Fall 2023
ENGL 201: Introduction to English Studies I
Dr. Samuel Smith
MWF, 10:00-10:50
This course emphasizes close reading skills and methods of literary analysis in three major genres – poetry, fiction, and drama. Students read selected literary texts from American, British, and Global Non-Western traditions in the context of the kinds of questions explored in the English major curriculum.
ENGL 203: Introduction to Creative Writing
Dr. Matt Roth
TR, 11:55-1:10
This course is a multi-genre introduction to creative writing. Students examine the craft of writing by reading closely across a broad spectrum of literary genres and producing creative work of their own. Students write, workshop, and revise original poetry and fiction while participating in a collaborative writing community.
ENGL 316: Fiction Workshop
Professor Ryan Rickrode
T,R 2:45-4:00
This upper-level creative writing workshop provides instruction, practice, and an audience for the writing of original contemporary short fiction. By reading, talking about, writing, and workshopping short fiction, students develop an understanding of conventional and contemporary practice in fiction writing, and skills, working habits, and attitudes appropriate to those who wish to write fiction of diverse genres. Prerequisite: ENGL 203.
ENGL 325: Writing Studies
Dr. Brooke Dunbar-Treadwell
MWF, 1:00-1:50
This course introduces current theory and pedagogical practices in writing studies. Students examine various notions of writing and the implications of these for their own practices as writers, editors, tutors, or prospective teachers.
ENGL 341: Emily Dickinson
Dr. Kerry Hasler-Brooks
MWF 12:00-12:50
In this course students will read extensively in the poetry and letters of Emily Dickinson, one of the most influential and experimental poets of the 19th century. Students will read Dickinson in the context of her lived history, putting her writing in material context by exploring (virtually!) her home, gardens, and surviving manuscripts; in cultural and literary context by reading writers that worked around her like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Edgar Allan Poe; and in social and political context by examining contemporary debates during her lifetime such as women’s rights, abolition, and war. Students will also explore Dickinson’s evolving legacy, specifically her influence on 20th-century writers like Sylvia Plath and Marilynne Robinson and 21st-century film/television adaptations and inventions of Dickinson’s life. This course fulfills the Questions of Literature and History requirements in the current curriculum and the American Literature before 1900 requirement in the outgoing curriculum.
ENGL 364: Shakespeare
Dr. Samuel Smith
MWF 9:0-9:50 am
This course examines selected plays by Shakespeare with special attention to how he reworks generic forms such as comedy, history, tragedy, and romance both in relation to previous drama and in relation to his own plays. Shakespeare is unique in the way he reworks his own revisions to traditions in dramatic genres. This course may survey multiple genres or focus on a single genre such as comedy or tragedy. This course fulfills the Questions of Form, Genre, and Craft requirements in the current curriculum and the British Literature before 1800 requirement in the outgoing curriculum.
ENGL 357: Postcolonial / World Literature
Dr. Samuel Smith
TR, 1:20-2:35
ENGL 357 Postcolonial World Literature, Fall 2023
We will read some of the finest non-Western fiction from the second half of the twentieth century, with some attention to literary representations of the legacy of the British Empire by writers from that empire’s former colonies. Texts will include five novels: Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (India/Pakistan), Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s The Devil on the Cross (Kenya), Ibrahim Nasrallah’s Time of White Horses (Palestine/Arabia), Chris Abani’s Grace Land (Nigeria), Mo Yan’s Sandalwood Death (China); and one epic poem: Derek Walcott’s Omeros (Saint Lucia, West Indies). This course fulfills the Questions of Culture, Identity, and Power requirement.
ENGL 495: Language, Literature, and Writing Seminar
Dr. Matt Roth
TR, 10:30-11:45
Seminar students collectively explore, research, and reflect on the discipline and vocation of language, literature, and writing. Through collective reading, significant discussion, and individual writing projects, students will demonstrate ethical analysis of cultures and texts, articulate the integration of Christian faith in field related to their areas of study, and explore vocational opportunities in those fields of study.
* Formerly ENGL 494 and 496.
The semester schedules below reflect our best understanding of course offerings in the next several semesters. These schedules, however, may change. All changes will be communicated as much in advance as possible.
Spring 2024
ENGL 202: Introduction to English Studies II
ENGL 230: Linguistics
ENGL 270: Critical Theory
ENGL 313: Free Verse Workshop
ENGL 326: Writing for the Workplace
ENGL 334: Victorian Literature
Questions of Faith and Literature / British Literature after 1800
ENGL 355: American Women’s Writing
Questions of Culture, Identity, and Power / American Literature after 1900
ENGL 380: Vocation Seminar
Fall 2024
ENGL 201: Introduction to English Studies I
ENGL 203: Introduction to Creative Writing
ENGL 307: Teaching English in Secondary Schools
ENGL 314: Playwriting
ENGL 321: Editing and Small Presses
ENGL 343: Medieval Renaissance
Questions of Literature and History
ENGL 365: Young Adult Literature
Question of Form, Genre, Craft
ENGL 495: Language, Literature, and Writing Seminar
Spring 2025
ENGL 202: Introduction to English Studies II
ENGL 204: Introduction to Professional Writing
ENGL 270: Critical Theory
ENGL 312: Formal Poetry Workshop
ENGL 322: Nature and Travel Writing
ENGL 333: Milton
Questions of Faith and Literature
ENGL 346: Modernism
Questions of Literature and History
ENGL 355: Toni Morrison and Marilynne Robinson
Questions of Culture, Identity, and Power
ENGL 380: Vocation Seminar
Fall 2025
ENGL 201: Introduction to English Studies I
ENGL 203: Introduction to Creative Writing
ENGL 315: Literary Nonfiction
ENGL 325: Writing Studies
ENGL 332: Slavery and Abolition in Literature
Questions of Faith and Literature
ENGL 357: Postcolonial / World Literature
Questions of Culture, Identity, and Power
ENGL 361: Short Story Cycles
Question of Form, Genre, Craft
ENGL 495: Language, Literature, and Writing Seminar
SPRING 2026
ENGL 202: Introduction to English Studies II
ENGL 230: Linguistics
ENGL 270: Critical Theory
ENGL 311: Spoken Word
ENGL 327: Magazine Writing
ENGL 345 Romanticism Questions of Literature and History
ENGL 353: Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the U.S. Questions of Culture, Identity, and Power
ENGL 380: Vocation Seminar