PhD degree programs in English and American Literature enable students to deepen their knowledge of literature and culture through graduate work in different historical periods and genres; to devise theoretical and historical frameworks that enhance their comprehension of literary and cultural materials; and to complete individualized projects that best represent the particular strands within literary studies of most interest to them. Small seminars with outstanding teacher-scholars in all the major areas of literary study provide an excellent grounding in the contemporary practices of literary criticism, theoretical work, and historical scholarship.

PhD Requirements

For PhD students in literature, the coursework comprised in a Course of Study might observe period distinctions or, where appropriate, cut across those in order to achieve historical range. It might emphasize study of a single genre or aim to achieve a representative balance of genres in focusing on a particular movement at a particular time. It might focus entirely on a single national, ethnic, or cultural tradition or traverse such boundaries. The Course of Study must take into account the historical distribution requirement and other course requirements, and it may include more than one composition and rhetoric course.