Piers Brown

Each section of these first-year seminars approaches the study of literature through the exploration of a single theme in texts drawn from a variety of literary genres (such as tragedy, comedy, lyric poetry, epic, novel, short story, film and autobiography) and historical periods. Classes are small, offering intensive discussion and close attention to each student's writing. Students in each section are asked to work intensively on composition as part of a rigorous introduction to reading, thinking, speaking and writing about literary texts. During the semester, instructors assign frequent essays and may also require oral presentations, quizzes, examinations and research projects. This course is not open to juniors and seniors without permission of the department chair. Offered every year.

In recent years, there has been a renaissance of science writing for the common reader that combines literary and scientific merit, from Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" to Oliver Sacks' "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat," and from Dava Sobel's "Longitude" to Rebecca Skloot's "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks." Such book explore scientific questions in a style that transcends the conventions of academic science writing or popular history, bringing important questions from physics, biology, chemistry, neuroscience, and mathematics to wider public attention. Short-form science journalism has become one of the most important areas of literary nonfiction, recognized both by annual awards from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and two different series of Best of American Science Writing anthologies. This interdisciplinary science writing course combines literary analysis of exemplary essays on scientific topics with a writing workshop that requires students to closely observe scientific processes, conduct independent research and interviews, interpret data, and present scientific information in highly readable form. Weekly readings are selected from prize-winning science essays and the Best of American Science and Nature Writing series. We may also read one book-length work of science writing. Weekly writing assignments include journals, observational accounts of science experiments, exercises in interpreting scientific data, interviews, narratives and a substantial research essay. This counts toward the creative practice and post-1900 requirement for the major. No prerequisite.

Poetry's history is a living one. Poets often write in emulation of, or in contrast to, their forbearers. In this course we investigate the long history of allusion to earlier poetry and the creation and re-use of verse forms. We will briefly survey the history of British poetry from the medieval period to the modern day; familiarize ourselves with the major genres of poetry, especially the lyric and the epic; and learn fundamental poetic terminology. In the process, we will reflect on poetic schools, movements, and genealogies, as well as reading poets' defenses of poetry. Students will learn to do historical research and engage in scholarly criticism. This course counts toward the methods requirement for the major. Pre-requisite: ENGL 103 or 104.

Poetry's history is a living one. Poets often write in emulation of, or in contrast to, their forbearers. In this course we investigate the long history of allusion to earlier poetry and the creation and re-use of verse forms. We will briefly survey the history of British poetry from the medieval period to the modern day; familiarize ourselves with the major genres of poetry, especially the lyric and the epic; and learn fundamental poetic terminology. In the process, we will reflect on poetic schools, movements, and genealogies, as well as reading poets' defenses of poetry. Students will learn to do historical research and engage in scholarly criticism. This course counts toward the methods requirement for the major. Pre-requisite: ENGL 103 or 104.

This course is an introduction to the history of material texts. It investigates the production of writing from scribal manuscript to modern digital media, with a focus on the hand-press era (c.1450-1830). Our goal is to become proficient at reading material forms in conjunction with the texts they contain and to place these materials in historical context. During the course, we examine topics including: shifting notions of authorship and audience; the processes of manuscript and print production; the economics of printing and bookselling; libraries and organization of knowledge; methods of illustration; mise-en-page and paratexts; and textual editing. This counts toward the department's historical period requirement (either pre-1700 or 1700-1900). Prerequisite: ENGL 210-291 or junior standing.

Who and what is "Shakespeare"? The wealth of Shakespeare's legacy allows us to offer many versions of this course, all of which focus on Shakespeare on the page and on the stage. Sometimes this course may examine the role of the cultural "other." Looking at figures like the witch, the native/foreigner or the cross-dressed woman in such plays as "Macbeth," "Othello" and "The Merchant of Venice," we explore the way Shakespeare's theater shaped — and was shaped by — the cultural expectations of the English Renaissance. At other times, the course may query the concept of Renaissance self-fashioning in the sonnets and in plays such as "Twelfth Night," "Hamlet" and "Antony and Cleopatra." We may also explore what Shakespeare read as he composed plays such as "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "King Lear" and "The Tempest" — and how writers since Shakespeare have responded to and re-envisioned his work in the form of lyric poems, new plays, novels and films. Now and then, the course may focus on "the history plays" or the relationship of comedy and tragedy to the romances. No matter which version of Shakespeare is offered, a close reading of several of his plays always shapes and centers this course. This counts towards the pre-1700 requirement for the major. Prerequisite: ENGL 210-291 or junior standing.

This course examines the poetry of England's most radical age, a period of revolution, religious dissent and the birth of modern science, of apocalyptic visions and utopian dreams. We consider how these changing ideas about politics, religion, science and sex shaped the poems of John Donne, Aemilia Lanyer, Ben Jonson, George Herbert, Katherine Philips, John Milton, Henry Vaughan, Andrew Marvell and others. This counts toward the pre-1700 requirement for the major. Prerequisite: ENGL 210-291 or junior standing.

This course undertakes a close reading and analysis of the great English epic "Paradise Lost" in the context of Milton's political and literary career: his early experiments in lyric poetry and masque; his radical support — through prose, the writings of "(his) left hand" — of revolution, freedom of the press and divorce; and his personal response to imprisonment and the death of his political hopes in the restoration of the English monarchy under Charles II. As we examine issues of freedom, authority and authorship in "Paradise Lost" and "Samson Agonistes," we consider Milton's revisioning of classical epic and drama and of biblical texts. And as we explore the attempt "to justify the ways of God to men," we pay particular attention to Milton's account of gender and his examination of the literary imagination and the creative process. We also consider the responses of other great writers, from Milton's time to our own, to this most provocative and enduring epic. This counts towards the pre-1700 requirement for the major. Prerequisite: ENGL 210-291 or junior standing.

Individual study in English is a privilege reserved for senior majors who want to pursue a course of reading or complete a writing project on a topic not regularly offered in the curriculum. Because individual study is one option in a rich and varied English curriculum, it is intended to supplement, not take the place of, coursework, and it cannot normally be used to fulfill requirements for the major. An IS earns the student 0.5 units of credit, although in special cases it may be designed to earn 0.25 units. To qualify to enroll in an individual study, a student must identify a member of the English department willing to direct the project. In consultation with that faculty member, the student must write a one- to two-page proposal that the department chair must approve before the IS can go forward. The chair’s approval is required to ensure that no single faculty member becomes overburdened by directing too many IS courses. In the proposal, the student should provide a preliminary bibliography (and/or set of specific problems, goals and tasks) for the course, outline a specific schedule of reading and/or writing assignments, and describe in some detail the methods of assessment (e.g., a short story to be submitted for evaluation biweekly; a 30-page research paper submitted at course’s end, with rough drafts due at given intervals). Students should also briefly describe any prior coursework that particularly qualifies them for their proposed individual studies. The department expects IS students to meet regularly with their instructors for at least one hour per week, or the equivalent, at the discretion of the instructor. The amount of work submitted for a grade in an IS should approximate at least that required, on average, in 400-level English courses. In the case of group individual studies, a single proposal may be submitted, assuming that all group members follow the same protocols. Because students must enroll for individual studies by the seventh class day of each semester, they should begin discussion of their proposed individual study well in advance, preferably the semester before, so that there is time to devise the proposal and seek departmental approval.

This seminar, required for students in the Honors Program, relates works of criticism and theory to various literary texts, which may include several of those covered on the honors exam. The course seeks to extend the range of interpretive strategies available to students as they begin a major independent project in English literature or creative writing. The course is limited to students with a 3.33 GPA overall, a 3.5 cumulative GPA in English and an application to become an honors candidate in English. Enrollment limited to senior English majors in the Honors Program; exceptions by permission of the instructor. Undertaken in the fall semester; students register with the senior honors form as well as the individual study form. Permission of instructor and department chair required.

This seminar, required for students in the Honors Program, relates works of criticism and theory to various literary texts, which may include several of those covered on the honors exam. The course seeks to extend the range of interpretive strategies available to students as they begin a major independent project in English literature or creative writing. The course is limited to students with a 3.33 GPA overall, a 3.5 cumulative GPA in English and an application to become an honors candidate in English. Enrollment limited to senior English majors in the Honors Program; exceptions by permission of the instructor. Undertaken in the spring semester; students register with the senior honors form. Permission of instructor and department chair required.