Through a wide range of course offerings the Department of English seeks to develop each student’s capacity for reading — the intense, concerned involvement with textual expression. All courses are intended to foster critical reading, writing, and thinking, in which “criticism” is at once passionate appreciation, historical understanding, and the perpetual rethinking of values. Though the department embodies a variety of teaching styles and interests, the faculty all believe in the art of patient, engaged reading as both knowledge and pleasure.