GRADUATE COURSES in english
Note: Admission to ENG 502/503 and 506/507 is by permission of instructor only. If you wish to take one of these classes, please follow the new admission guidelines, which you can find here.
ENG 502 - Prose Fiction Writing I
The craft and art of creating plot, character, scene, conflict, and style. Scheduled fall and spring semesters. Prerequisite: ENG 406 or departmental permission. Always scheduled. 3 credits.
ENG 503 - Prose Fiction Writing II
Further practice in the craft and art of creating plot, character, scene, conflict, and style. Scheduled fall and spring semesters. Prerequisite: ENG 502 or departmental permission. This course may be repeated for credit. Always scheduled. 3 credits.
ENG 504 - The Teaching of Writing
Primarily for teachers in the junior high and the senior high school; explores one or more methods of teaching writing. This is not a course in teaching remedial writing. Scheduled fall and summer semesters. 3 credits.
ENG 505 - Applied English Linguistics
The structure and idiom of American English, levels of usage, phonetics, old and new concepts of language, and other related developments. Scheduled fall and summer semesters. 3 credits.
ENG 506 - The Writing of Poetry I
The craft and art of writing poetry. Scheduled fall and spring semesters. Prerequisite: ENG 402 or departmental permission. Always scheduled. 3 credits.
ENG 507 - The Writing of Poetry II
Further practice in the craft and art of writing poetry. Scheduled fall and spring semesters. Prerequisite: Departmental permission. This course may be repeated for credit. Always scheduled. 3 credits.
ENG 508 - Contemporary Critical Theory
Twentieth century critical theory, including Marxist, feminist, post-colonial, African American, post-structuralist, deconstructionist, and psychoanalytical approaches to texts. Scheduled fall of even years. 3 credits.
ENG 509 - Contemporary Poetic Theory
Intensive study of contemporary poetic theory with an emphasis on its development in twentieth-century American poetry. Prerequisite: 6 credits in literature. Scheduled irregularly. 3 credits.
ENG 510 - History of the English Language
The forces that have helped shape the character of the English language. Scheduled every spring. 3 credits.
ENG 514 - English Medieval Literature
Readings in Middle English including the more remarkable achievements in English verse and prose between 1050 and 1500, their forms, themes, and language. Scheduled every third spring. 3 credits.
ENG 515 - Writing the Novel I
Practice and instruction in developing characters, conflict, plot,and theme in a long fictional work. Prerequisite: department permission. Scheduled irregularly. 3 credits.
ENG 516 - Writing the Novel II
Further practice and instruction in novel writing. Prerequisite: ENG 515 or department permission. This course may be repeated for credit. Scheduled irregularly. 3 credits.
ENG 517 - Research Methods and Critical Theory
Specialized literary research techniques and foundational theoretical and critical approaches to literary texts. Required course for M.A. and M.S. Scheduled every fall and spring. 3 credits.
ENG 518 - Philosophy of Composition
An introduction to the field of knowledge within English studies known as college composition, including its history and structure, theoretical issues and applications, directions in research, and instructional paradigms. Scheduled irregularly. 3 credits.
ENG 519 - Teaching College Writing
An examination of pedagogical theory and theories of teaching college writing in order to prepare students to conceptualize, develop, and teachfirst-year composition courses. Required for first semester Graduate Assistants; Graduate Assistants will take the course concurrently with ENG 597. 3 credits.
ENG 521 - Feminist Theory and Literary Criticism
Inquiry into the fundamental problems of feminist thought and the interrelationship of feminist theory, critical theory, and literary criticism. Cross-listed as WMS 521. Scheduled irregularly. 3 credits.
ENG 522 - Wright, Ellison, and Baldwin
A study of the works of Wright, Ellison, and Baldwin. This course will conduct an inquiry into the nature of race relations in contemporary American society. Scheduled spring semesters. 3 credits.
ENG 523 - Contemporary African - American Literature
A study of recent African-American novelists such as Morrison, Naylor, Johnson, and Wideman, with particular emphasis on emerging writers. Scheduled fall of even years. 3 credits. For Sample Syllabus, Click Here
ENG 524 - The Harlem Renaissance
A study of the works of the major poets and novelists of the period covering 1910-1930, including Toomer, Johnson, Thurman, McKay, Fauset, Larsen, and Hughes. Scheduled fall of odd years. 3 credits. For Sample Syllabus, Click Here
ENG 525 - 17th Century Poetry
The major poetry of the seventeenth century (excluding that of Shakespeare and Milton) in its various manifestations baroque, metaphysical, Cavalier, and mystical. Scheduled irregularly. 3 credits.
ENG 529 - African American Rhetorical Theory
An examination of African American rhetoric, with an emphasis on its contributions to movements for social change and historical constructionsof racial categories in the United States. Scheduled irregularly. 3 credits.
ENG 531 - Feminist Rhetorical Theory
An inquiry into feminist rhetoric within its different historical, social, economic, political, and material contexts and its impact on social change. Scheduled irregularly. 3 credits.
ENG 536 - Early Victorians: 1837-1870
Reading of major writers, other than novelists: Tennyson, Browning,
Arnold, Carlyle, Newman, Ruskin. 3 credits.
ENG 537 - Later Victorians: 1870-1914
Selected works by such writers as Swinburne, Hopkins, the Rosettis, Hardy, Mew, Mill, Morris, Pater, Nightingale, Shaw, and Wilde. Scheduled spring of even years. 3 credits.
ENG 538 - Victorian Novel
A study of the fiction of such writers as Dickens, Eliot, Gaskell, and Hardy with critical analyses of their style, structure, literary form, and sociopolitical contexts. Scheduled spring of odd years. 3 credits.
ENG 542 - Shakespeare
Representative plays by William Shakespeare: histories, comedies, and tragedies. This course assumes previous undergraduate study of Shakespeare. Scheduled spring of odd years. 3 credits.
ENG 552 - English Renaissance
An intensive study of the poetry, prose, and drama of the Elizabethan and Tudor periods, exclusive of Shakespeare. Focus on Spenser, Marlowe, Johnson, and Sidney. Scheduled every 5th semester. 3 credits.
ENG 555 - The 18th Century: Age of Satire
A study of significant poetry and prose of the ages of Pope and Johnson, including such authors as Pope, Swift, Addison, Steele, Gay, Gray, Goldsmith, Boswell and Johnson. Scheduled irregularly. 3 credits.
ENG 557 - Romantic Period
Romanticism as expressed in English prose and poetry during the early years of the nineteenth century. Scheduled spring of odd years. 3 credits.
ENG 559 - 20th Century English Literature
This survey of non-dramatic English literature since 1900 considers works of representative authors, as well as significant literary trends and intellectual developments. Scheduled irregularly. 3 credits.
ENG 562 - The American Novel Before 1850
The emergence of the American novel, with representative works of James Fenimore Cooper and his contemporaries. Scheduled irregularly. 3 credits.
ENG 564 - Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville
The "power of blackness" in these writers of the American Renaissance, examined against a background of the ideas and the general culture of their day. Scheduled every third spring semester beginning in 2004. 3 credits. For Sample Syllabus, Click Here
ENG 565 - Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman
The impact of transcendentalism on these writers of the American Renaissance in the context of their intellectual and cultural milieu. Scheduled every third spring semester beginning 2005. 3 credits.
ENG 566 - 20th Century American Poets
Such poets as Robinson, Frost, Stevens, Williams, Lowell, and Plath among others. Scheduled every third spring beginning 2006. 3 credits.
ENG 567 - Mark Twain, Howells, and James
An intensive study of these American realists in their cultural context. Scheduled irregularly 3 credits.
ENG 568 - American Novel: 1900-1945
Representative writers, such as Dreiser, Fitzgerald, Cather, Wharton, Hurston, Hemingway, Dos Passos, Steinbeck, and Faulkner, in their sociohistorical context. Scheduled fall of even years. 3 credits.
ENG 569 - American Novel Since 1945
Examination of major themes and authors in post-World War II fiction. Scheduled irregularly. 3 credits.
ENG 580 - Chaucer
An in-depth critical study of Chaucer's major works, Chaucer's language, and his relation to continental literary tradition. Scheduled fall semesters. 3 credits.
ENG 581 - Medieval Women and Literature
Consideration of texts composed by and/or for women and images of women in such texts. Typical figures include Marie de France, Heloise, Dame Julian, Margery Kempe, and Christine de Pizan. Scheduled every third spring beginning 2005. 3 credits.
ENG 583 - Arthurian Legend
Examination of the development of Arthurian legend during the medieval period, including mythological dimensions, historical contexts, literary forms, such as romance, and recurrent motifs, such as
the quest for the Grail. Scheduled every third spring beginning 2006. 3 credits.
ENG 584 - Milton
A study of the literary, philosophical, religious, and poetic depth of Milton's work, with particular emphasis on Paradise Lost, Samson Agonistes, and Paradise Regained. Scheduled every third semester beginning 2004. 3 credits
ENG 585 - Seminar on Special Topics in Composition/Rhetoric
Focus on subjects important to history, research, and/or practice of composition/rhetorical theory. Depending on semester, typical topics include writing-across-the curriculum, gender issues, rhetorical
traditions, and links among language, thought, and culture. Scheduled fall terms. 3 credits.
ENG 586 - Seminar in American Literature
Intensive study of a major writer or a selected topic, with choice changing each semester. Students may take multiple offerings of ENG 586 courses if the topics differ. Typical topics include: Melville, American Women Dramatists, Biblical Traditions in American Literature. Scheduled irregularly. For a sample syllabus on a topic that has been offered in the past, you may Click Here.
ENG 587 - Seminar in British Literature
Intensive study of a major writer or selected topic, with choice changing each semester. Students may take multiple offerings of ENG 587 courses if the topics differ. Typical topics include: Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury, James Joyce. Scheduled irregularly. 3 credits.
ENG 588 - Seminar in Comparative Literature
Intensive study of a major writer or a selected topic, with choice changingeach semester. Students may take multiple offerings of ENG 588 courses if the topics differ. Typical topics include: African Novelists, Contemporary Drama, Epic in England, Detective Fiction, Feminist Utopias, Modern Drama--Ibsen to O'Neill, Norse and Celtic Mythology, Psychoanalysis and Feminism,
and Women's Autobiography. Scheduled irregularly. 3 credits.
ENG 590 - English Thesis
Research and writing of the thesis in the area of concentration, under the direction of an English department faculty member. For specific details, consult the chairperson or graduate coordinator of the department.
Prerequisite: department permission. 3 or 6 credits.
ENG 597 - Graduate Internship in Teaching Writing
Teaching internship in an English Department introductory-level writing course under the supervision of a faculty mentor; for graduate students with particular interests and strengths in teaching writing. Required for first-semester Graduate Teaching Assistants who will enroll concurrently in ENG 519. Schedule fall semesters. 3 credits.
ENG 600 - Independent Study and Research
Study of an area of English studies under the direction of a faculty member of the department and with the consent of the chairperson of the department. Students should remember that they may study such
important but difficult to schedule fields as literature of the Anglo-Saxons and Beowulf under independent study. Prerequisite: departmental permission. 3-6 credits.