UG English: Lit, Lang, Rhetoric, and Culture

• UG English refers to undergraduate-level studies in English language and literature

Areas of Study

• Literature encompasses the study of various literary genres like poetry, prose (novels, short stories), drama, and literary criticism
• Language includes linguistics, focusing on language structure/evolution, and applied linguistics, emphasizing language teaching/learning
• Composition/Rhetoric deals with effective writing and argumentation principles and rhetoric as a persuasive art form
• Cultural Studies explores the connection between literature, language, and culture, often examining identity, power, and social change

Core Skills Developed

• Critical Reading involves analyzing complex texts to understand meanings, themes, and assumptions
• Analytical Writing focuses on constructing well-reasoned arguments expressed clearly in written form
• Research Skills include gathering information from sources, evaluating credibility, and synthesizing arguments
• Communication Skills involve articulating ideas effectively in written and oral forms and engaging in discussions
• Theoretical Understanding requires familiarity with literary theories/critical approaches like formalism, feminism, Marxism, post-structuralism, and postcolonialism

Literary Periods and Movements

• Old English (c. 450-1066) includes Beowulf and other early Germanic literature
• Middle English (c. 1066-1485) includes Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Renaissance (c. 1485-1660) features Shakespeare, Marlowe, Spenser, and the rise of English drama
• Neoclassical Period (c. 1660-1798) includes Dryden, Pope, Swift, emphasizing reason, order, and classical ideals
• Romantic Period (c. 1798-1832) features Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats, emphasizing emotion, imagination, and nature
• Victorian Period (c. 1832-1901) includes Dickens, the Brontë sisters, Eliot, Tennyson, and Browning, exploring social issues and psychological realism
• Modern Period (c. 1901-1945) features Joyce, Woolf, Eliot, and Yeats, characterized by experimentation, fragmentation, and alienation
• Postmodern Period (c. 1945-present) includes Pynchon, DeLillo, Atwood, and Morrison, exploring metafiction, intertextuality, and cultural diversity

Key Literary Theories

• Formalism/New Criticism focuses on the text itself, analyzing structure/language/relationships and disregarding external factors
• Structuralism examines underlying structures and systems of meaning governing literary texts/cultural phenomena
• Post-Structuralism/Deconstruction challenges fixed meaning, emphasizing the instability/ambiguity of language/interpretation
• Psychoanalytic Criticism applies psychoanalytic theories (Freud, Lacan) to interpret literary works and explore the desires/motivations of characters/authors
• Marxist Criticism examines the relationship between literature and social class, power structures, and economic systems
• Feminist Criticism analyzes the representation of women in literature, challenging patriarchal assumptions and promoting gender equality
• Postcolonial Criticism examines colonialism's impact on literature and culture and focuses on issues of identity, power, and representation
• Queer Theory explores the representation of sexualities/gender identities in literature, challenging heteronormative assumptions and promoting LGBTQ+ rights
• Critical Race Theory examines the intersection of race, racism, and power in literature and society, analyzing the representation of marginalized racial groups and challenging systemic inequalities

Language Studies

• Phonetics and Phonology involves studying speech sounds and sound systems
• Morphology focuses on the study of word formation
• Syntax involves studying sentence structure
• Semantics involves studying meaning in language
• Pragmatics involves studying language use in context

Rhetoric and Composition

• Classical Rhetoric represents the art of persuasive speaking/writing, developed by ancient Greek/Roman rhetoricians like Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian
• Rhetorical Analysis means analyzing persuasive strategies/techniques in texts/contexts
• Composition Theory explores principles of effective writing, including invention, arrangement, style, and delivery

Career Paths

• Teaching at secondary and post-secondary levels
• Journalism
• Publishing
• Editing
• Writing (creative, technical, professional)
• Public relations
• Communications
• Marketing
• Law
• Library science
• Archiving
• Research