English: Creative Writing: Poetry One Semester (Offered First Semester) Prerequisites: None This course invites students to explore and practice writing poetry and is designed to serve both accomplished students looking for the time and motivation to focus exclusively on their writing and novices wishing to improve their level of comfort with the rudiments of poetic expression. In addition to reading a book on the craft of writing poetry, students will study many shorter professional poems, explicating, analyzing, and mimicking as they develop a unique poetic voice. At its core, the class is about observing the world, brainstorming and sharing ideas, and revising one’s written work to develop voice and style. Text: Poemcrazy
language and themes of the text. Special guests to the class may include professional actors, directors, and playwrights. Seniors who opt to complete all three parts of the Liggett Shakespeare Project (Dramaturgy, Stagecraft, and Production) in a single year may be approved to waive enrollment in ARP 12. Text: TBD (the play changes annually) English: Literary History and Movements: The Great Depression One Semester (Offered First Semester) Prerequisites: None This course explores the literature of the Great Depression, a period of devastating economic hardship and political and social change. Through novels, essays, and film, we will explore how writers searched for meaning, connection, and hope through a time of despair. Texts include The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (as well as John Ford’s film adaptation) and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. Texts: The Grapes of Wrath and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter English: Literature of Protest One Semester (Offered First Semester) Prerequisites: None Scholar Howard Zinn defines protest literature as “any form of communication that engages social consciousness and may move someone to action.” From our founding fathers who penned the Declaration of Independence to 17-year-old Darnella Frazier who posted bystander footage on Facebook of George Floyd telling police he can’t breathe, we know that protest literature can occur in many forms, revealing the best and worst of the human condition. In this course, students will gain a deeper understanding of the transformative movements that define a nation: civil rights, gender rights, labor, and environmentalism, through the people who give voice to them, as well as the tremendous weight of bearing witness to the historical significance it continues to carry within society Texts: Sand Opera, Detroit ‘67, Space Invaders: A Novel
cultural and intellectual currency. The structure of the class will be straightforward: reading assignments as daily homework, class discussion the following day, occasional informal written responses, with formal analytical essays as summative evaluations. In addition to focusing on the meaning of each text in its own right, one central question will be whether each text legitimately belongs in “the canon” and why/why not. Part of this determination will be based on how each text balances accessibility with profundity—whether or not the text addresses human concerns that are universal or limited to a specific time/situation. Students will progress in developing their own opinions on what factors a work of literature should possess to be truly “great.” Texts: Oedipus the King and Brave New World
contemporary American poets and the dynamic cultural conversation they strive to initiate, not only with us as readers, but with the poets who came before them. Text: The Penguin Anthology of American Poetry
English: Short Story One Semester (Offered Second Semester) Prerequisites: None
This class will focus exclusively on the short story, investigating a variety of literary issues, some of which are universal and some of which are unique to the genre. Due to the brevity of each text, students will have an opportunity to encounter and analyze a much wider range of authors and writing styles than in a class that reads standard-length novels and plays. A central goal of the course is to help students to discover and define personal preferences. The works for this class have been selected with an eye to serious, adult-themed literature that would serve as preparation for university study. Text: Coursepack
English: Creative Writing: Prose One Semester (Offered Second Semester) Prerequisites: None
English: Nature Writing One Semester (Offered First Semester) Prerequisites: None
This course invites students to explore and practice creative prose writing and is designed to serve both accomplished students looking for the time and motivation to focus exclusively on their writing and novices wishing to improve their level of comfort with the rudiments of reading and writing creative prose. In addition to reading a book on the craft of writing prose, students will study many shorter professional prose texts, explicating, analyzing, and mimicking as they develop a unique voice within the specific genres. At its core, the class is about observing the world, brainstorming/sharing ideas, and revising one’s written work to develop voice and style. Text: Coursepack
The course explores nature writing through diverse voices across time and place. We’ll read primarily from one genre: the personal essay. Topics that we’ll be exploring, as classified by our central text The Norton Anthology of Nature Writing, potentially include observing and classifying the world, encounters with and among creatures, defining spaces, working (with the land and animals), knowing nature and knowing ourselves, and saving and being saved by nature. Having analyzed conventions of the genre and reflecting on their own experiences with nature, students will write their own personal essays. Writing in those genres will require students to perform activities such as exploration and observation in Southeast Michigan. As this is an English class, we will be working on reading, writing, speaking, and listening, but the focus will be primarily on reading and the writing process. Texts: The Norton Book of Nature Writing
English: Women’s Literature One Semester (Offered Second Semester) Prerequisites: None
This course explores the history of women’s literature and how it engages with gender assumptions, norms, and expectations. Feminist and New Historicist critical theories underpin our approach to analyzing texts. The course asks students to develop their own answers to the following essential questions: How have women been historically represented in society and in literature? What stereotypes has literature created, enforced, and/or perpetuated? Who benefits and who suffers when these views become widely accepted and seen as natural? How do the traditional representations, responsibilities, and roles of women affect women’s lives, bodies, and minds? How do they affect women’s abilities to assume non-traditiona l roles in home, at work, and in society? How do writers support, resist, and/or undermine dominant ideas about gender? How do they define and portray both oppression and empowerment? How does women’s literature explore the intersections of gender with other identities (race, class, sexuality, ability, etc.)? How might the definitions of “womanhood” and “femininity” need reconstructing? Text: Coursepack
English: Dramaturgy One Semester (Offered Second Semester) Prerequisites: None
Dramaturgy is the study of theater and the onstage representation of dramatic art. In this course, we will intensively study a single major work by Shakespeare, reading it twice—first for comprehension, plot, and character; second for language, historical context, and interpretation. Each English student will present a research paper on literary interpretations of the play. Each social studies student will present a research paper on the play’s performance history. As this course is part of the Liggett Shakespeare Project, students will collaborate with classmates in the Stagecraft course and the Liggett Players. Students in Dramaturgy will be responsible for forming a cohesive interpretation of the text, creating an abridged playscript based on their analysis, researching the historical background and context of the text, and aiding the actors and designers in understanding the
English: Poetry One Semester (Offered Second Semester) Prerequisites: None
English: Missing Pieces of the Canon One Semester (Offered First Semester) Prerequisites: None
This course is designed to help foster close reading and critical thinking through the study of poetry. Students will expand upon their working understanding of poetry beyond the University Liggett School core English curriculum and examine how poets use imagery, structure, diction, implication, and voice in order to explore a representational and thematic study of twentieth-century poetics. In this course, students will focus heavily on
Some literary works are very entertaining, while some are intellectually important, but some works fit into both categories, perhaps making them truly “great.” The purpose of this class is to study some of the great texts not currently represented in Liggett English classes. Given this criterion, the texts are not chosen due to a shared theme, topic, era, or geographical area—they are simply “great” works that enrich one’s
2026-2027 ULS Curriculum Guide
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