The Specifics
Major in English
33 hours above the ENGL 110-111 level, including three courses selected from ENGL 201, 202, 203, 206, and 207; ENGL 219, 350, and 420 are required. Elective courses in English to complete the major must include at least two 300- or 400-level literature courses before 1900 and one 300- or 400-level literature course after 1900.
Major in English with Emphasis in Creative Writing
33 hours above the 110-111 level are required, including three courses selected from ENGL 201, 202, 203, 206, and 207; ENGL 219, 350, and 420; and nine hours from the following: ENGL 215, 216, 398, or 410. Elective courses in English to complete the major must include at least one 300- or 400-level literature course before 1900 and one 300-level literature course after 1900.
Minor in English
18 hours are required, including ENGL 110-111; either ENGL 201, 202, 203, 206, or 207; and at least one other 300- or 400-level literature course.
Minor in English with Emphasis in Creative Writing
18 hours are required, including ENGL 110-111; either ENGL 201, 202, 203, 206, or 207; and ENGL 215, 216, and 410.
Requirements for Certification to Teach High School English
A student who wants to be certified to teach English in the high school setting must meet the following requirements for the major in English: 33 hours above the ENGL 110-111 level, including three courses selected from ENGL 201, 202, 203, 206, and 207; ENGL 219, 313, 350, 381, and 420; and either ENGL 213 or 310. Elective courses in English to complete the major must include at least one 300- or 400-level literature course before 1900 and one 300- or 400-level literature course after 1900. Students should complete all other courses required for teacher certification and meet the criteria for acceptance into the Teacher Education Program. See the Education department web page for more information.
Course Descriptions
English (ENGL)
109. Composition (3)
(Required of students whose preparation in writing needs strengthening; offered on a pass/fail basis only; successful completion of 109 required for 110) The course consists of intensive reading and writing with formal instruction in grammar and mechanics. (Fall and Spring)
110. Composition and World Literature I (3)
(Required of all students) Students will develop proficiency in composition through a thematic study of works that may be selected from ancient to modern world literature. (Fall and Spring)
111. Composition and World Literature II (3)
(Required of all students; prereq: ENGL 110) A detailed exploration of selected genres. Possible topics include Introduction to Film, Introduction to Autobiography, Introduction to the Novel, Introduction to the Short Story, and Introduction to the Graphic Novel. (Spring)
*English 110-111 are prerequisites for all upper-level English courses*.
201-202. Survey of English Literature (3 each sem.)
Individual works by major writers from the entire body of British literature are studied critically in chronological order, with some attention to backgrounds and characteristics of respective literary periods. First term: English literature from Beowulf to 1798. Second term: the literature from 1798 to the present. (201 Fall; 202 Spring)
203. Survey of World Literature I (3)
This course surveys world literature from the origins of writing to the early 17th century. Periods covered include ancient Mesopotamia, classical Greece, early India, Tang China, and late medieval and early Renaissance Western Europe with special emphasis on the relations between post-medieval Western discourse and Islamic, African, and New World cultures. Key themes include mythic treatment of tribal relations; gender and power; morality, mortality, and action; and the relations between religion and literature. (Fall, even years)
206. Survey of American Literature I (3)
A survey of American literature from the Age of Faith to the Age of Reason to the Romantic Age with emphasis on the essays, poems, and fiction of Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman. A communication and evaluation of the history of ideas revealed in early American literature and relevant today. (Fall)
207. Survey of American Literature II (3)
A discussion and evaluation of the history of ideas in America from the Civil War to the present, including readings from Mark Twain and Emily Dickinson to Louise Erdrich and August Wilson. Realistic, naturalistic, existentialistic, modern, and contemporary thought and literature will be studied. (Spring)
209. African American Literature
(Cross-listed with INTD 209) This course will survey literary production by African Americans from the mid eighteenth century to the late twentieth century. Essays, autobiographies, speeches, poems, novels, short stories, plays, songs, and films will allow us to see the multiple ways in which African Americans have put into words and made sense of their experiences within American society across the centuries. But such works also help us in understand and come to terms with the significance of race (as well as class, gender, sexuality, and religion) in America’s past and present. This course may count towards fulfillment of the Southern Studies and/or Africana Studies minor(s). (Spring, even years)
210. Introduction to World Cinema (3)
(Cross-listed with INTD 210 and THEA 210) A survey of the important genres, theories, techniques, and international movements of film history. Representative films from the silent era to the present, and from America to Europe and Asia, will be covered. (Spring, even years)
213. Literary Methods (3)
An introduction to scholarship in the English discipline, covering such areas as genres, terms, and theories; research methods; and various writing forms (including critical analyses, annotated bibliographies, and documented essays). (Fall)
215. Creative Writing: Poetry (3)
(Only one course, 215 or 216, may count toward the major) A study of and an involvement in the creative process of writing poems. Extensive reading of modern and contemporary poems as models of the craft. Students will write free verse and traditional forms. Honest but tactful criticism of fellow students’ poems will be expected from each student. Short essays on contemporary poetry will be required. (Fall)
216. Creative Writing: Fiction (3)
(Only one course, 215 or 216, may count toward the major) A study of and an involvement in the creative process of writing fiction. Extensive reading of contemporary short stories and novels. All students will write several pieces of fiction. Honest but tactful criticism of fellow students’ work will be expected from each student. (Spring)
219. Studies in Linguistics (3)
(Required of English majors) A survey of the history of the English language, an introduction to modern theories of English grammar, and a rigorous review of usage rules for written English. (Spring)
220. Writing Tutor Practicum (1)
(Prereq: consent of instructor; selection as a writing center tutor; cross-listed with INTD 220; offered on a pass/fail basis and may not be counted toward the English major) A practical course in how to help others with writing through a writer-centered approach. Students will study methods for effective tutoring in writing with actual experience in the Writing Center. Open only to those with prior approval from the instructor. (Fall and Spring)
258. Special Topics (3)
(May be taken more than once for credit)
305. Eighteenth Century Poetry and Prose (3)
(Prereq: A 200-level literature course or consent of the instructor) An examination of the chief works of Dryden, Swift, Pope, Johnson, and others against the background of eighteenth century society and thought. Collateral reading; term project. (Spring, odd years)
306. Poetry and Prose of the Romantic Period (3)
(Prereq: A 200-level literature course or consent of the instructor) An examination of the chief poems and essays of Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Lamb, Hazlitt, Wollstonecraft, and De Quincey. Collateral reading; critical essays and analyses. (Fall, odd years)
310. Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism (3)
A survey of major works of literary theory and criticism, beginning with classical criticism and ending with contemporary theory. Organized by historical period, the course evaluates the evolution of critical practices, emphasizing the interconnectedness of literature and theory while developing awareness of diverse methods of interpretation. (Fall, odd years)
313. Adolescent Literature (3)
A survey of adolescent literature (including print and nonprint media) and informational materials suited to the use of junior and senior high school students. Attention given to reading interests and needs of the adolescent. Also considered is the relation of the teacher to the school library program or media center and current trends in teaching with books. (Fall, even years)
314. Southern Literature (3)
(Prereq: ENGL 206 for English majors and minors or SOST 205 for Southern Studies minors; cross-listed with SOST 314) A survey of significant Southern writing from Colonial days to the present. Particular attention will be paid to the writers of the twentieth century. (Spring, odd years)
317. Chaucer (3)
A study of the works of England's first major poet, with special attention to the Canterbury Tales. The course will include collateral readings about sources for Chaucer's work and the cultural milieu of fourteenth century England. (Spring, even years)
318. Topics in Medieval Literature (3)
(May be taken more than once for credit) A survey of significant works from the medieval period, excluding Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The course will focus on one unifying theme, such as Arthurian Literature, Medieval Romance, Women in the Middle Ages, et. al. (Fall, even years)
320. Silent Film (3)
A survey of film’s formative years, from the Edison kinetoscopes of the 1890s to the international flowering of the 1920s, focusing on thematic trends, development of genres, and increasing complexity of film grammar. Directors whose works we will study will include Griffith, Eisenstein, Vidor, Lang, Chaplin, Murnau, Gance, and von Sternberg. (Fall, even years)
322. Women’s Literature (3)
A critical study of American and British women writers, which may examine the following themes: myths of the female, the woman artist, the female bildungsroman, love and friendship, communities of women, women and war, women's place in the nation, and female spirituality. (Spring, odd years)
323. Film and American Culture (3)
A study of the way in which social, political, economic, and cultural forces in America have influenced or been depicted by or in American film. Selected directors whose films will be viewed include Griffith, Chaplin, Hitchcock, Altman, Levinson, Tarantino, and others. (Spring, odd years)
324. Women’s World Literature (3)
A complement to ENGL 322. An introduction to women’s literature written by artists from across the globe (including Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America) which focuses on texts composed after 1900. (Spring, even years)
325. Renaissance Poetry and Drama (3)
An application of Renaissance intellectual history to the study of the overreacher and the Petrarchan and Ovidian love traditions in 16th and 17th century English poetry and non-Shakespearean drama. (Spring, odd years)
326. Practicum in the Writing Center (1)
(Prereq: ENGL 220/INTD 220; cross-listed with INTD 326; may be taken more than once for credit. The course will be offered on a pass/fail basis and may not be counted toward the English major.) A practical course in helping other students with writing through a writer-centered approach. The course includes mentoring beginning tutors, tutoring writers, and working on projects in the Writing Center. (Fall and Spring)
329. The Victorian Age (3)
(Prereq: A 200-level literature course or consent of the instructor) An examination of the chief writers and their work against the background of nineteenth century life and thought, including Tennyson, Browning, Arnold, Ruskin, Carlyle, Mill, the Rossettis, Morris, Wilde, and others. Critical essays and analyses. (Spring, even years)
332. Advanced Writing (3)
A study of the advanced rhetorical strategies that inform a variety of writing styles, with particular emphasis on academic writing. Students will write several essays, revise them regularly, and assemble a final portfolio of their best written work. (Spring, odd years)
334. Southern Women's Writing
This course examines how modern and contemporary women writers represent and imagine the South in their texts—including, novels, short stories, autobiographies, and poems—and, in doing so, how they illuminate the dynamics of race, ethnicity, gender, class, and sexuality within twentieth- and twenty-first-century southern society. This course can count towards fulfillment of the Southern Studies and/or Women’s Studies minor(s). (Fall, even years)
336. The American Renaissance (3)
(Prereq: ENGL 206) A comprehensive survey of the literary flowering of 1850-1855 which produced the transcendentalist poetry and prose of Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman and the novels of Hawthorne and Melville. (Spring, even years)
338. American Identities (3)
A survey of works that address the multiple meaning and uses of the term “American” as applied to (or kept from) individuals and groups throughout the history of the United
States. Focusing on what it has
meant historically to be (or not to
be) an American, this course will
explore how groups of Americans
have experienced life within this
country’s borders differently given
their particular racial, ethnic, class
gender, and sexual identities. (Alternate years)
341. Postcolonial Literature and Film
(3)
This course investigates the theory
and practice of cultural production
(focusing on literature and film)
in regions of the world that, in the
mid-20th century, gained political
independence after years of colonial
rule. Selections will be made from
theorists like Fanon, Said, Spivak,
Chow, and Bhaddha; and from films
and literature from Africa, Asia,
Latin America, and the Caribbean.
(Alternate years)
343. Modern Chinese Literature and Film (3)
(Cross-listed with FILM 343) This course surveys the major developments in 20th century Chinese literature and film, starting in the Republican era, then moving through the Maoist years to the cultural resurgence that has followed. Primary focus is on social landscapes, the cultural imaginary, and the depiction of ordinary people’s lives. (Spring, odd years)
345. Holocaust Literature (3)
This course will examine the intentional destruction of European Jewry through a variety of literary forms: memoir, fiction, poetry, and film. Selected authors include Levi, Spiegelman, Kosinski, Appelfeld, and Borowski. (Fall, odd years)
347. Southern Jewish Literature (3)
This course examines works by Jewish authors who are natives or transplants to the American South but who, in either case, consider the South their home. This “braided” community—Jews, Christians, Southerners, Americans—helps us understand the South to be far less homogenous than otherwise imagined. Selected authors covering an array of literary genres include Uhry, Kushner, Greene, and Mirvis. (Fall, even years)
350. Shakespeare (3)
(Required of English majors; cross-listed with THEA 350) A critical study of representative histories, comedies, tragedies, and romances, with emphasis on Shakespeare's development as a dramatic artist. (Fall)
356. Modern and Contemporary Drama (3)
(Cross-listed with THEA 356) This course explores the influence of realism, naturalism, expressionism, and finally absurdism on contemporary drama, while paying particular attention to American and British playwrights. (Spring, even years)
361. The English Novel to 1900 (3)
A study of the English novel from its emergence in the eighteenth century through its eminence in the nineteenth century, including such novelists as Fielding, Richardson, Austen, the Brontës, Dickens, Eliot, Hardy, and others. (Fall, even years)
365. The Modern British and American Novel (3)
A critical survey of the development of the novel in the twentieth century, focusing on major authors. The reading list is determined from the following authors of the Modern Period: Forster, Joyce, Conrad, Woolf, Lawrence, Faulkner, Hemingway, Fitzgerald. Post WWII and Postmodern authors represented may include Ellison, Morrison, Pynchon, M. Amis, Fowles, Flannery O'Connor, Bellow, Barth. (Fall, odd years)
371. Modern Poetry (3)
A survey of modern British and American poets, with particular attention to W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, and Robert Frost. Collateral readings and selected analyses. (Fall, even years)
381. The Teaching of Composition (3)
Beginning with a brief review of grammar, the course introduces future secondary English teachers to composition theory and the teaching of writing. Students will gain practical experience in working individually with students and grading essays. (Fall, odd years)
398. Honors Research (3-6)
Available for students during the junior and senior years, with approval of the departmental faculty. Students with a 3.2 GPA in all courses and a 3.4 GPA in major courses may undertake an Honors Research program. Oral and written presentations of the results of the project will be required. Students who successfully complete the departmental Honors Research program will graduate with honors in the major discipline. (Fall or Spring, or Fall and Spring)
402. Studies in Literature (3)
(Open to juniors and seniors with consent of instructor) An intensive study of the works of a major fiction writer or of selected works by a group of related fiction writers.
410. Creative Writing Seminar (3)
(Prereq: ENGL 215 and 216 or consent of instructor) An intensive study of the process of creative writing for advanced students. Students will work on large-scale, individual writing projects (poetry portfolio, short story collection, novel, screenplay, etc), as well as read extensively in their chosen genre. Honest but tactful criticism of fellow students’ work in class workshops will be required from each student. (Spring)
420. Senior Capstone in English (3)
(Required of English majors during their senior year; may be taken in junior year if necessary or with consent of department; consent of instructor required) Readings in literature selected by the English faculty. Course uses a seminar format in which students engage in discussion, conduct original research on a topic of their choice, and present to the class their findings in both oral and written reports. Stresses students’ skills in analysis, research, and communication. (Fall and Spring)
442. Directed Studies (3)
Open only to English majors who have completed at least nine additional hours in English above the freshman level. Readings and research on a topic proposed by the student and approved by the English department.
444. Internships (1-3)
(Prereq: 12 hours of English above ENGL 110-111, including ENGL 219; open to English majors only. The course will be offered on a pass/fail basis and may not be counted toward the English major; a student may not earn more than six hours in internship programs in English.) Internships in publishing, journalism, and related fields must be approved by the student’s advisor and the departmental faculty. The student’s work will be closely supervised in the firm where the internship is undertaken, and weekly written reports must be submitted to the faculty supervisor.
446. Readings.
448. Research.
450. Seminar.
452. Special Projects.
458. Special Topics.
Visit campus
Call our office at 1-800-960-7583. An admissions counselor will be glad to help you arrange a visit and meet with faculty, sit in on a class, or stay overnight in a dorm.
Email or call for more information - we look forward to hearing from you!