English Language and Literature

Even though Yale College has no formal requirement in English, nearly all freshmen choose to take one or more courses in the English department. Whatever majors they will later choose, freshmen need to learn to read analytically and write clearly at the college level. The English department offers a variety of courses that enhance students' competence and confidence as readers and writers. These courses are taught in seminar-sized groups and are open to students of all interests and backgrounds. All freshman courses may be applied toward the Yale College distributional requirement in writing. It should be noted that medical schools encourage, and in many cases require, their applicants to have taken one term or more of English. Introductory English courses (ENGL 114 through 129) are offered in two categories: English for Freshmen (ENGL 114a or b, 115a or b, 116b, and 117b) is designed for the majority of freshmen who want to develop their skills as writers of college-level prose or as insightful readers. English for Freshmen and Sophomores (ENGL 120a or b, 125, 127, and 129) is designed for sophomores who have taken English for Freshmen and for freshmen who, on the basis of standardized test scores, qualify for more intensive work in textual analysis and college-level writing. The English department requires you to "place yourself" in one of these two categories when you register for an English course. Departmental representatives will be available to answer any questions you may have about your selection of an English course at English Department Placement on the morning of Tuesday, September 1. English for Freshmen English for Freshmen includes introductory seminars in academic writing (ENGL 114a or b), courses in critical analysis of literature (ENGL 115a or b and 117b), and a set of more advanced writing seminars (ENGL 116b). All of these courses offer extensive work on writing skills, but ENGL 115a or b and 117b specifically emphasize writing about literature. If you want practice in writing diverse kinds of essays, choose ENGL 114a or b. If you want to develop academic writing skills through the study of literature, choose ENGL 115a or b and 117b.

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• ENGL 114a or b, Writing Seminars I, prepares students to write the kind of well-reasoned analyses and arguments required in college courses. Both instruction and practice stress the importance of reading, research, and revision as the bases of effective writing. Using examples of modern nonfiction prose from a variety of academic disciplines, individual sections focus on different issues, such as vision, globalization, generosity, experts and expertise, the good life, and dissent in American culture.
• ENGL 115a or b, Literature Seminars I, explores major themes and topics in important works of literature. Individual seminars focus on topics such as war, justice, childhood, and the natural world. Special attention is given to the development of writing skills and to the analysis of fiction, poetry, drama, and nonfiction prose.
• ENGL 116b, Writing Seminars II, continues the work of 114a or b by refining the tools of rhetorical analysis and argument through focused study of writing related to specific fields of endeavor, inquiry, or interest. Typical topics of individual sections are the environment, the arts, the law, documentary film, politics, and medicine. Varied writing assignments, with frequent review and revision, culminate with the development of a longer research essay.
• ENGL 117b, Literature Seminars II, continues the work of ENGL 115a or b through in-depth study of specific themes, genres, or authors. Topics may range from literature and globalism to tragedy or from science fiction to the works of Shakespeare, Austen, or Faulkner. Intensive instruction in writing culminates with the production of a major research essay. Prerequisite: ENGL 115a or b or permission of the course director.

English for Freshmen and Sophomores

This category includes a course on the modern essay (ENGL 120a or b) and three courses on literature (ENGL 125, 127a or b, and 129). All courses offer intensive practice in writing.

• ENGL 120a or b, Reading and Writing the Modern Essay, uses close study of selected works of nonfiction to prepare students to become critical readers and to apply professionals' strategies to their own writing. Readings are drawn from the works of authors such as Joan Didion, Malcolm Gladwell, Maxine Hong Kingston, N. Scott Momaday, George Orwell, Brent Staples, Jonathan Swift, Henry David Thoreau, Tom Wolfe, and Alice Walker. Written assignments, involving frequent revision, represent such forms of the essay as autobiography, portraiture, nature writing, cultural critique, and formal argument.
• ENGL 125, Major English Poets, surveys English literary history through intensive study of several major poets: in the fall term, Chaucer (Canterbury Tales), Spenser (Faerie Queene), and a Renaissance lyric poet such as Shakespeare or Donne; in the spring term, Milton (Paradise Lost), Pope, a Romantic poet such as Wordsworth, and a twentieth-century poet such as Yeats, Eliot, or Stevens. Works of these authors are examined both as imaginative responses to their historical moment and as part of an ongoing literary tradition. The course acquaints students with a variety of poetic forms (including epic, romance, ode, elegy, and sonnet) and gives them a critical vocabulary for understanding stylistic and thematic innovation within those forms. Frequent writing assignments focus on the critical analysis of poetry.
• ENGL 127a or b, Readings in American Literature, offers students intensive study of major works of the American literary tradition. 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. Readings are drawn from the works of authors such as Melville, Poe, Hawthorne, Bryant,Whitman, Dickinson, Thoreau, Emerson, Douglass, Stowe, Twain,Wharton, Cather, H. Crane, Stevens, Stein, L. Hughes, Ellison, O’Connor, Ginsberg, Lowell, O’Hara, M. Robinson, C. McCarthy, Morrison, and E. P. Jones. The course offers substantial writing instruction, making it an excellent introduction to college-level writing. Frequent writing assignments focus on critical analysis, the development of voice and argument, and the use of archival and secondary sources.
• ENGL 129, The European Literary Tradition, is an intensive course in European literature, beginning with Homer's Iliad. The fall term concentrates on drama, including plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes; Shakespeare, Moli�re, Racine, and Goethe; Ibsen, Chekhov, Brecht, and Beckett. The spring term concentrates on epic and the novel. Works include Homer's Odyssey, Vergil's Aeneid, Dante's Inferno, Cervantes's Don Quixote, and James Joyce's Ulysses. Frequent writing assignments focus on critical analysis and the development of argument.

ENGL 125 and 129 form yearlong sequences, although each term may also be taken independently. ENGL 120a and 127a are offered again in the spring as 120b and 127b. Students who have taken ENGL 120a may continue with ENGL 125, 127b, or 129. Students who have taken 127a may continue with ENGL 125 or 129, or may pursue further study in American literature in one of the department’s lecture surveys. A student completing ENGL 114a or 115a who receives a grade of A and a letter of recommendation from his or her instructor to the DUS may move into English for Freshmen and Sophomores after the fall term.

ENGL 125 is the usual prerequisite for the major, but students who take four courses studying the authors treated in ENGL 125 may substitute two terms of DRST 001a, 002b (see Directed Studies) or ENGL 127a or b or 129. Students who take both terms of an ENGL 114–116 or 115–117 sequence may count these two credits toward the requirements of the major. For advice about future courses, students should see the DUS or the English department representative assigned to their college.

Placement in Introductory Courses

Test scores are an imperfect measure of preparation in English, but they are the best standard we have, and we ask you to use them when you choose the course most appropriate for you. Freshmen should take English for Freshmen (i.e., ENGL 114a or b, 115a or b, 116b, or 117b) unless they score a 5 on the Advanced Placement test or unless a majority of their SAT scores, compared against the table below, indicate placement in English for Freshmen and Sophomores (i.e., ENGL 120a or b, 125, 127, 129).

 

		ENGL 114, 115, 116 or 117		ENGL 120, 125, 127, or 129
SAT Critical Reading		up to 730		730 and over
SAT Writing		up to 720		720 and over
SAT Essay		up to 9		10 and over
SAT Literature Subject Test		up to 710		710 and over
Advanced Placement Test		below 5		5
International Baccalaureate		below 6		6

Students whose scores consistently fall close to the borderlines indicated in the table above are urged to attend the placement session on the morning of Tuesday, September 1, or to seek advice from the DUS. Students who score below 670 on the SAT Critical Reading or Writing test are strongly encouraged to discuss taking an English course with their faculty advisers or the DUS in English.

Students may place themselves in ENGL 120a, 125, 127a, or 129, despite scores that would indicate ENGL 114a or 115a. Before doing so, however, students should consult with the DUS or with a departmental officer during the placement session on September 1.

Registering for Courses

If you wish to take a fall-term English course, you must register for a specific section of that course. Details about the registration process will be available in the Calendar for the Opening Days and on the English department Web site. Syllabi indicating the different topics to be covered in ENGL 114a and 115a will be posted on the departmental site approximately two weeks before the beginning of classes. Students uncertain about which course to take should attend English Department Placement on Tuesday, September 1.

If, after consulting the departmental Web site, you have questions about English courses, call 203 432-2224 or send an e-mail message to Ruben Roman.

A Note about Class Attendance

1. To retain their place in a section, students must attend the first and all subsequent meetings of the class until the end of the second week of classes. If a student misses a class without informing the instructor beforehand, his or her place will immediately be filled from the waiting list.

2. Students may change their section only for compelling reasons and must petition the DUS to do so. Students should check outside the English department office in Linsly-Chittenden Hall (107 LC) during the first week of classes for forms and procedures.

Students who have not enrolled in an English course in the fall but wish to take one in the spring should register in the English department office during the first week of December. They will be admitted to unfilled sections.

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