We study literature, the poet Wallace Stevens said, because it "helps us to live our lives."

The faculty in English and American Literatures offer courses in lecture and seminar format on the British and American literary traditions from their origins to the present, as well on literature written in English in the Caribbean, Africa, and South Asia. We have particular historical strengths in the teaching of American Literature and in the works of William Shakespeare, and we offer creative writing workshops in fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

On this site, you can find information about the English and American Literatures major, about our faculty, about individual courses, and about research and creative writing opportunities for students.

Photograph: A. Harlan