical Introduction, xvii – Xviii
 Letters IV-11 – IV-16. (on reserve at the library)
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Boswell, James and Samuel Johnson, A Journey to the Hebrides. Ed., Pat Rogers. New Haven and
London: Yale University Press, 1993: ix – 55.
Brittain, Vera. Testament of Youth. New York and London: Penguin, 2004. Read: Chapters 1- 4.
From The Art of the Personal Essay, Ed., Philip Lopate:
 Chesterton, G.K., “A Piece of Chalk”
 Montaigne, Michel. “Of Books”
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 Adrienne Rich, “Split at the Root”
St. Augustine, Confessions (any edition): Chapters 1, 2, 8.
Background Readings:
 “Introduction” by Philip Lopate (from The Art of the Personal Essay)
 Smith, Sidonie and Julia Watson. Reading Autobiography: A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives.
2nd ed. University of Minnesota Press, 2010. Read the following:
 Chapter 1, “Life Narratives: Definitions and Distinctions” (entire chapter)
 Chapter 2, “Autobiographical Subjects,” p. 21-38
 Chapter 3, “Autobiographical Acts,” p. 79-85 (Read the section entitled, “Voice in
Autobiographical Writing”)
C. Narrative Studies
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John Barth, “Click”
 http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/barth.htm
 The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction (first edition), edited by Lex Williford and
Michael Martone. New York: Touchstone, 1999.
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Michel Foucault, “What is an Author?”
 The Foucault Reader, edited by Paul Rabinow. New York: Pantheon, 1984
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Margot Livesey, “How to Tell a True Story”
 Bringing the Devil to His Knees, edited by Charles Baxter and Peter Turchi. Ann Arbor: University
of Michigan Press, 2001.
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Alice Notley, “The Poetics of Disobedience”
 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/poetics-essay/238698
 http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/notley/disob.html
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Rich Orloff, Playwriting 101: The Rooftop Lesson
 www.playscripts.com
 The Bedford Introduction to Literature, edited by Michael Meyer. Available in most editions.
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James Wood, How Fiction Works. New York: Picador, 2009.