English Honours – the most sought after course since last few years, has a lot of applicants, whether from humanities stream or not. It is mind-boggling how the number of applications to the course keep soaring year after year. But as tempting as the simplicity of studying English sounds, there’s more to it than meets the eye!
You probably have always wanted to ask these questions, so we are here at your rescue.
Are we only going to read novels and appear for exams? Grrr… No!
This course has got all genres of literature. You will study plays, sonnets, novels, essays, poetry from the 14th Century to the post-modern period of English literature. Writers like Homer, Chaucer, Marlowe, Donne, Shakespeare, Anand, Rushdie, Milton, Morrison, Poe, Fitzgerald, Austen, Dickens, Romantic Poets, Woolf, Beckett, Carroll, Yeats and so on will whisper softly in your bookshelf!
Reading sounds fun, but what do the exams look like?
You will have to write lengthy answers, shooting arguments of your own and various other critics, since, you will have to critically analyze the books from every aspect and delve deepest into the character, the era, the writer and the plot. A lot of background study is required in order to get a hang of the books. Basically, you have to study a lot of historical movements, chronologies and battle with complex theories.
I’m joining this course because I don’t have any other option, is that okay?
Ah! We get a lot of that. Yes, it is quite okay. You do not have to be a literature freak before joining the course(if you are, that’s just cherry on the cake). But, know this – you will be glad to study every book if you do it with patience. You may waste your 3 years or you might fall in love with literature at the end of it. Although, It’ll be like time-travelling when you read about the orthodoxy society of the yonder years and you will be awestruck when you notice the transgressions of the same. This course will probably change your mindset, broaden your perspectives, make you analyze every situation while inviting you into a beautiful world, the world of books!
Prospects after English (Hons)?
There are a plethora of opportunities once you become a graduate. You can join a publishing house, continue doing MA and pursue academics, Mass communication, travel blogging, MBA, civil services, social work, public relations, advertising and so on!
Hear from the alumna of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College –
“English Hons is putting your love for Literature on a pressure test. It’s like nothing you’ve ever done, and a mixture of everything that you ever wanted to do. It’s about reading. A lot–mostly in between the lines. But before you decide to throw up your hands in frustration because Kafka’s bugging you, take a minute to ponder on this choice of course that’s going to be your bedmate for the next three years. Then again, is a minute enough appreciate the fact that starting this point, you’re going to officially be allowed to read as much as you want, without taboo? That, to me is English Honours. Limitless and Glorious freedom. To experience countless deaths. And lives that come knocking at 2 in the morning, lovers who break you, friends who stay, frenemies who frustrate. As continuous and indecipherably addictive as the perfume of old books.” – Aparajita Deb
