College/University English major???

Question

hey, this question is for college or university students out there, if you have English Literature as a major, whats it like in the class? what do you do?? do you write essays or read Shakespeare or learn other stuff??

Answer 1

I've only taken a few classes towards my English major but mostly it's reading and analysing stories, having class discussions, and writing papers. What you learn really depends on the english class your taking. I took a Women's Lit. class about women's literature during and about war and read books such as "Not So Quiet," "Suite Francaise," and "In the Time of the Butterflies," which has become my favorite book. In other classes you could definitely learn about Shakespeare. At FIU (where I go) there's a class devoted to his comedies, another to his tragedies, and one to his histories. All in all if you decide to major in English it's a lot of reading and a lot of writing, but if you love it it's worth it.

Answer 2

Thirty years ago, most English majors were required to take one course each in Milton, Shakespeare and Chaucer in order to get their degree. They would also take a survey of British and American literature and take a few electives.

Most of those requirements have disappeared or have been condensed. Students are more likely to have to take at least one course in several different fields. These might include a time period (e.g., 20th century British Literature), a theme (e.g., Women's literature), critical theory, poetry, writing, etc

You should assume that you would take at least four literature and composition classes during your first two years and four per year as a Junior and Senior.