At least 30 semester hours of credit approved by the Director of Graduate Studies in addition to any course work required because of inadequate prerequisites. The 30 hours will include 6 hours for a thesis and may include up to 9 hours for an approved minor or approved courses in a related field or fields.
Available on the Master of Arts and the Doctor of Philosophy degrees.
For admission and general requirements, see the front of this Bulletin. Specific departmental requirements and supplementary information are given here. For details about the program, see our website (www.eng.tcu.edu).
B.A. degree or equivalent, with credit in English equivalent to the TCU 30-semester-hour major and with sophomore-level credit in a foreign language. Applicants with less preparation may be admitted conditionally, but must take such additional courses as are prescribed by Addran College and the Departmental Director of Graduate Studies. Applicants must present recent Graduate Record Examination scores with the application for admission. Applicants must also submit a writing sample (10-20 pages, exclusive of notes and works cited) that demonstrates appropriate academic and writing skills needed for success in a graduate program in English. Applicants should include with their materials a personal statement outlining career goals, explaining how they match the Program in English at TCU, and three to five references directly relevant to postgraduate work in English studies.
The content of graduate courses varies from semester to semester. For detailed course descriptions specifying topics, figures, and areas of coverage included in recent offerings, visit the Department's website, where detailed course descriptions, listing both readings and requirements, are posted each term.
Resources for Literary Study
ENGL 60103 Bibliography and Methods of Research. History, materials and techniques of manuscript and book production; bibliographical description; use of libraries and bibliographical tools, introduction to textual analysis; thesis and dissertation problems and procedures.
ENGL 60113 The Profession of English. An introduction to the practical and theoretical issues of the profession for all first semester graduate students. Topics included concern the history of the university and departments of English, pedagogical ethics, the necessity and methods of research, and the mechanics of scholarly publication in the humanities.
ENGL 60123 Introduction to Modern Critical Theory. A seminar on major authors and issues in contemporary critical theory.
ENGL 80123 Seminar in Literary Theory. A seminar in the theoretical problematics of literary language and in current trends within critical theory. Topics change each term; may be repeated for credit.
Writing Workshops
ENGL 50243 Teaching Writing. Prerequisites: ENGL 10803 or 10833, and one 20000-level ENGL course. A course for teachers of English combining theories of composition with practical pedagogy and classroom strategies for the teaching of writing. Not applicable toward degree requirements for the Ph.D. in English.
ENGL 60203 Writing for the Professions. A workshop for the student who wishes to learn how to write in a specific academic discipline or in a profession.
Studies in Language
ENGL 60303 History of the English Language. A study beginning with a reading knowledge of Old English and following the development of the language through Early Modern English.
ENGL 60313 Introduction to English Linguistics. An introduction to the phonology, morphology and syntax of Modern English. Some attention to language acquisition, dialects and language change. Prerequisite: ENGL 60303 or permission of instructor.
Studies in British Literature
ENGL 60403 Beowulf. A close reading of the epic in Old English with some attention to modern criticism of the poem. Prerequisite: ENGL 60303 or a course in Old English.
ENGL 60413 Chaucer. Chaucer's language and poems with emphasis on The Canterbury Tales as a work of art and as a reflection of the age.
ENGL 60423 Prose and Poetry of the English Renaissance. The prose writers and poets of 16th and 17th century England in relation to the cultural circumstances influencing and being influenced by their works. Topics may include the prospect and enactment of censorship; the centrality of the patronage system; courts and courtiers; changing views of monarchy and obedience; religious controversy; issues of gender, ethnicity and class; literature and science; pseudo-nonfictional strategies; adaptations of the bible, history, and mythology; and early book production and circulation.
ENGL 60433 Renaissance Drama Exclusive of Shakespeare. The study of the works of major Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights.
ENGL 60443 Seventeenth Century Poetry. Study of the works of major seventeenth century poets including Donne and Marvell.
ENGL 60453 The Age of Dryden and Pope. English literature from 1688 to 1745 with emphasis on Dryden, Swift and Pope, exclusive of the drama.
ENGL 60463 The Age of Johnson. English literature from 1745-1800, with emphasis on Johnson, Boswell, Burns and other major writers exclusive of the drama.
ENGL 60473 British Novel I. Major fiction to the early nineteenth (1832) century.
ENGL 70403 British Novel II. Major fiction from the early nineteenth to the early twentieth century.
ENGL 70413 Romantic Poetry and Prose. The study of works by Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats and others.
ENGL 70423 Victorian Poetry and Prose. The study of major works and authors, including Arnold, Browning and Tennyson.
ENGL 70433 Modern British Novel. The study of major fiction of the twentieth century.
ENGL 70443 Modern British Poetry. Study of twentieth century British poets.
ENGL 70453 Modern British Drama. The study of important plays and playwrights of the twentieth century.
ENGL 70463 Modern British Literature. Survey of major trends and writers in British literature since 1900.
ENGL 70473 Twentieth Century Irish Writers. Study of important Irish works, with emphasis on Yeats, Joyce and Synge.
ENGL 70483 Victorian Women Writers. An intensive examination of Victorian women poets, novelists, and prose writers in the context of historical conditions and feminist theory.
ENGL 70493 Nineteenth Century Studies in British Literature. Selected topics in nineteenth-century British literature (variable emphasis each semester). Past offerings have included the Medieval Revival and Nineteenth-Century Literature and Rhetoric.
ENGL 80403 Seminar in Spenser. Seminar in Spenser.
ENGL 80413 Seminar in Shakespeare. Seminar in Shakespeare
ENGL 80423 Seminar in Milton. Seminar in Milton.
ENGL 80433 Seminar in British Literature of the Eighteenth Century. Seminar in British literature of the eighteenth century.
ENGL 80443 Seminar in British Literature of the Romantic Period. Seminar in British literature of the romantic period. Variable emphasis each semester.
ENGL 80453 Seminar in British Literature of the Victorian Period. Variable emphasis each semester. (Past offerings have included The Brownings' Circle.)
ENGL 80463 Seminar in Modern British Literature. Seminar in modern British literature.
ENGL 80473 Seminar in Renaissance Literature and the "New" Science. This course examines how and why artists and scientists in the century c. 1550-1650 interacted intellectually as they did. Topics include influences of scientific developments and discoveries upon European (chiefly British) letters; strategies used by writers to appropriate, revise, or contest scientific development in astronomy, medicine, philosophy and other disciplines; and relationships between scientific and literary discourses of change.
Studies in American Literature
ENGL 60503 Early American Literature. American literature from first settlement through 1800, including the Puritan writers (Winthrop, Mather, etc.), the shapers of the American Republic (Paine, Jefferson, Franklin, the Federalist writers, etc.), and early writers of the New Nation (Brown, Dwight, Freneau, Rowson, etc.).
ENGL 70503 American Novel I. The American novel from its beginnings to 1890. Topics examined include the Gothic and sentimental novelists (Brown, Rowson)(, the early national novel (Cooper), the Romantics (Hawthorne, Melville), Realism and the Realists (Twain, James, Howells), and the early Naturalists (Norris).
ENGL 70513 American Novel II. The development of the American novel from 1890 to the start of World War II.
ENGL 70523 American Novel III. The development of the American novel from 1940 to the present.
ENGL 70533 The American Short Story. A study of short fiction in American literature.
ENGL 70543 American Poetry I. The development of American poetry from the beginnings to 1900.
ENGL 70553 American Poetry II. Major poets and works of the twentieth century.
ENGL 70563 American Drama. Major playwrights and plays in American literature.
ENGL 70573 American Non-Fiction Prose. Major documents of non-fiction prose in American literature.
ENGL 80503 Seminar in American Literature before 1900. Topics vary; recent offerings have included "Emerson and His Circle" and "The American Renaissance."
ENGL 80513 Seminar in American Literature since 1900. Seminar in American literature since 1900.
ENGL 80583 Seminar in Contemporary African-American Literature. This seminar provides graduate students with the opportunity to research and present theoretical approaches to representative contemporary fiction by African-Americans. Continuities will be established between theories shaped by the Black Arts Movement of the sixties and those shaped by post-modernist thinking. Representative writers may include Alice Walker, Toni Cade Bambara, Charles Johnson, Toni Morrison and Ernest Gaines.
Studies in Comparative Literature
ENGL 50603 Classical Drama. Prerequisites: ENGL 10803 or 10833, and one 20000-level ENGL course. The study of plays surviving from ancient Greece and Rome.
Studies in Rhetoric and Composition
ENGL 60703 Introduction to Composition Studies. A survey of the major contemporary theoretical statements about composing and the teaching of composition.
ENGL 60713 Modern Rhetoric. Major theories of rhetoric and important rhetoricians of the twentieth century.
ENGL 70703 History of Rhetoric. A study of the major authors and issues in the history of rhetoric from antiquity to the present day.
ENGL 70713 Rhetoric and Literature. The applications and implications of rhetorical criticism for the study of literature.
ENGL 70723 Rhetoric and Criticism. A study of classical and modern rhetorical theory, with emphasis on the uses of rhetoric in the study of modern communication.
ENGL 80703 Seminar in Rhetoric. A study of selected major figures and issues in the history of rhetoric.
Directed Studies
ENGL 50970 Directed Study in English. Prerequisites: ENGL 10803 or 10833, and one 20000-level ENGL course. Directed Study in English.
ENGL 70970 Directed Studies. Directed Studies in English.
ENGL 70980 Thesis. Thesis
ENGL 70990 Thesis. Thesis
ENGL 90980 Dissertation. Dissertation.
ENGL 90990 Dissertation. Dissertation.
Other Courses
ENGL 60710 Teaching Practicum. Designed to support graduate instructors' teaching of English. Students in the course will explore methods of syllabus construction, teaching, assigning, and grading student writing.
ENGL 70000 English Library Access. Library Access for English graduate students.
ENGL 70771 Non-Thesis. Selected when enrolling only for non-thesis examination or preparation for the examination.