Majoring and Minoring

For complete information about majoring and minoring, see the online catalog.

Majoring

The major requires 40 credits, including:

• English 205 and English 206. A two-semester survey of literature in English from the medieval period through the present.
• Two 300-level courses in earlier literature. Options include Chaucer; Shakespeare: Later Works; Satire and Sentiment, 1660-1780; and The Early English Novel. For a complete list of courses that will fulfill this requirement (Category I) see the online catalog.
• Two 300-level courses in more recent literature. Options include The Romantics; National Sins and National Dreams: American Literature 1830-1865; American Modernism; Postcolonial Literature: Anglophone Africa, India, and the Caribbean; Fiction Writing II; and Poetry Writing. Students may fulfill this requirement with two literature courses OR one literature course and one creative writing course. For a complete list of courses that will fulfill this requirement (Category II) see the online catalog.
• Three electives at any level. Options include Experimental Fiction; Literature and Animal Rights; From Scroll to Codex: Working with Medieval Manuscripts; Gender and Aesthetic Expression; Fiction I; and Introduction to Poetry and Poetry Writing. For a complete list of courses that will fulfill the electives requirements, see the online catalog.
• English 450. A one-semester senior seminar. Recent topics have included John Keats; Virginia Woolf; and the Literature of American Slavery.

Minoring 

The minor requires 24 credits, including:

• English 250 or English 206.
• Two 300-level literature courses.
• Three electives at any level.

For a complete list of the categories and corresponding courses that satisfy them, see the online catalog.

Creative Writing

Majors and minors may add a concentration in creative writing to the degree in English. In order to earn the concentration, students must complete the structured sequence in either fiction or poetry.

• We offer structured sequences of courses in both fiction and poetry as well as a class in creative nonfiction.
• You may count up to four creative writing courses towards the major and/or add a concentration in creative writing to your degree.

Fiction

• English 200.
• English 300.
• English 400.

Poetry

• English 201.
• English 301.
• English 401.