University of Colorado in Boulder Offers These Cool Classes in English

From the time I could use a computer, one of my biggest dreams was to write professionally. I'm no poet. I've tried repeatedly to be a screenwriter. And, I've practiced until my fingers were raw to do what I'm doing now. With some education, I think I've grown into the writer I wanted to be. You need to better understand the field you want to write for to become a better poet, author or screenwriter. Here is a list of the courses in English literature I most recommend you take at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

What is English?

The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was Polish, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Salman Rushdie is Indian, V.S. Naipaul is Trinidadian. In other words, English literature is as diverse as the varieties and dialects of English spoken around the world. In academia, the term often labels departments and programmes practising English studies in secondary and tertiary educational systems.

General Literature and Language

Coolest courses in General Literature and Language

ENGL 1260: Introduction to Women's Literature (3 Credits) - Introduces literature by women in England and America. This class covers both poetry and fiction and varying historical periods. Students will be acquainted with the contribution of women writers to the English literary tradition and investigates the nature of this contribution.

ENGL 1500: Masterpieces of British Literature (3 Credits) - Students will be introduced to a range of major works of British literature, including at least one play by Shakespeare, a pre-20th century English novel, and works by Chaucer and or Milton.

ENGL 1600: Masterpieces of American Literature (3 Credits) - Better understand the American literary and artistic heritage through an intensive study of a few centrally significant texts with this great course. Studies will focus on works written before the 20th century.

ENGL 2000: Literary Analysis (3 Credits) - Provides a basic skills course designed to equip students to handle the English major. One of the focuses of this class is critical writing and the acquisition of basic techniques and vocabulary of literary criticism through close attention to poetic and prose language.

ENGL 3000: Shakespeare for Nonmajors (3 Credits) - You will be introduced to Shakespeare's major works; the histories, the comedies, and the tragedies.

ENGL 4100: The English Language (3 Credits) - This class will outline history of the language, including a brief survey of sound changes affecting modern English, history of grammatical forms, and the vocabulary.

ENGL 4250: Modern Novel (3 Credits) - Students will get a close study of masterpieces by such novelists as Proust, Joyce, Woolf, Lawrence, Mann, Kafka, and Faulkner.

Undergraduate Writing

Coolest Undergraduate Writing courses

ENGL 1191: Introduction to Creative Writing (3 Credits) - You will be introduced to techniques of fiction and poetry. Your work will be scrutinized by the instructor and may be discussed in a workshop atmosphere with other students.

ENGL 2021: Introductory Poetry Workshop (3 Credits) - This is an introductory course in poetry writing. Introductory may be repeated up to 9 total credit hours.

ENGL 2051: Introductory Fiction Workshop (3 Credits) - Students will be introduced to fiction writing. This class may be repeated up to 9 total credit hours.

ENGL 4071: Scriptwriting Workshop (3 Credits) - Here's one that's just perfect for me. The class is designed to give students practical criticism of their script writing and technical format requirements. Either stage plays or screenplays are studied, as announced. This class may be repeated up to 9 total credit hours.

Backgrounds to Literature in English

Coolest courses in Backgrounds to Literature in English

ENGL 2222: Foundations of British and American Literature (3 Credits) - This class will be studying major texts of medieval and Renaissance writers. These writers fundamentally influenced the course of English writing. The course most commonly focuses on Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton, but other classical, medieval, and Renaissance authors may be substituted.

ENGL 2502: British Literary History 1 (3 Credits) - Get a chronological study of great figures and forces in English literature from Beowulf to 1660.

ENGL 2602: Introduction to Western European Literature 1 (3 Credits) - Closely study literary classics of Western civilization: the Odyssey or Iliad, Greek drama, and several books of the Bible.

ENGL 3302: Backgrounds of English and American Literature (3 Credits) - You'll get the chance to study literary, philosophic, and religious traditions of the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian worlds. Students will also be closely analyzing major texts in translation. The class compares ancient and modern texts where feasible.

British Literature to 1660

Coolest courses in British Literature to 1600

ENGL 3543: Chaucer: Troilus and the Early Poems (3 Credits) - Students will be reading Chaucer's work before The Canterbury Tales closely. There will be a special emphasis on Troilus and Criseyde and its sources.

ENGL 3573: Shakespeare 2 (3 Credits) - Study Shakespeare's works after 1600.

ENGL 3583: Milton (3 Credits) - Get to know Milton's poetry and selected prose.

ENGL 4113: History and Culture of Medieval England (3 Credits) - You'll be exploring the major historical, literary, and cultural developments in England from the Anglo-Saxon period through the 15th century.

ENGL 4523: The Renaissance in England: 1500-1600 (3 Credits) - Students will study selected prose and non-dramatic poetry from Skelton and More through Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

ENGL 4583: Elizabeth I and Her Times (3 Credits) - This is an interdisciplinary course that explores different aspects of the reign of Elizabeth I: social and political history; literature; theater; and music. You'll also discover about the role and impact of a female ruler on English culture.

British Literature after 1660

Coolest courses in British Literature after 1660

ENGL 3164: History and Literature of Georgian England (3 Credits) - This class provides an interdisciplinary study of England in one of its most vibrant cultural and historical periods. You'll be studying such topics as politics, religion, family life, and the ways contemporary authors understood their world.

ENGL 4544: The Age of Satire: 1660-1740 (3 Credits) - Learn about Dryden. Learn about Defoe, Swift, and Pope. Learn about Addison, Steele, and their contemporaries.

ENGL 4564: The Early Romantics (3 Credits) - You will be focusing on Blake, Coleridge, and Wordsworth. Unfortunately, The Early Romantics is restricted to English and humanities majors only.

American Literature

Coolest courses in American Literature

ENGL 3655: American Literature to 1860 (3 Credits) - This will provide student with a chronological survey of the literature from Bradford to Whitman. Unfortunately, the class is restricted to English, humanities, and film studies majors only.

ENGL 4655: Studies in American Literature to 1900 (3 Credits) - Particular periods and movements in American literature will be studied in this class.

Advanced Theory, Genre Studies, and Popular Culture

Coolest courses in Advanced Theory, Genre Studies, and Popular Culture

ENGL 3226: Folklore 1 (3 Credits) - You'll be getting a formal study of folk traditions within a theoretical framework; such as, tales, songs, games, customs, beliefs, and crafts. The course will be using examples from several cultures.

ENGL 4016: Literature and Psychopathology (3 Credits) - Students will study major psychological disorders as they are given dramatic and descriptive treatment by literary artists in poems, plays, short stories, and novels. The course focuses on primarily descriptive but there is some attention paid to contemporary views of etiology.

Multicultural and Gender Studies

Coolest courses in Multicultural and Gender Studies

ENGL 2717: Native American Literature (3 Credits) - This course surveys traditional and contemporary North American Native American literature, from traditional oral forms to contemporary genre literature of novels, short stories, and poetry.

ENGL 2757: Survey of Asian American Literature (3 Credits) - You will be surveying the narrative literature of major Asian American writers of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Asian Indian, and Southeast Asian descent. The class will explore such themes as immigration, generational and cultural difference, stereotypes, and cultural identity, emphasizing a critical analysis framed by socio-historical contexts.

ENGL 2767: Survey of Post-Colonial Literature (3 Credits) - This class surveys the development of literatures in English in former British colonies. You'll be studying such topics as the spread and adaptation of English language literary forms in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and the far new world (Australia and New Zealand). Students learn the causes of the dispersion and the motivations for the clearly different uses of English literary forms in the ex-colonies.

Critical Studies in English

Coolest courses in Critical Studies in English

ENGL 4038: Critical Thinking in English Studies (3 Credits) - Learn about the developments in the study of literature that have significantly influenced our conception of the theoretical bases for study and expanded our understanding of appropriate subject matter.

Graduate Courses

Coolest Graduate Courses

ENGL 7859: Introduction to PhD Research and Professional Development (1 Credit) - This is a skills course designed to equip midlevel or advanced graduate students with rudiments of practical research skills and techniques (bibliography, history of the book, codicology, manuscripts, databases, World Wide Web, and Internet) and orientation to possible future in the profession.

About the University of Colorado at Boulder

Little known facts: The school was established back in 1876. Their motto is "Let Your Light Shine". There have been approximately 24,000 undergraduates and 4,000 post-graduates. They were the first to create a new form of matter, called the "Bose-Einstein condensate" which is a few hundred billionths of a degree above absolute zero. They were the first to observe a "fermionic condensate" formed from pairs of atoms in a gas. They discovered a protein in the blood that can prevent the AIDS virus from reproducing and spreading to healthy cells. The university has also accomplished many more things; such as, the creation of a classifying and numbering system for human chromosomes, and the production of computerized 3D images of the entire body in anatomical sections.

University or college location: Boulder, Colorado

Directions to the college or university

From DIA: You will fly in or out of DIA or should I say, Denver International Airport. Driving time between DIA and Boulder is approximately 60 to 90 minutes. From DIA, follow Peña Boulevard (10 miles) south to I-70, and exit onto I-70 west. Follow I-70 west to I-270 west. I-270 merges into U.S. 36 west and takes you west into Boulder (about 23 miles). Exit at Baseline Road; turn left on Broadway and turn right or north. The campus is to the right. For alternate routes, see the map from DIA to Boulder.

From the Denver Area and South: To get to Boulder from the Denver area, go west on U.S. 36 (from I-25 or I-270) and exit at Baseline Road. Turn left (west) on Baseline Road, then right or north on Broadway to campus.

From the North: From the north, take U.S. 287 south to Highway 119. Highway 119 becomes Highway 157 (Foothills Parkway) just north of Boulder. Turn right or west from Foothills Parkway onto Baseline Road. Drive west on Baseline to Broadway, then turn right (north) on Broadway to campus.

From the West: Take I-70 east to U.S. 6. Go east on U.S. 6 to CO. 58. Turn right (east) on CO.58 to CO. 93. Make a left (north) onto CO. 93 towards Boulder. CO. 93 will turn into Broadway once in Boulder. Continue on Broadway west until you see the campus on your right. It will be shortly after you pass Baseline Rd.