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Sophomore Literature

Each semester the English Department offers literature classes designed by professors to meet the University's General Education Literature requirement. The historical surveys of British and American literature are always popular, but we also offer literature courses that focus on a particular theme, topic, or genre, and allow students to discover the joys and challenges of literary writing while also focusing on a topic in greater depth than the traditional historical survey affords. We encourage you to look over the course descriptions, see what might interest you, and sign up for one (or two!) that appeal especially to you! You must have completed all first-year writing requirements (through 102) to be eligible to enroll in a sophomore literature course.

Alternative Approaches to Literature

  • 210, Literary Genres -- Explores a specified genre or subgenre of writing. Recent courses examined horror stories, love stories, poetry, and westerns.
  • 211, Thematic Approaches -- Explores a specific theme that recurs in literature across the ages. Recent examples include the themes of magical creatures, evil, funeral rituals, food and dining, marriage, and war.
  • 212, Literature and Other Media -- Explores the relationship of literature to other arts, such as painting, film, video games, or architecture. Examples include science in film and fiction, humanity and machines in film and literature, and monsters in literature, film, and games.

Download the Alternative Approaches course descriptions in RTF for Summer 2016 or Fall 2016

American Literature

  • 205 -- Literature in North America from from its beginnings through Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson
  • 206 -- Literature from Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson up through today
  • 216 -- Honors American Literature, covering writing in North America from the beginning through today

British Literature

  • 201 -- Literature from Beowulf through Milton and the Restoration period
  • 202 -- Literature from the Romantics to the present
  • 215 -- Honors British Literature, covering the whole 1500 years of English-speaking civilization