The concentration begins with a limited-enrollment writing-intensive course that introduces how novels, plays, poems, and short stories differ as forms of literature. Students may then choose from an array of courses organized by author, genre, historical period, or critical theme. In addition to courses in the major figures and periods of English and American literature, students may take classes that focus on African, African American, Caribbean, Native American, or postcolonial literatures. The concentration culminates in the Senior Seminar, in which students intensively study a limited set of critical and theoretical approaches to literary analysis and apply them to a group of related texts.

Course Requirements

A total of nine courses, including the following:

• English 150

At least three courses chosen from the following six (at least one from each of the groups):

Genre Courses

• English 204 (Poetry)
• English 205 (The Novel)
• English 206 (Drama)

  Single-Author Courses

• English 222 (Chaucer)
• English 225 (Shakespeare)
• English 228 (Milton)

At least three courses above the 200 level, including:

• At least one 300-level writing-intensive course in literature before the spring of the senior year
• At least one 400-level seminar in the spring of the senior year

Foreign Language Requirement

Beginning with the class of 2001, concentrators in both English Literature and Creative Writing must fulfill a foreign language requirement, following one of three options:

1. Completion of college coursework in a language other than English through the fourth-semester level (or demonstration of equivalent competence on a placement examination accepted by Hamilton);

2. Completion of college coursework in a language other than English through the third semester (or demonstration of equivalent competence on a placement examination accepted by Hamilton) and one linguistics course: Anthropology 125 (Language and Culture), Anthropology 201 (Linguistic Theory), or another linguistics course approved by the English Department;

3. Completion of both a course in Old English Literature (studied in the original language) and a course in the history of the language, taken at Hamilton or approved by the English Department for transfer credit.

Notes on the Concentration

Courses in a foreign-language literature studied in translation do not count toward the concentration in English Literature. However, a student may count one course in a foreign-language literature read in the original language towards the English concentration, with the permission of the Department.

Courses in Creative Writing or Expository Writing do not count toward the concentration in English Literature, even though they are offered by the English Department.

Courses offered in other departments and cross-listed with English, such as Comparative Literature 297 and 475, do count towards the concentration in English Literature. However, except for courses in foreign-language literatures in the original languages (see above), no course that is not cross-listed with English can count towards the concentration in literature.

The seminar requirement must be fulfilled in the spring semester of the senior year. You may take seminars before the spring semester of your senior year--indeed, the department encourages you to do so--but they do not fulfill the requirement of a Senior Seminar. Comparative Literature 475 (Shakespeare Around the Globe) is not a seminar and does not fulfill the requirement.

For the minor in English Literature:

A minor in English Literature consists of English 150, one course from among English 204, 205, or 206, one course from among English 222, 225, or 228, and two electives, one of which must be at or above the 300 level. Students concentrating in Creative Writing may not minor in English.