ENG 251 - SURVEY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE I

College of Arts & Sciences

Credit(s): 3

A survey of American literature from its colonial origins to the Civil War, with emphasis on different genres, periods, and cultural characteristics of the American Colonies and antebellum United States. The course explores both the social conditions in which authors lived and wrote?such as conflicts over land with Native Americans, slavery, and the emergence of women?s rights?as well as the key developments in literary form during this period, such as the rise of the novel, the slave narrative, and the changing shape of poetry. Texts and authors covered may include Susanna Rowson, Herman Melville?s Moby Dick, Frederick Douglass? Narrative, short stories by Edgar Allen Poe, the poetry of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, and more. Lecture or Lecture with discussion. Fulfills ENG major Historical Survey Requirement and Early Period requirement. Provides ENG minor credit. Credit will not be given to students who already have credit for ENG 334.