English

Browse Majors & Minors

<div class="lw_blurbs_body"><h4> Colonial Legacies</h4><p> Does “American literature” begin with the arrival of English colonizers, with Spanish conquest, or with the pre-Columbian traditions of indigenous peoples of the Americas? In ENG 260, the story of American literature is always also a question about the legacy of colonization on both the colonized and the colonizer.</p><p><strong>Image:</strong> John Gadsby Chapman, <em>The Baptism of Pocahontas</em> (1839). U.S. Capitol.</p></div><div class="lw_blurbs_tags" style="display:none;"><span class="lw_item_tags"><a href="/live/tags/American%20lit1/type/blurbs">American lit1</a></span></div>
<div class="lw_blurbs_body"><h4> Arthurian Legends</h4><p> How and why do Victorian and 20th-century British writers revive the legend of King Arthur? Dr. Chen’s ENG 380 explores literary and film adaptations of Arthurian legend in order to ask how Arthurian legend and the concept of chivalry play a role in British myth-making and national identity. </p><p><strong>Image:</strong> Burne-Jones tapestry, Arming and Departure of Knights (detail)</p></div><div class="lw_blurbs_tags" style="display:none;"><span class="lw_item_tags"><a href="/live/tags/King%20Arthur/type/blurbs">King Arthur</a></span></div>
<div class="lw_blurbs_body"><h4> African American Literature</h4><p> How did slavery and oppression shape African American expression? What was the role of the oral tradition and folk culture in early explorations of a “black aesthetic’? Why are musical traditions like the spiritual and the blues important to many African American writers? How do literary movements like the Harlem Renaissance impact American culture at large?</p><p><strong>Image:</strong> Archibald Motley Jr., <em>Nightlife</em> (1943). Art Institute of Chicago.</p></div><div class="lw_blurbs_tags" style="display:none;"><span class="lw_item_tags"><a href="/live/tags/African%20American/type/blurbs">African American</a><span class="lw_comma">,</span> <a href="/live/tags/English/type/blurbs">English</a><span class="lw_comma">,</span> <a href="/live/tags/Literature/type/blurbs">Literature</a></span></div>
<div class="lw_blurbs_body"><h4> Shakespeare</h4><p> Shakespeare’s plays construct a complex and rich picture both of the society of Elizabethan England and of the human condition itself. ENG 354 explores a range of Shakespeare’s work in the context of the culture of Elizabethan England and with particular attention to the role of performance in understanding Shakespeare’s plays.</p><p><strong>Image:</strong> Edward Abbey, <em>King Lear, Act I, Scene 1</em> (1897-98). Metropolitan Museum of Art.</p></div><div class="lw_blurbs_tags" style="display:none;"><span class="lw_item_tags"><a href="/live/tags/Shakespeare/type/blurbs">Shakespeare</a></span></div>
<div class="lw_blurbs_body"><h4> Digital Rhetoric<strong><br/></strong></h4><p> How do we persuade and think rhetorically in digital contexts? How do digital environments change the way we think, write, and read? ENG 202 explores the rhetorical dimensions of multi-modal writing — writing that appeals through word, image, sound and hypertextuality — and of communicating and persuading through social media.</p></div><div class="lw_blurbs_tags" style="display:none;"><span class="lw_item_tags"><a href="/live/tags/digital%20rhetoric/type/blurbs">digital rhetoric</a></span></div>
<div class="lw_blurbs_body"><h4> Transatlantic 18th Century</h4><p> Why do themes of love, seduction, and revolution dominate the early novel? ENG 360 explores the intersections between the rise of the novel, the rise of the middle class, and circulation of new concepts of political and sexual freedom across the Atlantic, including Britain, the Americas, and France.</p><p><strong>Image:</strong> Jean-Honoré Fragonard, <em>Le Verrou</em> (1777). Louvre Museum.</p></div><div class="lw_blurbs_tags" style="display:none;"><span class="lw_item_tags"><a href="/live/tags/18th%20century/type/blurbs">18th century</a></span></div>
<div class="lw_blurbs_body"><h4> Creative Non-Fiction</h4><p> Prose does not have to be fiction to be literary. This workshop explores the craft of creative non-fiction, using essay and narrative to explore the factual, the autobiographical, and even the philosophical. Central to the course is cultivating the habit of art.</p><p><strong>Image</strong>: Cheryl Kunde, White Water</p></div><div class="lw_blurbs_tags" style="display:none;"><span class="lw_item_tags"><a href="/live/tags/Creative%20Non-fiction/type/blurbs">Creative Non-fiction</a><span class="lw_comma">,</span> <a href="/live/tags/Creative%20Writing/type/blurbs">Creative Writing</a><span class="lw_comma">,</span> <a href="/live/tags/nature/type/blurbs">nature</a></span></div>

The Power of Words.

Reading literature is not just an entertaining pastime. It helps you understand yourself and others. By reading, we learn to read individuals, read cultures, and understand how language works to shape both. By writing, we learn to analyze, synthesize, and become powerful critical and creative thinkers.

Our majors know the power of words. They practice how to persuade, how to dissect and analyze, and most of all, how to build complex and beautiful things, whether it be a poem, a piece of fiction, or an interpretative essay.

Our graduates are prepared, whether the next step is graduate school or a profession. You don’t need to take our word for that, though. Listen to their own stories about why majoring in English mattered.

Meet a Scot

<span class="lw_profiles_image lw_item_thumb lw_image"><picture> <source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/gid/136/width/200/height/200/crop/1/src_region/109,144,949,984/8107_brandtayoub11.rev.1510101394.webp 1x"/> <source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/gid/136/width/200/height/200/crop/1/src_region/109,144,949,984/8107_brandtayoub11.rev.1510101394.jpg 1x"/> <img src="/live/image/gid/136/width/200/height/200/crop/1/src_region/109,144,949,984/8107_brandtayoub11.rev.1510101394.jpg" alt="Brandt Ayoub" loading="lazy"/> </picture> </span><div class="lw_profiles_name"><a href="/live/profiles/5993-">Brandt Ayoub</a></div><div class="lw_profiles_2"/><div class="lw_profiles_59"/><div class="lw_profiles_30"/><div class="lw_profiles_31"/><div class="lw_profiles_53">a 9th grade English teacher.</div>
<span class="lw_profiles_image lw_item_thumb lw_image"><picture> <source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/gid/92/width/200/height/200/crop/1/4261_scott_casey.rev.1510102411.webp 1x"/> <source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/gid/92/width/200/height/200/crop/1/4261_scott_casey.rev.1510102411.jpg 1x"/> <img src="/live/image/gid/92/width/200/height/200/crop/1/4261_scott_casey.rev.1510102411.jpg" alt="Scott Robert Casey" loading="lazy"/> </picture> </span><div class="lw_profiles_name"><a href="/live/profiles/3798-">Scott Robert Casey</a></div><div class="lw_profiles_2"/><div class="lw_profiles_59"/><div class="lw_profiles_30"/><div class="lw_profiles_31"/><div class="lw_profiles_53">a middle school German teacher</div>
<span class="lw_profiles_image lw_item_thumb lw_image"><picture> <source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/gid/91/width/200/height/200/crop/1/src_region/120,38,358,276/7695_ruthclendenin93.rev.1510102409.webp 1x"/> <source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/gid/91/width/200/height/200/crop/1/src_region/120,38,358,276/7695_ruthclendenin93.rev.1510102409.jpg 1x"/> <img src="/live/image/gid/91/width/200/height/200/crop/1/src_region/120,38,358,276/7695_ruthclendenin93.rev.1510102409.jpg" alt="Ruth Clendenin" loading="lazy"/> </picture> </span><div class="lw_profiles_name"><a href="/live/profiles/5905-">Ruth Clendenin</a></div><div class="lw_profiles_2"/><div class="lw_profiles_59"/><div class="lw_profiles_30"/><div class="lw_profiles_31"/><div class="lw_profiles_53">a Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Littlefield, Texas and Stated Clerk of Palo Duro Presbytery, Lubbock, Texas.</div>
<span class="lw_profiles_image lw_item_thumb lw_image"><picture> <source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/gid/136/width/200/height/200/crop/1/6570_81cba6_2f124906ed27470f8a5c1e5608faa5ddjpg_srz_p_492_299_75_22_050_120_0.rev.1414585600.webp 1x"/> <source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/gid/136/width/200/height/200/crop/1/6570_81cba6_2f124906ed27470f8a5c1e5608faa5ddjpg_srz_p_492_299_75_22_050_120_0.rev.1414585600.jpg 1x"/> <img src="/live/image/gid/136/width/200/height/200/crop/1/6570_81cba6_2f124906ed27470f8a5c1e5608faa5ddjpg_srz_p_492_299_75_22_050_120_0.rev.1414585600.jpg" alt="Mary Donley" loading="lazy"/> </picture> </span><div class="lw_profiles_name"><a href="/live/profiles/5606-">Mary Donley</a></div><div class="lw_profiles_2"/><div class="lw_profiles_59"/><div class="lw_profiles_30"/><div class="lw_profiles_31"/><div class="lw_profiles_53">a member of Teach for America, teaching in a multicultural, low-income, inner city school teaching history and English language arts to grades 8-12.</div>

English

Browse Majors & Minors

The Power of Words.

Recent Stories

Plaid Works