Willamette University Logo
Menu
 

English

The English Department offers language, literature, and writing studies on several levels. It provides varied experiences in the careful reading of literary texts and it promotes Willamette's writing culture.

Requirements for the English Major (Bachelor of Arts) (40 semester hours)

Core courses (8 semester hours)

  • ENGL 101W Reading Literature and Culture (4)
  • ENGL 213W Finding the Story: Research Methods in Literature and Creative Writing (4)

One course in literature outside the modern Anglophone tradition (4 semester hours)

  • ENGL 341 Shakespeare (4)
  • ENGL 345 Chaucer (4)
  • ENGL 347 Medieval Literature (4)
  • ENGL 348 Early Modern English Poetry (4)
  • ENGL 353 The Early Novel (4)
  • ENGL 359 Early Modern Drama (4)
  • ENGL 453 Advanced Studies in Lit 1300-1800 (4)
  • CLAS 244W The Greek and Roman Stage (4)
  • CLAS 247 Women in Roman Literature and Life (4)
  • FREN 275 African Cinema (4)
  • FREN 341 Oral Tradition and Performance in African Literature (4)
  • GCS 250W Narratives of Migration: From Islamic Spain to the US/Mexico Border (4)
  • GERM 241 German Cinema & Visual Culture (4)
  • HIST 374 Love and Reason in the Middle Ages: European Intellectual History 400-1500 (4)
  • HIST 375 Women and Gender in Medieval Europe (4)
  • JAPN 314W Japanese Literature in Translation (4)
  • JAPN 340 The Japanese Cinema (4)
  • REL 225 Forgotten Scriptures: Apocryphal Literature and the Origins of Christianity (4)
  • RUSS 242W Great Short Stories from Russia (4)
  • RUSS 245W From Russia with Love: Family and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Russian Literature (4)
  • RUSS 250W Tolstoy's War and Peace (4)
  • RUSS 320W The Nineteenth-Century Russian Novel (4)
  • RUSS 325 Topics in Russian Literature (4)
  • SPAN 260 Hispanic Literature in Translation (4)
  • SPAN 380 Latin American Cinema (4)
  • THTR 217W Performance Historiography (4)
  • Or other approved course (4)

One course in American Ethnic or Post-Colonial Literature (4 semester hours)

  • ENGL 326 Literature of Diaspora (4)
  • ENGL 337 African-American Literature I (4)
  • ENGL 338 African-American Literature II (4)
  • ENGL 381 Latinx Literature and Culture (4)
  • FREN 275 African Cinema (4)
  • FREN 285W Gender and Sexuality in African Literature and Cinema (4)
  • FREN 341 Oral Tradition and Performance in African Literature (4)
  • GCS 250W Narratives of Migration: From Islamic Spain to the US/Mexico Border (4)
  • SPAN 380 Latin American Cinema (4)
  • Or other approved course (4)

Four additional courses (16 semester hours)

  • Two additional electives at the 300 or 400 level ENGL literature courses (8)
  • Two additional approved electives (8):
    • ENGL 102W Creative Writing Fundamentals (4)
    • ENGL 300-level literature class (4)
    • ENGL 400-level literature class (4)
    • ENGL 300-level creative writing class (4)
    • CLAS 244W The Greek and Roman Stage (4)
    • CLAS 247 Women in Roman Literature and Life (4)
    • CLAS 252 Poetics of Magic, Magic of Poetry (4)
    • FREN 275 African Cinema (4)
    • FREN 341 Oral Tradition and Performance in African Literature (4)
    • GCS 250W Narratives of Migration: From Islamic Spain to the US/Mexico Border (4)
    • GERM 241 German Cinema & Visual Culture (4)
    • HIST 306 History through Biography (4)
    • HIST 374 Love and Reason in the Middle Ages: European Intellectual History 400-1500 (4)
    • HIST 375 Women and Gender in Medieval Europe (4)
    • JAPN 314W Japanese Literature in Translation (4)
    • JAPN 340 The Japanese Cinema (4)
    • REL 225 Forgotten Scriptures: Apocryphal Literature and the Origins of Christianity (4)
    • REL 323 The Bible and American Culture (4)
    • REL 335W Race, Class, and Gender in the Life and Letters of Paul (4)
    • RUSS 242W Great Short Stories from Russia (4)
    • RUSS 245W From Russia with Love: Family and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Russian Literature (4)
    • RUSS 250W Tolstoy's War and Peace (4)
    • RUSS 320W The Nineteenth-Century Russian Novel (4)
    • RUSS 325 Topics in Russian Literature (4)
    • SPAN 260 Hispanic Literature in Translation (4)
    • SPAN 380 Latin American Cinema (4)
    • THTR 217W Performance Historiography (4)
    • THTR 219 Theatre Literature and History: 1850-present (4)
    • THTR 318W Theatre and Culture (4)
    • Or other approved course (4)
Only one course in fulfillment of the English major may be from a department other than English

Senior Experience (8 semester hours)

  • Two 400W-level ENGL literature classes (8)

The advisor and the student will develop together a major program that ensures the study of a wide variety of literary texts and varied interpretive strategies. Individual research is encouraged through Reading and Conference (ENGL 390) and students can also apply internship credit toward the major through ENGL 394.

Most students on the literature track complete the Senior Experience by designing and developing substantive, individualized projects in a sequence of two 400-level seminar-style courses. Students with excellent academic records in their English studies can design an advanced Independent Study project (ENGL 490) to fulfill one 400-level Senior Experience credit.

English majors are encouraged to take courses from a variety of related fields. Courses in theatre, music, religion, classical studies, philosophy, art history, history, French, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish can be applied to the English major.

Department Honors for Literature and Creative Writing are awarded by faculty nomination and a faculty vote to recognize the most outstanding graduating students each year.

Requirements for the Creative Writing Concentration for the English Major (40 semester hours)

Core courses (12 semester hours)

  • ENGL 101W Reading Literature and Culture (4)
  • ENGL 102W Creative Writing Fundamentals (4)
  • ENGL 213W Finding the Story: Research Methods in Literature and Creative Writing (4)

One course in literature outside the modern Anglophone tradition (4 semester hours)

  • ENGL 341 Shakespeare (4)
  • ENGL 345 Chaucer (4)
  • ENGL 347 Medieval Literature (4)
  • ENGL 348 Early Modern English Poetry (4)
  • ENGL 353 The Early Novel (4)
  • ENGL 359 Early Modern Drama (4)
  • ENGL 453 Advanced Studies in Lit 1300-1800 (4)
  • CLAS 244W The Greek and Roman Stage (4)
  • CLAS 247 Women in Roman Literature and Life (4)
  • FREN 275 African Cinema (4)
  • FREN 341 Oral Tradition and Performance in African Literature (4)
  • GCS 250W Narratives of Migration: From Islamic Spain to the US/Mexico Border (4)
  • GERM 241 German Cinema & Visual Culture (4)
  • HIST 374 Love and Reason in the Middle Ages: European Intellectual History 400-1500 (4)
  • HIST 375 Women and Gender in Medieval Europe (4)
  • JAPN 314W Japanese Literature in Translation (4)
  • JAPN 340 The Japanese Cinema (4)
  • REL 225 Forgotten Scriptures: Apocryphal Literature and the Origins of Christianity (4)
  • RUSS 242W Great Short Stories from Russia (4)
  • RUSS 245W From Russia with Love: Family and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Russian Literature (4)
  • RUSS 250W Tolstoy's War and Peace (4)
  • RUSS 320W The Nineteenth-Century Russian Novel (4)
  • RUSS 325 Topics in Russian Literature (4)
  • SPAN 260 Hispanic Literature in Translation (4)
  • SPAN 380 Latin American Cinema (4)
  • THTR 217W Performance Historiography (4)
  • Or other approved course (4)

One course in American Ethnic or Post-Colonial Literature (4 semester hours)

  • ENGL 326 Literature of Diaspora (4)
  • ENGL 337 African-American Literature I: Slave Narrative & Early African-American Literary Tradition (4)
  • ENGL 338 African-American Literature II: Modern African-American Literature (4)
  • ENGL 381 Latinx Literature and Culture (4)
  • FREN 275 African Cinema (4)
  • FREN 285W Gender and Sexuality in African Literature and Cinema (4)
  • FREN 341 Oral Tradition and Performance in African Literature (4)
  • GCS 250W Narratives of Migration: From Islamic Spain to the US/Mexico Border (4)
  • SPAN 380 Latin America Cinema (4)
  • Or other approved course (4)

Two English 300-level Creative Writing Classes (8 semester hours)

Two additional courses (8 semester hours)

At least two electives must be approved literature classes (8)

  • ENGL 300-level literature class (4)
  • ENGL 400-level literature class (4)
  • CLAS 244W The Greek and Roman Stage (4)
  • CLAS 247 Women in Roman Literature and Life (4)
  • CLAS 252 Poetics of Magic, Magic of Poetry (4)
  • FREN 275 African Cinema (4)
  • FREN 341 Oral Tradition and Performance in African Literature (4)
  • GCS 250W Narratives of Migration: From Islamic Spain to the US/Mexico Border (4)
  • GERM 241 German Cinema & Visual Culture (4)
  • HIST 306 History through Biography (4)
  • HIST 374 Love and Reason in the Middle Ages: European Intellectual History 400-1500 (4)
  • HIST 375 Women and Gender in Medieval Europe (4)
  • JAPN 314W Japanese Literature in Translation (4)
  • JAPN 340 The Japanese Cinema (4)
  • REL 225 Forgotten Scriptures: Apocryphal Literature and the Origins of Christianity (4)
  • REL 323 The Bible and American Culture (4)
  • REL 335W Race, Class, and Gender in the Life and Letters of Paul (4)
  • RUSS 242W Great Short Stories from Russia (4)
  • RUSS 245W From Russia with Love: Family and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Russian Literature (4)
  • RUSS 250W Tolstoy's War and Peace (4)
  • RUSS 320W The Nineteenth-Century Russian Novel (4)
  • RUSS 325 Topics in Russian Literature (4)
  • SPAN 260 Hispanic Literature in Translation (4)
  • SPAN 380 Latin American Cinema (4)
  • THTR 217W Performance Historiography (4)
  • THTR 219 Theatre Literature and History: 1850-present (4)
  • THTR 318W Theatre and Culture (4)
  • Or other approved course (4)

Only one course in fulfillment of the English major may be from a department other than English

Senior Experience (4 semester hours)

  • ENGL 498W Senior Seminar in Creative Writing (4)

Requirements for the English Minor (20 semester hours)

The minor program in English consists of twenty semester hours--one required course and the options listed below--selected in consultation with an English Department advisor from the following:

Require course (4 semester hours)

  • ENGL 101W Reading Literature and Culture (4)

Four additional courses (16 semester hours)

  • ENGL 102W Creative Writing Fundamentals (4) and/or
  •  Three to Four electives chosen in consultation with your English Department advisor (12-16)

Only one course in fulfillment of the English minor may be from a department other than English

Student Learning Outcomes for the English Major

  1. Engaged imagination and engagement in the imaginative process
    • Asks an inventive question and offers an original claim
    • Extends and complements current critical conversation in genuine and creative ways
    • Offers insights that provoke real interest and curiosity in the reader
  2. Careful reading of texts
    • Demonstrates close reading—attends to the details of the text, to its particular uses of language, to form and structure, manipulation of tone
    • Attends to complexities in the text—recognizes ambiguity, contradiction, ruptures, fissures
    • Attends to nuances in the text—recognizes cogency, coherence, and consistency, as well as ambiguity, contradiction, and inconsistency
    • Conscientiously avoids inappropriate manipulation of the text (e.g., gross misinterpretation or over-reading)
  3. Ability to engage with varied critical perspectives
    • Articulates a theory that authorizes the arguments the paper makes to support its claim
    • Recognizes and responds to scholarly critical conversation about the text
    • Contextualizes references to specific critics, theorists, and scholars (e.g., identifying their critical approach and larger argument about the text in question)
    • Enters scholarly, critical conversation (rather than simply quoting to back up writer's own point)
  4. Critical acumen
    • Identifies significant and relevant evidence in the text to advance the paper's claims and arguments
    • Anticipates and responds to likely challenges and alternative argumentative approaches
    • Uses text and theoretical material shrewdly and with deliberation
    • Displays sound logic and good judgment in argument's execution
  5. Reasoned argument
    • Offers appropriate textual evidence in support of claims; explains use and validity of evidence
    • Develops and extends arguments, rather than simply amassing evidence to make a single point
    • Organizes sequence of and relationship between arguments effectively
    • Arrives at a plausible, non-obvious, non-trivial conclusion
  6. Clear prose
    • Establishes an appropriate scholarly voice, tone, and authority
    • Paragraphs effectively and provides transitions between and within paragraphs
    • Varies sentence structure and length appropriately
    • Observes conventions of standard American edited prose in grammar, punctuation, usage, mechanics

Faculty

Part-Time and Visiting Faculty

Course Listings

ENGL 101W Reading Literature and Culture (4)

This course is intended to serve as the first course in the department for English majors and minors, providing training in the disciplinary conventions of close reading and academic writing. Focus on attention to form and structure. Definitions of genre and examples of a variety of genres (poetry, fiction, drama, possibly film), with particular emphasis on poetry.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Offering: Every semester
  • Instructor: Staff

ENGL 102W Creative Writing Fundamentals (4)

An introduction to the major issues in the craft and practice of creative writing, covering at least two genres. Combines close analysis with creative experimentation and investigates genre and form through process. This course serves as the foundation course for English majors concentrating in creative writing and introduces non-majors to the practice of writing as an artistic medium.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Offering: Every semester
  • Instructor: Staff

ENGL 137W Writing for Academic Audiences (4)

Teaches strategies that are vital in writing for scholarly audiences, primarily in situations that require you to present well-reasoned arguments, supported with evidence. The course will provide instruction and sustained practice for students interested in familiarizing themselves with the conventions of academic inquiry and effective college-level writing, laying a strong foundation for future scholarly writing projects. Through systematic feedback from the instructor and peers, the course will emphasize techniques for generating, revising, and editing texts, as well as the effective use of readings and other source materials in writing.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: First- or second-year standing and permission of instructor
  • Offering: Annually
  • Instructor: Staff

ENGL 199 Topics in English (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in English. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

ENGL 213W Finding the Story: Research Methods in Literature and Creative Writing (4)

A foundational course for all English majors, ENGL 213W introduces students to the variety of research methods and contexts they will encounter throughout their academic careers and beyond. Through analytical and reflective writing, field trips, interviewing, and other experiential learning activities, students will encounter a range of environments in which English majors regularly find futures employing their communication and research skills.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: ENGL 101W
  • Offering: Every semester
  • Instructor: Staff

ENGL 299 Topics in English (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in English. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

ENGL 301 Literary and Critical Theories (4)

Continued study of literary conventions and practice, including periodization and theory as modes of approaching literary study. Examples of historical periods and movements, canonical and non-canonical works, and conceptual and applied study of various literary theories.

ENGL 319 Special Topics in Literary Study (4)

In-depth study of a significant topic in literary study. Topics, tests, and emphases will vary with semester and instructor but might include a study of a particular literary genre, movement, author, or approach. Past topics have included Sentimentalism, Adaptation, Postcolonialism, and Dramatic Monologue. The course will consider the representational possibilities and limitations of literary works, as well as how literary works may embody and convey cultural values. Thiis course may be repeated for credit with different topics. 

ENGL 326 Literature of Diaspora (4)

Students in this course will examine literature from various geographic locations comprising a particular culture's (South Asian or Latin) dispersal of people, language, and culture-and study how various contexts influence and shape cultural production and representations of identity. Within these myriad sites, we will investigate the double consciousness necessary to maintain a sense of 'self' outside one's place of cultural origin, and the impact of colonization on definitions of 'home.' Our primary focus will be textual analysis, including questions of genre, language, narration, and perspective. We will also study the sociopolitical and cultural conflicts and causes for emigration that provide the fiction's contexts (in the case of South Asian diaspora: caste and religious divisions; India's partition; civil war in Sri Lanka; tensions within England, North America, and the Caribbean), and discuss how national divisions play out in the microcosm of each text. Discussions and readings of primary literature will be aided by (post) colonial discourse and contemporary multimedia.

ENGL 329W Creative Nonfiction Writing (4)

Practice and analysis of various modes and subject matter of creative nonfiction. Combines writing workshop with discussion of craft and assigned readings. Students will produce a significant portfolio of creative nonfiction, through drafting and revision, as well as complete critical analyses of published work.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: ENGL 102W
  • Offering: Annually
  • Instructor: Staff

ENGL 331W Fiction Writing (4)

Practice and analysis of short- or long-form fiction. Combines writing workshop with discussion of narrative craft. Students will produce a significant portfolio of fiction, through drafting and revision, as well as complete critical analyses of published work.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: ENGL 102W
  • Offering: Annually
  • Instructor: Staff

ENGL 332W Poetry Writing (4)

Practice and analysis of traditional or contemporary poetics and poetic form. Combines writing workshop with discussion of poetics and assigned readings. Students will produce a significant portfolio of poetry, through drafting and revision, as well as complete critical analyses of published work.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: ENGL 102W
  • Offering: Annually
  • Instructor: Staff

ENGL 337 African American Literature I: Slave Narrative & Early African American Literary Tradition (4)

This course is a study of the origins of African American literary and vernacular traditions. Formal and thematic analysis of this tradition in 18th century and Antebellum America (with some examination of Britain). A goal is to understand the influence of this tradition on the form and focus of contemporary African American Writers.

ENGL 338 African-American Literature II: Modern African-American Literature (4)

A study of modern/contemporary literature written by African-Americans. Formal and thematic analysis of the novel with secondary examples from folktale, lyrics, and drama.

ENGL 339W Special Topics in Creative Writing (4)

Practice and analysis of fiction, poetry, or dramatic writing, depending on the interests of the instructor. Taught by visiting writers or prominent writers in the community, this course will focus on a single genre or a particular issue of the writing craft that crosses genres. Topics may include playwriting, the novella, the novel, the prose poem, the poetic sequence, collage, multiple voices, non-linear narrative strategies, hybrid forms.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: ENGL 102W
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Instructor: Staff

ENGL 341 Shakespeare (4)

A study of plays by Shakespeare, representing development through his dramatic career as well as across genres of comedy, tragedy, and history. Attention to questions of form, genre, sources, and theatrical practice; to the role of the theatre in early modern English culture and politics; to recurring cultural, historical, and political issues the plays engage; to the history of Shakespeare as a cultural artifact.

ENGL 345 Chaucer (4)

A study of Chaucer in Middle English, including the entire Canterbury Tales and a selection from the short poems and dream visions. Extensive secondary reading establishes Chaucer's context in the 14th century; examines the Classical, French, Italian, and English literary influences on his work; and proposes various theoretical approaches to interpretation in the 21st century.

ENGL 347 Medieval Literature (4)

This course is a study of British literature from roughly A.D. 800-1500, the early and middle English periods. The survey will cover a range of authors and their works, including the Beowulf and Gawain poets, Chaucer, Marie de France, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, and William Langland. Among other topics, we will examine form and genre; the recurring cultural, historical, and political issues the literature engages; how medieval literature anticipates and shapes modern and early modern literature.

ENGL 348 Early Modern English Poetry (4)

This course introduces students to English poetry written in the 16th and 17th centuries. Exploration of this literary period and genre will attend to topics like the development of the sonnet cycle in English; the growth of English courtier culture and the rise of poetry as a profession; the role of women poets in responding to and complicating a traditionally male-dominated poetic canon; poetry as an expression of religious devotion and in ecclesiastical politics; the employment of poetry to negotiate private, erotic desire and public, political authority.

ENGL 353 The Early Novel (4)

Study of the development of the novel in Britain, from Restoration-era spiritual autobiography, fable, and romance to Jane Austen's psychological realism. Attention to questions of form, genre, and canon-formation, as well as the novel's intervention in debates about courtship, domesticity, and female authorship, middle-class individualism and national community, reason and feeling, empiricism and enchantment, and the social value of reading.

ENGL 355 Feminist Film Criticism (4)

Study of approaches to cinema from a variety of feminist perspectives. Consideration of the impact of feminist thought on film study, and analysis of feminist innovation, revisions, and critiques of critical methods and theories. Conventions of feminist critical discourse. Applications of feminist theories and criticism to the study of motion pictures.

ENGL 359 Early Modern Drama (4)

A study of works by early modern playwrights, representing the diverse range and scope of drama, other than Shakespeare, written and performed in 16th and 17th century England. Attention to questions of form, genre, and the theatrical practice; to the role of the theatre in early modern English culture and politics; to recurring cultural, historical, and political issues the plays engage; to the unique relationships between playgoers and London's states.

ENGL 361 Modern Poetry & Poetics (4)

This course is a study of innovation and change in English-language poetry from 1800 to the present including but not limited to Romanticism, Modernism, and Post-modernism. Texts and emphases will vary depending on instructor.

ENGL 371 Regional Literature (4)

This course will examine the connections between literature in English and the specific culture of a region in the Americas (possibilities include the Northwest, Borderlands, the Southern States, and the Caribbean) as reflected in a variety of works of prose, poetry, and drama. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. 

ENGL 381 Latinx Literature and Culture (4)

This course examines U.S. Latina/o cultural expression in post-War literature, performance, and popular media. The historical and cultural focus may change each semester. Areas of emphasis may range from canonical works of Latina/o fiction, poetry, drama, non-fiction, visual art and film, to Latina/o feminist and queer art and criticism, political movements, punk, the avant-garde, sexual cultures, the paraliterary (such as comic books, zines, and speculative fiction) and DIY (do-it-yourself) culture and publishing. Course material may place Latina/o culture in transnational and comparative ethnic contexts across the Americas, examining national distinctions among Latina/o artists, and the racial and ethnic heterogeneity of Latina/o identity and cultural production, including Asian and Asian American, African and African American, and indigenous histories and intersections. Primary texts may include novels, plays, poems, graphic novels, scholarly monographs, art, film and performance footage. Scholarly insights may be drawn from the fields of gender, feminist and queer studies; performance studies; ethnic studies; and literary theory and history.

ENGL 390 and 391 Reading and Conference (2 or 4)

To enable a student to acquire the necessary knowledge and experience of literary periods which are not covered by courses offered at Willamette University.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: Consent of instructor
  • Offering: On demand
  • Instructor: Staff

ENGL 394 Major Internship I (4)

See the internships section for more information.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
  • Offering: On demand
  • Instructor: Staff

ENGL 399 Topics in English (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in English. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

ENGL 429 Topics in English (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in English. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

ENGL 441W Tradition and Influence in Literature (4)

The role of tradition, authorial influence and literary history in a broad range of works chosen from English, American and world literatures.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: ENGL 101W and ENGL 213W
  • Offering: Alternate years
  • Instructor: Staff

ENGL 450W Advanced Studies in Authorship (4)

An intensive study of specific topics arising from close study of an author's works. Topics will vary, but may include historical development of the idea of authorship, theoretical debates about the nature of authorship, and opportunities for upper-level students to apply their skills in analytical thinking and critical writing to problems arising from an author's texts. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. 

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: ENGL 101W and ENGL 213W
  • Offering: Alternate years
  • Instructor: Staff

ENGL 453W Advanced Studies in Literature 1300-1800 (4)

The advanced studies in literature courses are designed specifically for the English major who is contemplating graduate study in English or Comparative Literature. Both courses are in-depth studies of British and American canonical texts. Not open to first-year students. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: ENGL 101W and ENGL 213W
  • Offering: Alternate years
  • Instructor: Staff

ENGL 454W Advanced Studies in Literature 1800-Present (4)

The advanced studies in literature courses are designed specifically for the English major who is contemplating graduate study in English or Comparative Literature. Both courses are in-depth studies of British and American canonical texts. Not open to first-year students. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. 

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: ENGL 101W and ENGL 213W
  • Offering: Annually
  • Instructor: Staff

ENGL 456W Advanced Studies in Genre (4)

Examination of generic conventions through study of exemplary literary texts and critical works. Emphasis will vary. (Possibilities include Lyric, Epic, Novel, Autobiography) Not open to first-year students. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. 

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: ENGL 101W and ENGL 213W
  • Offering: Alternate years
  • Instructor: Staff

ENGL 458W Advanced Studies in Literary Theory (4)

This course will offer students intensive readings in major theoretical texts from Formalism to the present. We will also examine the mutually influential relationships between recent literary theory and such disciplines as philosophy, anthropology, linguistics and psychoanalysis. Possible theories might include: Formalism, Structuralism, Deconstructionism, Reception Theory, New Historicism, Psychoanalytical Theory, Post-Colonialist Theory. Not open to first-year students. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. 

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: ENGL 101W and ENGL 213W
  • Offering: Alternate years
  • Instructor: Staff

ENGL 490 Independent Study (4)

Intensive study of a selected area.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: Permission of the department; 3.5 g.p.a. in major
  • Offering: On demand
  • Instructor: Staff

ENGL 498W Senior Seminar in Creative Writing (4)

A capstone course for students concentrating in creative writing in the English major. Students will participate in an intensive semester-long workshop and produce a significant body of creative work, in poetry or prose. In consultation with faculty, students will generate individual reading lists and develop a critical study of craft or process. Seminar participants will write and revise, ready and critique the writing of others, and present their finished work in a public forum. Student who elect this senior experience must submit a proposal to the English faculty a semester in advance.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: ENGL 101W, ENGL 102W, ENGL 213W, two (2) 300-level creative writing courses, and consent of instructor
  • Offering: Annually
  • Instructor: Staff

ENGL 499W Senior Seminar in English (4)

The Senior Seminar is a capstone experience for English majors who wish to undertake intensive independent research and writing on a literary text or topic of their own choosing, with the approval of the English faculty. The Seminar will provide instruction in framing a research question, developing a theoretical approach, conducting library research, evaluating criticism, and structuring a substantial essay. Seminar participants will write and revise their papers in stages, read and critique the papers of others, and present their papers aloud. Students who elect this senior experience must submit a proposal to the English faculty a semester ahead.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: ENGL 101W and ENGL 302
  • Offering: Annually
  • Instructor: Staff

Contact Information

College of Arts & Sciences Catalog
Willamette University
900 State Street
Salem Oregon 97301
U.S.A.
503-370-6737

Back to Top