English Language and Literature Master’s program at Princeton University

The aim of the Princeton graduate program in English is to produce well-trained and field-transforming scholars, insightful and imaginative critics, and effective and creative teachers. With two years of coursework and three years of research and teaching, all fully funded, it is possible to complete the degree in five years. We offer multiple opportunities for a fully funded sixth-year, should students need additional time for dissertation completion.

In keeping with the goals of the University at large, the English seeks to cultivate and sustain a diverse, cosmopolitan, and lively intellectual community.

In addition to offering seminars in every major historical field of concentration, from medieval to contemporary literatures, we offer training in fields such as gender and sexuality studies, psychoanalysis, Marxism, American studies, African American studies, Latinx studies, Asian American studies, postcolonial studies, environmental humanities, digital humanities, political and social theory, book history, performance studies, film and media studies, and poetry and poetics. Students may also take courses in cognate departments such as comparative literature, classics, philosophy, linguistics, history, and art history.

The graduate program in English is a five-year program (with multiple opportunities for funding in the sixth year) leading to the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree. Students may not enroll for a Master of Arts degree. During the first two years, students prepare for the General Examination through work in seminars, and directed or independent reading. Through numerous funding opportunities, we are able to offer sixth-year students generous research support.

During the first two years of the program, graduate students normally take an average of three courses per semester, to complete the required 12 courses by the end of the second year.

Our distribution requirements are designed to acquaint each student with a diverse range of historical periods and thematic and methodological concerns. The Department values both historical expertise and theoretical inquiry, and assumes that our discipline includes the study of film, visual culture, and media studies.

Graduate Students in English must take at least one course in each of the following six areas:.

All distribution requirements must be taken for a letter grade. The six-course distribution requirement comprises 50% of the courses required for the degree, leaving sufficient room for intensive coursework in areas of specialization.

Although some graduate seminars may cover than one field, students may not use one course to fulfill two or distribution requirements. For example, a medieval course with a substantial commitment to theory may fulfill either the medieval and Renaissance or the theory requirements.

Students normally qualify for the Master of Arts (M.A.) degree on the way to the Ph.D. by completing the general examination. Students who leave the Ph.D. program for various reasons may also be awarded the M.A. by satisfactorily completing all required course work, the course distribution requirement, and the language requirement.

Although the minimum Department requirement is four hours, most students teach than this. Students may teach in the writing program, conduct sections of large lecture courses, or direct precepts in upper-division courses. The Department and University also offer, on an annual basis, teacher training seminars.

Through numerous funding opportunities, the Department offers sixth year students generous support with time off from teaching to complete their dissertation.

Permanent courses may be offered by the department or program on an ongoing basis, depending on curricular needs, scheduling requirements, and student interest. Also not listed are graduate-level independent reading and research courses, which may be approved by the Graduate School for individual students.

In this interdisciplinary class, students of race and gender read deeply and broadly in academic journals as a way of learning the debates in their fields and placing their scholarship in relationship to them. Students report each week on the trends in the last five years of any journal of their choice, writing up the articles' arguments and debates, while also revising a paper in relationship to those debates and preparing it for publication. This course enables students to leap forward in their scholarly writing through a better understanding of their fields and the significance of their work to them.

This course provides a critical of the writings of Toni Morrison. Close reading, cultural analysis, intertextuality, social theory and the African American literary tradition are emphasized.

Course explores the dynamic interplay between painting, poetry, and fiction in 19th-century France and England. The focus is twofold: painters and paintings as protagonists in novels and short stories, and paintings inspired by literature. Themes include problems of narrative, translation, and illustration changing theories of the relative strengths of painting and literature as artistic media realism and the importance of descriptive detail the representation of the artist as a social (or anti-social) actor the representation of women as artists and models and the artist studio as a literary trope.

In this class, students of literature, art, and music read deeply and broadly in peer-reviewed journals in their disciplines and fields as a way of learning current scholarly debates and placing their scholarship in relationship to them. Students report each week on the trends in the last five years of any journal of their choice, writing up the articles' arguments and debates, while also revising a paper in relationship to those debates and preparing it for publication. This course enables students to leap forward in their scholarly writing through a better understanding of their fields and the significance of their work to them.

A study of major topics current in the field of English early modern and renaissance studies.

A study of development, form, and content in Tudor and Stuart drama.

This course examines a range of American texts written over half a century in order to clarify connections between their informing philosophies, narrative strategies, and historical moments.

A study of 19th-century English fiction, emphasizing social contexts, narrative forms, and critical theory.

ENG 566 Studies in the English Novel.

Selected 20th-century English novelists, considered in terms of critical theory, technique, and form.

Course will analyze and apply readings on pedagogical theory and method, and discuss particular problems and successes in precepts, methods of leading discussions obligations and protocols of grading, preparing syllabi and lectures, and writing letters of recommendation. Required of all graduate students in English teaching as AI for the first time. Normally taken in Spring Term of third year.

This topics course offers seminars with a focus on climate change and or biodiversity. Seminars under this topic examine environmental and societal issues associated with two of the key defining challenges of our time: climate change and or biodiversity loss. The course uses a multi-disciplinary combination of perspectives and approaches grounded in the Humanities, Sciences, and Social Sciences.