ENG 601. Individual Authors. (3 h)
Study of selected work from an important American or British author. May be repeated once for credit.
ENG 602. Ideas in Literature. (3 h)
Study of a significant literary theme in selected works. May be repeated when the course is taught by a different professor on a different topic.
ENG 604. History of the English Language. (3 h)
Survey of the development of English syntax, morphology, and phonology from Old English to the present, with attention to vocabulary growth.
ENG 605. Old English Language and Literature. (3 h)
Introduction to the Old English language and a study of the historical and cultural background of Old English literature, including Anglo-Saxon and Viking art, runes, and Scandinavian mythology. Readings from Beowulf and selected poems and prose.
ENG 608. Beowulf. (3 h)
This course offers an intensive study of the poem, with emphasis on language, translation skills and critical contexts.
ENG 609. Modern English Grammar. (3 h)
A linguistics approach to grammar study. Includes a critical exploration of issues such as grammatical change and variation, the origins and effects of grammar prescriptions/proscriptions, the place of grammar instruction in education, and the politics of language authority.
ENG 610. The Medieval World. (3 h)
Examines theological, philosophical and cultural assumptions of the Middle Ages through the reading of primary texts. Topics include Christian providential history, drama, devotional literature, the Franciscan controversy, domestic life and Arthurian romance.
ENG 611. The Legend of Arthur. (3 h)
The origin and development of the Arthurian legend in France and England with emphasis on the works of Chretien de Troyes and Sir Thomas Malory.
ENG 612. Medieval Poetry. (3 h)
The origin and development of poetic genres and lyric forms of medieval vernacular poetry.
ENG 613. The Roots of Song. (3 h)
Interdisciplinary investigation of poetry and song in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Study of the evolution of poetic and musical genres and styles, both sacred and secular. Students must complete a project or projects on the technical or theoretical aspects of early song.
ENG 615. Chaucer. (3 h)
Emphasis on The Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde, with some attention to minor poems. Consideration of literary, social, religious, and philosophical background.
ENG 620. British Drama to 1642. (3 h)
British drama from its beginnings to 1642, exclusive of Shakespeare. Representative cycle plays, moralities, Elizabethan and Jacobean tragedies, comedies, and tragicomedies.
ENG 623. Shakespeare. (3 h)
Thirteen representative plays illustrating Shakespeare’s development as a poet and dramatist.
ENG 625. 16th-Century British Literature. (3 h)
Concentration on the poetry of Spenser, Sidney, Shakespeare, Wyatt, and Drayton, with particular attention to sonnets and The Faerie Queene.
ENG 626. Studies in English Renaissance Literature. (3 h)
Selected topics in Renaissance literature. Consideration of texts and their cultural background. May be repeated once for credit pending approval of instructor.
ENG 627. Milton. (3 h)
The poetry and selected prose of John Milton with emphasis on Paradise Lost.
ENG 628. 17th-Century British Literature. (3 h)
Poetry of Donne, Herbert, Vaughan, Marvel, Crashaw, prose of Bacon, Burton, Browne, Walton. Consideration of religious, political, and scientific backgrounds.
ENG 630. Restoration and 18th-Century British Literature. (3 h)
Representative poetry and prose, exclusive of the novel, drawn from Addison, Steele, Defoe, Swift, Pope, Johnson, and Boswell. Consideration of cultural backgrounds and significant literary trends.
ENG 633. Jane Austen. (3 h)
An intensive study of the works of the British novelist Jane Austen and her cultural contexts.
ENG 635. Eighteenth-Century British Fiction. (3 h)
Primarily the fiction of Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, Sterne, and Austen.
ENG 636. Restoration and Eighteenth-Century British Drama. (3 h)
British drama from 1660 to 1780, including representative plays by Dryden, Etherege, Wycherley, Congreve, Goldsmith, and Sheridan. Kairoff.
ENG 637. Studies in 18th-Century British Literature. (3 h)
Selected topics in 18th-century literature. Consideration of texts and their cultural background.
ENG 638. Studies in Gender and Literature. (3 h)
Thematic and/or theoretical approaches to the study of gender in literature.
ENG 639. Studies in Sexuality and Literature. (3 h)
Thematic and/or theoretical approaches to sexuality within literary studies.
ENG 640. Studies in Women and Literature. (3 h)
Women writers in society. May be repeated when the course is taught by a different professor on a different topic.
ENG 641. Literature and the Environment. (3 h)
This course studies the relationship between environmental experience and literary representation.
ENG 644. Studies in Poetry. (3 h)
Selected topics in poetry. May be repeated when the course is taught by a different professor on a different topic.
ENG 645. Studies in Fiction. (3 h)
Selected topics in fiction. May be repeated when the course is taught by a different professor on a different topic.
ENG 646. Studies in Theatre. (3 h)
Selected topics in drama. May be repeated when the course is taught by a different professor on a different topic.
ENG 647. Internship in the Major. (1.5 h)
Internship that involves both hands-on experience and academic study. Students will partner with a literature faculty member to integrate work in the community and engagement with his or her academic plan of study.
ENG 648. English Studies and the Professions. (1.5 h)
A practicum course focused on career design and career planning, specific to career options in humanities fields. The course will broaden awareness of career opportunities available to English graduate students. Pass-fail only. Cannot be repeated.
ENG 650. British Romantic Poets. (3 h)
A review of the beginnings of Romanticism in British literature, followed by a study of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Keats, and Shelley; collateral reading in the prose of the period.
ENG 651. Studies in Romanticism. (3 h)
Selected topics in European and/or American Romanticism with a focus on comparative, interdisciplinary, and theoretical approaches to literature.
ENG 653. Nineteenth-Century British Fiction. (3 h)
Representative major works by Dickens, Eliot, Thackeray, Hardy, the Brontes, and others.
ENG 654. Victorian Poetry. (3 h)
A study of the Brownings, Tennyson, Hopkins, and Arnold or another Victorian poet.
ENG 656. Literature of the Caribbean. (3 h)
Readings include significant works by authors from the Caribbean and authors writing about the Caribbean. Critical, historical, and cultural approaches are emphasized. All texts are in English.
ENG 657. Studies in Chicano/a Literature. (3 h)
Writings by Americans of Mexican descent in relation to politics and history. Readings in literature, literary criticism, and sociocultural analysis.
ENG 658. Postcolonial Literature. (3 h)
Survey of representative examples of postcolonial literature from geographically diverse writers, emphasizing issues of politics, nationalism, gender, and class.
ENG 659. Studies in Postcolonial Literature. (3 h)
Examination of themes and issues in postcolonial literature, such as: globalization, postcolonialism and hybridity, feminism, nationalism, ethnic and religious conflict, the impact of the Cold War, and race and class.
ENG 660. Studies in Victorian Literature. (3 h)
Selected topics such as development of genres, major authors and texts, cultural influences. Reading in poetry, fiction, autobiography, and other prose.
ENG 661. Literature and Science. (3 h)
Literature of and about science. Topics vary and may include literature and medicine, the two-culture debate, poetry and science, nature in literature, and the body in literature.
ENG 662. Irish Literature in the 20th-Century. (3 h)
Study of modern Irish literature from the writers of the Irish Literary Renaissance to contemporary writers. Course consists of overviews of the period as well as specific considerations of genre and of individual writers.
ENG 663. Studies in Modernism. (3 h)
Selected issues in Modernism. Interdisciplinary, comparative, and theoretical approaches to works and authors.
ENG 664. Studies in Literary Criticism. (3 h)
Consideration of certain figures and schools of thought significant in the history of literary criticism.
ENG 665. Twentieth-Century British Fiction. (3 h)
A study of Conrad, Ford, Forster, Joyce, Lawrence, Woolf and later British writers, with attention to their social and intellectual backgrounds.
ENG 666. James Joyce. (3 h)
The major works by Joyce, with an emphasis on Ulysses.
ENG 667. Twentieth-Century English Poetry. (3 h)
A study of 20th-century poets of the English language, exclusive of the U.S. Poets will be read in relation to the literary and social history of the period.
ENG 668. Studies in Irish Literature. (3 h)
The development of Irish literature from the 18th-century through the early 20th-century in historical perspective, with attention to issues of linguistic and national identity.
ENG 669. Modern Drama. (3 h)
Main currents in modern drama from 19th-century realism and naturalism through symbolism and expressionism. After an introduction to European precursors, the course focuses on representative plays by Wilde, Shaw, Synge, Yeats, O’Neill, Eliot, Hellman, Wilder, Williams, Hansberry, and Miller.
ENG 670. American Literature to 1820. (3 h)
Origins and development of American literature and thought in representative writing of the Colonial, Revolutionary, and Federal periods.
ENG 671. American Ethnic Literature. (3 h)
Introduction to the field of American Ethnic literature, with special emphasis on post World War II formations of ethnic culture: Asian American, Native American, African American, Latino, and Jewish American. The course highlights issues, themes, and stylistic innovations particular to each ethnic group and examines currents in the still developing American culture.
ENG 672. American Romanticism. (3 h)
Studies of Romanticism in American literature. Focus varies by topic and genre, to include such writers as Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman, and Dickinson.
ENG 673. Literature and Film. (3 h)
Selected topics in the relationship between literature and film, such as adaptations of literary works, the study of narrative, and the development of literary and cinematic genres.
ENG 674. American Fiction before 1865. (3 h)
Novels and short fiction by such writers as Brockden Brown, Cooper, Irving, Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, Stowe, and Davis.
ENG 675. American Drama. (3 h)
An historical overview of drama in America, covering such playwrights as Boucicault, O’Neill, Hellman, Wilder, Williams, Inge, Miller, Hansberry, Albee, Shepard, Norman, Mamet, and Wilson.
ENG 676. American Poetry before 1900. (3 h)
Readings and critical analysis of American poetry from its beginnings, including Bradstreet, Emerson, Longfellow, Melville, and Poe, with particular emphasis on Whitman and Dickinson.
ENG 677. American Jewish Literature. (3 h)
Survey of writings on Jewish topics or experiences by American Jewish writers. Explores cultural and generational conflicts, responses to social change, the impact of the Shoah (Holocaust) on American Jews, and the challenges of language and form posed by Jewish and non-Jewish artistic traditions.
ENG 678. Literature of the American South. (3 h)
Study of Southern literature from its beginnings to the present, with emphasis upon such major writers as Tate, Warren, Faulkner, O'Connor, Welty, and Styron.
ENG 679. Literary Forms of the American Personal Narrative. (3 h)
Reading and critical analysis of autobiographical texts in which the ideas, style, and point of view of the writer are examined to demonstrate how these works contribute to an understanding of pluralism in American culture. Representative authors include Douglass, Brent, Hurston, Wright, Kingston, Angelou, Wideman, Sarton, Hellman, and Dillard.
ENG 680. American Fiction from 1865 to 1915. (3 h)
Study of such writers as Twain, James, Howells, Crane, Dreiser, Wharton, and Cather.
ENG 681. Studies in African American Literature. (3 h)
Reading and critical analysis of selected fiction, poetry, drama, and other writings by American authors of African descent. May be repeated once for credit if topic varies.
ENG 682. Modern American Fiction, 1915 to 1965. (3 h)
Includes such writers as Cather, Lewis, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Dos Passos, Wolfe, Baldwin, Ellison, Agee, O'Connor, Styron, Percy, and Pynchon.
ENG 685. Twentieth-Century American Poetry. (3 h)
Readings of modern American poetry in relation to the literary and social history of the period.
ENG 686. Directed Reading. (1-3 h)
A tutorial in an area of study not otherwise provided by the department; granted upon departmental approval of petition presented by a qualified student.
ENG 687. African-American Fiction. (3 h)
Selected topics in the development of fiction by American writers of African descent. May be repeated once for credit if topic varies.
ENG 689. African-American Poetry. (3 h)
Readings of works by American poets of African descent in theoretical, critical, and historical contexts.
ENG 690. The Structure of English. (3 h)
Introduction to the principles and techniques of modern linguistics applied to contemporary American English.
ENG 691. Studies in Postmodernism. (3 h)
Interdisciplinary, comparative, and theoretical approaches to works and authors.
ENG 693. Multicultural American Drama. (3 h)
Examines the dramatic works of playwrights from various racial and ethnic communities such as Asian American, Native American, and Latino. Includes consideration of issues, themes, style, and form.
ENG 694. Contemporary Drama. (3 h)
Considers experiments in form and substance in plays from Godot to the present. Readings cover such playwrights as Beckett, Osborne, Pinter, Stoppard, Churchill, Wertenbaker, Albee, Shepard, Mamet, Wilson, Soyinka, and Fugard.
ENG 695. Contemporary American Literature. (3 h)
Study of post-World War II American poetry and fiction by such writers as Bellow, Gass, Barth, Pynchon, Morrison, Ashbery, Ammons, Bishop, and Rich.
ENG 696. Contemporary British FIction. (3 h)
Study of the British novel and short story, with particular focus on the multicultural aspects of British life, including works by Rushdie, Amis, Winterson, and Ishiguro.
ENG 700. Teaching Internship. (1.5 h)
An internship for the observation and practice of undergraduate pedagogy, placing an MA student into a core literature, writing, or creative writing course taught by a permanent faculty member, typically in the first semester of the student’s second year. Arranged by permission or invitation of the supervising faculty member. Must be taken as an overload in addition to the coursework for the degree. May be repeated for credit for a maximum of 3 hours.
ENG 701. Individual Authors. (3 h)
Study of selected works from an important American, English, or Global Anglophone author.
ENG 702. Ideas in Literature. (3 h)
Study of a significant literary theme in selected works. May be repeated for credit if topic varies.
ENG 703. Introduction to Composition Studies. (3 h)
This graduate seminar offers an introduction to the field of Composition Studies (also known as Composition-Rhetoric). Students examine the field's historical perspectives, research traditions, guiding theories and constructs, classroom practices, and approaches to writing assessment.
ENG 704. Studies in Rhetorical Theory and Criticism. (3 h)
In this graduate seminar, students explore major issues and perspectives in rhetorical theory, including histories of rhetoric, elements of rhetorical criticism, and methods of rhetorical analysis. May be repeated once.
ENG 705. Special Topics in Writing Studies. (3 h)
In this graduate seminar, students examine significant writing theories and practices focused on one area of study within the international field of Writing Studies. May be repeated once.
ENG 707. Workshop in Prose. (3 h)
This graduate workshop is meant to improve and consolidate prose-writing skills and expand artistic ambitions, preparing students for further study (an MFA or PhD program) or a career in writing, editing, or teaching. May be repeated once.
ENG 708. Workshop in Poetry. (3 h)
This graduate workshop is meant to improve and consolidate poetry-writing skills and expand artistic ambitions, preparing students for further study (an MFA or PhD program) or a career in writing, editing, or teaching. May be repeated once.
ENG 709. Special Topics in Creative Writing. (3 h)
This graduate workshop is meant to develop students' creative writing skills in one or more genres in the context of a particular topic, as well as to expand artistic ambitions and prepare students for further study (an MFA or PhD program) or a career in writing, editing, or teaching. May be repeated once.
ENG 710. Early Medieval Narrative. (3 h)
A variety of forms of early medieval narrative (history, saga, chronicle, poetry, hagiography), with a focus on issues of genre and narrative form, connections between story and history, and the text's relation to the culture that produced it. Emphasis is on interdisciplinary viewpoints (artistic, archaeological, geographic), and on contemporary narrative theory.
ENG 711. Arthurian Legend. (3 h)
Emphasis is on the origin and developments of the Arthurian legend in England and France, with primary focus on Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. Attention to social and intellectual backgrounds.
ENG 712. Studies in Medieval Literature: Romance and Identity. (3 h)
A diverse corpus of medieval poetry, both lyric and narrative, is explored in an effort to trace the origin and evolution of the idea and meaning of “romance,” a term signifying, for the medieval audience, narrative poetry in the vernacular, and, for our purposes, that uniquely new concept of ennobling love that emerged in the 12th century.
ENG 715. Studies in Chaucer. (3 h)
Emphasis on selected Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, and the longer minor works, with attention to social, critical, and intellectual background. Lectures, reports, discussions, and a critical paper.
ENG 720. Renaissance Drama. (3 h)
Using an historical approach, this seminar examines the relationship between the theater as an institution and centers of authority during the Tudor and Stuart periods. The plays—tragedies, comedies, tragicomedies—are approached as the products of a dynamic exchange between individual authors and the larger political and social concerns of the period.
ENG 721. Studies in Spenser. (3 h)
Emphasis on The Faerie Queene; attention to the minor works; intellectual and critical background. Lectures, discussions, and class papers. Ettin.
ENG 722. Studies in 16th-Century British Literature. (3 h)
Introduction to critical and scholarly methodology for the study of the literature; particular emphasis on Spenser's Faerie Queene and Sidney's Arcadia.
ENG 723. Studies in Shakespeare. (3 h)
Representative text from all genres, examined in light of critical methodologies in the field of Shakespeare studies. Emphasis is on reading primary sources as well as on discussion of the impact that historical, cultural, and religious developments had on Shakespeare, the theater, and the thematics of his plays.
ENG 725. Studies in 17th-Century British Literature. (3 h)
Non-dramatic literature of the 17th century, exclusive of Milton. Emphasis on selected major writers. Lectures, discussions, and presentation of studies by members of the class.
ENG 727. Studies in 17th-Century British Literature: Primarily Milton. (3 h)
The work of John Milton, primarily Paradise Lost, within its cultural environment. Some attention to connections between Milton's writings and that of his contemporaries.
ENG 729. Early Modern Literature. (3 h)
Introduction to Early Modern literature, spanning a variety of genres, periods, and regions and including historical contexts, critical methodologies, and secondary criticism in Early Modern studies.
ENG 733. 18th-Century British Fiction. (3 h)
A study of two major British novelists of the 18th century. Lectures, reports, critical papers. Authors for study chosen from the following: Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Smollet, and Austen.
ENG 737. Studies in Restoration and 18th-Century British Literature. (3 h)
Selected topics in Restoration and 18th-century literature. Consideration of texts and their cultural background.
ENG 740. Studies in Gender and Literature. (3 h)
An examination of selected writers and/or theoretical questions focusing on issues of gender.
ENG 741. Studies in Sexuality and Literature. (3 h)
Thematic and/or theoretical approaches to sexuality within literary studies.
ENG 743. Nineteenth-Century British Fiction. (3 h)
Study of one or more major British novelists of the 19th century. Lectures, reports, discussions, and a critical paper. Authors for study chosen from the following: Austen, Dickens, Thackeray, Eliot, and Hardy.
ENG 745. British Poetry of the 19th and 20th Centuries. (3 h)
Study of several British poets chosen from the major Romantics, Tennyson, Browning, Hardy, and Yeats.
ENG 746. Studies in British Romanticism. (3 h)
Examination of major writers, topics, and/or theoretical issues from the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
ENG 757. American Poetry. (3 h)
Studies of the poetry and poetic theory of three major American writers in the 19th and 20th centuries. Writers chosen from the following: Whitman, Dickinson, Frost, Eliot, Stevens, or Williams. Discussions, reports, and a critical paper.
ENG 758. Studies in Modern Poetry. (3 h)
Theoretical issues and themes in 20th-century poetry.
ENG 759. Studies in Postcolonial Literature. (3 h)
Examination of themes and issues in postcolonial literature and/or theory such as globalization, identity and hybridity, feminism, nationalism, ethnic and religious conflict, the impact of neo-imperialism and economic policy, and race and class.
ENG 760. Studies in Victorian Literature. (3 h)
Selected topics such as development of genres, major authors and texts, and cultural influences of Victorian Literature. Readings in poetry, fiction and autobiography, and other prose.
ENG 763. Studies in Modernism. (3 h)
This course will examine selected issues in Modernism, from interdisciplinary, comparative, and theoretical approaches.
ENG 765. Literary Criticism. (3 h)
Review of historically significant problems in literary criticism, followed by study of the principal schools of 20th-century critical thought. Lectures, reports, discussions, and a paper of criticism.
ENG 766. Studies in 20th-Century British Literature. (3 h)
Examination of major writers, topics, and/or theoretical issues in 20th-century British literature. In addition to fiction, the course focuses on drama, theory, prose readings, and poetry.
ENG 767. Twentieth Century British Fiction. (3 h)
Study of one or more of the major British novelists of the 20th century. Authors chosen from among the following: Conrad, Ford, Forster, Joyce, Lawrence, or Woolf.
ENG 768. Irish Literature. (3 h)
Study of major themes, theories, individual authors, or periods, which might include discussions of mythology, folklore, landscape, poetics, narrative strategies, gender, and politics.
ENG 770. Studies in American Literature. (3 h)
Introduction to studies in American literatures, spanning a variety of genres, periods, and regions (U.S., Black Atlantic, Caribbean, Central American, South American, and hemispheric literatures), including historical contexts, critical methodologies, and secondary criticism in the field.
ENG 771. American Ethnic Literature. (3 h)
Examination of how ethnic writers narrate cultural histories and respond to and represent the ambiguity of cultural location. Literary topics include slavery, exile, the Holocaust, immigration, assimilation, and versions of the American Dream.
ENG 772. Studies in American Romanticism. (3 h)
Writers of the mid-19th century, including Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and Melville.
ENG 774. American Fiction Before 1865. (3 h)
Study of novels and short fiction by such writers as Brockden Brown, Cooper, Irving, Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, Stowe, and Davis.
ENG 776. American Poetry Before 1900. (3 h)
Close reading and critical analysis of selected American poets, such as Bryant, Longfellow, Poe, Emerson, Whitman, and Dickinson.
ENG 779. Autobiographical Voices: Race, Gender, Self-Portraiture. (3 h)
Using an historical and critical approach, this seminar examines autobiography as an activity which combines history, literary art, and self-revelation. Lectures, reports, discussions, a critical journal, a personal narrative, and a critical paper. Authors for study chosen from the following: Douglass, Brent, Hurston, Wright, Angelou, Crews, Dillard, Moody, Malcolm X, Kingston, Wideman, or Sarton.
ENG 780. Studies in American Fiction from 1865 to 1915. (3 h)
Study of the principal fiction of one or more major American writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Lectures, seminar reports, and a research paper. Authors for study chosen from the following: Twain, James, Howells, Adams, Crane, Dreiser, Wharton, or Cather.
ENG 781. African-American Literature and the American Tradition. (3 h)
Critical readings of selected works of major American writers of African descent within the contexts of the African-American and American literary and social traditions. Covers such genres as autiobiography, fiction, drama, and poetry. Lectures, reports, discussions, and a critial paper.
ENG 782. Studies in American Fiction from 1915 to 1965. (3 h)
Study of the principal fiction of one or more major American writers of the 20th century. Writers are chosen from the following: Cather, Lewis, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Dos Passos, Wolfe, Baldwin, Ellison, Agee, O’Connor, Percy, or Pynchon.
ENG 783. Contemporary American Fiction. (3 h)
Seminar devoted to the close study of some of the most important novels produced in the United States since World War II.
ENG 784. Contemporary American Poetry. (3 h)
Seminar devoted to the close study of some of the most important poems written in America since World War II.
ENG 786. Directed Reading. (1-3 h)
A tutorial in an area of study not otherwise provided by the department; granted upon departmental approval of petition presented by a qualified student. May be repeated for credit if topic varies.
ENG 789. Linguistics in Literature. (3 h)
Examination of theories of grammar and attitudes toward the English language reflected in the literature of selected periods.
ENG 791. Thesis Research I. (1-9 h)
May be repeated for credit. Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory.
ENG 792. Thesis Research II. (1-9 h)
May be repeated for credit. Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory.