Autumn Quarter 2026 — Undergraduate Course Descriptions

200 A READING LIT FORMS (Reading Literary Forms) MW 9:30-11:20

Catalog Description: Techniques and practice in reading and enjoying literature in its various forms: poetry, drama, prose fiction, film. Examies such features of literary meanings as imagery, characterization, narration, and patterning in sound and sense.

200 B READING LIT FORMS (Reading Literary Forms) TTh 9:30-11:20

Catalog Description: Techniques and practice in reading and enjoying literature in its various forms: poetry, drama, prose fiction, film. Examies such features of literary meanings as imagery, characterization, narration, and patterning in sound and sense.

200 C READING LIT FORMS (Reading Literary Forms) MW 12:30-2:20

Catalog Description: Techniques and practice in reading and enjoying literature in its various forms: poetry, drama, prose fiction, film. Examies such features of literary meanings as imagery, characterization, narration, and patterning in sound and sense.

200 D READING LIT FORMS (Reading Literary Forms) TTh 2:30-4:20

Catalog Description: Techniques and practice in reading and enjoying literature in its various forms: poetry, drama, prose fiction, film. Examies such features of literary meanings as imagery, characterization, narration, and patterning in sound and sense.

200 E READING LIT FORMS (Reading Literary Forms) MW 2:30-4:20

Catalog Description: Techniques and practice in reading and enjoying literature in its various forms: poetry, drama, prose fiction, film. Examies such features of literary meanings as imagery, characterization, narration, and patterning in sound and sense.

200 F READING LIT FORMS (Reading Literary Forms) TTh 11:30-1:20

Catalog Description: Techniques and practice in reading and enjoying literature in its various forms: poetry, drama, prose fiction, film. Examies such features of literary meanings as imagery, characterization, narration, and patterning in sound and sense.

202 A INTRO TO ENGL LANG AND LIT (Introduction to the Study of English Language and Literature) MWF 10:30-11:20

Catalog Description: Gateway course designed for English pre-majors and majors. Introduces critical, historical, and theoretical frameworks important to studying the literature, language, and cultures of English.

202 AA INTRO TO ENGL LANG AND LIT (Introduction to the Study of English Language and Literature) W 11:30-3:20

Catalog Description: Gateway course designed for English pre-majors and majors. Introduces critical, historical, and theoretical frameworks important to studying the literature, language, and cultures of English.

202 AB INTRO TO ENGL LANG AND LIT (Introduction to the Study of English Language and Literature) W 12:30-4:20

Catalog Description: Gateway course designed for English pre-majors and majors. Introduces critical, historical, and theoretical frameworks important to studying the literature, language, and cultures of English.

202 AC INTRO TO ENGL LANG AND LIT (Introduction to the Study of English Language and Literature) W 11:30-3:20

Catalog Description: Gateway course designed for English pre-majors and majors. Introduces critical, historical, and theoretical frameworks important to studying the literature, language, and cultures of English.

202 AD INTRO TO ENGL LANG AND LIT (Introduction to the Study of English Language and Literature) W 1:30-5:20

Catalog Description: Gateway course designed for English pre-majors and majors. Introduces critical, historical, and theoretical frameworks important to studying the literature, language, and cultures of English.

202 AE INTRO TO ENGL LANG AND LIT (Introduction to the Study of English Language and Literature) TH 10:30-2:20

Catalog Description: Gateway course designed for English pre-majors and majors. Introduces critical, historical, and theoretical frameworks important to studying the literature, language, and cultures of English.

202 AF INTRO TO ENGL LANG AND LIT (Introduction to the Study of English Language and Literature) TH 11:30-3:20

Catalog Description: Gateway course designed for English pre-majors and majors. Introduces critical, historical, and theoretical frameworks important to studying the literature, language, and cultures of English.

204 A POPULAR FICTION & MEDIA (Popular Fiction and Media) MW 9:30-11:20

Catalog Description: Introduces students to the study of popular culture, possibly including print or visual media, understood as sites of critical reflection. Particular attention to dynamics of production and reception, aesthetics and technique, and cultural politics. Topics may foreground genres (science fiction; romance) or forms (comics; graffiti

204 B POPULAR FICTION & MEDIA (Popular Fiction and Media) TTh 10:30-12:20

Catalog Description: Introduces students to the study of popular culture, possibly including print or visual media, understood as sites of critical reflection. Particular attention to dynamics of production and reception, aesthetics and technique, and cultural politics. Topics may foreground genres (science fiction; romance) or forms (comics; graffiti

208 A Data and Narrative (Data and Narrative) TTh 12:30-2:20

Catalog Description: Contexts and differential impacts of various data and the narratives created around them. How data are communicated through narrative: the stories data tell for good or ill; the stories we tell about data; the harm and histories of various data; the content data narratives obscure; and their asymmetrical effects on diverse groups.

210 A LIT 400 to 1600 (Medieval and Early Modern Literature, 400 to 1600) MW 10:30-12:20

Catalog Description: Introduces literature from the Middle Ages and the Age of Shakespeare, focusing on major works that have shaped the development of literary and intellectual traditions of these periods.

212 A LIT 1700-1900 (Literature, 1700-1900) MW 10:30-12:20

Catalog Description: Introduces eighteenth and nineteenth -century literature, focusing on representative works that illustrate literary and intellectual developments of the period. Topics include: exploration, empire, colonialism, slavery, revolution, and nation-building

225 A SHAKESPEARE (SHAKESPEARE) TTh 10:30-12:20

Catalog Description: Survey of Shakespeare's career as dramatist. Study of representative comedies, tragedies, romances, and history plays.

242 A READING Prose FICTION (Read Prose Fiction) TTh 2:30-4:20

Catalog Description: Critical interpretation and meaning in works of prose fiction, representing a variety of types and periods

243 A READING POETRY (Reading Poetry) MW 12:30-2:20

Catalog Description: Critical interpretation and meaning in poems. Different examples of poetry representing a variety of types from the medieval to modern periods.

244 A READING DRAMA (Reading Drama) MW 1:30-3:20

Catalog Description: Critical interpretation and meaning in plays, representing a variety of types and periods.

250 A American Literature (American Literature) TTh 12:30-2:20

Catalog Description: Introduces American culture through a careful reading of a variety of representative texts in their historical contexts.

259 A LIT & SOC DIFFERENCE (Literature and Social Difference) MW 12:30-2:20

Catalog Description: Literary texts are important evidence for social difference (gender, race, class, ethnicity, language, citizenship status, sexuality, ability) in contemporary and historical contexts. Examines texts that encourage and provoke us to ask larger questions about identity, power, privilege, society, and the role of culture in present-day or historical settings.

270 A USES OF ENGL LANG (The Uses of the English Language) MW 12:30-2:20

Catalog Description: Survey of the assumptions, methodologies, and major issues of English in its cultural settings. Designed to connect English Language study with the study of literature, orality and literacy, education, ethnicity, gender, and public policy.

277 A CHILD & YOUNG ADULT LIT (Introduction to Children's and Young Adult Literature) TTh 9:30-11:20

Catalog Description: Introduction to creative works written for children and young adults, with emphasis on historical, cultural, institutional, and industrial contexts of production and reception. Also examines changing assumptions about the social and educational function of children's and young adult literature.

283 A BEGIN VERSE WRITING (Beginning Verse Writing) TTh 1:30-2:50

Catalog Description: Intensive study of the ways and means of making a poem.

283 B BEGIN VERSE WRITING (Beginning Verse Writing) MW 3:00-4:20

Catalog Description: Intensive study of the ways and means of making a poem.

283 C BEGIN VERSE WRITING (Beginning Verse Writing) MW 1:00-2:20

Catalog Description: Intensive study of the ways and means of making a poem.

284 A BEG SHORT STRY WRIT (Beginning Short Story Writing) TTh 1:30-2:50

Catalog Description: Introduction to the theory and practice of writing the short story.

284 B BEG SHORT STRY WRIT (Beginning Short Story Writing) MW 10:00-11:20

Catalog Description: Introduction to the theory and practice of writing the short story.

284 C BEG SHORT STRY WRIT (Beginning Short Story Writing) TTh 10:30-11:50

Catalog Description: Introduction to the theory and practice of writing the short story.

295 A English Study Abroad (Study Abroad) ARR

Catalog Description: Equivalency for 200-level English courses taken on UW study abroad programs or direct exchanges. May not apply to major requirements

302 A CRITICAL PRACTICE (Critical Practice) TTh 2:30-4:20

Catalog Description: Intensive study of, and exercise in, applying important or influential interpretive practices for studying language, literature, and culture, along with consideration of their powers/limits. Focuses on developing critical writing abilities. Topics vary and may include critical and interpretive practice from scripture and myth to more contemporary approaches, including newer interdisciplinary practices.

302 B CRITICAL PRACTICE (Critical Practice) MW 12:30-2:20

Catalog Description: Intensive study of, and exercise in, applying important or influential interpretive practices for studying language, literature, and culture, along with consideration of their powers/limits. Focuses on developing critical writing abilities. Topics vary and may include critical and interpretive practice from scripture and myth to more contemporary approaches, including newer interdisciplinary practices.

306 A INTRO TO RHETORIC (Introduction to Rhetoric) TTh 1:30-3:20

Catalog Description: Introduces rhetorical theory from the classical period to the present, including an overview of core issues, vocabulary, and concepts in rhetorical theory; a discussion of methods for studying rhetoric, and a consideration of the social importance of studying rhetoric in the contemporary moment.

316 A POSTCLNIAL LIT & CLTR (Postcolonial Literature and Culture) MW 12:30-2:20

Catalog Description: Readings of major tests and writers in postcolonial literature and culture. Surveys some of the most important questions and debates in postcolonial literature, including issues of identity, globalization, language, and nationalism.

316 B POSTCLNIAL LIT & CLTR (Postcolonial Literature and Culture) TTh 2:30-4:20

Catalog Description: Readings of major tests and writers in postcolonial literature and culture. Surveys some of the most important questions and debates in postcolonial literature, including issues of identity, globalization, language, and nationalism.

321 A CHAUCER (Chaucer) MW 2:30-4:20

Catalog Description: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and other poetry, with attention to Chaucer's social, historical, and intellectual milieu.

324 A SHAKESPEARE AFTER 1603 (Shakespeare After 1603) MW 11:30-1:20

Catalog Description: Explores Shakespeare's later works. Focuses on the mature tragedies and late-career romances, by may include selected comedies and histories.

325 A Early Modern Literature (Early Modern English Literature) TTh 1:30-3:20

Catalog Description: Covers selected poetry, prose, and/or drama from the English Renaissance through the English Civil War and Commonwealth. Readings may include Petrarchism and the early English laureates, early defenses of poesy, the first essays, works by Shakespeare and/or his contemporaries, the metaphysical poets, Milton, and early transatlantic writers such as Anne Bradstreet.

335 A AGE OF VICTORIA (English Literature: The Age of Victoria) MW 10:30-12:20

Catalog Description: Examines literary works from Victorian Britain and its empire (1837-1901), paired with contemporary social, scientific, and historical developments such as industrialization; urbanization; child labor; imperial expansion; scientific ideas of evolution and geologic time; changing ideas of gender/sexuality; mass education and mass literacy; and the popularization of print media.

337 A MODERN NOVEL (The Modern Novel) MW 1:30-3:20

Catalog Description: Explores the novel in English from the first half of the twentieth century. May include such writers as Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence, Gertrude Stein, E.M. Forster, Claude McKay, Elizabeth Bowen, Raja Rao, William Faulkner, Jean Rhys, and Edith Wharton. Includes history and changing aesthetics of the novel as form, alongside the sociohistorical context.

340 A Anglo Irish Lit (Anglo-Irish Literature) TTh 10:30-12:20

Catalog Description: Principal writers in English of the modern Irish literary movement -- Yeats, Joyce, Synge, Gregory, and O'Casey among them -- with attention to traditions of Irish culture and history.

345 A STUDIES IN FILM (Studies in Film) TTh 10:30-12:20

Catalog Description: Types, techniques, and issues explored by filmmakers. Emphasis on narrative, image, and point of view.

348 A Studies Pop Culture (Studies in Popular Culture) TTh 3:30-5:20

Catalog Description: Explores one or more popular genres (fantasy, romance, myster) or media (comics, television, videogames), with attention to historical development, distinctive formal features, and reading protocols. May include study of audience, reception histories, or fan cultures

355 A CONTEMP AM LIT (American Literature: Contemporary America) TTh 1:30-3:20

Catalog Description: Examines recent American literature and its historical and cultural contexts.

362 A US LATINO/A LIT (U.S. Latino/a Literature) MW 3:30-5:20

Catalog Description: Addresses selected contemporary and historical works by United States Latino/a authors from the nineteenth century to the present, tracing their genealogy from a foundational triad of communities - Mexican, American, Puerto Rico, and Cuban American. Engages with issues of power, inequality, and marginality stemming from ethnic, linguistic, and racial experience.

381 A ADV EXPOSITORY WRIT (Advanced Expository Writing) TTh 2:30-4:20

Catalog Description: Concentration on the development of prose style for experienced writers.

383 A CRAFT OF VERSE (The Craft of Verse) TTh 11:30-12:50

Catalog Description: Intensive study of various aspects of the craft verse. Readings in contemporary verse and writing using emulation and imitation.

Prerequisites:

ENGL 283 & ENGL 284

384 A CRAFT OF PROSE (The Craft of Prose) TH 4:30-7:20p

Catalog Description: Intensive study of various aspects of the craft of fiction or creative nonfiction. Readings in contemporary prose and writing using emulation and imitation.

Prerequisites:

ENGL 283 & ENGL 284

385 A GLOBAL MODERNISMS (Global Modernisms) TTh 11:30-1:20

Catalog Description: Includes anglophone modernisms from the global south as well as Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and Asian diasporic modernisms; narratives of historical development and modernity; intersections between art and politics; global circulation of ideas, artifacts, and forms.

386 A ASIAN-AMERICAN LIT (Asian-American Literature) TTh 2:30-4:20

Catalog Description: Examines different forms of Asian American expression as a response to racial formations in local and global contexts. Teaches critical thinking about identity, power, inequalities, and marginality.

387 A SCREENWRITING (Screenwriting) MW 3:30-5:20

Catalog Description: Students read screenwriting manuals and screenplays, analyze exemplary films, and write synopses, treatments, and first acts of their own screenplays.

395 A STUDY ABROAD (Study Abroad) ARR

Catalog Description: Relates major works of literature, literary theory and criticism, or creative writing to the landscape and activities of their settings for students in UW English Department study abroad programs. Equivalency for upper-division English coursework taken on a UW study abroad program or direct exchange

413 A PROG TEXT ANALYSIS (Programming for Text Analysis) TTh 2:30-4:20

Catalog Description: Computational approaches to the study of literary and cultural texts. Demonstrates a range of text-analysis skills such as string manipulation, tokenization, XML parsing, web scraping, data visualization, network analysis, clustering algorithms, and topic modeling.

440 A SPEC STUDIES IN LIT (Special Studies in Literature) MW 11:30-1:20

Catalog Description: Themes and topics offering special approaches to literature.

471 A TEACHING WRITING (The Theory and Practice of Teaching Writing) TTh 12:30-2:20

Catalog Description: Reviews the research, core debates, and politics tht have shaped the practice, teaching and study of writing. Introduces theoretical and methodological approaches that inform the teaching and learning of writing

478 A LANG & SOCL POLICY (Language and Social Policy) MW 11:30-1:20

Catalog Description: Examines the relationship between language policy and social organization; the impact of language policy on immigration, education, and access to resources and political institutions; language policy and revolutionary change; language rights.

483 A ADV VERSE WORKSHOP (Advanced Verse Workshop) TTh 2:30-3:50

Catalog Description: Intensive verse workshop. Emphasis on the production and discussion of student poetry.

Prerequisites:

ENGL 383, 384

484 A ADV PROSE WORKSHOP (Advanced Prose Workshop) T 4:30-7:20p

Catalog Description: Intensive prose workshop. Emphasis on the production and discussion of student fiction and/or creative nonfiction.

Prerequisites:

ENGL 383, 384

491 A INTERNSHIP (Internship) ARR

Catalog Description: Supervised experience in local businesses and other agencies. Open only to upper-division English majors. Credit/no credit only.

491 B INTERNSHIP (Internship) ARR

Catalog Description: Supervised experience in local businesses and other agencies. Open only to upper-division English majors. Credit/no credit only.

492 A EXPOSIT WRIT CONF (Advanced Expository Writing Conference) ARR

Catalog Description: Tutorial arranged by prior mutual agreement between individual student and instructor. Revision of manuscripts is emphasized, but new work may also be undertaken.

493 A CREATIVE WRIT CONF (Advanced Creative Writing Conference) ARR

Catalog Description: Tutorial arranged by prior mutual agreement between individual student and instructor. Revision of manuscripts is emphasized, but new work may also be undertaken.

494 A HONORS SEMINAR (Honors Seminar) TTh 12:30-2:20

Catalog Description: Survey of current issues confronting literary critics today, based on revolving themes and topics. Focuses on debates and developments affecting English language and literatures, including questions about: the relationship of culture and history; the effect of emergent technologies on literary study; the rise of interdisciplinary approaches in the humanities.

494 B HONORS SEMINAR (Honors Seminar) MW 1:30-3:20

Catalog Description: Survey of current issues confronting literary critics today, based on revolving themes and topics. Focuses on debates and developments affecting English language and literatures, including questions about: the relationship of culture and history; the effect of emergent technologies on literary study; the rise of interdisciplinary approaches in the humanities.

499 A INDEPENDENT STUDY (INDEPENDENT STUDY) ARR

Catalog Description: Individual study by arrangement with instructor.

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