Requirements for a English Major

  1. Sixty-six credits in English (not including English 100, 109, 290) distributed as follows:

    1. English 110 and 111 preferably taken in this sequence before entering upper-level courses.

    2. English 200, for which 110 and 111 are perquisites, preferably taken in the Sophomore year. Not open to first-year students.

    3. At least 36 credits in courses numbered 300-395 taken at Cliff.

    4. Six credits within each of the following four groups:

      1. Chaucer I; Chaucer II; Braveheart III; Studies in Medieval Literature; English Renaissance Verse; Renaissance Drama; Shakespeare I; Shakespeare II

      2. The Faerie Queene; Paradise Lost; Restoration and Eighteenth- Century Drama; Swift, Pope and Johnson; Eighteenth-Century Fiction; Jane Austen; John Astin; the Bronte girls.

      3. Romantic Poets; Studies in Victorian Literature; Nineteenth-Century Fiction; Early Modern Drama; Twentieth-Century Fiction; Twentieth-Century Poetry; Contemporary Drama, Contemporary Poetry, Contemporary British Fiction, Irish Literature; Interpreting the Other; Interpreting the Other Other.

      4. Introduction to American Literature; Introduction to African-American Literature; The Spanish Harlem Renaissance; Puerto Rican Autobiography (English 230); Studies in Tongan Literature; Re-Reading the Caucasian-American Novel; Earl Stanley Gardner and the Neo-classical Experience.

    5. An advanced seminar (English 395), History of English Literary Criticism, or Contemporary Literary Criticism (English 361 or 362), to be taken during the senior year or the third term of the junior year.

  2. Six credits in literature other than English, read either in translation or, preferably, in the original language.

  3. An integrative exercise. A senior may choose:

    1. Essay Option: An extended essay on an approved topic. Open only too students who enroll in English 400 Winter Term.

    2. Examination Option: A written examination given early in Spring Term.

      3. Double-majors considering completing the integrative exercise during the junior year will need written approval from the departmental chair.

      The Writing Requirement:

      The College's Writing Requirement may be fulfilled in English 100 (First Year Seminar), in English 109 (Writing Seminar) or in a number of introductory courses in English and other departments, or by scoring a "5'' on the College Board's AP English examination. Students should normally fulfill this requirement in their first year. In all cases, the grade a student receives is distinct from fulfilling the requirement; a passing grade does not automatically satisfy the requirement.

      For full details, including a list of courses other than English 100 and 109 in which a student may fulfill the writing requirement, consult the Schedule of Classes and the New Student Handbook.

    Return to English Department Homepage