For students who entered the English major in Autumn 2012 and later.
If you entered the English major in Spring 2012 or earlier, please see the pre-Autumn-2012 requirement set.
The English Major Core requirement within the English major draws courses from among three groups, Theories and Methodologies of Language and Literature, Forms and Genres of Language and Literature (below), and Histories of Language and Literature.
Forms, Genres, & Media of Language and Literature
Description: These courses foreground the workings and evolution of specific forms/genres/media, and in some instances develop strategies for composing in various forms/genres/media. They explore how forms such as poetry, expository prose, the short story, the novel, drama, comedy, satire, and parody; genres such as the lyric, romance, detective fiction, slave narratives, or science fiction; and/or media such as electronic, visual and print have influenced the production, practice or study of literature, language and culture in English.
Course Goals: While core courses may not achieve every goal, they will participate in the conversations represented in these goals as a central feature.
- To understand the characteristics of various discursive, literary, and visual forms, genres or media through sustained engagement with at least one form, genre, or medium
- To offer sufficient historical range for students to learn something about the transformation of a form, genre, or medium
- To recognize the historical and social contexts that inform the production, significance, and reception of various forms, genres, and media
- To become aware of the effect of genre, form, and media expectations on the production, significance and reception of texts
- To provide students with rhetorical strategies for composing a range of genres, forms and media appropriate to specific situations
- To explore how social groups or identities emerge through or participate in the production, significance, and reception of genres, forms and media
Course list for students who entered the major in Autumn 2012 and later:
- ENGL 300 (Reading Major Texts)
- ENGL 310 (The Bible as Literature)
- ENGL 318 (Black Literary Genres)
- ENGL 321 (Chaucer)
- ENGL 323 (Shakespeare to 1603)
- ENGL 324 (Shakespeare after 1603)
- ENGL 326 (Milton)
- ENGL 329 (Rise of the English Novel)
- ENGL 331 (Romantic Poetry I)
- ENGL 332 (Romantic Poetry II)
- ENGL 333 (English Novel: Early & Middle 19th Century)
- ENGL 334 (English Novel: Later 19th Century)
- ENGL 337 (Modern Novel)
- ENGL 338 (Modern Poetry)
- ENGL 342 (Contemporary Novel)
- ENGL 343 (Contemporary Poetry)
- ENGL 344 (20th-Century Dramatic Literature)
- ENGL 345 (Studies in Film)
- ENGL 346 (Studies in Short Fiction)
- ENGL 347 (The Art of Prose)
- ENGL 348 (Studies in Drama)
- ENGL 349 (Science Fiction and Fantasy)
- ENGL 350 (Traditions in American Fiction)
- ENGL 356 (Classic American Poetry)
- ENGL 374 (The Language of Literature)
- ENGL 381 (Advanced Expository Writing)
- ENGL 382 (Writing for the Web)
- ENGL 422 (Arthurian Legends)
- ENGL 440 (Special Studies in Literature)
- ENGL 442 (The Novel: Special Studies)
- ENGL 443 (Poetry: Special Studies)
- ENGL 444 (Dramatic Literature: Special Studies)
- ENGL 477 (Children's Literature)
- ENGL 481 (Special Studies in Expository Writing)
- ENGL 492 (Advanced Expository Writing Conference)