ENGUSHENTRANCEEXAMINAnON, JUNE 2012

1. Write an essay On the following poem Commenting on the form, style and content.

Learning the Language

We swallow our words, spit them
from the side of our mouths
like grape-pips or fish-bones.
I Watch your moving lips
practice the pouts and stretches
till my own cheeks ache
under a mask of skin.

I wait for the sudden lifting of a chin
or wrist, a foot flapping;
listen for changes of tone,
a forefinger flicking"a lighter,
the oceans of clinking glass
where a man could set sail single-handed
and never find his way across.

I turn the silky pages with a hiss,
searching for words In the evening
idioms come to me like my children
when they were little, jostling,
over-excited. With morning
my voice tears like rotten clOth.

At night, we are a wire suspended
among trees, tacked to the brick
in a tangle of waving ivy -the distance
between silence and silence.



2. Write a research proposal on a topic of your choice, in the format given below


1. Research question: that you hope to examine, stated in not more than 2 lines.

2. Hypothesis/Assumptions: in not more than one paragraph of 4-5 lines -when embarking on this project.

3. Title.

4. Justification: for doing this kind of project in the English department.

5. Scope: A clear demarcation of the area, and a topic within that area.

6. Primary Texts: A detailed paragraph of about 8-10 lines on the media or genres to be studied, authors and texts, any other primary materials, time frames of the works (contemporary, post­1990s, early modern) you will be studying.

7. Research methods.

8. Research methodologies. Theoretical framework/s with an adequate justification for the choice of methodology/theoretical framework.

9. secondary materials:
electronic databases,
a list of at least 8 journals to be consulted for your specific topic,
at least 4-5 journals in the area but not directly around your topic AND
5 of the more significant critics/commentators who have published influential works
around/on your topic.

10. Reference Works: A list of at least 5 types of reference works (dictionaries, handbooks, etc) with full titles that you will need for your area and topic.