Foundational Curriculum

The Literature core curriculum consists of a two-year study of the great tradition in Western literature from Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare, to T. S. Eliot, Evelyn Waugh, and Flannery O’Connor, with concomitant development of the student’s skills in composition and literary analysis. See the individual course descriptions of ENGL 101-202 The Literature of Western Civilization I-IV for particulars.

The Literature Department also offers a variety of upper-division period and genre courses covering British and American literature from their beginnings through the twentieth century. The literatures of the Greek, Roman, and Patristic eras, as well as that of Medieval Christendom, are also studied, both for their own sake, and because of their formative influence on the Anglo-American literary tradition. In addition to the comprehensive treatment of literature in the vernacular from the Middle Ages to the present, students have access to a wide range of electives. Courses in the History of the English Language and in Old English (language), as well as on Chaucer in his original Middle English, “the font of English undefiled,” also are available for those willing to delve more deeply into the linguistic foundations of our Mother Tongue.

At Christendom College language is understood in the light of the divine Logos, the incarnate Word who communicates the love of the Father for His creation. We understand God to be the guarantor of meaning in human language—that is, that a true representation of reality may be expressed in words—and of the possibility of transmitting meaning from one soul to another through the medium of literature as well as the spoken word. Our literature courses are intended to make available the rich patrimony of Western culture, and to form a Christian perspective on the ways the great writers have used their intellects and imaginations to understand and convey the mystery of man’s place in the world.

Requirements for the Literature Major and Minor

Twenty-seven hours of advanced work (300-512) are required for the major, including

 ENGL 319 Literary Criticism  ENGL 320 Poetry and Poetics  ENGL 343 or 344 Shakespeare  at least one course from among ENGL 317, 321, 322, 331, 332, 334, 417  •at least one course from among ENGL 341, 342, 346  •at least one course from among ENGL 361, 362, 421, 460  •at least one course from among ENGL 422, 431, 432  •one additional English Language and Literature elective (300 or 400 level),  •ENGL 512 Senior Thesis

Eighteen credit hours of advanced courses (ENGL 300-499) are required for the minor. A course grade of at least C-minus is necessary for a course to fulfill the department’s major or minor requirements.

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