A survey of American literature from the literature of exploration through the major authors of the mid-nineteenth century, with special attention to the formation of an American literary tradition, along with the political, social, and religious context that helped shape the imaginative response of American writers to their culture.

This introduction to modern British poetry pays special attention to the emergence, consolidation, and dismantling of modernist poetry and poetics. It will link this literary history with, amongst other things, the loss of faith, the two world wars, and the relationship between monumental aesthetics, utopian poetics, and totalitarian politics. Writers will include Hardy, Yeats, Eliot, H.D., and Auden.

This course offers a broad survey of American drama in the context of performance traditions such as minstrelsy, melodrama, realism, the Broadway musical, and the avant-garde. We read works that challenge and expand concepts of national identity and their connection to discourses of race, class, ethnicity, and gender. How do the characters and landscapes of these plays reflect historical events and theatrical inventions? What do they tell us about what it means to be an "American," and how have our answers changed over time?

This course will examine a variety of English works and genres written in the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries. Our concentration will be principally on the Gawain-poet, Chaucer, Langland, Margery Kempe, and Lydgate. Most of our readings are in Middle English.

A study of some of Shakespeare's plays emphasizing the poetic and dramatic aspects of his art, with attention to the historical context and close, careful reading of the language. Eight or nine plays.

In this introductory course, students will read widely in contemporary poetry. Through prompts and project-based inquiry, both within the workshop and in take-home assignments, students will have the opportunity to produce and share writing based on the conceptual frameworks explored in the class.

This workshop will introduce students to the short story form as practiced by contemporary and canonical writers. Students will learn to read fiction actively, as writers developing their craft. We will focus on understanding the elements of fiction with an eye toward eventual mastery. Writing short stories will comprise the main work of this course, and students will work specifically on point of view, development of scenes, characterization, plot, and narration.

The finest journalists are professors to the people. They educate citizens so as to facilitate reasoned, fact-based dialogue on subjects as diverse as politics, poverty, war, science, and the arts. We will look at journalism's role in the culture with a particular view to some of the profession's failings and foibles. Students are expected to leave the comfortable confines of the classroom as they try their hand at covering an event, writing a profile, and reporting on an issue of local significance.

This course offers practice in writing various kinds of narrative. Assignments emphasize clarity, concision, and creativity. Exercises lead to longer work: sketches or short stories. Students hone critical as well as writing skills. Student papers are duplicated and discussed in class, along with selected works by published authors.

This course offers practice in writing various kinds of narrative. Assignments emphasize clarity, concision, and creativity. Exercises lead to longer work: sketches or short stories. Students hone critical as well as writing skills. Student papers are duplicated and discussed in class, along with selected works by published authors.