Bachelor of Arts in English

The Bachelor of Arts in English program at St. Thomas University is designed to provide an opportunity to learn about the world’s great writers, specifically the master essayists, poets, dramatists, and novelists throughout civilization and, more narrowly, in the English speaking world. Each English major has the opportunity to tailor an individualized program of study that fits personal needs, tastes, and interests. Every major is expected to take an English literature and an American literature survey course. Upper division courses concentrating on literary periods, genres, special topics, and creative writing also assist majors in the pursuit of a literary-themed degree.

Featured Professors

Career Opportunities

Students who have successfully completed the Bachelor of Arts in English degree have gone on to enter the teaching profession both in secondary and college-level education. Many others have gone on to have successful careers in the law, public relations, educational administration, and marketing.

Curriculum (Course Sampling)

ENC 1101 Composition
Oral and written communication of impressions and judgments upon assigned readings in the essay and allied genres. The course emphasizes the building of an active vocabulary and on correct sentence and paragraph structure. Writing a research paper is required. This course meets the requirements of the State of Florida.

ENC 1102 Composition and Literature
Readings in poetry, prose fiction, and dramatic forms. The course enhances written skills developed in ENC 1101 through papers and examinations on assigned readings and substantial in-class writing experiences. This course meets the requirements of the state of Florida.

ENL 2012 Survey of English Literature I
A study of English Literature in the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Neoclassical Era through readings selected to represent great writers, various literary forms, and significant currents of thought. This course provides both an introduction to literature and a background that will be useful in the study of other literatures and other fields of cultural history.

ENL 2022 Survey of English Literature II
A study of English Literature in the Romantic, Victorian, and Modern periods through readings selected to represent great writers, various literary forms, and significant currents of thought. This course provides both an introduction to literature and a background that will be useful in the study of other literatures and other fields of cultural history.

ENC 333 Creative Writing
An introductory workshop course in creative writing that develops the emerging literary talent within the St. Thomas University campus. Students will read the work of model contemporary authors in the three major genres and learn work shopping techniques to improve their own writing and critiquing skills. Each writer will produce a revised portfolio of creative work and assist in the production of Driftwood, the university literary journal.

ENG 340C The Romantic Movement
A critical study of the major poets of the Romantic Movement in England and Europe, emphasizing Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats. Historical and biographical background will be limited to that which is needed for a mature understanding of the thought and the poetry.

ENG 358 Modern Short Story
Short fiction from over fifty authors including many foreign works with the majority of stories being British and American. Kafka, Hemingway , Dostoevski, Flannery O’Conner, Fitzgerald, and Kipling are just a few of the writers whose works will be studied from biographical, historical, literary, sociological, and philosophical points of view.

ENG 375 Introduction to Caribbean Literature
Using the perspectives of nationalism and (post)colonialism, this course introduces students to the creative work of several Caribbean nations throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. By exploring the fiction, cinema, and music from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, Antigua, and many other island nations, this course offer students a varied introduction to the culture, politics, and history of the contemporary Caribbean.

ENG 492 Contemporary Literary Criticism
Given the proliferation of literary and cultural theories that have helped shape literature studies in the last several decades, this course serves to augment academic understanding of the theories that offer a clearer understanding not only of literature but also of the evolution of culture during late capitalism. As an extension of Multicultural Literary Criticism, a course that aims to follow literary theory from the Ancient World until the advent of modernism, this course completes that conversation by presenting the work of contemporary critics (Freud, Anderson, Jameson, Bhabha, Spivak, Appiah) who have attempted to explain culture and identity during the 20th and into the 21st Century.

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