Our English majors develop a deep engagement with the complexities of language, literary form, and artistic expression. ?In addition, they have an interest in and an abiding appreciation for American culture and other cultures, and they also learn how to read critically and thoroughly various types of writing. ?Our English majors acquire the ability to write well, whether creatively or analytically, and they have the capacity for creative expression and original insight. ?The goal for our English majors is for them to have a better understanding of various sorts of literature, various cultures, various historical periods, and themselves. ?In our courses, students often learn how the writings of the past may have helped to form the world in which we live today. ?Consequently, a major issue for class discussions is often what each work of literature tells us about the culture that produced it?including its religious beliefs, social values and practices, worldview, or ideology?why that work has endured, and what it has to say to us today.