Courses Offered by the Department of English

ENG 103. The College Essay (3)
What does it mean to write at the college level? Focus on the organization, coherence, and development required for college papers. Intensive study of the conventions of written English, including grammar, punctuation, and sentence construction. Placement determined by the Writing Program staff.
Fall semester. Deprtment.

ENG 104. Academic Writing I (3)
Introduction to the rhetorical and mechanical skills necessary to develop confident, informed academic voices. Study and practice of writing processes, including critical reading, collaboration, revision, and editing. Focuses on the aims, strategies, and conventions of academic prose, especially analysis and argumentation. May confer college writing proficiency based on student portfolio. Placement determined by the Writing Program.
Fall semester, repeated spring semester. Department.

ENG 105. Academic Writing II (3) (GEN. ED. #1)
Advanced study and practice in the development of an academic voice, preparing students to engage with more complex and specialized texts and questions. Students plan, write, and revise several papers, honing their rhetorical skills and developing strategies for analysis, argumentation, and integration of both primary and secondary sources. Those who demonstrate their ability to write on the college level will earn college writing proficiency. Prerequisite: English 104 or permission of the Writing Program.
Fall semester, repeated spring semester. Department.

ENG 106. Academic Writing III (3) (GEN. ED. #1)
Focuses on refining questions for writing, finding, evaluating, and incorporating evidence and writing rhetorically and grammatically correct and engaging prose. By adding tutorial instruction to classroom work, the course provides each student with intensive, individualized practice. Designed specifically for students who have not yet achieved college writing proficiency, the course allows those who demonstrate their ability to write on the college level to earn proficiency. Placement determined by the Writing Program.
Fall semester, repeated spring semester. Department. 

ENG 111. Masterpieces of English and American Literature (3) (GEN. ED. #9)
An introduction to college-level analysis of major works of literature in various genres. Texts and emphases will vary with the instructor.
Fall semester, repeated spring semester. Rauwerda, White.

ENG 120. Introduction to Fiction Writing (3) (GEN. ED. #8)
Introductory weekly seminar/workshop, developing basic techniques of fiction writing: plotting, characterization, imagery, tone, and other fundamentals. The discussion group employs student work as text along with exemplary works of fiction.
Spring semester. Jackson.

ENG 200.  Close Reading, Critical Writing (3) (GEN. ED. #7)
This course is intended to provide new English majors with the skills that will enable them to approach unfamiliar texts with confidence. We will learn what is meant by—and how to perform—close readings of texts We will also explore how one goes about conducting literary research. Overall, this course intends to provide a strong foundation to make future encounters with literature more meaningful and rewarding. Students can obtain computer and writing proficiency in the major in this course. Prerequisite: limited to sophomores who have completed their college writing proficiency and are intending to major in English. Required of all English majors beginning in Fall 2005. May confer writing proficiency in the major.
Fall semester, repeated spring semester. Department. 

ENG 202. Short Story Writing (3) (GEN. ED. #8)
Fictional techniques, with special attention to the short story. Supervision of individual short stories. Seminar discussion of student work. Prerequisite: Submission of a sample of fiction writing to the instructor.
Fall semester. Trainer.

ENG 203. Feature Writing for Newspapers and Magazines (3)
Intensive writing workshop stressing techniques of interviewing and organizing material into feature stories. Interviews of various subjects from the community. Weekly stories. Final project aimed at publication.
Spring semester. Gately.

ENG 204. Prose Style (3)
The class will consider the role of style in classical rhetoric, but will focus on style in contemporary American nonfiction.  Students will study a range of writers; adopt new vocabularies for assessing style; and address such topics as voice in writing, ideology and style, gender and style, academic prose, and civic and advocacy writing.  Students will have regular opportunities both to analyze the style of published writers and experiment with their own nonfiction writing.  Prerequisite: College Writing Proficiency.
Spring Semester. Brunyate. 

ENG 205. Introductory Poetry Workshop (3) (GEN. ED. #8)
A poetry-writing course with in-class discussion of each class member’s poems. Assignments in common poetic forms (sonnet, sestina) as well as “free verse.” Readings in recent British and American poetry. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or permission of the instructor.
Fall semester. Spires

ENG 206. Professional Communication (3)
Techniques of and practice in writing audience-oriented communication, including essays, reports, surveys, abstracts, persuasive arguments and articles based on primary and secondary research and experimentation. Students will often work collaboratively and in real world settings. Prerequisites: College writing proficiency.
Fall semester, repeated spring semester. Department. Sheff.

ENG 208. Journalism Workshop (3)
Introduction to the basic techniques of journalism and practice in forms of news, interviews, features, and reviews. Critical study of the media and theories of the press. Guest lectures by professional journalists. Prerequisite: College writing proficiency.
Fall semester. Gately.

ENG 211. English Literature: Beowulf to Dryden (3) (GEN. ED. #4 and #9)
Comparative study of the literary forms and attitudes dominant in England from Beowulf to Dryden. Prerequisite: Frontiers or sophomore standing.
Fall semester. Sanders, Myers.

ENG 212. English Literature: Pope to Eliot (3) (GEN. ED. #4 and #9)
Comparative study of the literary forms and attitudes dominant in the British Isles from the beginning of the 18th century to the early Modern period. Prerequisite: ENG 215 (or concurrent enrollment).
Spring semester. White, Rauwerda.

ENG 215. Critical Methods (3) (GEN. ED. #9)
The analysis and interpretation of literary texts: an introduction to literary criticism and contemporary critical theory. Emphasis on the interaction of literature and culture, hence on the variety of ways in which texts are read, reacted to, and written about. The writing of critical papers. Prerequisite: One college course in literature and certified proficiency in English composition.
Spring semester.  Marchand, Sanders.

ENG 219. Linguistics (3)
An introduction to modern linguistics, with special attention to grammatical structures, word and sound formation, and semantics. The course also explores recent linguistic theories, as well as the history of the English language. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing.
Spring semester. Garrett.

ENG 221. Theories of Composing, Tutoring, and Teaching (3)
Designed for students who are recommended as potential Writing Center tutors, students who are interested in teaching careers, and students in the cognitive studies and theory, culture, and interpretation concentrations. Study of current theory and research on how writers write and what teaching methods are most effective. Discussion of collaborative learning, error analysis, writing styles, and tutoring strategies. One hour a week peer tutoring in Writing Center required. Prerequisites: College writing proficiency, and instructor's permission, based on a recommendation by a Goucher College faculty member, a writing sample, and an interview.
Fall semester. Tokarczyk.

ENG 222. Women and Literature (3) (WS 222) (GEN. ED. #9 and #10)
Topic for 2007-2008: "Working Class Women's Literature."
Fall semester. Cordish.
 
ENG 226. Creative Nonfiction I (3) (GEN. ED. #8)
An introduction to the techniques of creative nonfiction and possible subjects. Emphasis on memoir. Peer revision, readings of contemporary essays, conferences. Prerequisite: Certified proficiency in writing or instructor’s permission.
Fall semester. Tokarczyk, Roswell.

ENG 230. The Classical Tradition (3) (GEN. ED. #4)
This survey of Greek and Roman literature will provide useful background for further study in English literature and fields such as Womens Studies, Theatre, Anthropology, History, etc.  Our focus will be "Women and Men in the Ancient World," studying evolving and conflicting conceptions of gender from Homer to Apuleius.
Variable semesters. Myers.

ENG 232. Shakespeare (3) (GEN. ED. #4 and #9)
Study of plays in all of the Shakespearean genres and an introduction to the criticism of the plays. Viewing one or two plays to supplement an approach to the plays as drama. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or permission of the instructor.
Spring semester. Myers.

ENG 240. Medieval Literature (3) (GEN. ED. #4 and #9)
Study of a major author or a broad issue in the literature of the Middle Ages.  Aesthetic, political, and economic study of Medieval English verse, with emphasis on manuscript construction, decoration, and circulation, including original manuscripts from the Walters Art Museum and in facsimile. Chaucer, the Gawain poem, and anonymous romancers, lyric poets, and dramatists. Prerequisite: ENG 211 or permission of instructor.
Spring semester. Sanders. Offered 2007-08 and alternate years.

ENG 241. Archaeology Through Text (3) (GEN. ED. #4 AND 7)
This interdisciplinary English course will introduce students to archival research techniques using Goucher’s Rare Book Collection and online igital archives, including cached Web history such as the Internet Archive. Working backward in time, from the present to the Early Modern and Medieval period, the course will survey ways people have packaged and used written/visual information, from digital media to early printed books to manuscripts. Students who have completed the course will be equipped to do additional archival research in 200- and 300-level courses, as well as working as “archive assistants” in the Julia Rogers Library. Prerequisite: college writing proficiency or permission of instructor.
Fall semester. Sanders. Offered 2007-08 and alternate years.

ENG 242. From Puritan Diaries to Oprah's Book Club: Readers and Writers in America History. (3) (HIS 242, AMS 242)
Using insight gained from various disciplines, this course examines the history of reading and writing in America. In particular, students will study how written texts are produced, disseminated, and consumed. Topics include: Indians and the discovery of print; the sentimental novel; slave narratives; religious readers; the making of an American literary canon; comic books in modern America; and of course, Oprah’s book club. Prerequisites: HIS 110 or 111 or sophomore standing.
Spring 2008 and alternate years. Hale.

ENG 243. Renaissance Literature (3)
Study of a major author or broad issue in the literature of the Renaissance, from Sidney to Massinger, emphasizing Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Prerequisite: ENG 211.
Spring semester. Myers. Offered 2006-07 and alternate years.

ENG 246. English Literature 1660-1800 (3) (GEN. ED. #4 and #9)
Studies of major literary themes and traditions in historical, intellectual, political, and aesthetic contexts. Extensive readings in Swift, Pope, Johnson, and Austen. Prerequisite: ENG 212.
Fall semester. White. Offered 2008-09 and alternate years.

ENG 250. American Literature I (3)
In 1630, somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, John Winthrop delivered a sermon to 700 fellow emigrants. Our community has a unique errand, he revealed, God has made us a “city upon a Hill,” to serve as the light of the world. In 1980 in a televised debate with Jon Anderson, presidential candidate Ronald Reagan would confess that he “had always believed that this land was placed here between the two great oceans by some divine plan. It was placed here to be found by a special kind of people.” This survey of American literature (origins to 1860) explores this unique characteristic of American life and letters: that from their very origins,
Americans have understood themselves as a chosen people, in a sacred space, with a special errand.
Fall semester. Robinson.

ENG 254. American Literature II (3) (GEN. ED. #4 and #9)
This course traces developments in American Literature from the 1880’s through the 1920’s, a period dominated by the rags to riches plot. Students will explore how writers such as Alger (Ragged Dick), Twain (Puddn’head Wilson), Dreiser (Sister Carrie), James (Turn of the Screw), Wharton (Custom of the Country), Chopin (The Awakening), Johnson (Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man), Norris (McTeague), and Burroughs (Tarzan) obsessively reworked this plot, even as they grappled with the moral costs of social ambition and the obstacles that women, minorities, and the lower classes faced in their struggle upward.
Spring semester. Marchand.

ENG 255. The Modern American Novel (3) (GEN. ED. #9)
Studies of modern American fiction. Special topics. Announced prior to registration.
Fall semester. Offered 2008-09 and alternate years.

ENG 256. Multiethnic American Literature (GEN. ED. #9)
An examination of literature written by Americans of various ethnic and racial backgrounds. Works studied may include Native American tales, Sui Sin Far, Anzia, Yezierska, Rudolfo Anaya, and Maxine Hong Kingston. Course also discuss theories of ethnic literature and immigrant experience. Prerequisite: college writing proficiency.
Spring. Tokarczyk, Robinson.

ENG 257. Romanticism (3) (GEN. ED. #4 and #9)
Studies in major literary themes and traditions in historical, intellectual, political, and aesthetic contexts that will vary from year to year. Topic for 2005-06: Romantic Love: Blake, Wollstonecraft, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats, and Austen on love as salvation, damnation, and various things in between. Background studies in the rise of “feeling” and “affective individualism” in 18th-century Europe. Prerequisite: ENG 212.
Spring semester. White. Offered 2007-08 and alternate years.

ENG 259. The Victorian Period (3) (GEN. ED. #4 and #9)
Studies in major literary themes and traditions in historical, intellectual, political, and aesthetic contexts that will vary from year to year. Topic for 2004-05: The Education of the Senses. Keats, Tennyson, Ruskin, D.G. Rossetti, Dickens, Fitzgerald, Swinburne, Pater, Wilde, Yeats, and the aesthetic reaction to industrialization. Prerequisite: ENG 212.
Spring semester. White. Offered 2008-09 and alternate years.

ENG 260. The Early English Novel (3) (GEN. ED. #4 and #9)
Study of the themes and forms of major 18th- and early 19th-century novels within the context of social and intellectual history. Works by Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Sterne, Austen. Prerequisite: Frontiers or sophomore standing.
Variable semesters. White.

ENG 264.  The Victorian English Novel (3) (GEN. ED. #4 and #9)
Study of the themes and forms of major Victorian and early 20th-century novels within the context of social and intellectual history. Works by Dickens, Eliot, Thackery, Hardy, Conrad, Ford. Prerequisite: Frontiers or Sophomore standing.
Spring semester. Cordish. Offered 2007-08 and alternate years.

ENG 270. Modernism (3) (GEN. ED. #9)
One way to describe any era is by what it wants—both what it lacks and what it desires. The modern period, however, is actually characterized by the ubiquity and urgency of its sense of wanting. This course explores the significance of this persistent theme in works by Joyce, Woolf, Lawrence, Faulkner, Stevens, Eliot, Rhys, and Beckett. Prerequisite: ENG 212 or junior standing.
Fall semester. Cordish. Offered 2008-09 and alternate years.

ENG 272Y. Intensive Course Abroad (GEN. ED. # 3)
Course includes a pre-departure or post-departure, seven-week course or both in the fall and/or spring and a three-week intensive course abroad in the winter or summer.

ENG 273. Postmodernism (3) (GEN. ED. #9)
This course explores various theories and examples of postmodern literature and culture. Texts, from 1960 to the present, that focus on writing, reading, and storytelling as acts of profound political, social, and existential significance. Prerequisite: ENG 212 or junior standing.
Fall semester. Cordish. Offered 2008-09 and alternate years.

ENG 275. Literature of the Harlem Renaissance (3) (GEN. ED. #4 and #10)
Poetry and fiction conventionally assigned to the Harlem Renaissance. Authors include Hughes, Hurston, Cullen, McKay, and others. Discussion of the delineation of the movement’s boundaries, both temporally and by subject, the construction and reconstruction of a racial identity, and the tension between a progressive literary movement and the “masses” it would represent. The approach will be interdisciplinary. Fulfills American studies elective. Prerequisite: college writing proficiency. 
Fall semester. Robinson.

ENG 276. Modern Poetry (3) (GEN. ED. #4 and #9)
An exploration of works by British and American poets of the early 20th century in their historical, intellectual, and cultural context. Yeats, Pound, Eliot, Auden, Stevens, Moore, Frost, and their contemporaries. Prerequisite: Frontiers or sophomore standing.
Spring semester. Tokarczyk. Offered 2008-09 and alternate years.

ENG 277. Contemporary American Poets (3) (GEN. ED. #9)
Major writers representing various schools, regions, and ethnic groups. Particular attention will be paid to the historical and cultural context of the work. Lowell, Ginsberg, Ashbery, Rich, and others. Prerequisite: Frontiers or sophomore standing.
Fall semester. Tokarczyk. Offered 2007-08 and alternate years.

ENG 280. The Novel and the Film (3) (GEN. ED. #9)
Possible Topic: The Films of Stanley Kubrick and their Sources. Comparative study of expressive form, narrative technique, and recurrent themes in the written and filmed versions of Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, and Full Metal Jacket. Prerequisite: One course in literature or film, or sophomore standing.
Fall semester. White. Offered 2007-08 and alternate years.

ENG 285. Post-colonial Literature (3) (GEN. ED. #9 and #10)
This course offers an introduction to the study of post-colonial literature written in English (in other words, international literature, especially from former British colonies, generally after 1960). Its objectives are: (1) to introduce students to writing from India, Africa, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand, as well as from “the diaspora,” and (2) to locate these literatures in their different geographical, historical, and cultural contexts to suggest both developmental similarities and key differences. Students will explore the works of polemical authors such as Salman Rushdie, J.M. Coetzee, and Michelle Cliff, as well as more optimistic pieces by authors such as Witi Ihimaera (on whose novel the film The Whale Rider is based). Prerequisite: Frontiers or sophomore standing.
Fall semester. Rauwerda.

ENG 290. Internship in English (3-4)
Internships involving the application of knowledge and skills in composition, language, and literature, typically in editing, publishing, journalism, radio and television, advertising, and public relations. Businesses, professional firms, and government agencies sometimes accept students with composition skills as interns. Credit for off-campus experience is available in some cases to students working for the college newspaper. Prerequisite: Varies according to the nature of the internship, but usually consists of a course in journalism, ENG 221, or a 200-level course in composition. Faculty sponsorship required. May be taken either for a letter grade or pass/no pass.
Department.

ENG 299. Independent work in English (3-4)
Department.

ENG 300.  Special Topics in English (3)
Advanced creative writing workshop taught by Madison Smartt Bell under the auspices of the Kratz Center for Creative Writing. Prerequisite: ENG 315 and/or manuscript submission and approval of Madison Smartt Bell. Can be taken twice.
Spring semester. Visitng instructor.

ENG 305. Writing Workshop: Poetry (3) (GEN. ED. #8)
Supervision of individual creative projects in poetry. Formal and thematic weekly assignments with in-class discussion of class members’ poems. Prerequisites: ENG 205 or permission of the instructor. Manuscript required for prerequisite to be waived.
Spring semester. Jackson.

ENG 306. Writing Workshop: Fiction (3)
Supervision of individual creative projects. Individual conferences and weekly seminar meetings. Prerequisites: ENG 202 and submission of a sample of creative writing to the instructor.
Spring semester. Bell.

ENG 307. Creative Nonfiction II (3) (GEN. ED. #8)
Further work in creative nonfiction. This writing workshop requires several extensively revised papers, peer critiques of essays, work on a class anthology, and submission of a final portfolio. Prerequisites: Certified proficiency in writing and one 200-level writing course or permission of instructor.
Spring semester. Tokarczyk. Offered 2009-10 and alternate years.

ENG 315. Advanced Seminar in Creative Writing (3)
An advanced workshop combining the genres of fiction and poetry. Written work for the seminar will be an extended project consisting of either three or four finished short stories or 15 to 20 pages of poetry. Students who work in both genres may submit a combination of the two. In-class critique of students work. Prerequisites: ENG 202 and 306 or ENG 205 and 305. For admission to the seminar, students will submit creative writing samples to Madison Bell or Elizabeth Spires.
Fall semester. Bell. Spires.

ENG 316. Enterprise Journalism (3)
A course designed to teach students not only journalistic writing, but also journalistic thinking. Students will research and write topical news features that hinge not only on daily events, but on student-journalists’ insight and initiative. Examples include fleshing out quiet trends, explaining hidden conflicts, charting social changes, and investigating public policy matters. Workshop
format. Prerequisite: English 203, 208.
Fall semester. Benjamin.

ENG 330. Special Topics in English Literature to 1700 (3) (GEN. ED. #4 AND #9)
Possible topic: A complete reading of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, with attention to the critical controversies and textual mysteries discovered by his readers during the last 500 years. May be repeated for credit with different topic. Prerequisite: ENG 211 or 243, or permission of the instructor.
Spring semester. Myers.

ENG 340. Special Topics in English Literature to 1700 (3) (GEN. ED. #4 and #9)
Possible topic: Oscar Wilde and Victorian Decadence. A study of Wilde as the comic center of a late 19th-century revolt by British writers and artists against what were perceived by the rebels as the pieties, hypocrisies, and earnestness of the Victorian bourgeoisie. A unique wit and gadfly of the age, the gay Wilde was also ultimately martyred by the very Victorian respectability he had mocked all his life. Prerequisite: ENG 212 or permission of the instructor. May be repeated for credit with different topic.
Fall semester.  White.

ENG 350. Seminar in Shakespeare (3) (GEN. ED. #4 and #9)
A close reading of Shakespeare drama, supplemented by secondary readings from both Shakespeare’s time and the subsequent critical heritage, as an exploration of Shakespeare’s world and our interpretation of it. Prerequisite: ENG 211 or 232.
Variable semesters. Myers.

ENG 361. Studies in Fiction (3) (GEN. ED. #7 and #9)
Possible Topic: Virginia Woolf: Her Work and World. Virginia Stephen Woolf is undeniably among the most important writers—novelist, essayist and critic—of the modern world. This seminar focuses on close reading of many of her major works within the cultural context of the Bloomsbury Group, of feminism, and of Modernism itself. Prerequisite: ENG 212 or permission of the instructor. May be repeated for credit.
Spring semester. Cordish.

ENG 371. Seminar in American Literature (3)
Possible topic: The Whale. Several years ago, the New York Times Book Review surveyed readers about the book they most regret not having read. The number one answer? Moby Dick. Avoid their terrible fate and read Moby Dick, the true story it was inspired by the works it inspired, including satires (Mad magazine’s “Call me Fish-Smell”), films, and a techno-opera.
Fall semester. Marchand.

ENG 372. Seminar in African American Literature (3)
Possible topic: The African American Novel—an examination of thematic, structural, and stylistic characteristics of the African American novel from its rise in the 19th century through contemporary works. Prerequisite: sophomore standing and a course in literature, or permission of the instructor.
Spring semester. Robinson.

ENG 392. Contemporary Literary Theory (3)
Postcolonial theory frequently critiques the biases that allowed colonialism to happen in the first place.  It often also examines the implications of colonialism for individuals who are no longer colonised.  This course considers theoretical writings that deal with the construction of race, gender and class,  as well as with the validity of the term "postcolonial" itself.  We will read excerpts of the works of major postcolonial theorists (among them, Gayatri Spivak, Homi Bhabha, and Edward Said--often referred to as Postcolonial Theory's "holy trinity").   The readings will generally be short but complex; class discussion will emphasise disentangling ideas and concepts.
Spring semester. Rauwerda. Offered 2007-08 and alternate years.

ENG 400. Independent work in English (1.5-4)
Fall and spring semesters. Department.

ENG 450. Senior Thesis (4/4)
Fall and spring semesters. Department.