Course Descriptions

Intensive study of English grammar, sentence structure and mechanics. Designed for students preparing to teach English and for others who desire to master fundamentals of the language. 301/501

An elective course designed to provide opportunity for analysis of original student writing through a seminar or workshop approach. Assigned readings of professional fiction as well as selected student samples are offered for in-class discussion and critique. 303/503

A course designed to provide further opportunity for analysis and critique of students' creative fiction. Class structure, requirements and assignments are similar to English 303, but greater emphasis is placed on the scope and development of work. 304/504

An elective course designed to provide a workshop approach to student writing and analysis. Student poetry is given constructive, in-class critique. Requirements include a minimum of one original poem each week and outside reading in contemporary poetry, with attention to form and content. 305/505

A course designed to provide further opportunity, through a workshop approach, for close analysis and critique of student writing. Class structure, requirements and assignments are similar to English 305, but each student is expected to demonstrate increased proficiencies in the discovery and development of a personal style. 306/506

The course is designed to explore the definition and expression of personal identity through the genre of autobiography. Three areas of focus: the composition of an autobiography by the students, primary readings of autobiographies and writing and language theory about the construction of narrative and the representation of the self through writing. 308/508

A study of the American novel between 1800 and 1900, which will include examination of important figures, texts and themes.

An elective composition course, designed to develop proficiency in writing technical and scientific reports and articles related to students' areas of specialization. Recommended by some major departments. 317/517

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. Studies may include African American literature of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, oral tradition poetry and surrounding cultural materials. 319/519

An introduction to the study of mental processes involved in listening, speaking and learning language. Particular attention is given to language acquisition and development and the implications psycholinguistic findings have for the teaching of children who are learning to speak, read and write. 320/520

An introduction to the field of rhetoric and composition. Providing an overview of the field, this course will draw on the history, trends, theories, practices and pedagogical approaches of the discipline of rhetoric and composition. 322/522

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the director. A study of literature from various periods, illustrating gender roles in their cultural and social contexts.

A survey of Greek and Roman mythology and its influence on Western literature and art.

A study of detective fiction in the short story and the novel.

A workshop in play-writing, focusing on the distinctive qualities of theatrical representation and the basic skills of dialogue, plot and collaboration with supporting theater artists. 329/529

An advanced workshop in play-writing focusing intensively on student writing with invited feedback from directors, designers, dramaturgs and other writers. Students will complete a one-act play or other proposed project. 330/530

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. Studies in poetry and fiction from the past 25 years. 331/531

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. A study of women writers before 1900. The content will vary from term to term and may include such subjects as ancient, medieval, renaissance, early american, 18th and 19th-century women writers.

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. A seminar focusing on the themes, technical innovations and theories of influential British poets.

Studies in Wisconsin literature, legends and lore.

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. Studies may include biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, letters, journals, oral history interviews and/or as-told-to-narratives. 335/535

The principal literary genres of the Old and New Testaments, emphasizing thematic content and historical background. The text studied is the King James Version. 336/536

A study of the Arthurian legend from the earliest sources, the development of Arthurian romance cycles and the influence of the legend in other British literature.

The history of modern English focusing on its vocabulary, dialects, kindred languages, grammar and pronunciation. Includes an introduction to Old and Middle English. 341/541

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. A study of major figures, genres and themes from the Romantic Era, 1798-1836, with special attention given to critical reading and analytical skills. 342/542

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. A course in reading and writing about the natural world. Writers discussed may include Annie Dillard, Aldo Leopold, Henry David Thoreau and others. Student writing will represent a significant portion of the coursework. Writing assignments may include essays on natural history, journal entries, environmental advocacy pieces, eco-fiction and others consistent with the course focus. 343/543

Milton's major and minor poems and selected prose writings in relation to the background of the literature and his times. 344/544

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. Studies in literature written by women in the 20th century, with emphasis on works by contemporary authors.

A study of the major works in medieval English literature with emphasis on Chaucer. 346/546

Selected major plays in relation to dramatic conventions of the time and to modern productions. 347/547

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. A course in British, American or post-colonial literature, which includes a conducted tour of sites in England, the U.S., or other regions pertinent to the focus in any given year. Offered jointly by the English Department and the Division of Continuing Education. Itineraries, special course fees and specific course requirements will be available whenever the course is offered. 350/550

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. A study of medieval literature, including such subjects as Anglo-Saxon literature, Nordic literature, Icelandic Sagas, non-Chaucerian Middle English, Medieval drama and Monastic literature. 351/551

This course may be offered with a different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. A study of the significant plays, poetry and prose, which may include works of Bacon, the Cavaliers, Donne, Jonson, Marlowe, the Metaphysicals, More and Spenser. Excludes Shakespeare. 353/553

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. A study of travel narratives that investigates issues of representation, construction of self and others and assumptions about culture, customs and behavior. Fiction and nonfiction may be considered as well as films, photographs, advertisements and maps. 354/554

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle and the signature of the department chair, it may be taken twice. This study of English drama will focus on one of a variety of topics relevant to medieval, early-modern and/or Restoration periods, such as the early-modern theater as political space, the drama of revenge, early-modern drama as colonialist discourse, or problematizing gender in medieval, early-modern and restoration drama. 356/556

This course may be offered with different content; with a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. Different versions of the course will address a literary theme, period or genre in relation to a specific form of visual, aural or performing art. 357/557

This course may be offered with different content with a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. This course presents a selection of prose, poetry and drama that constructs the literary tradition of newly independent countries in the 20th century, such as Africa, India and Jamaica. Among topics to be covered are nationalism, identity, gender and oral traditions. 358/558

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. This course concentrates on different themes, Asian American cultures or periods of development in the body of literature. 361/561

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. Genres covered may include poetry, essays, satire and/or drama of the long 18th century (1660-1837); topics covered may include imperialism, nationalism, gender, class and/or racial issues, country life versus city life, Enlightenment, revolution and literary professionalism. The course may or may not cover the entire period of the long 18th century. 362/562

A study of the novel before 1800: Defoe, Fielding Richardson, Smollett and Sterne; the development of the historical romance, Gothic romance and the novel of manners. 363/563

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. A study of the British novel from 1800 to 1900, which might include Austen, Bronte, Dickens, Eliot, Hardy, Meredith, Scott and Thackeray.

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. A study of 20th-century British fiction. 365/565

An examination of major 20th-century works in science fiction.

A course on the culture and literature of African national communities. The focus will be on authors from various national communities whose writings have significantly shaped African literature. This course will include works by both men and women. 367/567

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. A study of the major figures, texts and themes of the Victorian era.

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. Studies may include Native American literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, oral tradition, poetry and surrounding cultural materials. 370/570

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. An examination of work by African- American women writers, such as Paule Marshall, Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor, Alice Walker and others. 371/571

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. A study of major writers and their techniques from Poe to the present. 372/572

American writing from the beginning through the early years of the republic. 373/573

A study of writers, such as Cooper, Emerson, Fuller, Hawthorne, Irving, Melville, Stowe, Thoreau and/or others. 374/574

Studies of American prose from the Civil War to World War I: Adams, Crane, Howells, James, Twain and others. 375/575

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. Studies of fiction, poetry, drama and criticism from 1920 to the present. 376/576

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. A study of one, two or three writers from any period in American literature: Emily Dickinson, Louise Erdrich, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Toni Morrison, Edgar Allan Poe, Adrienne Rich and Richard Wright. 377/577

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may taken twice with the signature of the department chair. A study of the development of the American novel after 1920. 378/578

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. This course focuses on American poetry. It may be taught by highlighting a certain era in poetry, such as modernism or by sampling a range of poets across the centuries. The featured writers in the course might include such figures as H.D., Emily Dickinson, Joy Harjo, Langston Hughes, Adrienne Rich, Phyllis Wheatley or Walt Whitman among others. 379/579

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. The content of this course, a study of modern and contemporary drama, will vary from semester to semester and may include drama from around the world or from a particular culture. The course features an introduction to various drama forms. 380/580

An analysis of critical theories and their influence from the Greeks and Romans to the present; application of these theories to selected literary texts. 381/581

An introduction to types of cultural studies that emphasize the range of interpretations of everyday texts and events. The course features criticism, such as structuralism, semiotics, feminism and application of theories to selected literary texts. 382/582

An introduction to sounds, word forms and English sentence structures. Special emphasis on theories of grammar that affect today's classroom. 383/583

An introduction to theories and methodologies that describe variation in language. Special attention will be given to the social factors that affect language use, language policy and attitudes toward language in education and everyday interactions. 384/584

In this course, students will explore the potential effects of computers on the writing process and on writing pedagogy. Surveys research on the effects of computers on the social and cognitive aspects of writing and studies some theoretical works that attempt to predict the ways in which writing will continue to change in an increasingly computer rich society. Students will analyze and critique hypertextual essays and stories and will compose hypertexts of their own.

A rhetorical approach analyzes literature as a persuasive device. Students will read a variety of literary works and discuss the personal and social viewpoints and biases that these works reveal; explore theoretical and psychological studies of the nature of narrative as a discursive act; and discuss the rhetorical power of literature as compared with other forms of discourse that are more commonly thought of as “rhetorical.” 386/586

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. Students will study, in substantial depth, one topic in the field of rhetoric and composition. The topic will be chosen by the instructor. 387/587

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle and the signature of the department chair, it may be taken twice. The course will examine the relationship between film, literature and the culture in which and for which they are produced. Films that adapt novels, short stories and/or plays will be examined, and films themselves will be examined as texts. A brief review of artistic terms (with regard to writers and film makers) will be provided. These will be the tools used to discuss how the artists affect us in terms of theme, plot, characterization, mood and imagery. 390/590

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. An examination of lesbian and gay literature, with emphasis on work by contemporary authors. Readings will be arranged thematically, with particular attention to identity politics and the AIDS epidemic. Cross/listed with Women's Studies 391. 391/591

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. The course focuses on topics that cross generic, temporal and/or regional boundaries. Possible topics include gothicism; sex, sensibility and romanticism; subjectivity, identity and agency; and the literature of aging. 392/592

This course may be offered with a different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. Course content will concentrate on the different themes, histories, cultures or periods of development in the body of Latina/o literature.

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. Course content will highlight the similarities and differences between and among different themes, cultures, histories or periods of development in a variety of ethnic literary traditions. The ethnic literatures introduced may include or stem from African, Asian, European, Jewish, Latina/o, Pacific Islander and/or indigenous literary traditions.

This course may be offered with different content. A study of Caribbean literature in English or English translation. Topics might include women's writing, travel narratives or colonial/post-colonial discourse.

An exploration of the relationship between history and literature. This course may investigate a period, year or series of historical moments in order to emphasize the dynamic relationships among historical events, attitudes literary representations, challenging artificial distinctions between literature and history and emphasize how the categories of "history" and "literature" are cultural constructs. This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair.

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. Advanced study in creative writing, which may include workshops in experimental fiction or avant-garde forms, novel writing, publishing and/or chapbook production. 405/605

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. An intensive seminar in the advanced study of Shakespeare's works; focus may be on one of a variety of topics and/or approaches to Shakespearean drama. 448/648

A survey of how research in linguistics can be used to solve human problems. While the focus will be on second language acquisition, language teaching and testing, other possible topics include language planning and forensic linguistics. 452/652

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle and the signature of the department chair, it may be taken twice. Students will analyze one or more major schools of interpretation. Theoretical works by major critical figures will be read, and theories will be applied to selected texts. 482/682

A study of literature as a mode of human understanding, with various cultural and/or cross-cultural emphases. Optional content. With different subtitles and the signature of the department chair, it may be taken twice.

An advanced course in sociolinguistics concentrating on phenomena, such as global languages, language shift, language death or billingualism, bi-dialectualism and identity. Optional content. With different subtitles and the signature of the department chair, it may be taken twice.

An examination of selected theories and their application in literary and cultural criticism. Optional content. With a different subtitle and the signature of the department  chair, this course may be taken twice.

Examination of the many print and electronic bibliographic research sources in English. May include readings on computing technologies, theories of textual transmission, history transmission, history of scholarship and history of English studies.

Advanced study of the theories, movements and techniques in American poetry from the 1920s to the present. Movements to be studied include Imagist, Objectivist, Free Verse, Formalist, Beat Generation, Black Mountain School, Concrete and Action Poetry. Students also will create their own poems based on the form, style and techniques of their choice.

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. Advanced study in creative writing, which may include workshops in experimental fiction or avant-garde forms, novel writing, publishing and/or chapbook production.

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. This course will concentrate on different theoretical discourses or different periods of development of cultural studies, as a formal field of study.

This course may be offered with different content. With a different subtitle, it may be taken twice with the signature of the department chair. This course will concentrate on different ethnic cultural themes or different periods of development in the body of literature, emphasizing comparative analysis.

The course content will vary to examine women writers of different time periods, ethnic backgrounds or themes. May be repeated twice with different content with consent of  the English Department chair. Students will be expected to have familiarity with various critical theories.

An intensive study of a single or limited number of theoretical approaches to rhetoric and composition. Includes practical application to fictional and/or nonfictional texts. May be taken twice (with different subtitles) with consent of the English Department chair.

Each registration with maximum accumulation of six (6) credits.

Each registration with maximum accumulation of six (6) credits.