Navigating the College English Curriculum: A Comprehensive Guide

An English major unlocks a vibrant world of language, bringing literature to life, honing written communication, and fostering original creative work. It involves studying diverse literary works, genres, and theories, while also developing creative writing and journalism skills. Through analyzing literature and mastering the written word, English majors cultivate an appreciation for the beauty of language.

Core Components of an English Major

The English major encompasses a rich array of courses for students passionate about literature, creative writing, and the interplay between language and society. Interdisciplinary options often include courses in film, linguistics, and global studies, broadening the scope of study.

Foundational Skills and Knowledge

A well-structured English curriculum aims to equip students with essential skills and knowledge, including:

Close Reading: The ability to meticulously read and analyze literary genres such as narrative, poetry, drama, and essays, understanding their themes, formal structure, and stylistic elements.
Persuasive Writing: Crafting well-reasoned essays that present persuasive interpretations of literary works, supported by textual commentary, formal, thematic, or stylistic analysis, and contextualization within literary, cultural, political, or intellectual history.
Historical Context: Comprehending the broad historical evolution of British, American, and global literatures in English, including key periods (e.g., Medieval, Elizabethan, Romantic, Modernism) and significant historical events associated with those periods.
Research Proficiency: Locating critical works on specific texts or topics through library and internet research, and comparing different interpretations and critical approaches.
Interdisciplinary Connections: Making connections between literary studies and related fields like aesthetics, cultural studies, film, gender studies, linguistics, philosophy, psychology, and queer theory.

Introductory Courses

Introductory courses serve as gateways to the world of English studies. They are designed to be accessible to all students, regardless of their prior experience. These courses focus on developing fundamental skills in critical reading, analytical writing, and argumentation.

ENGL 1014: This course emphasizes academic writing, pushing students to develop and expand their skills of critical analysis and argumentation. It prepares students to write well-reasoned analyses and arguments required in college courses by stressing the importance of reading, research, and revision as the bases of effective writing. It also gives students the opportunity to enter into academic debates on significant contemporary issues.
ENGL 1015: This course fosters critical insight and analytical acuity through the investigation of important works of literature. Focuses on topics such as justice, childhood, sex and gender, the supernatural, and the natural world.
ENGL 1020: This course uses close study of selected works of nonfiction to prepare students to become critical readers and to apply professional strategies to their own writing. Readings are drawn from the works of authors such as James Baldwin, Joan Didion, Leslie Jamison, George Orwell, David Foster Wallace, and Virginia Woolf.
ENGL 1021: This course concentrates on different kinds of professional writing and explores their distinctive features. Through written and oral assignments, students both analyze and compose writings in the field. Each section is devoted to one specific kind of writing. Students learn to identify and use evidence, argument, clarity, proper style, and original thought as these are defined in the genre. Sections may focus on such topics as science writing, food writing, legal writing, writing in the social sciences, and writing about the arts.
ENGL 1023: This course is open to any student who has not taken an intermediate or advanced course in the writing of fiction, poetry, or drama. Interested students need not submit a writing sample to gain admission to ENGL 1023.
ENGL 1025: This course provides an introduction to the English literary tradition through close reading of select poems from the seventh through the seventeenth centuries. Emphasis on developing skills of literary interpretation and critical writing; diverse linguistic and social histories; and the many varieties of identity and authority in early literary cultures.
ENGL 1026: This course focuses on the formal and thematic concerns of anglophone poetic traditions, through close reading of select poems from the eighteenth century through the present. Emphasis on developing skills of literary interpretation and critical writing, diverse genres and social histories, and modernity’s multiple canons and traditions. Authors may include Alexander Pope, William Wordsworth, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, W. B. Yeats, T. S. Eliot, Langston Hughes, Gertrude Stein, Gwendolyn Brooks, Elizabeth Bishop, and Derek Walcott, among others. This course emphasizes continued development of students’ critical and analytic writing and argumentation skills.
ENGL 1027: This course offers an introduction to the American literary tradition in a variety of poetic and narrative forms and in diverse historical contexts. Emphasis on developing skills of literary interpretation and critical writing; diverse linguistic and social histories; and the place of race, class, gender, and sexuality in American literary culture. Authors may include Phillis Wheatley, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Frederick Douglass, Gertrude Stein, Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, Flannery O’Connor, Alan Ginsberg, Chang-Rae Lee, and Toni Morrison, among others. Ranging across historical periods and literary genres, the course allows for the sustained study of single works while acquainting students with a variety of poetic and narrative forms and with the historical contexts of American writing. Each semester the course studies at least one living writer who visits campus to meet with students.
ENGL 1028: This course offers an introduction to the literary traditions of the anglophone world in a variety of poetic and narrative forms and historical contexts. Emphasis on developing skills of literary interpretation and critical writing; diverse linguistic, cultural, and racial histories; and on the politics of empire and liberation struggles. Authors may include Daniel Defoe, Mary Prince, J. M. Synge, James Joyce, C. L. R. James, Claude McKay, Jean Rhys, Yvonne Vera, Chinua Achebe, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Wole S̩óyinká, J. M. Coetzee, Brian Friel, Amitav Ghosh, Salman Rushdie, Alice Munro, Derek Walcott, and Patrick White, among others.
ENGL 1029: This course provides an intensive introduction to one of the most powerful forms in Western literature. Students explore tragic drama from its origins in ancient Greece and Rome through the European Renaissance to the present day. This course addresses themes of justice, religion, free will, family, gender, race, and dramaturgy, beginning with Homer’s Iliad, and continuing in plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Seneca, Shakespeare, Racine, Ibsen, Chekhov, Brecht, Beckett, S̩óyinká, and others.
ENGL 1030: This course investigates the path of the epic tradition from its foundations in ancient Greece and Rome to its manifestation in the modern novel. Students explore in depth topics such as exile and homecoming; the heroic in times of war and peace; the role of the individual within society; memory and history; and the politics of gender, race, and religion. Works include Homer’s Odyssey, Virgil’s Aeneid, Dante’s Inferno, Cervantes’s Don Quixote, James…

Advanced Courses

Designed for upper-level students, advanced courses delve into more specialized topics and require a solid foundation in literary analysis and critical thinking. Lecture courses provide broad perspectives, while seminars offer intensive treatment of specific subjects.

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Writing Courses

English departments offer a diverse range of writing courses, from expository prose to creative writing. These courses provide students with opportunities to hone their writing skills in various genres and styles.

Foundational Courses

These courses provide students with a detailed understanding of major poets who have written in English and some acquaintance with the classics of American and world anglophone literature.

Electives

Students may count as electives toward the major as many as two courses in other departments. One of these courses should normally be a literature course in English translation or in another language, and neither may be counted toward any requirement of the major. A student may count up to five introductory courses and up to two designated creative writing courses toward the English major.

Course Examples

To illustrate the breadth of topics covered in an English curriculum, here are some examples of specific courses:

ENGL 1111 - Reading Gender: Explores how historical and cultural notions of gender shape literary narratives and influence literary creativity. Recent iterations include “US Women Regionalists,” “Science/Fiction,” and “Sanity and Spaces.”
ENGL 1112 - Sports Literature: Examines sports as a subject for analytical and imaginative writing, exploring themes of American identity, self-reliance, and teamwork.
ENGL 1140 - Reading Race: Explores how historical and cultural notions of race shape literary narratives and influence literary creativity.
ENGL 1142 - F. Scott and Zelda: Traces the development of F. Scott Fitzgerald's art through his fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama, with attention to his collaboration and competition with Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald.
ENGL 1161 - Introduction to Creative Writing: Focuses on the writing of poetry, fiction, and plays, with group discussions of student work and analysis of modern and contemporary authors.
ENGL 2210 - Multicultural Children's Literature: Surveys multicultural children’s literature, emphasizing culturally relevant teaching and creating diverse classroom libraries.
ENGL 2238 - Selling Sex: The Prostitute in Literature: Explores the representation of prostitutes in literature and their role in cultural debates about sexuality and the role of women.
ENGL 2253 - Reading Poetry: A study of lyric, narrative, and dramatic verse, examining the formal properties of poetry, including meter, diction, imagery, and tone.
ENGL 2255 - Reading Nonfiction: A study of non-fiction prose, including autobiography, intellectual essay, reportage, criticism, and literary theory.
ENGL 2256 - Reading Fiction: A study of the short story and the novel with particular attention given to form and technique.
ENGL 2263 - Writing Poetry: Intensive work in the writing of poetry, with readings of theory and examples from contemporary poets.
ENGL 2265 - Writing Creative Nonfiction: Intensive work in the writing of creative nonfiction, with readings of theory and examples from contemporary writers.
ENGL 2266 - Writing Fiction: Intensive work in the writing of fiction, with readings of theory and examples from contemporary fiction writers.
ENGL 2268 - Professional Editing: Hands-on experience with professional editing skills applicable to book publishing, literary publications, and online content.
ENGL 2276 - Reading Drama: A study of tragedy, comedy, and other varieties of works for the theatre, with attention given to historical and social context.
ENGL 2277 - Shakespeare: An introductory course dealing with the principles of Renaissance stagecraft, the nature of performance, the construction and themes of the plays, and the concept of genre or type.
ENGL 2279 - Writing Scripts: Students learn how to structure a story and how to create, hold, and release the tension of a dramatic moment through taut and convincing dialogue and description, and how to create engaging characters.
ENGL 2280 - Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Classical Traditions: Explores how speculative fiction draws on and departs from ancient Greek and Roman literature, philosophy, myth, history, and art.
ENGL 3333 - Literature of the American South: A seminar-style investigation of prose, poetry, and drama of the southern United States.
ENGL 3336 - Inspired By the Sea: An exploration of the maritime imagination that proceeds from the sea as setting, subject, and figure to transnational notions of “sea consciousness”.
ENGL 3343 - Transatlantic Brontë: Explores the cultural and literary contexts -- and legacies -- of the transatlantic Brontë phenomenon.
ENGL 3357 - Violators and Vampires: writers will provide a study of the phenomenon of creative extremity, as well as its influence and enduring power.
ENGL 3363 - Advanced Creative Writing: A workshop in the writing of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and/or playwriting.
ENGL 3364 - Feminist Literary Theory: This course provides an introduction to feminist literary criticism/theory.
ENGL 3367 - Pearl S Buck Workshop: An advanced creative writing workshop with varying topics and taught in conjunction with the current Pearl S. Buck Writer in Residence.
ENGL 3378 - Gender in Renaissance Art & Literature: This course seeks to understand, analyze, and interpret representations of gender and sex within Renaissance art and literature (in both England and Italy).
ENGL 4493 - Senior Seminar: A course designed to help develop critical perspectives in literature.
ENGL 4494 - Senior Paper: Each student will work closely with a faculty supervisor to prepare a major paper of about 15-20 pages.

The Creative Writing Concentration

For English majors with a strong interest in creative writing, an intensive track may be available. This concentration provides a structured approach to creative work and a supportive community. Students in this concentration fulfill the same requirements as other English majors, but they also take four creative writing courses, including a tutorial where they produce a sustained piece of writing or a portfolio of shorter works.

Senior Year Requirements

The culmination of an English major often involves a senior project, which can take various forms:

Senior Seminars: These seminars provide a forum for in-depth discussion and analysis of literary topics, culminating in a substantial final essay.
Senior Essay: An independent literary-critical project on a topic of the student's own design, undertaken in consultation with a faculty adviser.
Creative Writing Concentration Senior Project: A sustained piece of creative writing or a portfolio of shorter works.

Library Requirement

Each English major must meet with Yale's Librarian for Literature in English or another research librarian within the first four weeks of the term during which the student is fulfilling the first of the two-term requirement for the major.

Combined B.A./M.A. Degree Program

Exceptionally able and well-prepared students may complete a course of study leading to the simultaneous award of the B.A. and M.A. degrees after eight terms of enrollment.

Pre-AP English Curriculum

The Pre-AP English program is designed to prepare students for the rigors of AP English courses. It focuses on developing key literacy skills through close reading, evidence-based analysis, and attention to language choices.

Pre-AP English 2

Pre-AP English 2 builds on the foundations of Pre-AP English 1. While English 1 introduces the fundamentals of close observation, critical analysis, and the appreciation of author’s craft, English 2 requires students to apply those practices to a new array of nonfiction and literary texts.

Areas of Focus

The Pre-AP English areas of focus are vertically aligned to the practices embedded in high school and college English courses, including AP. This gives students multiple opportunities to prioritize and strengthen key literacy skills throughout their course of study.

Reading closely: Students read closely and analyze a range of complex literary and informational texts.
Valuing evidence: Students evaluate textual evidence and incorporate it effectively in writing and speaking.
Noticing language choices: Students understand how writers and speakers use specific words and sentences to move the thoughts, emotions, and actions of readers and listeners.

Unit Foundations

These big ideas are integrated across all units:

Engaging with texts
Constructing texts
Focusing on language
Investigating through research
Entering the conversation

Course at a Glance

Pre-AP English 2 has four main units. Their key topics and recommended length are outlined here:

Unit 1: Argument (~5 weeks)
Unit 2: Persuasion in Literature (~4 weeks)
Unit 3: Voice in Synthesis (~5 weeks)
Unit 4: Purpose in Poetry and Prose(~4 weeks)

Instructional Resources

These resources support teachers as they design instruction for each unit, but do not constitute a full day-by-day curriculum. They are intended to be used alongside local school or district materials to address objectives of the course framework:

Course framework: An anchor for model lessons and assessments, the framework defines what students should know and be able to do by the end of the course.
The New Book Press and College Board have partnered to provide all Pre-AP teachers and students with access to WordPlay Shakespeare for Romeo and Juliet (Pre-AP English 1) and Macbeth (Pre-AP English 2). WordPlay eBooks are internet-based complete editions of Shakespeare’s plays, with filmed professional performances of each play “on the page” next to the text, together with glossaries, extra support, and integrated Pre-AP materials.

AP English Literature and Composition

AP English Literature and Composition is an introductory college-level literary analysis course. The course content is organized into units that have been arranged in a logical sequence. This sequence has been developed through feedback from educators as well as analysis of high school and college courses and textbooks. The units in AP English Literature and Composition scaffold skills and knowledge through three genre-based, recurring units. This course framework provides a description of what students should know and be able to do to qualify for college credit or placement. The AP English Literature and Composition curriculum is made up of nine units. Higher education professionals play a key role in developing AP courses and exams, setting credit and placement policies, and scoring student work. The AP Higher Education section features information on recruitment and admission, advising and placement, and more. This chart shows recommended scores for granting credit, and how much credit should be awarded, for each AP course. The AP Program is unique in its reliance on development committees for their initial and ongoing voice in course and exam development.

Career Paths for English Majors

Concentrated work in English is valuable for careers in editing, publishing, science and technical writing, advertising, public relations, and communications. The literature courses are designed to help students sharpen their reading and writing skills, gain new insights into human nature and cultural diversity, and achieve increased flexibility in their own approach to life. The ability to write well remains a rare but prized skill in almost every domain of our world, and English majors go on to careers in many fields of endeavor.

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