English Course Offerings
The English Department's course offerings vary by semester. We offer 100-level composition
courses, 200-level introductory courses, 300-level intermediate courses, 400-level
advanced courses, and 500-level graduate courses.
Spring 2026 Undergraduate Courses
EH 300 - Intro to Literary Study | Hillyer
MWF 11:15 - 12:05
For our introduction to poetry, we will read a book by Timothy Steele, the overall best guide to versification that I have encountered. For our introduction to drama, we will read three English plays from the Renaissance that focus on actual or supposed adulteries. For our introduction to fiction, we will read a novel by the Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro. Assignments will include two short papers, a midterm, and a final.
EH 365 - British Novel since 1945 | St. Clair
MWF 12:20 - 1:10
By popular demand, the syllabus has been shortened! Less reading! More fun! Maybe even a few YA novels! [Okay, I'm kidding about that last part. No YA novels. I haven't taken leave of my senses.] Readings will include John Fowles's The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969), Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus (1984), Julian Barnes's A History of the World in 10½ Chapters (1989), Ali Smith's How to Be Both (2014), and Salman Rushdie's Quichotte (2019).
EH 371 - Approaches to English Grammar | Beason
MWF 11:15 - 12:05
So what is a dangling participle anyway? EH 371 offers students a valuable intellectual and practical skill: the ability to analyze and describe in technical terms how a given sentence is structured (beyond just saying it does or doesn't "flow"). While the course was originally developed for students planning to teach English courses at the secondary level, EH 371 is useful for just about anyone wanting to edit, write, analyze literary texts, teach non-native speakers of English, practice law, or learn more about the English language. EH 371 is also a W-course and can help fulfill the W-course requirement for English majors and many other students.
EH 372 - Technical Writing (W) | Beason
MWF 2:30 - 3:20
How can you effectively convey specialized or technical information in the workplace—to readers whose expertise with this information can vary greatly? Whether your field of study deals with health care, the sciences, the computer industry, the liberal arts, or almost any field of study, this course can assist you with varied types of workplace writing and editing. EH 372 can also help satisfy the W-requirement and count as an English elective for most English majors and minors.
EH 372 - Technical Writing (W) | Guzy
MWF 9:05 - 9:55 or 11:15 - 12:05
The purpose of this course is to train students in the kinds of written reports required of practicing professionals, aiming to improve mastery of the whole process of report writing from conceptual stage through editing stage. This course will introduce you to types of written and oral communication used in workplace settings, with a focus on technical reporting and editing. Through several document cycles, you will develop skills in managing the organization, development, style, and visual format of various documents.
EH 380 - Science Fiction | Beason
MWF 1:25 - 2:15
Not intended for mere "fans," EH 380 enables us to better define, analyze, and interpret science fiction. Our focus will be modern short stories, along with a few films and novels. Questions we will explore include the following. Why does science fiction express both our love and fear of technology? Is religion a counterpart or antithesis to science? How does science fiction both complicate and sustain conventional notions of gender? And what do these stories suggest about being "fully human" and "good" in an impersonal technological era?
EH 402 - Rhetoric - Ancient and Modern (W) | Shaw
TR 9:30 - 10:45
Beginning with the early sophists of Periclean Athens and ending in the twenty-first century, this course examines and compares various movements in the history of rhetoric, with particular emphasis on the relationship between rhetorical strategy and one's image of human beings. The course aims to increase the scope of students' understanding of rhetoric and help them apply this knowledge to their own communication and to their evaluation of the communications of others.
EH 461 - Tudor & Stuart Drama | Hillyer
MWF 10:10 - 11:00
We will be studying representative examples of Tudor and Stuart drama (English plays performed during the reigns of Elizabeth I or James I): three of Ben Jonson's best comedies, two domestic tragedies, one comedy jointly produced by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, and six largely unclassifiable works for the stage by the idiosyncratic Christopher Marlowe. The main assignment will be a longish research paper developed in stages.
EH 470 - Medieval Lit: Gender & Disability | Halbrooks
TR 11:00 - 12:15
In this course, we will examine how medieval writers represented gender and disability, from Anglo-Saxon England (Beowulf) through the Icelandic sagas to late medieval mysticism (Julian of Norwich), then forward to Tolkien's twentieth-century medieval reworkings. We will ask how these texts imagine bodily difference and gendered experience. What counts as impairment or wholeness? How do wounds, illness, and physical limitation shape the medieval subject? Students will draw on disability studies and gender theory to analyze these questions.
EH 477 - Young Adult Fiction | Guzy
MWF 2:30 - 3:20
This course is designed for students who plan to teach secondary English Language Arts, write YA literature, pursue a career in library science or publishing, or simply gain a deeper appreciation for YA literature. Throughout this semester, students will (1) survey the history of YA literature; (2) establish a list of resources to aid in teaching, writing, publishing, and curating YA literature, including professional organizations, publishers, major awards, and advocacy groups; (3) perform close reading of select award-winning and frequently challenged YA texts; and (4) engage critically with the material in oral and written assignments.
EH 478 - Studies in Film | McLaughlin
MW 5 - 6:15, M 6:30 - 9
Our focus in EH 478 will be on haptic aurality, that is, the aural as it intersects with corporeality in cinematic space. What we will be especially interested in exploring are the moments when we might be said to "feel sound," the moments—such as Joan Crawford's greedy gobbling of chocolates in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?—when sound reaches out and touches us, affecting our bodies in powerfully visceral ways. For this exploration, active listening will be a pedagogical imperative.
EH 481 - Composition and Rhetoric (W) | Shaw
TR 2:00 - 3:15
This course examines the many manifestations of Cold War rhetoric, from the struggle between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, to the conflicts in the Civil Rights and Anti-War movements, to the burgeoning rhetoric of science. We will learn how to engage in the act of rhetorical criticism, which requires the close reading of texts/objects and an analysis of the various social, political, economic, cultural, and religious factors that enable, motivate, and constrain one's ability to speak, write, and act.
EH 485 - Advanced Poetry Writing | Jorgensen
MWF 1:25 - 2:15
This course will focus on the lyric sequence, both as a point of analysis and as a generative prompt for students' own poetry. We will read poetry collections that take different approaches to writing lyric sequences, such as form, content, and conceit, as students write their own sequence of interrelated poems to be workshopped in class. Ultimately, we will be studying the interplay between iteration and improvisation within the context of poetic craft.
EH 487 - Screenwriting for Film | Cullity
M 6:00 - 8:30
In this screenwriting workshop, we will concentrate on craft elements such as character and story, and learn how to properly identify the structure of a three-act film. Through our readings (including film scripts), film screenings, and craft-oriented assignments (including a film pitch), we will work towards the completion and polished revision of the first act of a three-act screenplay or, for those who want the challenge, a rough full draft.
EH 492 - Victorian Popular Literature | Harrington
TR 12:30 - 1:45
When the arch-villain Fosco of Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White exclaims, "What a situation! I suggest it to the rising romance writers of England," he draws attention to the sensation novel's place in the expanding literary marketplace of Victorian Britain. Popular, "low" novels attract a readership across classes, targeting women readers—as well as men—and influencing literature of all kinds. This class will examine popular novels and stories from the mid- and late-nineteenth century, looking at the way these melodramatic and often formulaic texts comment on significant political and social issues of the day.
EH 497 - Advanced Creative Nonfiction Writing | Cullity
TR 2:00 - 3:15
Our readings, springboards for initial writing exercises, will enhance our comprehension of how creative nonfiction can be constructed. In writing workshops, we'll focus on defining and producing all that is creative nonfiction, including memoir, personal essays, lyric essays, and literary journalism. We'll also talk about revision as part of the writing process, and where you can send your work when it's ready to submit for possible publication.
Spring 2026 Graduate Courses
EH 501 - Intro to Literary Theory | Raczkowski
R 6:00 - 8:30
Come find out what the kerfuffle about "woke" theory in the academy is about. In this course we will survey the evolutions of theory in the humanities and literary study over the last one hundred years: from early 20th century formalisms to later century post-structuralisms, to the more contemporary arrivals of ecocriticism, affect theory, weak theory, and lord knows what all. Our readings into the sometimes abstract insights of theory will be tested through critical readings of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, a richly complex novel that both invites and sustains a multitude of theoretical approaches.
EH 570 - Medieval Lit: Gender & Disability | Halbrooks
T 6:00 - 8:30
In this course, we will examine how medieval writers represented gender and disability, from Anglo-Saxon England (Beowulf) through the Icelandic sagas to late medieval mysticism (Julian of Norwich), then forward to Tolkien's twentieth-century medieval reworkings. We will ask how these texts imagine bodily difference and gendered experience. What counts as impairment or wholeness? How do wounds, illness, and physical limitation shape the medieval subject? Students will draw on disability studies and gender theory to analyze these questions.
EH 573 - Contemporary Fiction | St. Clair
W 6:00 - 8:30
By popular demand, the syllabus has been shortened! Less reading! More fun! Maybe even a few YA novels! [Okay, I'm kidding about that last part. No YA novels. I haven't taken leave of my senses.] Readings will include John Fowles's The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969), Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus (1984), Julian Barnes's A History of the World in 10½ Chapters (1989), Ali Smith's How to Be Both (2014), and Salman Rushdie's Quichotte (2019).
EH 581 - Screenwriting Workshop | Cullity
M 6:00 - 8:30
In this screenwriting workshop, we will concentrate on craft elements such as character and story, and learn how to properly identify the structure of a three-act film. Through our readings (including film scripts), film screenings, and craft-oriented assignments (including a film pitch), we will work towards the completion and polished revision of the first act of a three-act screenplay or, for those who want the challenge, a rough full draft.
EH 589 - Creative Nonfiction Writing | Cullity
TR 2:00 - 3:15
Our readings, springboards for initial writing exercises, will enhance our comprehension of how creative nonfiction can be constructed. In writing workshops, we'll focus on defining and producing all that is creative nonfiction, including memoir, personal essays, lyric essays, and literary journalism. We'll also talk about revision as part of the writing process, and where you can send your work when it's ready to submit for possible publication.
EH 592 - Victorian Popular Literature | Harrington
TR 12:30 - 1:45
When the arch-villain Fosco of Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White exclaims, "What a situation! I suggest it to the rising romance writers of England," he draws attention to the sensation novel's place in the expanding literary marketplace of Victorian Britain. Popular, "low" novels attract a readership across classes, targeting women readers—as well as men—and influencing literature of all kinds. This class will examine popular novels and stories from the mid- and late-nineteenth century, looking at the way these melodramatic and often formulaic texts comment on significant political and social issues of the day.
A full listing of all courses in the departmental catalog is available via the . For a listing of courses offered in a given semester, please visit the University's Schedule of Classes. (Select "Dynamic Schedule" > "Browse Classes," enter the catalog term you wish to search, and select "English" as the subject.)