English Language & Literature (En)

The undergraduate program in English Language and Literature provides students with the opportunity to intensively study works of literature, drama, and film originally written in English. Courses address fundamental questions about topics such as the status of literature within culture, the literary history of a period, the achievements of a major author, the defining characteristics of a genre, the politics of interpretation, the formal beauties of individual works, and the methods of literary scholarship and research.

The study of English may be pursued as preparation for graduate work in literature or other disciplines, or as a complement to general education. The English option provides excellent preparation for students seeking careers in law, business, administration, and medicine. The emphasis on writing critical essays helps students develop the communication skills necessary for success in their fields. Students in the English department learn how to ask probing questions of a large body of material; how to formulate, analyze, and judge questions and their answers; and how to present both questions and answers in clear, cogent prose. To the end of cultivating and testing these skills, which are central to virtually any career, each course offered by the department stresses writing.

The option in English provides students with a broad education in English and American literatures, their historical contexts, and different approaches to their study. During the senior year, English majors will enroll in En 91 ab with a faculty member chosen by mutual agreement. En 91 a is devoted to research and En 91 b to writing a substantial research paper. This paper provides the most important means for evaluating a major’s progress in the rigorous study of English.

Although the main focus of the English department is to develop reading, writing, and research skills, the value of bringing a range of disciplinary perspectives to bear on the works studied is also recognized. Besides offering a wide variety of courses in English, the department encourages students to integrate the intellectual concerns of other fields into their study of literature and film. This is done by permitting up to two courses outside the English department to be counted as part of the major if a student can demonstrate the relevance of these courses to his or her program of study.

Students who are not majoring in English Language and Literature may complete a minor in English and Creative Writing. The English minor is designed for students who want to pursue concentrated study in English and/or American literature and/or Creative Writing, without the extensive course work and the senior thesis required by the English option.

Program of Study (Proposed Degree Requirements)

Second Year

Enc 1 ab	Introduction to College Writing
En 2	Major British Authors
En 3	American Literature and Culture
CI 2 ab	Core Integration
Electives

Third, Fourth Years

En 80	English Research
En 81	English Reading
En 82	Senior Thesis Research
En 90	Oral Presentation
En 91	English Writing
Electives

English Courses 1-91

En 1 ab	Introduction to College Writing
En 2	Major British Authors
En 3	American Literature and Culture
En 4	Modern European Literature
En 5 ab	Writing Poetry
En 6	Fiction and Creative Nonfiction Writing
En 10	Shakespeare
En 11	Milton and the Epic Tradition
En 12	The 18th-Century English Novel
En 13	The 19th-Century English Novel
En 14	20th-Century British Fiction
En 15	British Romantic Literature
En 20	Enlightenment Fiction
En 21	Literary History of the Human Body
En 22	American Literature Until the Civil War
En 23	19th-Century American Women Writers
En 30	Modern American Poetry
En 31	Drama from Ibsen to Beckett
En 32	Classics of Science Fiction: The 1960s
En 33	Dickens and the Dickensian
En 80	English Research
En 81	English Reading
En 82	Senior Thesis Research
En 90	Oral Presentation
En 91	English Writing