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College of Humanities
English
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Upcoming Course Offerings

Course offerings are subject to change at any time, depending on instructor availability. Contact the Graduate Program Manager with any questions at 801-422-4939 or gradenglish@byu.edu.

Winter 2027
Spring 2027
Summer 2027
Fall 2027
Winter 2028
Spring 2028
Summer 2028
Fall 2028
Winter 2029
Spring 2029
Summer 2029

  • This course prepares you for a career in technical and professional communication by giving you hands-on experience in writing for real-world professional environments. You’ll work on projects like proposals, technical documentation, website content, and client deliverables, all designed to simulate the writing tasks you’ll encounter in industries such as technology, business, healthcare, and public relations. This graduate course also introduces you to the scholarship behind professional writing, helping you understand how communication theories influence practical writing strategies in the workplace.

    By the end of the course, you’ll have a polished digital portfolio that showcases your best work, including a brief self-reflection on your development as a writer. The portfolio is designed to help you move forward in your career, whether you’re aiming for positions in technical writing, corporate communication, grant writing, or any other field where clear, effective writing is important. You’ll also have the chance to explore research opportunities in the field, setting a foundation for advanced work in technical communication or digital humanities.

  • For what is by far the shortest traditional period in British literary history, the Romantic Age (ca. 1780s–1830s) continues to have an outsized impact on contemporary literature and culture. This seminar will explore this phenomenon by pairing Romantic-era writers and texts with important works from recent decades that grapple with Romanticism’s legacies. We will study, for instance, how William Blake’s radical ethical vision undergirds Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, the 2009 eco-thriller by the Polish Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk; how an explicitly Byronic strain of toxic masculinity infects the protagonist of Disgrace, the 1999 Booker Prize winner by the South African Nobel laureate J. M. Coetzee; and how other contemporary writers grapple with the legacies of Romantic-era authors like Jane Austen, William Wordsworth, and John Clare. Accordingly, this course should appeal not only to those specializing in nineteenth-century British literature but to any English graduate student—whether a rhetorician, Americanist, or aspiring novelist—interested in the long shadow that writers from ages past still cast upon the literature of today.

  • This course explores the relationship between clothing, identity, and social change in British Modernist literature. Students will read novels and short fiction from influential 20th-century writers, including Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, Rudyard Kipling, Rebecca West, Siegfried Sassoon, Katherine Mansfield, and Aldous Huxley, among others. We will connect representations of clothing in these works to Britain’s rich fashion history, exploring how clothing: (1) reveals shifting class dynamics in Edwardian and early 20th-century society; (2) confronts the politics of power and identity, particularly in colonial settings; (3) reflects the trauma and experiences of war; and (4) shapes social transformation, particularly through the rise of consumer culture. We will look at everything from the little black dress to the Burberry trench coat—a striking example of fashion’s ability to repurpose history, turning a piece of wartime equipment into an enduring icon of high fashion.

  • In an 1835 letter to an editor who found one of his pieces a bit too disturbing, Edgar Allan Poe responded, “To be appreciated you must be read, and these things are invariably sought after with avidity.” Both literary scholarship and popular culture demonstrate that Poe has been read consistently from the mid-1800s until now, although the appreciation came a bit later. In this course, we will read a lot of Poe. The “now” will become apparent in at least five ways. First, why has there been a renaissance of serious Poe biographies during the last 5-8 years? How do these biographies treat Poe in different ways? (Each student will read 1 major Poe biography at the beginning of the semester.) Second, what do Poe’s works say, for better and for worse, about pressing issues of our times, including pandemics, race relations, gender, climate change, and populism? We will read works by Poe that address each of these subjects and many others. Third, what can Poe tell us about fear, terror, horror, and other emotions that many of us are experiencing in 2027? When it comes to creating and maintaining these feelings in a piece of literature, Poe’s “theory of effect” is as relevant now as ever. We will examine this theory, see how Poe put it into practice, and discuss how other authors and artists still use his techniques today. Fourth, what are scholars saying about Poe in current Poe scholarship? The scholarship is vast and varied and comes from multiple theoretical and disciplinary perspectives. Students will occasionally choose and read contemporary Poe scholarship that fits their own interests while the class will explore several pieces of current and historical Poe scholarship as a group. Fifth, what is Poe’s influence on world literature and global popular culture? It is ubiquitous. We will read selected works by a few authors who are responding to Poe, and students will have the opportunity to examine Poe in a medium of their choice—e.g. Poe in film, Poe on the internet, Poe paraphernalia, Poe on Netflix, Poe and comics, Poe and (video)games, Poe and memes, Poe and popular music. The list could go on and on. In short, we will read a large amount of Poe’s fictional corpus (while dabbling in his poetry and his literary criticism), and we will spend significant time and energy discovering how scholars and artists have responded to (and continue to respond to) Poe.

  • The secularization thesis is one of the most powerful progress narratives to develop in the modern era. It suggests that with increasing scientific knowledge, industrialization, and technological advancements, religion and religious practice declines. In recent decades, however, it has become increasingly clear that such is not the case. In spite of secularization’s attempts to marginalize and even eradicate it, religion remains as present as it ever was—it has only changed shape. Literature, in particular, has remained a repository for what we might call postsecular concerns, and many contemporary poets and novelists continue to articulate a specific ethical and moral vision as they seek to reconnect spiritual and secular virtues. That vision is not an atavistic return to pre-modern religious paradigms, but rather a uniquely postsecular sensibility developed in light of both the scientific advancements and the tumultuous cultural upheavals of the past century.

    In this course we will take what Paul Ricœur calls an “affirmative” approach to a selection of American literary texts published in the last half-century that demonstrate a postsecular sensibility. Our goal, in part, is to practice a mode of scholarship that remains open and responsive to what a text has to offer, and one that accepts what it reveals as of equal importance to what it might conceal.

    Primary Course Texts:

    In Bed With the Word: Reading, Spirituality, and Cultural Politics, by Daniel Coleman
    LaRose, by Louise Erdrich
    A Place for Us, by Fatima Farheen Mirza
    A Mercy, by Toni Morrison
    Lila, by Marilynne Robinson
    Loving Justice Living Shakespeare, by Regina Schwartz
    Wade in the Water: Poems, by Tracy K. Smith
    The Emperor of Gladness, by Ocean Vuong

  • Disability theorists have called disability “the master trope of human disqualification.” Every person is born into a state of dependence on others, and every human life ends as the body breaks down, a fact disability theorists underscore by dubbing those who find themselves outside the world of disability the “temporarily able-bodied.” Given the omnipresence of disability, readers will find that any literary text–from the Bible to King Lear to The Old Man and the Sea and everything beyond–yields new and significant meanings under this theoretical lens. This seminar will survey the history of disability studies, from its inception as a political movement in the 1960s, through its introduction into academia in the 1980s-90s, and to its force in the present day. We will use foundational theoretical texts to study the medical models, social construction, literary representation, and embodied experience of disability. Throughout the seminar, we will discover the potential of these theories by applying them to primary texts including a novella, a play, a short story, children's literature, essays, and a film.

  • This seminar explores the theories and practices of digital literacy and technology integration in secondary English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms. We will examine how digital tools—especially emerging technologies like artificial intelligence—shape literacy practices, including reading, writing, and multimodal composition. Additionally, we will consider their implications for ELA instruction, with attention to both the affordances and challenges of integrating technology in meaningful ways. We will also explore how researchers study these evolving practices, analyzing the research methods and theoretical frameworks used in the field. As we investigate what we know about technology in literacy education, we will experiment with digital tools to critically reflect on their role in ELA classrooms and our own professional practice.

  • Workshopping of Creative Nonfiction Drafts

    • Students in English 667R will evaluate and critique the creative nonfiction of their peers.

    Current Techniques in Creative Nonfiction Writing

    • Students in English 667R will identify current techniques in the writing of creative nonfiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

    Writing and Revision of Creative Nonfiction

    • Students in English 667R write and revise creative nonfiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

  • Current Techniques in Fiction Writing

    • Students in English 668R will identify current techniques in the writing of fiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

    Workshopping

    • Students in English 668R will evaluate and critique the fiction of their peers.

    Writing and Revision of Fiction

    • Students in English 668R write and revise fiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

  • Current Techniques in Poetry Writing

    • Students in English 669R will identify current techniques in the writing of poetry through the study and written assessment of published examples.

    Workshopping

    • Students in English 669R will evaluate and critique the poetry of their peers.

    Writing and Revision of Poetry

    • Students in English 669R write and revise poetry suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

  • The horror genre is often discounted as trite or silly (at best). In this course we'll treat horror literature as a something that deserves careful attention. We'll study horror theory, and work our way from Moby Dick and the tales of Poe to recent work by Cormac McCarthy and Stephen King. Perhaps it goes without saying, but some of the things we'll read are disturbing. Indeed, that is often the intention of horror literature. The best horror seems designed to challenge our assumptions and our comfort and force us to consider things we'd rather not think about. Please contact Cutchins for a more detailed reading list.

  • This course involves participation in the CUWP’s summer institute (SI). The course dates are unique, and graduate students should contact Amber Jensen before March 1 with their intention to participate as the course begins with an evening session in March, a full day in May, and then three weeks in June of daily, all-day, attendance. The program encourages teachers to be writers and focuses on improving writing instruction in a highly collaborative environment with teachers of multiple grade levels and content areas.

  • While scholars recognize Aemilia Lanyer as one of the earliest English women writers to publish her own poetry, members of the public recognize her as the Dark Lady: “the stormy and seductive woman who was Shakespeare’s great love, inspiration, and torment.” This course will consider both of these approaches as we explore how Lanyer engages with and is engaged by transnational sources. In the first half of the course, we will scrutinize how Lanyer draws on Hebrew, Greek, and Italian texts to grapple with questions of gender and social status in her poetry. In the second half of the course, we will consider how Lanyer’s sensational biography (actual and mythological) has sparked the imagination of contemporary American and Canadian novelists and playwrights (such as New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult) and why it serves as a poignant creative/critical lens for thinking about issues of gender, race, and identity in the twenty-first century.

  • Workshopping of Creative Nonfiction Drafts

    • Students in English 667R will evaluate and critique the creative nonfiction of their peers.

    Current Techniques in Creative Nonfiction Writing

    • Students in English 667R will identify current techniques in the writing of creative nonfiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

    Writing and Revision of Creative Nonfiction

    • Students in English 667R write and revise creative nonfiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

  • Current Techniques in Fiction Writing

    • Students in English 668R will identify current techniques in the writing of fiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

    Workshopping

    • Students in English 668R will evaluate and critique the fiction of their peers.

    Writing and Revision of Fiction

    • Students in English 668R write and revise fiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

  • Current Techniques in Poetry Writing

    • Students in English 669R will identify current techniques in the writing of poetry through the study and written assessment of published examples.

    Workshopping

    • Students in English 669R will evaluate and critique the poetry of their peers.

    Writing and Revision of Poetry

    • Students in English 669R write and revise poetry suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

  • Why are there so many books about people reading books? Why do we like to read about other readers reading? What does this fascination tell us about the political, social, and emotional dimensions of reception? This course will attempt to answer those questions and others through examining novels featuring readers, writers, libraries, editors, book clubs, and so so many books. The works span various genres: literary, historical, fantastical, romantic, and mystery. All of them pose questions about books' power to foster community, connection, understanding, healing, and one's self.

  • From decoding to fluency to vocabulary to comprehension, what is required for the adolescent brain to make sense of a text? What should secondary teachers and parents know about these processes? What are the implications of these questions for adolescents and their teachers in terms of pedagogy, processes, motivation, text selection, and support? This special topics in English education course will interrogate, problematize, and respond to these questions as we explore the research that frames the teaching of reading and literature.

  • Workshopping of Creative Nonfiction Drafts

    • Students in English 667R will evaluate and critique the creative nonfiction of their peers.

    Current Techniques in Creative Nonfiction Writing

    • Students in English 667R will identify current techniques in the writing of creative nonfiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

    Writing and Revision of Creative Nonfiction

    • Students in English 667R write and revise creative nonfiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

  • Current Techniques in Fiction Writing

    • Students in English 668R will identify current techniques in the writing of fiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

    Workshopping

    • Students in English 668R will evaluate and critique the fiction of their peers.

    Writing and Revision of Fiction

    • Students in English 668R write and revise fiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

  • Current Techniques in Poetry Writing

    • Students in English 669R will identify current techniques in the writing of poetry through the study and written assessment of published examples.

    Workshopping

    • Students in English 669R will evaluate and critique the poetry of their peers.

    Writing and Revision of Poetry

    • Students in English 669R write and revise poetry suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

  • This course involves participation in the CUWP’s summer institute (SI). The course dates are unique, and graduate students should contact Amber Jensen before March 1 with their intention to participate as the course begins with an evening session in March, a full day in May, and then three weeks in June of daily, all-day, attendance. The program encourages teachers to be writers and focuses on improving writing instruction in a highly collaborative environment with teachers of multiple grade levels and content areas.

  • “Happy are they who understand the words of Jesus, but happier still are they who listen to His silence.” So remarks a contemporary French theologian, evoking silence of a peculiar kind – what scripture describes as the still, small voice. Such a thought attests to how divine silence may be revelatory as well as opaque, peaceful as well as disapproving, anxiety-inducing as well as blissful. Approaching divine silence as a vital feature of spiritual life, our seminar will trace how its themes and resonances are taken up in literary criticism and theory, theology, poetry, and fiction.

  • Workshopping of Creative Nonfiction Drafts

    • Students in English 667R will evaluate and critique the creative nonfiction of their peers.

    Current Techniques in Creative Nonfiction Writing

    • Students in English 667R will identify current techniques in the writing of creative nonfiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

    Writing and Revision of Creative Nonfiction

    • Students in English 667R write and revise creative nonfiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

  • Current Techniques in Poetry Writing

    • Students in English 669R will identify current techniques in the writing of poetry through the study and written assessment of published examples.

    Workshopping

    • Students in English 669R will evaluate and critique the poetry of their peers.

    Writing and Revision of Poetry

    • Students in English 669R write and revise poetry suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

  • Workshopping

    • Students in English 670R will evaluate and critique the young adult novels of their peers.

    Current Techniques in Writing Young Adult Novels

    • Students in English 670R will identify current techniques in the writing of young adult novels through the study and written assessment of published examples.

    Writing and Revision of Young Adult Novels

    • Students in English 670R write and revise creative nonfiction suitable for publication by a recognized publisher of young adult novels.

  • This course will examine numerous creative works (that fall between genres) to accommodate our study of creative writing theory: a collection of opinions that help illustrate fundamental truths about poetry and prose. Practically speaking, we will analyze formal theory and prepare students to theorize their own creative projects, foregrounding the prospectus and critical introduction. This course will emphasize the relationship between critical and expressive faculties, between academic and creative writing: as we improve in one area, we necessarily improve in the other.

  • This course offers an introduction to various theories of literary translation and to the growing field of translation studies. The course takes a descriptive and theoretical approach to translation rather than a prescriptive and/or practical approach. We will analyze how ideas about translation have changed dramatically over time. We will study source texts and target texts as complex historical products that are closely connected to their historical contexts and to the particular praxes of specific translators. The ideas of Argentine writer and translator Jorge Luis Borges on translation, thoughts that were fairly radical in the middle of the twentieth century but are now mainstream to several currents in translation studies, will serve as the bookends of the class and as through lines during our course of study. We will examine notions of translatability and fidelity, and we will challenge the hierarchical relationship between “originals” and translations. We will also highlight the importance of paratextual materials—forewords, prefaces, notes, indexes, glossaries, etc.

  • This seminar explores the theories, pedagogies, and practices of digital and information literacies in secondary English and Language Arts classrooms and other connected contexts (such as FYW courses at the university). We will investigate how digital tools and media shape literacy practices, including reading and writing and information seeking across genres and platforms, and we will consider their implications for literacy instruction. We will also consider how these practices and their practitioners are studied, reviewing the research methods and frameworks used by scholars in the field. As we explore what we know in this field and how we know it, we will engage with theoretical readings, analyze case studies, and participate in digital literacy activities with an eye to teaching contexts as well as our own personal practice.

  • Workshopping of Creative Nonfiction Drafts

    • Students in English 667R will evaluate and critique the creative nonfiction of their peers.

    Current Techniques in Creative Nonfiction Writing

    • Students in English 667R will identify current techniques in the writing of creative nonfiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

    Writing and Revision of Creative Nonfiction

    • Students in English 667R write and revise creative nonfiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

  • Current Techniques in Fiction Writing

    • Students in English 668R will identify current techniques in the writing of fiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

    Workshopping

    • Students in English 668R will evaluate and critique the fiction of their peers.

    Writing and Revision of Fiction

    • Students in English 668R write and revise fiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

  • Current Techniques in Poetry Writing

    • Students in English 669R will identify current techniques in the writing of poetry through the study and written assessment of published examples.

    Workshopping

    • Students in English 669R will evaluate and critique the poetry of their peers.

    Writing and Revision of Poetry

    • Students in English 669R write and revise poetry suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

  • This course involves participation in the CUWP’s summer institute (SI). The course dates are unique, and graduate students should contact Amber Jensen before March 1 with their intention to participate as the course begins with an evening session in March, a full day in May, and then three weeks in June of daily, all-day, attendance. The program encourages teachers to be writers and focuses on improving writing instruction in a highly collaborative environment with teachers of multiple grade levels and content areas.