Humans make meaning: we can’t help ourselves. We tell stories; we arrange patterns in words, and those patterns affect everything we do. They represent us to ourselves and others, and they change the world. English concentrators study—and create—art made out of words: fiction and nonfiction, tragedy, comedy, lyric, and much more. By studying English literature, you will learn to interpret the verbal expression of others and to make the meanings you want for yourself—skills more crucial than ever in a digital age, when so many words travel so fast. You’ll also visit the dazzling imaginary worlds that have brought readers and writers together across vast expanses of space and time. As you encounter many cultures and many lives in poems, novels, screenplays, playscripts, comics, and hip hop rhymes, you will discover new ways of living in and bettering our interconnected communities.
This guide outlines the current concentration requirements, relevant to the class of 2023 and onward. Concentrators enrolled during the class of 2021 and 2022 can access the previous program guide here.