Overview
"...Thanks to the English department, I now have the skills necessary to excel in graduate school and in my life beyond.”
The Department of English at Trevecca Nazarene University teaches students to view literature from all eras through a biblical framework, to put forth and defend complex arguments, and to write and speak gracefully and with authority. Classes are challenging and energetic, and students leave the program equipped not only to teach but to pursue graduate study to take up careers as journalists and writers, to enter the nonprofit sector, and to join the world of business. Most important, students leave the English department able to elucidate and defend a biblical worldview, their faith strengthened rather than weakened.
A course of study in the English department combines a wide range of course offerings with a good deal of curricular flexibility. Students read both canonical and contemporary writers--Shakespeare and C. S. Lewis, Spenser and John Gardner, Faulkner and Ian McEwan--and study with an active, friendly faculty awake to the newest trends in the discipline. In addition to the English major, students may choose minors in English and creative writing, and interested undergraduates may serve on the staff of The Cumberland River Review, Trevecca’s national literary journal.
What our students say
“I think my interest in writing has always been with me, but in the English department that interest was nurtured and became a passion. TNU English prepared me not only to succeed at the graduate level and in the workplace, but to be kind and generous while doing so.”
“I came to Trevecca unsure of my abilities or what I wanted to do in life. Thanks to the English department, I now have the skills necessary to excel in graduate school and in my life beyond.”
“With high performance standards and professors devoted to student development, the TNU English program prepares a student for immediate employment in their desired field. I have benefited from the Trevecca English department and from the instruction given by its Christ-loving professors.”
“Trevecca’s English department provides rigorous classes, a well-rounded survey of literature and theory, small class sizes that better facilitate in-depth discussion, and opportunities to engage in further research and presentation outside of the classroom. Beyond this, the department welcomes its students’ thoughts, opinions, and literary discoveries, while also valuing its students’ individual educational needs, interests, and futures.”
“I am so thankful for the education I received in the Trevecca English department. My professors not only taught me how to analyze literature but how to live in the grace of Christ Jesus.”
General Resources
Core Classes
Literary Criticism
ENG 4000
A study of literary history, theory, and criticism from Plato to Post-modernism.
Course Hours: 3
Comparative Literature
ENG 4200
Examines texts from different cultural traditions.
Course Hours: 3
Senior Recitation for English Majors
ENG 4600
Individual guided study and research in areas related to the English field. All senior English majors are required to prepare, under faculty advisement and approval, either a collection of creative writing or a scholarly paper to be presented in a public program.
Course Hours: 1
American Puritans and Romantics
ENG 3100
A survey of the major authors and literary movements from the Colonial period up to the Civil War, including Edwards, Franklin, Irving, Cooper, Bryant, Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Dickinson, Whitman.
Course Hours: 3
American Realists and Moderns
ENG 3200
A survey of American literature from the Civil War to the present, including works by Twain, Crane, London, Dreiser, Anderson, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, O'Neill, Cather, Lewis, Updike.
Course Hours: 3
Southern Literature
ENG 3400
A study of modern and contemporary southern writers, including Faulkner, O'Connor, Welty, the Fugitives, Conroy, Percy.
Course Hours: 3
Romantic Literature
ENG 3610
A study of the Romantic period, 1798-1832, including Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats.
Course Hours: 3
Modern British Literature
ENG 3630
A detailed study of twentieth century British writers including Yeats, Woolf, Joyce, Lawrence, Shaw, Auden, Thomas, and Hughes.
Course Hours: 3
Existentialism and the Search for Meaning in Modern Literature
ENG 3870
A study in the quest motif focusing on select existentialist works of the 20th century including Jean-Paul Sartre, Walker Percy, John Gardner, and Flannery O'Connor, and Robert Pirsig.
Course Hours: 3
Medieval Literature
ENG 3510
A study of the Anglo-Saxon and Medieval period to 1400, focusing on Celtic prose and poetry, Chaucer, Langland, and continental influences.
Course Hours: 3
Themes and Genres in Classical and Biblical Literature
ENG 3350
Covers major writers and works from Greek and Roman mythology and significant passages from the Bible. In addition, the course will look at excerpts from works such as those by Milton, Tennyson, Shelley, Nietzsche, and others who directly refer to classical and/or biblical images.
Course Hours: 3
Enlightenment Literature
ENG 3580
A study of Enlightenment authors Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Edmund Burke, Fanny Burney, Jane Austen, Maria Edgeworth, as well as movements and themes such as 18th century aesthetics and the French Revolution.
Course Hours: 3
Shakespeare
ENG 3550
A study of representative plays by William Shakespeare within the context of their historical and cultural milieu of the Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre.
Course Hours: 3
The Age of Milton
ENG 3650
A study of the works of the Christian poet, John Milton. His poems and prose will be studied within the context of the Seventeenth Century-a revolutionary time period in England's history. John Milton's often controversial theological, philosophical and political views will be examined along with other matters pertaining to the poet and his times.
Course Hours: 3
Victorian Literature
ENG 3620
A study of the poetry, prose, and drama of the 19th century, including Charles Dickens, Robert Browning, George Eliot, Rudyard Kipling, George MacDonald, and Oscar Wilde.
Course Hours: 3
Christian Fiction
ENG 3850
A study of international Christian prose including works by Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostevsky, Graham Greene, C.S. Lewis, and G.K. Chesterton.
Course Hours: 3
C.S. Lewis and the Inklings
ENG 3860
This course will focus on the mature fiction and non-fiction of C.S. Lewis and works by Charles Williams.
Course Hours: 3
Outcomes/Careers
An English degree from Trevecca prepares students to enter any number of fields that prize creativity, critical thinking, writing acumen, and the ability to make sustained and convincing arguments. English graduates pursue careers in publishing, editing, writing, teaching, the nonprofit sphere and numerous other fields. Some of our recent graduates’ positions include:
- Reader, Raven Quill Literary Agency
- Developmental Editor, Center for Action and Contemplation
- MA/MFA Candidate, Simmons University
- Writer/Copy Editor, HealthStream
- Development Associate, American Conservative Union
- Digital Solutions Manager, HarperCollins Publishers
- English Department Chair, Lighthouse Christian School
- MFA Candidate, Western Kentucky University
- Writer, Barna Group
- Program Manager, Center for Refugees and Immigrants of Tennessee
- English Teacher, Davidson County
- Controller, Trevecca Nazarene University
- Resource Management Librarian, Austin Peay State University
- MFA Candidate, Oklahoma State University
- Ph.D. Candidate, University of Southern Mississippi
- English as a Second Language Teacher, Rutherford County
- English Teacher, The International School of Kabul (Afghanistan)
- Ph.D. Candidate, Baylor University
- J.D. Candidate, University of Tennessee College of Law
- Associate, Law Office of Kimberlee A. Waterhouse
- Founder, Crystal K. Martel Photography
- English Teacher, Rutherford County
- English Teacher, Rainier, Washington
- Client Service Associate, Fisher Investments
- Loan Officer Assistant, Interlinc Mortgage
- Relocations Product Manager, Agilent Technologies
Overview
"...Thanks to the English department, I now have the skills necessary to excel in graduate school and in my life beyond.”
The Department of English at Trevecca Nazarene University teaches students to view literature from all eras through a biblical framework, to put forth and defend complex arguments, and to write and speak gracefully and with authority. Classes are challenging and energetic, and students leave the program equipped not only to teach but to pursue graduate study, to take up careers as journalists and writers, to enter the nonprofit sector, and to join the world of business. Most importantly, students leave the English department able to elucidate and defend a biblical worldview, their faith strengthened rather than weakened.
A course of study in the English department combines a wide range of course offerings with a good deal of curricular flexibility. Students read both canonical and contemporary writers--Shakespeare and C. S. Lewis, Spenser and John Gardner, Faulkner and Ian McEwan--and study with an active, friendly faculty awake to the newest trends in the discipline.
Two Concentrations: Literature and Creative Writing
Each Trevecca English student takes a core curriculum of nine literature courses, then selects one of two concentrations to complete his or her major course of study. For students choosing the literature concentration, additional classes include such offerings as Gothic Literature, Religion in American Literature, Multi-Ethnic American Literature, and Genre Studies in Film and Literature. Students who choose the creative writing concentration enjoy writing workshops in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, as well as staff positions on the Cumberland River Review, Trevecca's national literary journal. Both English-major concentrations can be paired with any minor on campus. For literature-concentration students, that can include a creative writing minor.
What our students say
“I think my interest in writing has always been with me, but in the English department that interest was nurtured and became a passion. TNU English prepared me not only to succeed at the graduate level and in the workplace, but to be kind and generous while doing so.”
“I came to Trevecca unsure of my abilities or what I wanted to do in life. Thanks to the English department, I now have the skills necessary to excel in graduate school and in my life beyond.”
“With high performance standards and professors devoted to student development, the TNU English program prepares a student for immediate employment in their desired field. I have benefited from the Trevecca English department and from the instruction given by its Christ-loving professors.”
“Trevecca’s English department provides rigorous classes, a well-rounded survey of literature and theory, small class sizes that better facilitate in-depth discussion, and opportunities to engage in further research and presentation outside of the classroom. Beyond this, the department welcomes its students’ thoughts, opinions, and literary discoveries, while also valuing its students’ individual educational needs, interests, and futures.”
“I am so thankful for the education I received in the Trevecca English department. My professors not only taught me how to analyze literature but how to live in the grace of Christ Jesus.”
