Department of English

FACULTY

JOOLY M. PHILIP, Chair, Department of English; Associate Professor of English, 2004—
BA, Hofstra University, 1992; MA, Hofstra University, 1994; PhD, Texas Tech University, 1999.

T. ROBINSON BLANN, Professor of English, 1981—
BA, Vanderbilt University, 1971; MA, Emory University, 1973; DA, Middle Tennessee State University, 1987.

PHYLLIS B. FLANNERY, Associate Professor of English, 1970—
BA, Trevecca Nazarene University, 1964; MA, George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, 1971.

GRAHAM HILLARD, Assistant Professor of English, 2007—
BA, Union University, 2002; MFA, New York University, 2005.

MICHAEL A. KAROUNOS, Assistant Professor of English, 2004—
BA, Miami University, 1977; MA, Roosevelt University, 1994; PhD, Vanderbilt University, 2005.

Department of English General Information

The Department of English offers a variety of course work leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree in English or English Education, as well as a minor in English and a minor in Creative Writing. Through a series of three General Education courses in English, all Trevecca students receive instruction in writing and literature studies during their first two years. Tutoring and enrichment programs in basic writing and grammar are available through the Center for Leadership, Calling, and Service. Introductory language courses in French, German, and Spanish provide students an opportunity to explore communication processes in other cultures.

Advanced programs of study in English may be effectively combined with a complimentary second major or minor in such areas as Secondary Education, Business Administration, Music, Psychology, or Religion for students interested in various career options. A nationwide survey of business leaders, federal employers, and graduate school deans emphasizes the marketability of English majors who possess strong writing skills and problem–solving ability along with a creative understanding of human relationships.

As a capstone to the major, all English majors work with a faculty advisor to prepare either a scholarly paper or collection of creative writing which is presented in a public lecture or performance.

Mission Statement

The English major seeks to prepare graduates who possess strong reading, writing, and thinking skills, along with a creative understanding of human relationships, that will enable them to succeed in professional and personal lives of service to the community.

Learning Outcomes

Graduates with an English major will be able to:

1. Read written texts from various genres and periods with comprehension.
2. Write clear scholarly papers which analyze and synthesize information from multiple sources.
3. Interpret and evaluate literary works from various critical approaches.
4. Demonstrate the knowledge necessary to gain admission into an English graduate program.
5. Communicate effectively both in oral and written form.

English BA

English Education BA (7-12 Licensure)

See the "Teacher Education Program" section for this Teacher Certification Program.

English Major Four-Year Plan

Freshman Year

Sophomore Year

Junior Year

Senior Year

*Dependent upon student's choice of minor

English Minors

English Course Descriptions

ENGLISH

ENG 1010—Introduction to Rhetoric (3)

Intensive practice in writing brief essays for a variety of rhetorical purposes and audiences, with emphasis on English grammar and usage. Students who receive an IP or F must repeat ENG 1010. Graded A, B, C, IP, F.

ENG 1020—English Composition (3)

Emphasizes the recursive writing process through appropriate determination of subject, audience, purpose, and style, with correct usage of grammar, punctuation, and logical organization. Students will use appropriate technologies for writing and learning. Students who receive an IP or F must repeat ENG 1020. Graded A, B, C, IP, F.

ENG 1060—English as a Second Language (3)

The study of the English language for students whose native language is not English. The course is specifically designed for international students to improve their mastery of spoken and written English.

ENG 1080—Critical Reading, Writing, and Thinking (3)

Emphasizes intellectual and analytical reasoning through reading and writing assignments. Includes instruction in library and research technologies and the writing of a research project. Prerequisite: Grade of C- or higher in ENG 1020, or ACT English score 28 or higher.

ENG 2000—World Literature (3)

Designed to engage students in dialogue with a variety of Western and Non-Western world literature, past and present. Prerequisite for all upper-level literature courses. Prerequisite: ENG 1080.

ENG 2100—Creative Writing: Beginning Poetry (3)

Students will write and critique original poems in a workshop environment. Contemporary poets will be studied as models. Prerequisite: ENG 2000 or permission of instructor.

ENG 2200—Creative Writing: Beginning Fiction (3)

Students will write and critique original short stories in a workshop environment. Contemporary writers will be studied as models. Prerequisite: ENG 2000 or permission of instructor.

ENG 3010—Poetry (3)

Readings in poetry with emphasis on critical understanding and appreciation of the form and themes of poetry. Prerequisite: ENG 2000.

ENG 3030—Novel (3)

Readings of selected novels representing historical, thematic, and cultural trends in world literature. Prerequisite: ENG 2000.

ENG 3040—Modern Drama (3)

Cross listed as COM 4400.

ENG 3050—Satire (3)

Readings in classical, neoclassical, and modern literature which emphasize reform and correction of individuals and societies, including works by Juvenal, Erasmus, Swift, Twain, Thurber.

ENG 3060—Narrative Film Theories and Techniques (3)

Cross listed as COM 3700.

ENG 3100—American Puritans and Romantics (3)

A survey of the major authors and literary movements from the Colonial period up to the Civil War, including Edwards, Franklin, Irving, Cooper, Bryant, Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Dickinson, Whitman.

ENG 3200—American Realists and Moderns (3)

A survey of American literature from the Civil War to the present, including works by Twain, Crane, London, Dreiser, Anderson, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, O'Neill, Cather, Lewis, Updike.

ENG 3400—Southern Literature (3)

A study of modern and contemporary southern writers, including Faulkner, O'Connor, Welty, the Fugitives, Conroy, Percy.

ENG 3460—Creative Writing: Advanced Poetry (3)

Students will produce advanced poetry to be critiqued in a workshop environment. Contemporary poets will be studied as models with an emphasis on the manuscript as a whole. Prerequisite: ENG 2100.

ENG 3470—Creative Writing: Advanced Fiction (3)

Students will produce advanced fiction to be critiqued in a workshop environment. Contemporary writers will be studied as models with an emphasis on the development of plot, character, setting, theme, point of view, and diction. Prerequisite: ENG 2200.

ENG 3480—Creative Writing: Nonfiction (3)

A writing workshop dedicated to the creative essay, the memoir, the review, and other forms of creative writing that resist traditional categorization. Students will submit original work to be critiqued in a workshop environment and in conference with the instructor. Contemporary professional essays will be used as models. The course will culminate in the production of a manuscript of original work. Prerequisite: ENG 1080 or permission of instructor.

ENG 3490—Contemporary Writing (3)

A study of Western poetry and fiction from 1980 through today. Contemporary Writing will focus on the analysis of work for which an incomplete body of criticism exists.

ENG 3510—Medieval Literature (3)

A study of the Anglo–Saxon and Medieval period to 1400, focusing on Celtic prose and poetry, Chaucer, Langland, and continental influences.

ENG 3520—Renaissance Literature (3)

A study of the period 1400–1660, focusing on drama and poetry, including Spencer, Marlowe, the Metaphysicals, and Milton.

ENG 3550—Shakespeare (3)

A study of representative plays by William Shakespeare within the context of their historical and cultural milieu of the Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre. Cross listed as COM 3550.

ENG 3580—Enlightenment Literature (3)

A study of the period, 1660–1798, including Dryden, Pope, Swift, Hogarth, and Johnson.

ENG 3590—Myth, Fantasy, and Folklore (3)

A survey course covering classical and modern myths, fantasy, and folklore. Readings will be selected from Edith Hamilton's Mythology, from classical tragedies, and from Christian writers such as George MacDonald, G.K. Chesterton, Charles Williams, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien, to name a few.

ENG 3610—Romantic Literature (3)

A study of the Romantic period, 1798–1832, including Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats.

ENG 3620—Victorian Literature (3)

A study of the prose and poetry of Victorian England, 1832–1901, including Dickens, Tennyson, Browning, Bronte, Arnold, Wilde.

ENG 3630—Modern British Literature (3)

A detailed study of twentieth century British writers including Yeats, Woolf, Joyce, Lawrence, Shaw, Auden, Thomas, and Hughes.

ENG 3640—Modern American Literature (3)

study that will cover the years from 1900 to, approximately, 1955 and encompass those writers thought of as "moderns" in poetry, drama and fiction. The course will analyze the thematic content, the cultural background, and the significant stylistic changes that transformed each genre.

ENG 3650—The Age of Milton (3)

A study of the works of the Christian poet, John Milton. His poems and prose will be studied within the context of the Seventeenth Century—a revolutionary time period in England's history. John Milton's often controversial theological, philosophical and political views will be examined along with other matters pertaining to the poet and his times.

ENG 3750—Children’s Literature (3)

A survey of children's literature in preparation for elementary school teaching and children's librarianship. The best of picture books and prose for children are introduced. Emphasis is placed on implementation of an effective literature program in the elementary grades.

ENG 3800—Adolescent Literature (3)

A survey of young adult fiction in preparation for secondary school teaching. Emphasizes development of an effective secondary level literature program, which reflects cultural and ethnic diversity.

ENG 3850—Christian Fiction (3)

Course participants will read novels written from a Christian perspective selected from the past three centuries in both English and American literature. English novelists include Frances Burney, Jane Austen, Anthony Trollope, George MacDonald, Graham Greene, Charles Williams, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, and Dorothy Sayers. American novelists include Walker Percy, Flannery O'Connor, and Anne Rice.

ENG 3860—C.S. Lewis and the Inklings (3)

This course will study the writings of C.S. Lewis with additional selections from Inklings Charles Williams and J. R. R. Tolkien and others who might have influenced the works of Lewis. Through fictional works such as the Narnia tales and the Perelandra Trilogy, and through non-fictional works such as The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, and numerous essays, students will become exposed to a wide selection of work by C.S. Lewis, as well as novels by Williams, Tolkien, and others.

ENG 3870—Existentialism and the Search for Meaning in Modern Literature (3)

Examines through the selected literature the difference between existential, philosophical, and Christian approaches in the search for meaning in the late Modern period, roughly 1940-1964. American novelists include Walker Percy, Flannery O'Connor, John Gardner, and Robert Pirsig. French writers include Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Samuel Beckett.

ENG 3880—Life, Death, and Marriage in Eastern Literature (3)

Examines and analyzes works from and about people groups from the Middle East, the Far East, and other cultures. The course will include a study of literary works that deal specifically with these regions and also works about and from expatriates from these regions who reside in America, Europe, and elsewhere.

ENG 3900—Scriptwriting (3)

Cross listed as COM 3900.

ENG 4000—Literary Criticism (3)

A study of literary history, theory, and criticism. The course emphasizes development of individual criteria for evaluation and teaching of literature through seminar presentations, reading of scholarly publications, and writing articles using selected critical approaches.

ENG 4200—Comparative Literature (3)

This course will examine texts from different cultural traditions.

ENG 433R—Readings in Literature (1–2)

Directed readings in the works of a particular period, culture, theme, or genre. Limited to students with a strong background in literature. Maximum of 2 hours may be applied to a major or minor.

ENG 4330—Directed Study and Research in English (1–3)

Individual guided study and research in areas related to the English field. Projects must be approved by the instructor before enrollment.

ENG 4450—Genre Studies in Film and Literature (3)

Students will view films and read books from genres common to both film and literature. One objective is to compare the difference in the handling of myth (e.g. Beowulf), in archetypes (e.g. the gangster film), in psychology (e.g. Freudian dramas), and in the impact of technology on society (e.g. science fiction). This focus on narrative modes, character analyses, and interdisciplinary studies (e.g. psychology and science) is similar in both disciplines and reinforces the existing knowledge that English majors gain in literary theory as well as conveying new knowledge in the narrative conventions of film.

ENG 4500—Seminar: Special Topics in Literature (1–3)

Seminar for upper–division students who desire to investigate specialized aspects of literature or cross–disciplinary studies in the arts and humanities. Course content varies, so students may register more than once. Possible areas of study include: Fantasy Literature, Women in Literature, Literature and Philosophy (Music, History, Psychology, etc.).

ENG 4510—Career Internship in English (1–3)

Supervised study, observation, participation, and instruction in various English–related fields, including writing, editing, tutoring. Internships will be arranged in conjunction with the student's career interests and will include both on–campus and off–campus assignments. Supervision coordinated with the Career Planning Office. (Maximum of 6 hours.) Graded S/U.

ENG 4600—Senior Recitation for English Majors (1)

Individual guided study and research in areas related to the English field. All senior English majors are required to prepare, under faculty advisement and approval, either a collection of creative writing or a scholarly paper to be presented in a public program.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE

FRE 1000—French Language and Culture (3)

An introduction to French language and culture, with an emphasis on conversational skills in cultural contexts.

FRE 1500—Elementary French II (3)

Further development of language skills in French, both written and oral. Recommended for students planning on graduate school or ethnic ministries. Prerequisite: FRE 1000 or permission of instructor.

FRE 2000, 2500—Intermediate French I, II (3), (3)

A thorough review of grammar with more advanced exercises in speaking, reading and writing French. Prerequisite: FRE 1500, 3 years of high school French or permission of instructor.

GER 1000—German Language and Culture (3)

An introduction to German language and culture, with an emphasis on conversational skills in cultural contexts.

GER 1500—Elementary German II (3)

Further development of language skills in German, both written and oral. Recommended for students planning on graduate school or ethnic ministries. Prerequisite: GER 1000 or permission of instructor.

GER 2000, 2500—Intermediate German I, II (3), (3)

A thorough review of grammar with more advanced exercises in speaking, reading and writing German. Prerequisite: GER 1500, 3 years of high school German or permission of instructor.

SPA 1000—Spanish Language and Culture (3)

An introduction to Spanish language and culture, with an emphasis on conversational skills in cultural contexts.

SPA 1500—Elementary Spanish II (3)

Further development of language skills in Spanish, both written and oral. Recommended for students planning on graduate school or ethnic ministries. Prerequisite: SPA 1000 or permission of instructor.

SPA 2000, 2500—Intermediate Spanish I, II (3), (3)

A thorough review of grammar with more advanced exercises in speaking, reading, and writing Spanish. Prerequisite: Spanish 1500, 3 years of high school Spanish or permission of the instructor.

LAN 1000—Language and Culture: Special Topics (3)

An introduction to special topics in other world language and culture, with emphasis on conversational skills in the specific cultural contexts. Possible areas may include Russian, Chinese, and Italian language and culture.