English

Year 1: Understanding

Start with the basics: study the craft of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, as well as British or Shakespearean literatures. You will also delve into literature from other cultures, including LatinX, Asian-American/Diasporic, and African-America/Diasporic.

Featured Courses:

• Writing Creative Nonfiction – ENGL 210
• Shakespearean Literatures – ENGL 235
• LatinX Literatures – ENGL 232

Year 2: New Approaches

Take courses devoted to the close study of form throughout fiction, poetry, drama, or nonfiction. You can even explore children’s literature or study the works of a single major British, American, or other Anglophone author.

Featured courses:

• Forms of Drama – ENGL 303
• Forms of Nonfiction – ENGL 305
• Advanced Workshop in Poetry – ENGL 406

Year 3: Delving Deeper

Take the required Junior Seminar, which emphasizes frequent discussions and individual research projects in literary studies. You may take more than one seminar, and seminars are open to non-majors with permission of the instructor.

Featured courses:

• Junior Seminar in English – ENGL 550

Year 4: The Senior Comp

Typical fourth year courses consist of advanced workshops that will engage you as both a writer and critical reader. You will also complete your Senior Comp in creative writing (poetry, fiction, or creative non-fiction), written under the supervision of an English department faculty member.

Featured courses:

• Senior Project in Creative Writing – ENGL 624

Year 1: Understanding

Our introductory courses, ENGL 110-118, emphasize close reading and the study of at least three literary genres. You’ll engage in meaningful discussion and analysis with your peers and professors.

Featured courses:

• American Literatures – ENGL 231
• British Literatures – ENGL 230
• African-American/Diasporic Literatures – ENGL 236

Year 2: New Approaches

Continue to expand your analytical abilities as a reader and a writer in courses that cover at least two historical periods of literary history (e.g. realism and modernism) and the connections between them.

Featured courses:

• Study in a Single Author – ENGL 313
• Children’s Literature – ENGL 350
• Advanced Literary Studies – ENGL 420

Year 3: Delving Deeper

Your courses will incorporate secondary research and a consideration of literary criticism. You will refine your ability to ask relevant, independent, interpretive questions of literary texts, encounter relevant examples of literary criticism, and be able to summarize and respond to arguments made by authors.

Featured courses:

• Junior Seminar in English – ENGL 550

Year 4: The Senior Comp

Typical fourth-year literature courses build on rigor and will include theoretical approaches to literature. You will continue to hone your skills as a close reader of literary texts, find and evaluate relevant published criticism, and apply critical methods to a focused literary topic. Your studies will culminate with completing a substantial research project that displays a sustained sense of historical and cultural context.

Featured courses:

• Senior Project in Literature – ENGL 620