School of Humanities
English Undergraduate Course Descriptions
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Fall 2026
**This is not a complete list of course offerings. Please use the Course Catalog in SOAR for accurate advising.**
ENG 200: Intro to Drama
Dr. Alexandra Valint
T/Th 11:00am - 12:15pm
Dr. Alexandra Valint
T/Th 11:00am - 12:15pm
The primary goal of this course is to make you more confident, enthusiastic, and sophisticated readers of drama. We will explore a diverse selection of plays, from Ancient Greek tragedy to recent Pulitzer-Prize winners. We will pay particular attention to how these plays engage with issues of gender, race, love, and war, as well as to how they represent the struggles of individuals, relationships, and societies. We will practice analyzing and articulating how plays work--how they are structured, how they affect us, what they mean, their limitations and possibilities. Whether you are a seasoned theatre practitioner or a new visitor to the world of drama, you are welcome in this class. Together we will experience the wisdom and wonder of theatre! We will likely read plays by Edward Albee, Samantha Hurley, James Ijames, Euripides, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lynn Nottage, William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, and Tennessee Williams.
ENG 203: World Literature: Love, Death, and the Changing of the Seasons (section H081)
Dr. Christopher Spaide
Online
This online incarnation of ENG 203: World Literature takes its theme from a memorable take attributed to the English poet and novelist Robert Graves: 鈥淎ll poetry is about love, death, and the changing of the seasons.鈥� Never mind that Graves never said it (we have the American science fiction author Samuel R. Delany to thank for misremembering something Graves wrote and coming up with something much better). Together we鈥檒l see how true the take is, not only for lyric and epic poetry but for various forms of fiction, drama, and comics. Across ten one-to-two week-units, we鈥檒l follow the supposedly universal themes of love, death, and the changing of the seasons (which is to say: nature, time and its cyclical rhythms, and the environments that include and shape human lives) from antiquity to the twenty-first century and back. We鈥檒l spend several units on literature from Europe, North America, and West Asia, while also reading major texts from East Asia and Africa and short texts from South America, South Asia, and Oceania. Everything we read will be in English: around half was originally written in English, the other half translated from (among other languages) Arabic, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Sumerian. Regular assignments include watching and commenting on videos, reading and annotating texts, analyzing language and discussing our findings with fellow students and teachers, submitting critical and creative writing assignments, and taking online tests. Our semester culminates with an open-book final exam in the form of short essay questions, taken at the students鈥� convenience.
ENG 203: World Literature: The Global South (section H006)
Dr. Katherine Cochran
T/Th 11:00am - 12:15pm
This section of ENG 203 will examine different literatures of 鈥渢he Global South,鈥� which refers to various geographical areas with political, geopolitical and economic commonalities, such as experience with postcolonialism, a plantation economy, diaspora, and income inequality. The U.S. South is one such area but nearly every continent contains at least one nation represented in the Global South, so our primary texts will originate from North America/the Caribbean, South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, including fiction, drama, poetry, film, and a graphic novel from the 20th and 21st centuries.
ENG 221: Fiction Writing I
T/Th 4:00pm - 5:15pm
In this class, you will write your own original fiction. Class sessions will be organized around craft topics, which will include assigned outside readings and writing exercises. You will also write one short story or novel chapter. Craft topics will include: character, dialogue, setting, structure, style, revision, and more.
ENG 321/421: Fiction Writing II and III
T/Th 4:00pm - 5:15pm
Dr. Olivia Clare Friedman
In this class, you will write your own original fiction and workshop one another鈥檚 fiction. In addition to honing your craft, you will be working on your workshop skills. Craft topics will include: character, dialogue, setting, structure, style, revision, and more. You may turn in either short stories or novel chapters. Recommended Text: Writing Fiction, 10th Edition, Janet Burroway, Elizabeth Stuckey-French, Ned Stuckey-French Short stories and novel excerpts to be distributed in class
ENG 222/322/422: Poetry Writing I,II,III
T/Th 2:30pm 鈥� 3:45pm
In this class, you will write your own original poetry. Class sessions will be organized around craft topics, which will include assigned outside readings and writing exercises.
ENG 223: Creative Writing (Mixed Genre)
Dr. Olivia Clare Friedman
T/Th 1:00pm - 2:15pm
In this course, you will write your own original fiction and poetry. Class sessions will be organized around craft topics, which will include assigned readings and writing exercises. We鈥檒l begin with fiction. Craft topics will include: character, dialogue, setting, structure, revision, and more. For poetry, craft topics will include: the line, sound, imagery, and more. Recommended Text: Imaginative Writing, Janet Burroway Short stories and poems to be distributed in class
ENG 301: Advanced Grammar
Mrs. Amy Carey
M/W 11:00am - 12:15pm
A study of the structures, origins, power, and rhetorical nature of language and the effects of different approaches to grammar. This course is designed for both English and English Education students and will fulfill the language elective requirement for English Education students. Students will analyze standard and rhetorical features of English language and grammar, explore linguistic diversity, and also consider how history, culture, and systems of power have traditionally defined grammatical standards and how those standards are continually changing and adapting. Participants will gain confidence in their own mastery of advanced English grammar; they will also deepen their ability to analyze its rhetorical effects and communicate that analysis to others through Field Notes assignments and a final research project. This course will use a rhetorical framework for studying both prescriptive and descriptive grammar structures and apply that framework to students鈥� own writing.
HUM 301: Topics in the Humanities/Intro to Digital Humanities
Dr. Jennifer Andrella
T/Th 11:00am 鈥� 12:15pm ONLINE CHAT
Intro to Digital Humanities (DH) explores how digital methods transform the way we do humanities research. Build practical skills by experimenting with data visualizations, digital archiving and exhibit design, content management, text analysis, digital mapping, video gaming, web publishing, and audio/visual production! This course applies DH through the lens of cultural heritage. Also known as Cultural Heritage Informatics, this field examines how material culture, texts, media, architecture, memorials, and traditions are collected, preserved, and shared in digital contexts. Together, we will consider how digital access and storytelling shape the preservation and presentation of cultural memory.
ENG 311: Survey of Contemporary Literature
Dr. Katherine Cochran
T/Th 1:00pm - 2:15pm
21st-century fiction is renowned for its stylistic innovations, incorporating elements like metafiction, alternate realities, and mixed-genres which encourage readers to question what they know about the world and the nature of identity. We will be exploring various contemporary masterworks that showcase such innovations and discussing if they represent a uniquely 21st-century mindset. Probable authors and texts may include Susannah Clarke鈥檚 Piranesi (2020), Junot Diaz鈥檚 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007), Jeffrey Eugenides鈥檚 Middlesex (2002), Mohsin Hamid鈥檚 The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), Barbara Kingsolver鈥檚 Demon Copperhead (2022), Ruth Ozeki鈥檚 A Tale for the Time Being (2013), Claudia Rankine鈥檚 Citizen: An American Lyric (2014), and Charles Yu鈥檚 Interior Chinatown (2020).
ENG 330: Writing and Education
Mrs. Melanee Barton
M/W 4:00pm 鈥� 5:15pm
In order to succeed in many careers, professionals must exhibit the ability to communicate effectively for a range of audiences and purposes. Educators, in particular, need to be able to communicate clearly, concisely, and effectively with a range of stakeholders: administrators, colleagues, school board, community members, parents, students, and just about anyone interested in education. This course is designed to guide you through understanding the role of writing and communicating as educators. The topics in this course are all going to be relevant to educational policies and issues, and students will research to find topics of interest in the field that will form the basis of their work throughout the course. As such, I will encourage each student to choose topics that they feel very passionate about so that they do not lose interest in their work. However, the course can be valuable to other pre-professionals as the concepts of writing for varying audiences and purposes are relevant in many professions.
ENG 332: Advanced Composition
Dr. Jennifer Brewington
T/Th 9:30am - 10:45am
鈥淚n the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.鈥� Baba Dioum, Sengalese Forestry Engineer, 1968. In ENG 332, we will explore how we can learn, understand, and love the natural world in order to conserve our shared heritage. ENG 332 is an advanced composition course that emphasizes intensive writing, research, and documentation skills needed for professional spaces. The interdisciplinary subject matter of writing about nature will encourage you to become a more integrative thinker and to stretch into areas of study that may be new for you. We live in a moment when all professional fields must consider practices and ethics as it relates to the future of our world. This section of ENG 332 will focus on the evolving response, both academic and practical, to contemporary environmental conservation. This course is built on collaborative assignments exploring solutions to adapt and evolve economic, political, and social systems to meet the current environmental conservation moment at a local, national, and global level through writing and research.
ENG 340: Analysis of Literature
Dr. Eric Tribunella
M/W 9:30am - 10:45am
ENG 340 is designed to introduce or review the methods of research in literary studies, the conventions of scholarly conversations about literary works, the critical approaches to literary analysis, and the components and mechanics of literary-critical essays. In this section, we will study several foundational critical approaches to literature and read a small selection of literary works on which to practice analysis, such as Meg Rosoff鈥檚 How I Live Now and Marcus Sedgwick鈥檚 Midwinterblood.
ENG 350: British Literature I
Dr. Leah Parker
T/Th 1:00pm 鈥� 2:15pm
This course surveys British literature from the eighth century through the eighteenth century. Students will explore authors and texts that are considered part of the 鈥渃anon鈥� of English literature, as well as their less canonical鈥攖hough no less important鈥攃ontemporaries, from the beginnings of the English language to the dawn of the British Empire. We will also explore aspects of British literature beyond English, including texts translated from Latin, French, and Celtic languages and texts inspired by or commenting on other parts of Europe and the world. Our class will be divided into four units, in which we will examine four centerpiece readings鈥�Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Shakespeare鈥檚 Macbeth, and Aphra Behn鈥檚 Oroonoko鈥攐rbited by additional shorter texts or selections from longer texts that engage shared literary and historical contexts.
ENG 400/409: Writings on Plant and Animal Life
Dr. Ery Shin
M/W 4:00pm - 5:15pm
M/W 4:00pm - 5:15pm
Humanity鈥檚 place within the primordial world remains an open-ended question. Our species has often envisioned itself within a top-down framework, but the origins as well as ramifications of this approach have yet to be exhausted as a subject. Is the human race an object among others or a force that rules the rest? Exploring different attitudes toward the earth and its inhabitants鈥攖oward the meaning of an ecosystem, of a matrix of such systems鈥攖his seminar imagines what our planet鈥檚 future may hold.
SAMPLE READING LIST:
Joanna Pocock, Surrender: The Call of the American West
Bernard Werber, Empire of the Ants
Jacques Derrida, The Beast and the Sovereign (excerpts)
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass
Verlyn Klinkenborg, Timothy, or, Notes of an Abject Reptile
Nikki Wallschlaeger, ed., What Tells You Ripeness: Black Poets on Nature
ENG 402: Literature Study for Teachers
Dr. Katherine Cochran
T/Th 4:00pm - 5:15pm, SYNCHRONOUS ONLINE
This course is designed to examine both theoretical and practical problems in the teaching of literature. Through reading poems, short stories, memoirs, and novels as our primary texts, we will become acquainted with textual and generic issues while our secondary text offers pedagogical and methodological guidance for instructors charged with teaching literature. Students will practice class activities, participate in literature circles, complete a multigenre research project, take a final comprehensive essay exam, and observe a class video, including writing a reflection on the observation. As a required course for English Education students and an elective course for Elementary Education students at the undergraduate level, this course seeks to help students understand the current theories and processes of teaching literature. Students will learn about themselves as readers and will work together to further deepen their understanding of how students learn.
Required texts:
Richard Beach et al, Teaching Literature to Adolescents, 4th edition
Lois Lowry, The Giver
Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
Cynthia Leitch Smith (editor), Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories (2026 Printz Award Winner)
Renee Watson, All the Blues in the Sky (2026 Newbery Winner)
Elie Wiesel, Night
ENG 410: Black Poetry from Phillis Wheatley to Tomorrow
Dr. Christopher Spaide
M/W 1:00pm 鈥� 2:15pm
This course reads swiftly yet deeply through two and a half centuries of Black poetry, mostly in English, sometimes in translation. We鈥檒l focus on American poetry from Phillis Wheatley (ca. 1753鈥�1784) to whatever the future holds, though we鈥檒l also take a clockwise look at regions around the Black Atlantic: the Caribbean, Canada, Britain, continental Europe, Africa, South America. We鈥檒l triangulate our reading between three immense bodies of knowledge, each more than deserving of study in its own right: 1. the poetic tradition from antiquity to today, 2. the social, political, and intellectual history of modern Black life, and 3. Black culture across arts and media, conceived as broadly as possible: folklore, religion, oratory, fiction, performing arts, visual art, comics, film, television and video, fashion, sports, food, digital media, and above all music (spirituals, classical music, gospel, the blues, jazz, R&B, soul, calypso, reggae, dub, hip-hop, Afrobeat). Experience with close reading poetry, creative writing, or studying Black American or diasporic literature is useful; none is required. Students will participate in discussions and complete short critical and creative assignments. Our midterm paper will be a commentary on a single poem; in lieu of a final paper, everyone will review a book of their choosing or design their own creative project. This course has no required books; all reading, listening, and viewing will be made available in physical or digital form (usually both).
ENG 414: Studies in LGBTQ Literature
Dr. Ery Shin
M/W 5:30pm - 6:45pm
M/W 5:30pm - 6:45pm
This course examines the literature of queer experiences as well as the lives of notable LGBTQ authors. Besides their contributions to the history of ideas, the matter of how the queer canon has contributed to the history of literary innovations will receive sustained attention. What does it mean to be or feel queer鈥攐r write and dream queerly? Whether the constellation of terms encapsulated in the umbrella acronym 鈥淟GBTQIA+鈥� denote acts, identities, styles, existential states, political affiliations, or something else entirely remains to be seen. For togetherness versus intense individualism is a theme that defines many a work in this field, itself prone to unraveling categorical statements.
SAMPLE READING LIST:
Guillaume Dustan, I鈥檓 Going Out Tonight
Jewelle Gomez, The Gilda Stories
Simone Beauvoir, The Second Sex (excerpts)
Kathy Acker, Blood and Guts in High School
Iv谩n Monalisa Ojeda, Las Biuty Queens
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight (film)
Casey Parks, Diary of a Misfit
ENG 441: Topics in Literary Theory: The Image of Reading
Dr. Craig Carey
T/TH 9:30am - 10:45am
What do we see when we read? How do technologies of vision shape and control how we read? In this course, we鈥檒l investigate the relationship between seeing and reading across historical technologies such as scrolls, books, newspapers, photographs, films, computers, and artificial intelligence. How does 鈥渢he image of reading鈥� change in response to history, technology, and changing modes of production? What is the future of reading when AI systems now read and write for us? What happens to the practice of reading when machines perform it automatically? How does AI change our relationship to the history of reading? This course will examine these questions across three historical moments: the invention of print and the book; the development of capitalism and commodity fetishism in the 19th century; and the rise of algorithmic images in the age of AI. Course requirements will include readings, discussions, creative and critical assignments, historical research, and experimentation with old and new media.
Possible readings will likely include:
Theory and criticism by John Berger, W.J.T. Mitchell, Karl Marx, Walter Benjamin, Walter Ong, and Lev Manoich
Literary novels like Mark Twain鈥檚 No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger and Don DeLillo鈥檚 Point Omega, along with poetry by Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Herman Melville
Graphic novels and illustrated criticism including Peter Mendelsund鈥檚 What We See When We Read, Nick Sousanis鈥檚 Unflattening, Johanna Drucker鈥檚 Diagrammatic Writing, and Picturing Frederick Douglass: An Illustrated Biography of the Nineteenth Century's Most Photographed American
Films such as Citizen Kane, Masculin f茅minin, Memento, and video installations by Harun Farocki and Trevor Paglen.
ENG 454: Survey of Shakespeare
Dr. Leah Parker
T/Th 11:00am 鈥� 12:15pm
This survey will tour some of the most iconic tropes of Shakespeare鈥檚 plays, including: cross-dressing; twins; love triangles, squares, and pentagons; accidental stabbings and 鈥渟tabbings鈥�; falling in love in disguise; offstage battles; and in the final scene, either a couple weddings or a lot of dead bodies. We will prioritize historicist and dramaturgical approaches to Shakespearean plays, in which participants will analyze textual evidence for relationships between characters, motivations for action, and thematic resonances across plots, all situated amid Tudor-Stuart cultural history and the practicalities of stagecraft. We will practice understanding Shakespeare鈥檚 early modern language and close reading the forms of poetry embedded in his plays. Students will be required to read lines aloud, but not to perform scenes; acting experience is not required, nor will necessarily be gained by the end of this class. Students can expect to read: Twelfth Night, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Hamlet, Antony and Cleopatra, Henry VI Part I, and Measure for Measure.
ENG 490: Reading/Writing Theory and Application for Teachers
Mrs. Melanee Barton
Monday 5:30pm 鈥� 8:30pm (Hybrid online)
Required for English Education students at the undergraduate level, this course seeks to provide a foundation for teaching secondary English through rubric analysis, lesson plan creation, and observations in local Mississippi English classrooms. Completed upon admittance to the English Education Program (TEA-1 Pre-service License), English 490 Foundations provides an in-depth exploration of the theoretical frameworks, historical context, and practical methodologies for teaching English. It covers professional dispositions, lesson planning, and basic classroom management as it applies to creating and lessons for diverse students. The two major assignments for the course are the creation of a teaching portfolio and the best practices presentation. All assignments must be submitted via Canvas. Teacher candidates will participate in approximately 6 hours of field observations in an English classroom. TCs are placed through the English Education Program to ensure they receive diversity in their experiences. In addition to observation, you will complete readings and exercises to acquaint yourself with the high-leverage practices. You'll walk through the planning process, learn what it means to 鈥渂ackwards design鈥� and gather the resources you'll need to complete practicum and student teaching. At the end of the course students will participate in a 鈥淏est Practices鈥� Presentation. The students will reflect on experiences through observation journals, mentor teacher evaluations/self-evaluations, and the planning of a minimum of two autonomous lessons.