Students in Dickinson's Department of English study a range of English-language texts, including novels, poems, plays, graphic narratives, films, television and other work.
Our curriculum is flexible and focused, allowing majors to follow their own interests through diverse course offerings that address core questions (of author and audience; culture, nation and identity; form, medium and materiality; and history, period and influence).
Classes deepen the skills that help students to engage in critical conversations with authority and purpose. This culminates in an independently chosen senior thesis project—and then, a life beyond Dickinson in which English majors continue to show how reading, writing and thinking are vital to understanding and shaping our world.
The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University
Syracuse University Newhouse School of Public Communications
Johns Hopkins University
Columbia University
Where Students Have Interned
NPR
Christie’s
Rodale Inc.
WriteGirl Los Angeles
Smithsonian Institution
NBC/Universal
Penguin Group
WHDH Boston
Student Perspective
“I really loved taking Plague Years with Associate Professor of English Claire Seiler. Learning about the different types of literature, propaganda, films and advertisements produced in the influenza epidemic of 1918 and the midcentury polio crisis was incredibly interesting and introduced me to the fields of health humanities and disability/mobility studies, which are now part of my personal interests in the world of literature.”
Expert Show: Comic Books, Movies and Copyright Law
Associate Professor of English and Film Studies Greg Steirer dives into his new book, 'Legal Stories: Narrative-Based Property Development in the Modern Copyright Era.'
Epic Emily Dickinson Collection Comes to the College
Archives & Special Collections is now home to an epic Emily Dickinson collection, with hundreds of tangible, evocative items that open windows to the poet's world and work.
After interning at the Library of Congress last year, Gwendolyn Teeling ’25 dove into a social media and marketing internship at the San Francisco Historical Society.
"I couldn't ask for a better learning community," says Kiersten Kahn ’26, an English and Africana studies major and student leader who’s found like-minded friends and mentors on campus.
“I’ve gotten to meet artists, veterans, scientists and academics who have done great work in the world.” Ella Layton ’26 makes a mark as a Clarke Forum and Trout intern.