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Graduate Progam Information:
Marnie Leonard (970) 491-2403 Marnie.Leonard@colostate.edu

Graduate Study

Literature Exam for M.A. in English Study Guide

I. The Examination

The literature examination for the M.A. in English consists of two parts. Part I is a close reading and explication of lyric poetry. Typically, a candidate is asked to interpret and evaluate one poem, using such literary terms, comparisons, and approaches as seem appropriate or to compare and contrast two or three poems with respect to subject, theme, structure and poetic technique. The poems to be analyzed are printed in the examination.

Part I of the examination will be taken as a preliminary two-hour examination during a student's first year as a candidate for an M.A. in literature, before a candidate files a GS6 plan of study, since the basic skills tested by this part of the examination are assumed in many of the courses that the candidate will be taking.

Part 2 of the examination requires a candidate to address questions about the history, content, and implications of (mainly) English and American literature. This four-hour exam will be based on the student's own reading list (described below). The questions in Part 2 will focus on such things as the history (continuities, changes) of literature, the similarities and differences between "major" and "minor" works, the nature of major genres or themes or issues, or the application of recent literary theory to literature. Questions might typically ask a candidate to discuss a larger issue with three or four primary examples chosen from the reading list; directions on the examination will urge students to balance their examples to best indicate the breadth as well as the depth of their knowledge.

Part II of the examination will be taken during or immediately after a candidate's last semester of course work.

II. Reading List

A candidate's reading list must be approved before a candidate files a GS6 plan of study by a subcommittee of those English Department Graduate Committee members who teach literature. The reading list may subsequently be revised with the subcommittee's approval. (In preparing their lists, students should be able to find help from their advisors; also, the Department office will keep a file of past students' lists.) For each of the following categories, the student should be familiar with three "major works" and one "minor" or lesser-known "work." Within these lines, the student's list should reach a reasonable balance between male and female writers and dominant and non-dominant social/economic/ethnic/ cultural groups.

The list should also embody a reasonable balance among genres--poetry (lyric, epic, dramatic), fiction (short and long), drama, and literary non-fiction. What constitutes a "work," in the case of a novel or play or a long poem, should be obvious; for such shorter items as lyric poems, the student should put together an arguably equivalent body of material.

Categories

  1. Classical in the broad sense, including Greek, Roman, Judaic-Christian, other early cultures
  2. Medieval, focused on Britain
  3. Renaissance, focused on Britain
  4. Restoration and 18th Century, focused on Britain and Ireland
  5. l9th-Century Britain and Ireland
  6. 20th-Century Britain, Colonies, and Ireland
  7. Pre-1800 U.S.
  8. l9th-Century U.S.
  9. 20th-Century U.S.
  10. International literature in translation from cultural traditions other than U.S. and Britain.
  11. International literature originally in English from cultural traditions other than U.S. and Britain.
Thus a candidate's reading list will consist of 44 "works."

In addition, each candidate will be assumed to have familiarity with literary theory, including not only traditional views but recent perspectives.

For information about course offerings and registration procedures for the upcoming semester or summer session, please view the Rambler, the Department's student newsletter.

This information is not intended to replace your advisor or the information in the CSU General Catalog, the Class Schedule, or the Department Checksheets.

Contact us: Attn: Marnie Leonard – Through the mail at 1773 Campus Delivery Eddy Hall, Ft. Collins, CO  80523-1773.  On the phone at (970) 491-2403.  By e-mail at Marnie.Leonard@colostate.edu.

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