College of Arts & Sciences > Department of English > Course Descriptions> Creative Writing
CWCL: CREATIVE WRITING/CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE
CWCL 3400 Introduction to Creative Writing 3-0-3
Prerequisite: ENGL 2110 or 2110H, 2120 or 2120H, 2130 or 2130H, 2060, or 2140. An
introduction to the stylistic conventions and techniques of poetry and prose. The course
also emphasizes techniques of literary invention and offers a brief exposure to the analysis
and critique of peer texts.
CWCL 3420 Introduction to Creative Non-Fiction 3-0-3
Prerequisite: ENGL 3400 or CWCL 3400. An introduction to non-fiction writing which
employs a variety of literary techniques common in literary journalism and fiction writing.
Students will read model texts and further develop workshop and revision techniques in
order to produce a carefully revised piece of their own non-fiction.
CWCL 3440 Poetry Writing 3-0-3
Prerequisite: ENGL 3400 or CWCL 3400. A study of poetic technique beyond the fundamentals
introduced in ENGL/CWCL 3400. The course emphasizes prosody and poetic
forms, both prescribed and organic. Students receive further training in workshop techniques
via the analysis of poems produced by class members.
CWCL 3460 Fiction Writing 3-0-3
Prerequisite: ENGL 3400 or CWCL 3400. A craft-oriented course devoted to the genre of
the modern short story. Students will study classic stories by writers such as Chekhov,
Maupassant, O’Connor, and more recent award-winning writers as well as undertaking
exercises in technique and producing at least two stories of their own.
CWCL 4410 Contemporary Poetics: Form and Theory 3-0-3
Prerequisite or co-requisite: ENGL 3060. A study of key formal and theoretical elements
of 20th and 21st century Anglophone poetry and poetry in translation. The course will
poetry as genre, with a reflection on craft and issues in prosody.
CWCL 4420 Contemporary Narrative: Form and Theory 3-0-3
Prerequisite or co-requisite: ENGL 3060. A study of key formal and theoretical elements
of 20th and 21st century Anglophone fiction and fiction in translation. The course will
emphasize the novel as genre, with a reflection on craft and narrative history and analysis.
CWCL 4430 Contemporary Creative Non-Fiction: Form and Theory 3-0-3
Prerequisite: ENGL 3400: A study of key formal and theoretical elements in 20th and 21st
century Anglophone creative nonfiction and creative nonfiction in translation. The course
will emphasize creative nonfiction as genre, with a reflection on craft and issues related to its
narrative and lyric structures.
CWCL 4440 Advanced Poetry Writing 3-0-3
Prerequisite: CWCL 3440. A workshop-intensive course emphasizing technical analysis
of poems produced by members of the class. The course also emphasizes the application of
various aesthetic theories, and students will articulate their own poetics.
CWCL 4460 Advanced Fiction Writing 3-0-3
Prerequisite: CWCL 3460. A workshop-intensive course in fiction writing. Students will
produce their own work and study narrative alternatives and storytelling strategies. Students
will also read book-length story collections and/or novels and write stylistic analyses of a
major contemporary writer.
For additional offerings in the Department of English, see
English as a Second Language (ENSL), English (ENGL),
Journalism (JOUR), and Linguistics (LING).