ENGLISH

The English Department’s primary mission is to develop writing proficiency and critical reasoning skills for all students. In addition, the program offers students the opportunity to read and analyze literary works and to develop general knowledge and an appreciation of human values, ideas, and experiences expressed in literature.

The department provides a foundation in the study of British, American, and World Literature. Genres studied in the curriculum include the epic, romances, drama, the novel, film, and a wide range of poetry from the earliest ballads to free verse. In keeping with the school’s mission as a comprehensive arts and academic college-preparatory school, the English department provides the philosophical framework that shapes the entire humanities department of the school. Students study aesthetic theory, including those expressed in the works of Aristotle, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, DuBois, Hughes, Wright, Hosseini, and others.