Averett University Undergraduate Catalog

 


Courses of Instruction in English

Number Title Credits Description
100 Fundamentals of English 3 A course designed to reinforce and further develop the student's composition skills.  Class instruction as well as individual lab practice will be included.  Credits are neither computed in grade point average nor used to satisfy graduation requirements.      
111 Introduction to Writing and Research 3 A review of usage, punctuation, and paragraph development.  Emphasis on effective written communication, especially in short (1-3 page) essays.  Includes some critical study of prose fiction.  Frequent in-class and out-of-class writing practice.  Instruction in use of library for research and in various stages of assembling research material.  Students must pass with a grade of C or better.  Required of freshmen.
112 Introduction to Literature 3 The reading of fiction, poetry, and drama, both classic and contemporary.  Emphasis on genre study, literary terminology, and critical analysis.  Includes further practice in use of research materials and preparation of a term paper on a literary topic.  Students must pass with a grade of C or better. Prerequisite:  ENG 111.
201 Major British Authors, through 18th Century 3 A study of English literature as represented by the principal writers from the author of Beowulf through the eighteenth century.  Stress on interpretation and critical analysis.  Prerequisites:  ENG 111, 112.
202 Major British Authors, 19th and 20th Centuries 3 A study of English literature as represented by the principal writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  Stress on interpretation and critical analysis.  Prerequisites:  ENG 111, 112.
205 Survey of American Literature to 1860 3 A study of the major authors of the romantic movement in American writing.  Background of American romanticism as it developed in the early years of nineteenth century.  Concentration on major works of Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman.  Prerequisites:  ENG 111 and 112.
206 Survey of American Literature 1860-1970 3 A study of major authors in America during the late nineteenth and early twentiety centuries.  Attention to realistic and naturalistic movements in American literature.  Emphasis on Twain, Dickinson, James, Crane, Frost, Hemingway, and Faulkner.  Prerequisites: ENG 111 and 112.
210 Oral Interpretation of Literature (Same as TH 210) 3 A course designed to introduce the student to the oral communication of various forms of literature and to instruct the student in techniques of oral delivery.  Regular performance in an informal atmosphere with constructive criticism by the instructor and fellow students makes up a major part of the course.
220 World Literature 3 A survey of major writers (excluding British and American) of the western world from the ancient Greeks to the beginnings of the twentieth century.  Students will also be familiarized with the literary and cultural backgrounds of the works in question.  Prerequisites:  ENG 111, 112.
242 African-American Literature 3 The goal of this course is to examine some of the major works produced by a variety of African-American writers starting from before the days of the republic up to the present.  The course will help students appreciate the significance of some of the major literary texts that have influenced the history of our land and our culture.  It is also important for students to recognize the relationship between major writers and the historical periods from which they arose.  They will also think critically about these works and their importance both to their times and our own.  They will leave with an appreciation of the subject and a familiarity with major African-American authors, their themes, and techniques. Prerequisites:  ENG 111, 112.
316 Mythology 3 A systematic treatment of basic Greek and Roman tales of gods and heroes, with a study of parallel myths in other ancient religions.  The use of mythological themes in the arts, ancient and modern, including vase paintings, painting, sculpture, opera and other musical forms, epic and drama.  Attention to the nature and role of myth in any society.  Prerequisites:  ENG 111, 112.  Does not satisfy the General Education requirement in English.
317 Southern Literature 3 A course which gives students an overview of the rich literature, unique culture and regional traditions of the South. Although students will be introduced to 17th, 18th, and 19th century Southern literature, a major part of the study will be devoted to 20th century writers, including the Fugitive/Agrarian Vanderbilt writers, and more contemporary writers such as William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Reynolds Price, Zora Neale Hurston, Clyde Edgerton, Lee Smith, and Harry Crews, among others.  Prerequisites:  English 111, 112.
320 The English Novel in the 18th and 19th Centuries 3 A review and analysis of novels of Fielding, Austen, Dickens, Eliot, Hardy, and others.  The evolution of the novel from earlier types of fiction, its development, variety, and usual features from 1740 to 1900.  Prerequisites:  ENG 111, 112, and one other literature course.  Fall alternate years.
323 Restoration and 18th Century Literature  3 A study of major authors from 1660 to 1798, with emphasis on Dryden, Restoration Comedy, Pope, Addison and Steele, Swift, Johnson, and the beginnings of the English novel.  Prerequisites: ENG 111, 112, and one other literature course.  Fall alternate years.
349 Internship  3 An opportunity for students to work in the Averett University Learning Center.  The student’s responsibilities will include working with the Director of the Learning Center to set up conferences with students needing assistance with writing and literary study, working with individual students and with small groups of students on writing skills and literary analysis, and helping students work with tutorial programs on the computers in the Learning Center.  The student will be under the direct supervision of the Director of the Learning Center and will confer regularly with a faculty member in the Department of English.  The minimum number of clock hours of work in the Learning Center is 80.  This course is available only to students who have completed all their general education requirements in English and who have shown strengths in their writing and in the study of literature.  This course will not fulfill the general education requirements for a course in literature at the 200-level or higher.
390 Origins and Structure of English 3 Analysis of the syntax of present-day English.  Attention is given to various modes of analysis but instruction concentrates on traditional and structural approaches.  The last third of the semester offers a brief history of English beginning with its Indo-European origins and observing its development through Anglo-Saxon, Middle English, and early modern English.  Prerequisites:  English 111, 112, and one other literature course. Fall.
401 Romantic Poetry and Prose 3 A study of the chief Romantic poets--Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats--and some other poets of the period.  Romantic critics and essayists such as Coleridge, Hazlitt, DeQuincey.  (Fiction is not included.)  The background of the Romantic revolution; the literary scene in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.  Prerequisites:  ENG 111, 112, and one other literature course.  Fall alternate years.
402 Victorian Poetry and Prose 3 A study of Browning, Tennyson, Arnold; minor and late Victorian poets; writers of non-fictional prose such as Carlyle, Newman, Mill, Ruskin, Arnold, and Huxley.  The issues and attitudes of English life and thought in the last two-thirds of the nineteenth century.  Prerequisites:  ENG 111, 112, and one other literature course.  Fall alternate years.
405 Modern Literature 3 A study of major authors, works, and trends in modern British and American literature.  Emphasis on Joyce, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, and selected multi-cultural authors among prose writers and Pound, Williams, Auden, Lowell, and Plath among poets.  Prerequisites:  ENG 111, 112, and one other literature course. Spring.
410 Modern Drama (Same as TH 410) 3 A study of the development of drama from Ibsen to today, including American, European and Third World playwrights.  Prerequisite:  ENG 111, 112, and one other literature course.  Alternate years.
412 Creative Writing 3 The practice of imaginative writing.  Types of writing include poetry, essay, and the short story.  Current and recent stories, poems, and articles are read and discussed.  Required of prospective teachers of English, open to all students.  Does not satisfy General Education requirements for English.  Prerequisite: ENG 111, 112, and one other English course.
413 Chaucer 3 The study of Chaucer's development and achievement as exemplified through the minor poems, Troilus and Criseyde, and The Canterbury Tales.  Some background study of medieval thought and literature and of Middle English.  Prerequisites:  ENG 111, 112, and one other literature course.  Spring alternate years.
414 Shakespeare (Same as TH 414) 3 The study of representative comedies, histories, and tragedies, showing Shakespeare's practice in each type, the development of his art and craftsmanship as poet and dramatist.  Introduction to Shakespeare's world and renaissance theatre practice.  Prerequisites:  ENG 111, 112, and one other literature course. Fall.
421 Teaching Composition 3 A course focusing on techniques of teaching and evaluating expository writing (including research writing).  Secondary attention will be given to topics such as standards of usage, course planning in composition, and correlating composition and literature.  This course is required for all English majors seeking teacher licensure.  Spring alternate years.
439 Literary Criticism, Analysis, and Interpretation 3 Literary Criticism, Analysis, and Interpretation, will survey the important types of literary criticism practiced during the 20th and 21st centuries with some attention to earlier modes of criticism and the historical development of literary criticism in the Western tradition.  Students will use a variety of readings from important literature written in English to examine how readers might interpret them through different critical perspectives.  Students will practice these perspectives and methods of literary interpretation and analysis through readings, discussion, and assigned papers and tests. Prerequisites:  ENG 111, 112. Fall.
443 Literature of the English Renaissance  3 This course will examine the concept of the Renaissance, the characteristic literary forms of the era, and some of the most important writers, including Thomas More, Thomas Wyatt, Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, Philip Sidney, John Donne, Ben Jonson, George Herbert, Andrew Marvell, and John Milton.  Each semester, the course will focus especially on one important sixteenth or seventeenth century figure in addition to Milton. Spring alternate years. Prerequisites:  ENG 111, 112.
444 Literature for Children and Adolescents 3 This course is the study of literature intended for children and young adults with an emphasis on a range of genres including fantasy, folklore and fairy tale, poetry and realism. This course is required for students seeking PK-6 teacher licensure, and may be taken by others seeking Liberal Studies major with English concentration.  This course also fulfills the 300-400 level literature elective requirement for English majors.
445 Special Topics in American Literature 3 This is a one semester course offering intensive study on a topic in American literature.  The focus of the course will change from semester to semester, depending upon the interests of the students and the professor teaching the course, but it will always involve concentration on one or more important writers or important movements in American literature. Prerequisites:  ENG 111, 112.
496 Capstone Course in Literary Study 3

This course is designed to draw on the knowledge and skills that English majors have developed during their time in the department.  The focus of the course will vary and will be largely student driven, but it will involve very close reading of literary texts, the preparation of a major research project involving the study of one or more authors, and the oral presentation of the research to an audience of other English majors, English faculty, and other members of the University community. Prerequisites:  ENG 111, 112, 439. Spring.