#for an intro lit crit class i'm in

[princesskuragina]

BESTIE

I just finished Harrow the Ninth and you are the only person I know that's read it so HI YEAH I'M SCREAMING WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS???

I will be acquiring Nona the Ninth as soon as physically possible but also THE TUMBLR REFERENCE HELLO????

I'm taking this ask as my sign to finally get back to writing my locked tomb essay !! but I have lots and lots of thoughts you'd have to narrow it down. HTN is my favorite of the trilogy I think because it appeals to my stylistic and character tastes so well. Right now I've been thinking a lot about bodies and body-sharing/swapping in the locked tomb but I can't go TOO far into that thesis bc I won't spoil Nona—just know that it gets even more insane. In any case I blog about TLT mostly over on @ofcasterlyrock (it's mostly ianthe fanart)

[opaquestrategies]

once more unto the revising of the sufjan paper, dear friends, once more.

[what-even-is-thiss]

What do you do as an english major? I might major in english so I want to know what's kinda gonna happen, I think I have a good view but I'm still learning new things from friends who majored in english (if you dont have time I understand)

That depends on whether you wanna be a standard English major or an English Education major. English Education majors are going on to be middle school or high school teachers. That’s it. They probably go on to a one or two year teaching credential program and a student teacher assistantship after they get their bachelor’s.

Plain old English majors are there for a variety of reasons. To have a college degree and make it easier to get a job later, to become college level professors, to go into publishing, because they wanna become writers and their school doesn’t have a creative writing major, to become archivists at libraries and museums, because they wanna be librarians, or because they want to go to law school afterwards. More pre-law students are English majors or minors than Political Science these days.

Regular English majors (that’s what I am) have to take literature courses. A lot of people seem to assume we take classes in grammar. That’s not the case. This is an English Literature degree. Not an English Language degree. Every school has different requirements but basically there will be categories and you need to take a certain number of classes in that category to graduate. Except for a few main core classes you can pick and choose which classes you want to take.

My school requires an intro to American literature class, an intro to British literature class (Brit Lit), a Shakespeare course, and a literary analysis training course (introduction to literary criticism).

In intro to lit crit students learn about the major schools of literary criticism (psychological, marxist, queer, etc.) and usually find themselves a focus, although you should be expected to know how to use any form of criticism if it is asked of you. This class is generally more activity heavy then any other class and involves a lot of hands on stuff. Or about as hands on as English can get. (its not that exciting in my opinion) You go through poetry analysis, book analysis, play analysis, history of lit crit, and short story analysis and are taught how to write a professional level academic paper that could potentially be published in a journal. (some undergrads even get published. It’s true!)

Most of the other classes will be about the same. You will be assigned readings relevant to the class and be expected to have notes on them when you come in. Classes usually consist of a combination of group discussion and lecture. Lectures are normally part common analysis of the text and part history lesson. Lectures are where you usually get most of your literary history info, so pay attention and take a lot of notes. Grading usually involves a series of tests and essays. The professor will assign an essay or two (or four if they’re pure evil) and you will follow their instructions. Tests are usually about the history lectures and the contents of the readings. Sometimes you will be expected to write a short timed essay during a final exam but not usually. Often times there will be class discussions or small group discussions and the teacher will ask you to come up with some kind of analysis together. Lectures can be very interactive as well. Professors will often ask for questions and opinions from the class and students regularly ask questions and are encouraged to do so. English classes are usually pretty small too (30 students or less. Sometimes as little as 12 students) so the professor generally knows everyone and will know when someone isn’t engaging with the material. Class participation is usually a part of the final grade.

Normal categories of classes you have to take are world lit, American lit, Brit lit, ancient lit, and lit of diversity. These can have a lot of different classes in them. Mythology, British Medieval, Chaucer, Ancient World lit, Chicano, African American, Women Authors, Asian American, pop fiction, the list goes on.

English Education majors have to do all of this too, but they have to take less classes in the different literature categories. While I have to take two Brit lit classes, an English Ed major only has to take one. In addition to these they have to branch out, taking public speaking classes, drama classes, linguistics classes, etc. To make them a more well rounded teacher, you know.

English Ed majors at my university also have to put together a portfolio of work that they’ve done. I don’t have to do that, but I do have to take a senior seminar class, which is a small intensive class with a really narrow focus and a lot of paper writing. I’m probably gonna have to do that next semester. Ugh.

Oh, and both have a foreign language requirement. You have to do it for two semesters in a row usually.

In addition to all this you have to take general education courses. Those are all really different though so I can’t tell you about them.