English and Drama (Major, Minor)

Helps students develop their acting potential and sharpen their skills in interpreting scripts through individual and group exercises, improvisations, monologues and scene studies. Central to the conduct of the course will be relaxation and breathing exercises, oral projection, movement and gesture. Fulfills general education requirement in fine arts. [3 credits]

Explores fundamentals of script analysis, conceptualization, visualization, composition, blocking and the role of theatre director. Practical application of learned techniques and completed playbook are required. Students are encouraged to direct productions of original student work and actively participate in campus productions. Fulfills general education requirement in fine arts. [3 credits]

Focuses on particular aspects of theatre: voice, movement, stage combat, improvisation, period acting, makeup techniques, costume design, lighting design, set design or other elements. Practical application of the selected element or elements leads students to develop expertise in the area on which they are focusing. Design courses entail both design technique and practical application. A course focused on acting practices requires reading, research and application techniques in a theatre environment. This is an upper-division course in theatre practice, allowing students to achieve competence in a particular area of theatre. For classes in various acting techniques, DRM-240 is recommended. [3 credits]

Provides students with the opportunity for an in-depth study of drama, stage craft, author(s), and/or techniques.

Provides students with an opportunity to experience English life in the city and country; see professional plays; visit museums, cathedrals, and other places of interest in and around London; visit beautiful English towns such as Bath, Stratford, Salisbury, and Windsor. Organized and directed by English departmental faculty. Offered during Winterim. Satisfies cross-cultural studies requirement. [ 3 credits ]

Provides students with an understanding that clear thinking is fundamental to clear writing. It also demonstrates every stage of the composing process: generating and organizing ideas, prewriting and drafting, critiquing, revising, final editing and proofreading. In addition, students work to accomplish clarity, unity, coherence and emphasis in sentences, in paragraphs, and in the overall structure of an essay. They develop techniques of style and tone toward more fluent and appealing prose and strive to sharpen their analytical, critical and editing skills by interacting with other students about their own writing and about the writing of professionals. Students learn to use standard English and develop a sensitivity to sentence structure and diction and to appreciate effectively written prose and recognize characteristics that make such prose effective. To fulfill the general education requirement in written communication a minimum grade of C is required. [3 credits]

Provides students with extra practice in writing and vocabulary development.  

This is an intensive course in writing designed to help students develop superior facility in the various types of expository writing, including reporting, analysis, interpretation, criticism, persuasion, synthesis and research writing. The course will also study the writing process and rhetorical theory and present ways that enable students to assess writing tasks and to develop practical strategies to accomplish each task effectively.

Reviews and practices fundamental techniques of writing poetry. Provides experience with writing in a variety of verse forms and styles, from traditional to contemporary, from lyrical writing to free verse, and from metaphorical to fairly direct styles. Explores the means through which written expression can be made more emphatic, figurative, memorable and evocative. Course will be a workshop experience. Students will complete a portfolio of work. Prerequisite: ENG-101. [3 credits]

Introduces a step-by-step approach to writing a short story. Develops the techniques of writing fiction, including development of theme, setting, plot and character, through the exploration of the craft. Course will be a workshop experience. Students will complete a portfolio of work. Prerequisite: ENG-101. [3 credits]

Explores creative techniques and the craft of writing plays. Requires students to present and rewrite work which is read, acted out and discussed for dramaturgical effectiveness. Each student writes a "10-minute" play and either a one-act play or the equivalent portion of a full-length play. Staged reading, production issues and submission of play manuscripts are covered. Extensive review of work in progress by peers and instructor in workshop setting. Prerequisite: ENG-101. [3 credits]

Studies nonfiction prose written as literature, including nonfiction novels and stories, personal essays, humorous essays, memoirs, travel and nature writing, and literary essays. Examines the appeal, impact and style of essays written "to delight and instruct." Provides opportunities for students to develop critical and analytical skills as they respond to this literature. Fulfills general education requirement in literature. [3 credits]

Examines the short story with emphasis on the elements of fiction, focusing especially on plot, character, setting, point of view and theme. Introduces students to stories by a variety of
authors-traditional and contemporary, ethnic and mainstream, American and international. Broadens analytical and critical ability through guided discussion and short papers that  respond to the literature. Fulfills general education requirement in literature and thinking critically and analytically. [3 credits]

Combines the study and writing of various sub-genres of creative nonfiction. Allows writers to explore a wide range of prose types, from travel writing to memoirs to scientific exposition. Provides students with the ability to apply the art and craft of writing to different contexts according to their interests and future goals. Students produce a portfolio of work. Prerequisite: ENG-101. [3 credits]

Examines and interprets representative works from contemporary authors. Analyzes and compares major movements such as Modernism and Postmodernism. Assists students in building an informed critical response to literature. Fulfills general education requirement in literature and Thinking Critically and Analytically. [3 credits]

"Hope is the thing with feathers" - provides the opportunity to study authors and texts that provide an optimistic view of life.

Introduces and assists students in interpreting representative works from major authors, including Hawthorne, Douglass, Thoreau and Dickinson. Analyzes and compares major  movements such as Romanticism and Realism. Fulfills general education requirement in literatureand general education requirement in thinking critically and analytically. [3 credits]

Examines and interprets representative works from major authors including Chopin, Faulkner, Williams and Morrison. Analyzes and compares major movements such as Realism, Modernism and Postmodernism. Provides students with a basic background in contemporary literature. Fulfills general education requirement in literature. [3 credits]

Studies drama as a genre to be read and performed, making much of the course experiential. Texts span the centuries from the Greek classical age to the 20th century, represent themes ranging from intense tragedy to light comedy, and exemplify both traditional and experimental forms rooted in different cultures. Fulfills general education requirement in literature. [3 credits]

Examines the coming-of-age theme in literature. Readings include some full-length novels and/or memoirs by American and international writers, but most readings are short stories focused on children and adolescents in international settings. Students relate the coming-of-age theme to theories of professional psychologists. They also study variations in the literary treatment of the theme and the causes of these variations, especially the influence of familial, social and cultural milieu. This course would be of particular interest to prospective teachers. Fulfills general education requirements in literature and cross-cultural studies. [3 credits]

Examines form and style, issues of audience, and historical, social, economic and racial issues and contexts in African American fiction, poetry, autobiography and drama. Builds student ability to analyze literature. Fulfills general education requirements in literature and crosscultural studies. [3 credits]

Introduces students to the methods and processes of literary research, bibliography and scholarly writing. Students identify and use the latest Internet research tools along with other standard sources in English and American literature and apply their skills to selected literary texts. Provides students with instruction and practice in identifying an original research project, finding and incorporating literary criticism into their own writing, and presenting their work to other students. Majors only. [3 credits]

Surveys the origins and development of British literature through 1800, introducing students to representative works from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Restoration and 18th Century. Traces pervasive themes, techniques, and genres that develop across periods. By building a foundation in the understanding of literary history, the course establishes a basis for later in-depth study at the 300-level. Fulfills general education requirement in literature and thinking critically and analytically, objectives 1 and 2. [3 credits ]

Examines fiction and drama of African writers from two perspectives: the colonial writing of Conrad and Cary and the post-colonial variant view of contemporary African writers from diverse cultures, including Achebe, Soyinka, Gordimer and Okri. Fulfills general education requirements in literature and cross-cultural studies. [3 credits]

An exploration of the flowering of Japanese literature from the diaries of medieval women, through the constant stream of poetry, to Bunraku, Noh and Kabuki drama, as well as the contemporary novel and short fiction.

Examines the origins and conventions of the Gothic tradition in literature and studies representative works by Mary Shelley, Charles Brockden Brown, Emily Bronte, Edgar Allan Poe and others. Students practice and refine the skills of interpretive reading, discussion and writing as they address literary elements such as plot, character, setting, point of view and theme. Fulfills general education requirement in literature and thinking critically and analytically, objectives 1 and 2. [3 credits]

Introduces students to Irish Literature from cultural and historical perspectives.

Traces the history of the art of detective fiction from more intellectual short stories of Poe and Doyle through the early "hard-boiled" private eye fiction and the "cozies" of the 1930s and 1940s to the many varieties of today. Identifies adaptations of the genre in pre-1950 radio broadcasts and later films and TV shows. Through charts, short papers and presentations students analyze artistry in plotting, characterization, formulaic devices, and literary techniques of effective short stories and novels in comparison with less well-constructed examples of the genre. Fulfills general education requirement in literature. [3 credits]

Examines the artistry of Poe's poetry and fiction works.

Explores comedic literature across periods and genres, from the Middle Ages to the present day. Investigates the social, political, and cultural effects of humor and laughter. Readings may range from jokes, insults and other forms of popular culture to drama, poetry, film, and the comic novel. Fulfills the general education requirement in literature. [ 3 credits ]

 Requires students to analyze, interpret and write critically about a select number of texts by and about women to investigate how women represent yourselves. The course contributes to students' critical skills by teaching them to read and write about literature, and it introduces diversity into the curriculum by presenting authors who are often omitted from the literary canon. Students will discuss texts and question what we read, as well as write about the texts with critical engagement. Fulfills general education requirements in literature and gender studies and general education requirement in impact of diversity. [3 credits]

Traces pervasive themes, literary theories, and the development of genres in English literature during the Romantic and Victorian periods and in the 20th century. Interprets selected works of these periods in the context of social, political, and literary history, analyzing ways in which literature has been shaped by literary movements and world events. Traces signs of modernism and postmodernism as they are reflected in 20th century authors. [3 credits]

Focuses on the basic poetic elements: speaker, theme, diction, imagery, figures of speech, tone, patterns of sound and rhythm, meter, rhyme and various poetic forms. Examines poems by a variety of poets-traditional and contemporary, ethnic and mainstream, American and international. Teaches students to analyze and scan poems. Fulfills general education requirement in literature. [3 credits]

Studies works by writers of different ethnic groups in 20th century America, with emphasis on African-American, Asian-American, Jewish-American, Native-American and Latino/a writings. The course will provide interdisciplinary approaches to literature; readings will come from several literary genres, including novels, short stories and poetry, but students will also read theory and criticism relevant to recent work in ethnic studies. The course will teach students to read and write about literature, and it will introduce many of the important works of 20th century American minority literature. Prerequisite: Morrissy scholar or permission. Fulfills general education requirements in literature and cross-cultural studies. [3 credits]

Investigates how literature has constructed and depicted the end of the world. Students examine the literature of Doomsday across periods and cultures, mapping varied expectations for "the end time" from the ancients to the modern day. The course explores what these doomsday depictions suggest apart from eschatological prophecy. Doomsday themes frequently boom during times of ideological crisis, and the course investigates the "rhetoric of Doomsday" as it is used to inspire both hope and fear in the face of potential catastrophe. Prerequisite: Morrissy scholar or instructor permission. Fulfills general education requirement in literature. [ 3 credits ]

Requires students to read, analyze, interpret and write critically about a select number of texts by 20th-century American women writers. Students will learn to enjoy and appreciate the literary artistry of representative women writers; to identify common concerns of women writers of the past century; to experience vicariously the lives of diverse women and evaluate the social, cultural, economic and political forces that shape those lives; to recognize different approaches of women's portrayal of women; to understand how American feminism has developed and how it is manifested in these writings; and to develop their critical reading and writing skills. Fulfills general education requirement in literature, gender studies and impact of diversity. [3 credits]

Students are introduced to short fiction, drama, and poetry. They analyze typical techniques in each of these literary genres, compare individual works to one another, and evaluate works according to basic critical principles, such as consistency of character, development of plot, effectiveness of setting, and use of effective tone and style. The course also develops basic writing skills by the production of frequent short papers. These papers in turn increase the ability of students to analyze the literary works which are the subject of the papers. Fulfills general education requirement in literature and thinking critically and analytically. [ 3 credits ]

Provides advanced practice in the writing of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction or plays. Participants choose to work in the craft of specific genres. Students share in reading and discussing the submitted artifacts. Revision is emphasized as a significant function of the creative process as students produce a portfolio of work. Prerequisite: ENG-201, 202, 203 or 207, or presentation of a suitable manuscript. [3 credits]

Develops more sophisticated techniques of writing creative nonfiction in a workshop setting, allowing students to focus on the area of creative nonfiction with which they are most engaged either professionally or creatively. Students may approach their writing through memoir, biography, literary journalism, humorous nonfiction, travel, history or other appropriate forms. Within a workshop framework, students present their own work and critique the work of others. Interview techniques and research methods are explored in accord with the student's writing focus and subjects chosen. Students produce a portfolio of work. Prerequisite: ENG-207 or permission of instructor. [ 3 credits ]

Focuses on English literature in the 16th and 17th centuries, from the beginning of the Tudor period in 1485 through the era of the Commonwealth. Analyzes links between literature and life in Britain during a time of cultural rebirth and political turmoil. Explores non-Shakespearean drama, representative essays of the time, and newly evolving Elizabethan fiction and Utopian fantasy. Compares varied poetic techniques in epics of Spenser and Milton, in popular ballads, and in the lyrics of the cavalier and metaphysical poets. Fulfills general education requirement in literature. [3 credits]

Examines the roots of English literature from the fifth-century Anglo-Saxon period through the Middle Ages to the beginning of the Tudor reign in the 15th century. Traces images of the heroic life from the folk-epic hero Beowulf through the evolution of Arthurian traditions in the later Middle Ages. Explores other aspects of medieval life through student-selected research projects on such topics as illuminated manuscripts, medicine, archeology, history, drama or whatever else ppeals to individual students. Demonstrates the relationship between modern English and Middle English through oral reading and analysis of selected passages from Chaucer's anterbury Tales. Fulfills general education requirement in literature. [3 credits]

Provides an in-depth study of English writer Thomas Hardy (1840-1928). Hardy is known as a Victorian novelist and a modern poet; his work thus crosses literary (generic) and historical boundaries. Hardy wrote 14 novels, 50 short stories, roughly 1,000 poems, one epic drama, seven volumes of published letters, an auto-biography, and a number of essays on literary and sociological topics. Students will read selected novels and poems as we trace Hardy's career and examine literary topics such as serial publication, the circulating library, and censorship, along with themes such as the Victorian "Woman Question," the part-real, part-invented land of Wessex, social class, law, and the "ache of modernism" in his later novels. Students will engage in primary (letters, notebooks, etc.) and secondary (critical) research as they explore these and other topics in two research projects during the semester. The course emphasizes the process of writing a research paper. Prerequisite: Morrissy scholar or permission. Fulfills general education requirement in literature. [3 credits]

Examines selected works of major Romantic and Victorian authors in the context of these two literary periods. Students will read selections by Coleridge, Wordsworth, Keats, Browning, the Bronte sisters and many others, and will examine 19th-century literary theories and pervasive themes as these inform the poetry, nonfiction prose and fiction of the period. Fulfills general education requirement in literature and thinking critically and analytically. [3 credits]

Studies major writers and literary techniques and themes characteristic of 20th-century Britain. The course examines modernism and postmodernism and the way in which the literature has been shaped by literary movements and world events. Students will have the opportunity to read selected poems, novels, essays and short plays by authors ranging from Hardy and Yeats to A. S. Byatt and Iris Murdoch. Fulfills general education requirement in literature. [3 credits]

Examines selected Shakespearean chronicles and comedies in light of earlier drama which set patterns for Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Explores ways in which Shakespeare?s chronicle plays portray British history and political theory during the Hundred Years War and the Wars of the Roses. Demonstrates the range of character development, comic techniques and vivid language in his comedies. Provides opportunities for students to view major film versions of the plays and to practice their own dramatic skills in group presentations of selected scenes from the comedies. Fulfills general education requirement in literature. [ 3 credits ]

Explores the development of the role of women on stage from Ibsen and Shaw up through contemporary work by important women playwrights such as Glaspell, Churchill, Duras, Fornes and others who have impacted contemporary drama. As part of the course experience, students attend local area productions. Fulfills general education requirement in literature and gender studies. [3 credits]

Examines selected Shakespearean tragedies and romances. Explores earlier drama and sources that Shakespeare used and adapted. Provides opportunities for students to view major stage and film versions of the plays and to consider staging choices through the discussion and presentation of selected scenes. Fulfills general education requirements in literature and thinking critically and analytically. [3 credits]

Studies important theatre movements and innovative voices of 20th century drama in the Western world. The development of contemporary theatre is traced in the experimental work of Strindberg, Kaiser, Apollinaire, Pirandello, Pinter, Brecht and Beckett, among others. Students attend local area productions. Fulfills general education requirement in literature. [3 credits]

Examines and interprets representative works from major authors, including Irving, Hawthorne, Emerson, Douglass and Twain. Analyzes and compares major movements such as Romanticism, Realism and Naturalism. Identifies, describes, compares and contrasts genres of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Fulfills general education requirement in literature and thinking critically and analytically. [3 credits]

Examines the literature of the Irish Renaissance: the works of W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, J. M. Synge, James Joyce, Sean O'Casey and others. Explores the literature in the context of Irish myth and legend, religious and political influences, nationalism and revolution. Fulfills general ducation requirement in literature and cross-cultural studies. [3 credits]

Examines, from a variety of perspectives, the Irish "Troubles;" that is, the violent political conflicts between Irish and English in the early 20th century and between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland in the late 20th century. Explores literary and cinematic treatments of the conflict and compares them with historical accounts in order to arrive at a better under-standing of the "Troubles." Students will discuss the treatment of the "Troubles" in the plays of Sean O'Casey and Brian Friel, the poetry of W.B. Yeats and Seamus Heaney, the fiction of Frank O'Connor, Liam O'Flaherty, Eugene McCabe and others, and the memoir, Guerilla Days in Ireland by Tom Barry. Students will also view several films, including "Michael Collins" and "Bloody Sunday." Prerequisite: Morrissy scholar or permission. [3 credits]

Introduces an understanding and appreciation of the diversity of contemporary literatures from different cultures by presenting authors who are often omitted from the literary canon. Students will attain a global view of basic social issues as they are represented in literature and will focus on the common elements of humanity as well as on the differences across diverse cultures. The class will examine the themes of hope and despair, peace and war, joy and anguish, and the distances between these through fiction, autobiography and essay. We will also examine the different cultural perceptions of literature and its purposes. Fulfills general education requirement in literature and cross-cultural studies. [3 credits]

Introduces principles and terminology of language study. Examines the three major branches of linguistics (phonology, grammar and semantics) within a broad spectrum of comparative linguistics and also with closer attention to developments within the English language. Traces major historical developments in English. Analyzes stages of language acquisition in children and provides students preparing for teaching certification with practice in applying theories of language structure to teaching writing skills within a classroom setting. [3 credits]

This course will examine selections from the body of writing known as New Woman literature in England during the 1880s and 1890s, along with selected works from American and European writers. New Woman novels, essays, and plays address what was called "the Woman Question" and its primary issues, e.g., women's independence, the "nature" of women, women's roles and responsibilities, the effects of women's independence, sexual relations and gender differences. The course will follow the development of the New Woman character and will examine common conflicts and themes among the various representative works. Prerequisite: Morrissy Scholar or permission. Fulfills General Education requirement in literature and gender studies. 3 credits.

Explores the effects and implications of travel as portrayed in contemporary nonfiction and autobiographical fiction. Examines how travel affects our sense of identity, culture, and community, how it affects us emotionally, what needs and fears in human nature it reflects, what socio-political issues are involved in travel, and how it changes our understanding of the world around us. We live in an age of journeys, not all of them physical. Reading in the course will include books about journeys abroad, journeys within one's own country and culture, intellectual quests, explorations of cultural history, and journeys of faith, renewal, and rediscovery. Fulfills general education requirement in literature. Prerequisite: Morrissy scholar or permission. [3 credits].

Focuses on an author, group of authors, subgenre, period or theme in creative nonfiction as literature, as determined by the faculty member, so that students will be able to gain familiarity with the author, group of authors, sub-genre, period ortheme and be able to distinguish its critical features from others in the field. Students may repeat the course if it is offered on a topic that they have not previously studied. For anyone who opts to repeat the course, the second topics course counts only as an elective and may not count toward completion of the student's major or minor requirements. Prerequisite: ENG-207 or permission of instructor. [ 3 credits ]

Investigates geek literary culture with themes of escapism, social alienation, intellectual superiority, conspicuous consumption, and the effect of technology on human nature in a series of texts associated with the geek. Authors include: J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, Neal Stephenson, Douglas Adams, Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, and Allan Moore, among others. Students will study texts in non-print media, including digital and Internet phenomena. Prerequisite: Morrissy Scholar or instructor permission. Fulfills general education requirement in Literature. [ 3 credits ]

Provides student the opportunity for intense work on a single extended work or collection of shorter works under the direction of one English faculty member. Allows student to recognize the importance of revision in the writing process. Before enrolling in this course, the student is expected to have demonstrated proficiency in one of the creative writing genres and to have obtained the consent of her prospective tutorial director. The minimum prerequisite for this course is the successful completion of the relevant writing workshop, depending on the writing genre that the student wishes to pursue. With the consent of the instructor, the writing tutorial may be continued for two semesters, with three credits applicable to degree requirements each term. Prerequisite: ENG-302 or ENG-307 and permission of instructor. [3 credits]

Investigates the social and cultural dimensions of literature written by and about peoples of other countries or of regional or minority cultures within the United States. Topics may
focus on literature from English-speaking countries or on literature in translation by writers from nonwestern countries. Topics will reflect cultural diversity as represented in selected works of literature. The topic will be announced before registration each semester when the course is offered, and the course itself can be taken more than once on different subjects.
Fulfills general education requirement in literature and cross-cultural studies and general education requirement in Intercultural Knowledge. [3 credits]

Provides students with the opportunity of in-depth study of such literary topics as the following: a significant writer or group of writers, a literary period or movement, a particular genre or themes related to a geographic region. The topic will be announced before registration each semester when the course is offered, and the course itself can be taken more than once on different subjects. Fulfills general education requirement in literature. [3 credits]

Investigates gender as it is represented and constructed in literature by examining such literary topics as the following: a significant writer or group of writers; a literary period or movement; a particular genre or geographic region. The topic will be announced before registration each semester when the course is offered, and the course itself can be taken more than once on different subjects. Fulfills general education requirement in literature and gender studies and general education requirement in Impact of Diversity. [3 credits]

Provides the opportunity to study existential questions that lead to the construction of identity.

Provides students with an opportunity to experience English life in the city and country; see professional plays; visit museums, cathedrals, and other places of interest in and around London; visit beautiful English towns such as Bath, Stratford, Salisbury, and Windsor. Organized and directed by English departmental faculty. Offered during Winterim. Satisfies cross-cultural studies requirement. [ 3 credits ]

Requires students to examine, in a seminar format, the interdisciplinary topic of women and/as monsters in literature and culture. Women's writings, as well as women writers themselves, have historically been viewed as "monstrous"; this course investigates the notion of monstrous women, as well as women writing about monsters, by examining both female- and male-authored, canonical and non-canonical, literary and non-literary texts, primarily but not exclusively from the past two centuries. Prerequisites: Morrissy Scholar or permission. Fulfills general education in literature and gender studies. [ 3 credits ]

Requires students to examine, in a seminar format, a major literary topic or author(s). Students will employ the skills learned in Literary Research and Literary Interpretation: using library esources and databases, demonstrating an understanding of the variety of theories and approaches to literary criticism, and synthesizing critical research with their own original argument and interpretation regarding a text. Students will demonstrate their ability to present their research both orally and in clear, coherent prose. Majors only. [3 credits]

Studies the nature and practice of literary interpretation and evaluation. Examines both traditional methods, such as textual, genre and historical criticism, and contemporary approaches, including "new" criticism, psychological, Marxist, feminist and reader-response criticism. Students learn to analyze literary works from the perspective of these specific approaches. [3 credits]

Requires students to create a production project in acting, directing or stagecraft. A student could direct a full-scale stage production, design either lighting or set for a show, perform as a lead actor in a production, or serve as dramaturg for a major production. These projects would be under the direction of a faculty member. For directing, a completed playbook would be required. For design projects, completed sketches and/or models would be required. For acting, an intense written examination of the role would be required. For dramaturgy, a paper outlining the extent of the research and the conclusions would be presented to the director. Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor. [1, 2 or 3 credits]

Assists the instructor in class preparation and instruction, including research, classroom administration, assessment, guiding other students' writing, editing and revision, and moderating student discussions. Students create and design lesson plans and class writing activities. Experience is designed for those desiring to teach English, particularly on the college level. Prerequisite: Prior successful completion of the course for which the student is the assistant and permission of the instructor. [3 credits]

Provides an overview of literary research methods, bibliography and research writing. Students will use the major research tools and databases in literature and apply these research strategies to the study of selected literary and historical works on one specific topic in literary theory. Students will also learn how to analyze secondary sources and incorporate their findings into their own writing in order to develop the skills necessary to producing original literary criticism. The course is designed to prepare students for the research and writing required in the master's egree in English program. [3 credits]

Develops the writing skills that are essential in every workplace. Emphasis is on the relationship between thinking and writing, being able to present with clarity and coherence the message in written form. What distinguishes the manager or managerial candidate is the ability to present written matter with precision, economy, accuracy and grace. While the course presents business-related writing, the focus is on simply being able to write well. Learners enhance their skills through a series of writing experiences. [3 credits]

Can creative writing be taught? And, if so, how can we help students develop productive writing habits and utilize their own life experiences? This course will examine how creativity can be encouraged, especially in light of the latest brain science. This course will review advantages and disadvantages of various ways of organizing creative writing units and of evaluating student writing. Students will learn about techniques to help students become expert readers and engage in exercises to help writers become more self-aware, craft-conscious, and self-critical. [3 credits]

Examines prominent literary theories that have influenced the analysis and interpretation of literature in the last century. Theories studied range from formalism, structuralism, and post-structuralism, to psychoanalytic and readerresponse theories, to cultural-oriented theories, such as feminism, Marxism, and new historicism. Students will master theoretical concepts and methodologies as well as apply theoretical literary concepts to specific works of literature. [ 3 credits ]

Provides students with the opportunity for the in-depth study of such literary topics as the following: a significant writer or group of writers, a literary period or movement, a particular genre or themes related to a particular region. The topic will be announced before registration each semester when the course is offered, and the course itself can be taken more than once on different subjects. [ 3 credits ]

Focuses on ideas, arts, and practices characteristic of the Middle Ages as portrayed in English literature before 1485, with some reference to influences from the continent. Brief overviews of the oral formulaic tradition of Old English poetry and the historical and legendary works of Bede and Geoffrey of Monmouth form a preliminary backdrop for the period. Selections from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English introduce students to the roots of their language and provide examples of literary genres such as fabliau, fable, exemplum, and the Breton lay of Marie de France. Through Thomas Malory?s Morte D'Arthur students analyze another popular medieval genre, the prose romance, and explore Arthurian themes that have pervaded literature into modern times. In addition to these major works, some attention is also given to samples of medieval drama, mysticism, and allegorical social satire. Readings highlight estates satire, the church's use of literature and art as a teaching device, and contradictory images of medieval anti-feminism vs. the veneration of women. [ 3 credits ]

Explores poetry, drama, and prose of the English Renaissance, the Spanish Golden Century, and Neoclassicism. Influenced by the Italian rebirth of Greek and Roman philosophy and literature, and disseminated by the miracle of the printing press, the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages produced great writers of English literature, including Shakespeare, Milton, Spenser, Marlowe, Donne, and others, who will be read and critically analyzed. The Restoration and Age of Reason gave us poetry, literary criticism, essays, drama and the emerging new genre, the novel. Selected writers of the period will be read and analyzed with a particular focus on women's issues. Critical response papers are required as well as the presentation of seminar papers on specific authors and/or topics. [ 3 credits ]

Examines the distinctive role of Russian writers and their contributions to the literary canon.

Provides students with the opportunity to experience English life in the city and in the country, see professional plays, visit museums, cathedrals, and other places of interest.  

Examines major concepts and themes of British and American Romanticism. Major Romantic concepts include a belief in the spiritual and restorative powers of nature, the importance of the imagination, and the truth of the emotions. Major Romantic themes include the pursuit of the Ideal, glorification of nature, centrality of the common man, and love of the supernatural and mysterious. Writers studied include British Romantic poets Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats and Byron, and American Romantics Thoreau, Poe, Hawthorne, Dickinson, Radcliffe, and Emerson. [ 3 credits ]

Examines major literary works of the realism period of the nineteenth century, with a primary focus on English, American, and continental fiction, the genre in which realism finds its greatest variety and richness. Students will explore the foundations of realism and its literary relation naturalism, including the psychological basis of character, the uniqueness of individual experience, the use of the commonplace, the goal of objectivity in reporting what novelist W. D. Howells called "the truthful treatment of material," new ideas concerning the purposes of fiction; including the sometimes disparaged "novel with a purpose" and verisimilitude. Selected novels will emphasize the roles and condition of women of the period. Students will explore the importance of the magazine to the rise of the realistic novel and will also read examples of the literary criticism of the period in order to appreciate the parameters set for fiction by a new generation of professional literary critics. [ 3 credits ]

A reading of selected works of literature representative of the human passion for knowledge and for life. The search for what is authentic in the human character, what is intelligible and valid in human experience, informs the literature. [ 3 credits ]

Examines the poetry, drama, and fiction of selected representative writers and analyzes the works from various literary theoretical perspectives. Course will trace Modern concepts of radical individualism, re-contextualization through myth, dominance of psychoanalytic thinking, emancipatory emergence; particularly as it relates to women, and the shift from an epistemological to an ontological aesthetic in the works of modernists such as Yeats, Pound, Eliot, Woolf, Joyce, Faulkner, O'Neill, and others. In the context of the contractual nature of language and its development with structuralism, poststructuralism, and deconstruction, we will analyze the works of postmodern poets, playwrights, and novelists such as Beckett, Ionesco, Churchill, Byatt, Morrison, and Nabokov. Critical response papers are required, as well as the presentation of seminar papers on specific authors and/or topics. [ 3 credits ]

Explores the philosophic nature of the art of drama. Through Nietzsche's thinking in Birth of Tragedy and Good and Evil, drama is examined in Greek tragedy with Euripides, Shakespeare's tragedies in the Renaissance, O'Neill's dark plays in the modern world and contemporary works of playwrights like Ed Bond. Horace's Ars Poetica tells us drama must "instruct and delight." In this course both the joy and the illumination of the plays take center stage. [ 3 credits ]

Explores selections from the fiction, periodical journalism, and drama of the Victorian period, including George Gissing?s novel The Odd Women, essays by Sarah Grand and others, and plays such as Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession. Examines the "Woman Question" of late nineteenth-century England and identifies its main issues, e.g., the "nature" of women, women?s roles and esponsibilities, independence and its social effects, education, sexual relations, and gender differences. [ 3 credits ]

Analyzes classics of world literature from ancient to pre-modern times, learning to identify and appreciate the qualities that make a work a classic, including its enduring worldview, its style, its impact, and its universality. The course will explore such issues as social and familial relationships, gender roles, the relationship between the individual and society, differing value systems, mythopoetic and folkloric influences on literature, elements of narrative, poetic, and conceptual structure in the works, and the ways in which literature shapes our perception of reality. Texts covered may include works by Homer, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Herodotus, Ovid, and Virgil from classical times, selections from Gilgamesh, the Bible, the Qur'an, the Bhagavad Gita (or another Vedantic book), the Tao Te Ching, and Persian poetry, works like The Art of War by Sun Tzu and The Pillow Book by Sei Sei Shonagon, and more recent works regarded as classic by such authors as Dante, Boccaccio, Rabelais, Moli?re, Cervantes, and Goethe. [ 3 credits ]

Examines contemporar y literature from around the world, either in translation or written in English, analyzing it in terms of cultural differences, gender roles, literary archetypes, universalities of human experience and thought, and each book's thematic focus and philosophical outlook. Potential issues raised by the course include existentialism in literature, symbolism and magical realism as literary styles, self-consciousness and structuralism in literary form, experimental fiction, the relationship of literature to political and cultural change, ethnocentrism and global consciousness, and the increasing emphasis in contemporary literature on the individual's responses to a bewildering, frustrating, and sometimes oppressive social context. [ 3 credits ]

Analyzes pervasive themes and common concerns in utopian and dystopian visions of different times, starting with the genre-creating Renaissance classic, Thomas More's Utopia, and moving through the "nowheres" of 19th and 20th century writers like Butler, Bellamy, Zamiatin, LeGuin, and Piercy. Students trace political, philosophical, and scientific concepts underlying these imagined worlds, linking the concepts to theories of human nature on which they are based. Individual reports enhance seminar-style discussion. [ 3 credits ]

Examines works by writers of various ethnic groups in twentieth- and twenty-first-century America, with emphasis on African American, Arab American, Asian American, Jewish American, Native American, and Latino American writings. Readings will come from several literary genres, including novels, short stories, and poetry, but students will also read theory and criticism relevant to recent work in ethnic and feminist studies. [ 3 credits ]

Provides students with an opportunity to do in-depth study of an author, text, or genre.