Major
Minor
Courses
Students take an literary excursion to New York City |
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 In literature courses, students examine written works to determine
their meaning, to reach judgments about their value, to explore
their relation to life, and to derive pleasure. To these ends,
students make written and oral analyses, supporting their
conclusions with close examination of specific passages from the
works of literature being studied. In both literature and writing
courses, students learn to compose their generalizations and
supporting details into a coherent structure of thought and
language.
An English major at Oglethorpe is excellent preparation
for law school or any other professional training that requires
students to interpret written material and support their assertions
with specific evidence. Given the expressed need in the business
community for people who can communicate well orally and on paper,
the combination of an English major and courses in business
administration or an accounting minor may be very attractive to
prospective employers. The course Writing for Business and the
Professions focuses on the kinds of speaking and writing abilities
graduates will need to get and keep jobs in personnel, sales, and
management. Oglethorpe graduates also work in public relations and
editing, where they use their skill with words - a major emphasis of
every English course. They go into teaching, and sometimes work for
publishers, television stations, film-making companies, or computer
firms. They write press releases, training manuals, in-house
newspapers, and news copy.
To help students bridge the gap between academic life and work
experience, Oglethorpe places English majors in internships with
area newspapers, publishing companies, public relations firms,
cultural associations, and radio and television stations. Such
experiences enhance students' chances of finding the jobs they want
after graduation.
Major
Students who major in English are required to take four period
courses: Ancient Literature, Medieval and Renaissance Literature,
18th and 19th Century Literature, and Modern and Contemporary
Literature. Students also are required to take one writing course;
Shakespeare or Chaucer; four electives from the upper-level (300)
literature courses, and one semester of a foreign language at the
second semester elementary-level or higher. The degree awarded is
the Bachelor of Arts.
Minor
Students who minor in English are required to take a minimum of
five literature courses. At least three of these must be upper-level
(300) courses.
The following courses are offered in English:
| ENG 100. Independent Study in
Literature and Composition |
1-4 hours |
Supervised study in specified
genres or periods. Prerequisite: Submission of a proposed
outline of study that includes a schedule of meetings and
assignments approved by the instructor, the division chair, and
the Provost and Senior Vice President prior to registration.
|
| ENG 101. Ancient Literature |
4 hours |
This course will examine the
literature of the ancient world. Although the primary focus will
be on Greek, Roman, and Hebrew culture, non-Western materials
may also be studied. Works and authors might include: Gilgamesh,
Homer, Job, and Virgil.
|
| ENG 102. Medieval and Renaissance
Literature |
4 hours |
This course will
examine the transition of the cultural world of Dante to that of
Shakespeare and Milton. Although the primary focus will be
Western, non-Western works may also be studied. Texts and
authors might include: Chretien, Dante, The Tale of Genji,
Chaucer, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Cervantes, and Milton.
|
| ENG 103. 18th and 19th Century Literature |
4 hours |
Authors in this course might
include: Defoe, Pope, Basho, Austen, Emerson, Twain, and George
Eliot.
|
| ENG 104. Modern and Contemporary
Literature |
4 hours |
| This course will
investigate the literature of the 20th century. Authors might
include: T. S. Eliot, Woolf, Lawrence, Frost, Morrison, and
Marquez. |
| ENG 201. Chaucer |
4 hours |
Students will learn to
read and appreciate the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, the first
great English poet, in his original language; to enjoy the rich
and varied nature of his works; and to appreciate why he is
called "the Father of English." Prerequisites: COR 101, COR 102,
and one 100-level English course.
|
| ENG 202. Shakespeare |
4 hours |
The plays and theatre
of William Shakespeare. Offered in alternate years.
Prerequisites: COR 101, COR 102, and one 100-level English
course.
|
| ENG. 230. Creative Writing |
4 hours |
This course is an
introduction to writing poetry and prose fiction. The student
will be asked to submit substantial written work each week, keep
a journal, and read published writers. Much class time will be
spent discussing student and published work. Prerequisites: COR
101 and COR 102.
|
| ENG 231. Biography and
Autobiography |
4 hours |
This course is an
introduction to biographical and autobiographical writing with
practice in the personal narrative as well as other forms such
as the profile and the interview. Students will submit
substantial written work each week and keep a journal. The class
will follow a workshop format, discussing the students' and
published work. Prerequisites: COR 101 and COR 102.
|
| ENG 300. The Bible as Literature |
4 hours |
This course will
examine the Bible as a literary artifact and within an
historical context. Students will be particularly interested in
the varied ways in which the Bible generates meaning. These
include archetypal repetition, the weaving together of
historically disparate texts, parable, and allegory.
Prerequisites: COR 101, COR 102, and one 100-level English
course.
|
| ENG 301. Russian Literature |
4 hours |
This course will
consist of Russian literature in translation, mostly fiction,
mostly from the 19th century. Central to the course is Anna
Karenina. In addition to Tolstoy, authors might include: Gogol,
Dostoevski, and Chekhov. Prerequisites: COR 101, COR 102, and
one 100-level English course.
|
| ENG 302. The Child in Literature |
4 hours |
This course will
involve a wide-ranging study of works which employ innocence,
particularly in childhood, in order to deepen the understanding
of experience. Authors might include: Sophocles, Blake, Carroll,
James, and Kafka. Prerequisites: COR 101, COR 102, and one
100-level English course.
|
| ENG 303. American Poetry |
4 hours |
This course will
consider the work of major American poets such as Whitman,
Dickinson, Frost, Eliot, and Williams. Prerequisites: COR 101,
COR 102, and one 100-level English course.
|
| ENG 304. Images of Women in
Literature |
4 hours |
An exploration of
various stereotypical, archetypal, and realistic images of women
in literature. Prerequisites: COR 101, COR 102, and one
100-level English course.
|
| WGS 304. Women Poets |
4 hours |
This course is a survey
of poetry by women, from ancient Chinese, Persian, and others in
translation, to medieval Irish and Renaissance English, to 19th
and 20th century Americans, as well as Eastern Europeans and
Latin Americans in translation. Included will be several recent
poets such as Gwendolyn Brooks, Adrienne Rich, and Mary Oliver
in order to discover what themes, images, and attitudes seem to
emerge from the works. Prerequisites: COR 101 and COR 102.
|
| ENG 305. Chivalric Romance |
4 hours |
This course will
explore the chivalric tales of "knights and ladies' gentle
deeds," paying particular attention to models of heroism and
temptation; tensions between holy and secular quests;
dichotomies of masculine and feminine identity; and canons of
moral and ethical behavior. Authors might include Marie de
France, Chretien de Troyes, Arisoto, and Spenser. Prerequisites:
COR 101, COR 102, and one 100-level English course.
|
| ENG 306. Special Topics in Drama |
4 hours |
Drama as literature and
genre, through survey and period studies. Prerequisites: COR
101, COR 102, and one 100-level English course.
|
| ENG 307. Milton |
4 hours |
This course will
examine the major prose and poetry of John Milton and their
place in 17th century English culture. Works studied will
include Areopagitica, Lycidas, Samson Agonistes, and Paradise
Lost. Prerequisites: COR 101, COR 102, and one 100-level English
course.
|
| ENG 308. Special Topics in Poetry |
4 hours |
This course will focus
on particular poets, movements, styles, or periods.
Prerequisites: COR 101, COR 102, and one 100-level English
course.
|
| ENG 309. Literature of the City and
the Country |
4 hours |
This course will
concentrate on 19th and 20th century English and American
literature in order to deepen the student's understanding and
test the conceptions of the natural and the urban. Authors might
include Wordsworth, Dickens, Thoreau, Woolf, and Frost.
Prerequisites: COR 101, COR 102, and one 100-level English
course.
|
| ENG 310. Special Topics in Fiction |
4 hours |
English, American, and
continental narrative prose will be examined in the context of
theme, period, or genre. Prerequisites: COR 101, COR 102, and
one 100-level English course.
|
| ENG 311. Ulysses |
4 hours |
This course will focus
on a thorough reading of Ulysses but might also examine other
works by James Joyce, such as Dubliners, A Portrait of the
Artist as a Young Man, and selections from Finnegans Wake.
Prerequisites: COR 101, COR 102, and one 100-level English
course.
|
| ENG 312. Special Topics in
Literature and Culture |
4 hours |
Courses relating
literature with aspects of social and intellectual history or a
particular issue or theme. Possible offerings may include women
in literature, American civilization, African-American (or other
ethnic) literature, popular culture, the literature of a single
decade, children's literature, and myth and folklore in
literature. Usually offered in alternate years. Prerequisites: COR 101, COR 102, and one 100-level English course.
|
| ENG 313. African-American Literary
Traditions |
4 hours |
This course surveys
African-American literature and literary history. It begins with
a close examination of the slave narrative and the
African-American sentimental novel of the 19th century. An
exploration is made of the literature of the Harlem Renaissance,
followed by works like Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and Richard
Wright's Native Son. Finally, civil rights era literature and
works by authors such as Gloria Naylor and Alice Walker will be
examined. Prerequisites: COR 101, COR 102, and one 100-level
English course, preferably Modern and Contemporary Literature.
|
| ENG 314. Special Topics in Major
British and American Authors |
4 hours |
An intensive study of
between one and five British or American authors. Prerequisite: COR 101, COR 102, and one 100-level English course.
|
| ENG 315. Vision, Violence, and Community in
Milton, Blake, Whitman, and Yeats |
4 hours |
This course will
examine works by four major visionary poets. In the historical
context of English civil war, the French Revolution, the
American Civil War, and World War I and the Irish rebellions,
they tried to envision for their cultures a restoration of
community between the temporal and the eternal, the human and
the divine. In times of fragmentation and crisis, each
re-invented a traditional mythology. A study will be made of
their individual visions to those collective myths and to
personal struggles. Prerequisites: COR 101, COR 102, and one
100-level English course.
|
| ENG 330. Writing Poetry |
4 hours |
In weekly assignments
students will try free verse and various forms in the effort to
discover and to embody more and more truly what they have to
say. Much time will be spent reading published poets, responding
to student work in class, and trying to generate language that
reveals rather than explains intangible "meanings."
Prerequisites: COR 101 and COR 102.
|
| ENG 331. Writing Prose, Fiction,
and Nonfiction |
4 hours |
Students will get
instruction and substantial practice in writing fictional and
nonfictional prose which aims at getting what Henry James called
"a sense of felt life" onto the page. The class will follow a
workshop format with weekly assignments, journal writing,
extensive discussion of student work, and reading of published
examples. Prerequisites: COR 101 and COR 102.
|
| ENG 401. Internship in English |
1-4 hours |
An internship is designed to
provide a formalized experiential learning opportunity to
qualified students. The internship generally requires the
student to obtain a faculty supervisor in the relevant field of
study, submit a learning agreement, work 30 hours for every hour
of academic credit, keep a written journal of the work
experience, have regularly scheduled meetings with the faculty
supervisor, and write a research paper dealing with some aspect
of the internship. Written work should total five pages of
academic writing for every hour of credit. An extensive list of
internships is maintained by the Career Services Office,
including opportunities at Atlanta Magazine, The Knight
Agency, and Peachtree Publishers. Graded on a
satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis. Prerequisites: Permission of
the faculty supervisor and qualification for the internship
program.
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