The Department of English is devoted to the critical study of literature and language, indeed to the study of creative expression of many kinds, including film and other media. We offer courses in all periods and genres of English, American, and Anglophone literature—poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and drama—as well as a wide array of classes in creative writing, film, media studies, journalism, rhetoric, and theater. The department joins critics, scholars, and artists in an environment that fosters interactive learning and teaching, with extensive opportunities to pursue internships and independent research.
Undergraduate majors may choose from four distinct tracks in the major—English Literature; Creative Writing; Theater; and Language, Media, and Communication—and we offer minors in English Literature, Creative Writing, Journalism, and Theater. Double majoring in English and another discipline—Physics or Music, History or Psychology—is readily managed. (For more information, see Undergraduate.) Our internationally recognized graduate program offers both M.A. and Ph.D. degrees, and our alumni have gone on to academic careers at some of the nation’s most respected colleges and universities. (See Graduate.) The English Department maintains wide-ranging connections with other university programs in Film Studies, Comparative Literature, African-American Studies, Women’s Studies, Theater, and Literary Translation, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The department sponsors an annual literary reading series that has brought distinguished poets and fiction writers to campus. (See Plutzik Series.) We also regularly host lectures, conferences, workshops, and symposia on a wide variety of subjects of scholarly and general interest. >>>
The National Research Council ranks the University of Rochester English Department among the best PhD programs in the country.
Chronicle of Higher Education, “2010 Rankings: Doctoral Programs in America”
Click on the image above for a PDF version of the graph.
The English Department’s annual trek to Stratford, Ontario, to see five plays will take place this year on Friday, September 20–Sunday, September 22, 2013.
A limited quantity of tickets are available. For details, please download the flier.
The William Blake Archive has published an electronic edition of Visions of the Daughters of Albion copy H, and has republished, in full searchable mode, Blake’s sixteen engravings in John Gabriel Stedman’s Narrative, of a Five Years’ Expedition, against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam.
For details, please visit Blake Archive Updates.
Help establish an endowed University position in the names of Russell and Ruth Peck—a fund that would bear their names in perpetuity. A new website celebrates Professor Peck’s half century of dedication to the University. Learn more here.
The William Blake Archive has published an electronic edition of Europe a Prophecy copy A.
For details, please visit Blake Archive Updates.
Russell Peck was awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters degree by the State University of New York. He was honored at SUNY Geneseo’s 2013 commencement ceremony.
Click here for details.
Kenneth Gross gave the first lecture of the 2013 Open Books series, presented by Theatre for a New Audience, on April 26. Gross’s talk drew upon his book Puppet: An Essay on Uncanny Life.
The William Blake Archive has published electronic editions of its first installment of Blake’s letters, the correspondence of his last two years, 1825-27.
This edition was overseen by the Archive team from Rochester’s Department of English.
For details, please visit Blake Archive Updates.
James Longenbach’s The Virtues of Poetry was recently published.
Learn more about the book on the English Department’s New Faculty Publications page or on Graywolf Press’s website.
The February 6 issue of City Newspaper features a story about the International Theatre Program’s recent production of The Rochester Plays.
Click here to read the article.
The William Blake Archive has published electronic editions of America a Prophecy copies B and I.
For details, please visit Blake Archive Updates.
The winter 2012-13 issue of Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly is now available.
Visit the journal at: www.blakequarterly.org.
For a report on the lives and careers of former English majors, and how these were shaped by their work in the major, click here.
Kenneth Gross has won this year’s George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism in recognition of his achievement in Puppet: An Essay on Uncanny Life.
For details, please download this press release.
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