Department of English

The Department of English educates the student as a whole person through the study of literature, literary criticism, and writing, as these arts develop the mind, form the heart, and reveal essential truths about human nature, society, and the world. Literary analysis, interpretation, and a refined approach to language and writing skills guide us into the depths of human experience and the grandeur of beauty. As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI notes, “beauty does not remove us from reality” but “leads to a direct encounter with the daily reality of our lives, liberating it from darkness, transforming it, [and] making it radiant and beautiful.” To that end, the curriculum of the English Department is designed to foster in the student a genuine love of letters and cultivate sensibilities suited to a more profound participation in what Benedict has called “the pilgrim fellowship of faith.”