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  NOTE: Graduate-level literature courses fulfill requirements for the M.A. program in Literature and Language. Graduate-level linguistics courses also fulfill the language requirements for the M.Ed. degree with ESL certification offered by the School of Education and Human Services. All of the 500-level courses may also be used as electives in the graduate Humanities program.
EN 100A College Reading (2)
A developmental course in reading and study skills improvement with emphasis on vocabulary building, improved comprehension, effective note taking and study skills, and critical reading. A minimum grade of C- is necessary for successful completion of this course.
EN 100B Fundamentals of Writing (2)
A developmental course in writing with emphasis on effective sentences and well-constructed paragraphs. A minimum grade of C- is necessary for successful completion of this course.
EN 101 Composition I (3)
Instruction in the writing of essays and reports. Emphasis on the organization of paragraphs and the writing of clear and vivid prose. A minimum grade of C- is required for graduation. Enrollment: self-placement or successful completion of EN 100B. This course contains a significant amount of speech and oral presentations.
EN 102 Composition II (3)
A continuation of EN 101. Emphasis on rhetorical situations encompassing the writer, the audience, and the message. Students write a research essay using secondary sources. A minimum grade of C- is required for graduation. Prerequisite: EN 101 or equivalent. This course contains a significant amount of speech and oral presentations.
EN 200 Approaches to Literary Study (3)
Introduces students to the essential elements of the three major literary genres: fiction, poetry, and drama. Develops analytic skills for the understanding and appreciation of literature. The course introduces the basic issues in literary theory and is open to English majors and minors only.
EN 201 World Masterpieces: The Ancient World (3)
A study of literary masterworks from Gilgamesh and Homer to Virgil and Saint Augustine. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 202 World Masterpieces: The Middle Ages (3)
A study of classics from the late antique to the late medieval periods. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 203 World Masterpieces: Renaissance through Enlightenment (3)
A study of classics from the 15th through the 18th centuries. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 204 World Masterpieces: Romanticism through Modernism (3)
A study of major 19th- and 20th-century cultural movements and literary works. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 205 American Literature I (3)
A study of representative American literary works from the colonial period through 1870. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 206 American Literature II (3)
A study of representative American literary works from 1870 to the present. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 211 Principles of Language (3)
An investigation of basic constructs and subsystems of English structure as described by grammarians of various theoretical persuasions.
EN 212 Introduction to the Technique of Acting (3)
Makes students aware of the transformation process whereby drama is turned into theater through the language of the theater, i.e. sets, lights, costumes, makeup, music, and/or the actor. Secondly, the course makes the student aware of the importance of textual analysis, the foundation for acting.
EN 220 The Movie or the Book? Narrative Adaptation in the Cinema (3)
A study of narrative strategies on film, looking both at adaptations of the narrative from print to film, and among film genres themselves. Films will be examined from a literary perspective, including an introduction to the vocabulary of film studies from various theoretical backgrounds including feminism, genre studies, and multicultural perspectives. Special attention will focus on how the choice of media affects storytelling and how visual narratives differ from, or derive from, textual narratives. (Also listed as IS 220.) (3)
EN 280 Perspectives on Language Acquisition (3)
A study of what it means to “know” a language and how speakers build communicative competence in both first and second languages. Special emphasis is given to the difference between child and adult second-language learners, barriers to language learning, and the cross-cultural problems involved in learning a second language.
EN 301 The Writing Process: Theory and Practice (3)
A study of traditional and contemporary composition theory stressing the connection between writing and learning. The course affords frequent writing practice to improve students’ writing skills. Prerequisites: EN 101 and EN 102.
EN 302 Creative Writing (3)
An introduction to the stylistic and technical elements of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction through assigned readings of professional examples and writing exercises. This course is provided in a workshop format and focuses on the production, critique, and revision of student writing. This course does not fulfill the Humanities or Writing Liberal Arts Core requirements. Prerequisite: EN 102.
EN 303 Literary Notification (3)
An in-depth study of literary nonfiction with attention to stylistic and technical elements and/or topical concerns with the genre. This course is provided in a workshop format, focusing on production, critique, and revision of student work, supplemented by assigned readings. Open to juniors and seniors, and to others with the consent of the instructor. Prerequisite: EN 102.
EN 310 Literary Superheroes (3)
A study of the “hero” and “superhero” models in European and American literature, from Hercules and Prometheus to Don Juan and Superman. Emphasis is placed on the various heroic codes both as literature and as embodiments of popular visions, ideals, and desires of their eras. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 318 Theater History (3)
Traces the development of theater from its ritual beginning until the late 20th century. Its purpose is to introduce students to the great theatrical traditions and to show the paths that the dramatic arts have taken over the centuries and across various cultures. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 320 Short Fiction (3)
An intensive study of American and European short fiction with an emphasis on developmental patterns and recurring themes. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 321 Modern Drama (3)
A critical study of the development of modern drama in the 19th and 20th centuries from Ibsen to Stoppard. The course includes a study of realistic and anti-realistic trends in the modern theater. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 322 19th-Century British Poets (3)
A study of major British poets of the Romantic and Victorian periods in the context of the important literary traditions and techniques of their age. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 323 Modern Poetry (3)
A study of modern poetry beginning in the late 19th century, with selections from Whitman, Dickinson, Hardy, Hopkins, Yeats, Eliot, Pound, Stevens, Williams, Lowell, and more recent poets. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 326 Studies in the Novel (3)
This is a topics course with changing content. Students may enroll in this course more than once, provided there is no significant overlap in content when it is presented in another semester. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 330 Chaucer and the Courtly Love Tradition (3)
A study of England’s master medieval poet in the context of a major literary current of the late medieval world. Exploration of the origins and major themes of courtly love poetry and a close study of selected Canterbury Tales and of Troilus and Criseyde. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 340 Major Women Writers (3)
A study of the emergence and creative achievements of major women writers in both England and America. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 350 The American Dream (3)
An exploration of the American dream of success and its manifestation in various genres of American literature. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 351 Literature of Childhood and Adolescence (3)
Examines the images of childhood, adolescence, and maturity projected by 19th- and 20th-century writers and the definitions of innocence and experience these images imply. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 355 Shakespeare: Tragedies and Histories (3)
Introduction to the tragedies and histories. Examination of the plays as a reflection of classical, medieval, Renaissance, and Elizabethan values. Emphasis on major themes such as the problem of evil. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 356 Shakespeare: Comedies (3)
Introduction to the comedies. Particular emphasis on Shakespeare’s changing concept of love. Other topics include the effect of Renaissance melancholy on the comic tone. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 360 American Multicultural Literature (3)
A study of contemporary American multicultural literature challenging the stereotypical definitions of American literature, identity, and society. Emphasis on issues surrounding literary expressions of multiculturalism and on exploring themes of conflict, alienation, and assimilation. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 385 Approaches to Teaching Secondary English (3)
Prepares the student to teach English at the secondary level by integrating content mastery with effective pedagogical strategies. Field experience: 20 hours. Prerequisites: ED 245S, ED 327S, and PSY 312.
EN 400 Internship (3-6)
Senior students may register for an internship in cooperating government, business, education, research, or media communications agencies in the Washington metropolitan area under the supervision of an instructor. Prerequisite: permission of the dean of Arts and Sciences.
EN 421 Project (3)
An investigation of a selected topic in literature or linguistics. The project is intended to demonstrate an ability to conduct independent research and present the results in writing of commendable quality. Prerequisite: permission of the dean of Arts and Sciences.
EN 424 Senior Seminar (3)
Provides an intensive study of a selected literary genre, movement, or period from either British or American literature. Students produce a research seminar paper related to the topic studied. Required of all senior English majors; other students may enter with permission of the instructor.
EN 433 Research (1-6)
A student in this course will conduct collaborative research (scholarly work leading to new knowledge) under the direction of a faculty member. Refer to the Marymount Academic Research Initiative (MARI) guidelines. Prerequisite: application and approval of department chair.
EN 490 Major Author(s) (3)
Provides an in-depth study of one or two major writers. Author(s) announced in course schedule. This course may be taken more than once, provided the student selects different authors. Prerequisite: EN 102 or permission of instructor.
EN 521 The Origins of the Novel, 1594-1800 (3)
The goal of this course is to show students how writers and readers can collaborate to invent a new literary form. The form in question is the English novel, and the principal period is the 18th century. There will be two subordinate topics: (a) the definition(s) of comedy and the problem of how comedy is to be realized in the medium of prose fiction; and (b) the new scholarly accounts of the early history of the novel that are superseding the long-authoritative account given by Ian Watt in The Rise of the Novel.
EN 522

Out of the ’30s (3)
The years of the Great Depression saw the rise of a new generation of writers who confidently attempted to combine literature and social advocacy. This course examines two groups of writers: one is predominantly Northern, urban, and progressive; the other is predominantly Southern, agrarian, and conservative.
EN 524 Myth, Symbol, and Language(3)
An investigation of the various interpretations of myth as representative of the struggle toward conceptual thought; the interpretation of myth and symbolic form is explored. The latter part of the course focuses on Noam Chomsky's work Language and the Mind.
EN 526 Concepts of Gender in the Modern World (3)
Explores how gender concepts and relationships affect the individual’s self-concept in modern culture.
EN 528 Visions of Freedom in the Modern World (3)
Examines the diverse concepts of “freedom” that bear upon the individual in the 20th century. By contrasting literary and philosophic figures who worked in relative awareness of each other but who arrived at opposing stands on freedom, the elusive character of the concept is revealed. Selected texts from writers such as Dickens, Mill, James, Eliot, Joyce, Woolf, and Sartre.
EN 530 Social Upheaval and Dramatic Structure (3)
The Vietnam War, violence in the streets, and the unrest on college campuses in America in the late ’60s worked profound changes in the fabric of American life, reflected in the plays of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. This course traces these changes from a background examination of major works by O’Neill, Hellman, Miller, and Williams.
EN 540 The Transformation of Literary Study (3)
A study of the major contributions to modern literary theory in Europe and the United States.
EN 550 General Linguistics (3)
A study of the basic concepts of phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.
EN 552 Applied Phonology (3)
The study of phonetics and phonemics including comparative analysis techniques. Emphasis on phonology and the ESL learner.
EN 554 Applied Grammar: Syntactic Structures (3)
An analysis of contemporary English grammar that investigates the meaning in written and oral discourse. Emphasis given to the application of English grammar in second-language learning.
EN 558 History of the English Language (3)
The development of English from its Anglo-Saxon roots to its present-day form.
EN 560 Dante’s Florence and The Divine Comedy (3)
Links The Divine Comedy to specific intellectual and cultural issues in Dante’s world. It also explores the Comedy’s overall design, themes, and images.
EN 561 Canterbury Tales and the Late Medieval World (3)
Explores the historical and cultural factors that influenced the ways in which Chaucer invites his audience to enter into dialogue on the era’s central issues. It also studies the Tales’ overall design.
EN 562 Shakespeare: Text and Performance (3)
An intensive study of several Shakespearean plays as both text and performance.
EN 580 Independent Study (3)
Gives students the opportunity to pursue in depth, and under the direction of a faculty member, a topic in literature and/or language for which no formal course is available.
EN 590 Major Author(s) (3)
Provides an in-depth study of one or two major writers. Author(s) announced in the course schedule. This course may be taken more than once provided that the student selects different authors.
EN 595 Master's Project (3)
This capstone course offers the student an opportunity to write a substantial and original critical/interpretive paper in literary and/or linguistic studies and to present its main features to an audience of peers and faculty members. This paper should draw on various aspects of the student’s previous studies.