English Program

Great literature is language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.

Ezra Pound

The study of English is all about words—using them, understanding them and appreciating them. The study of literature includes the genres of prose, poetry, drama, fiction, film, non-fiction, and creative non-fiction, both short works and long. Through the study of literature, the reader, as Robert Probst observed in “Five Kinds of Literary Knowing” (1992), is involved in different kinds of knowing:

• Knowing about self through one’s personal response to literature;

• Knowing about others, their experiences and their ideas;

• Knowing about literary forms through studying the elements, structures and characteristics of different types of literature;

• Knowing about how the cultural and personal experiences of the reader influence the reading of the text and how the cultural and personal experiences of the writer influence the writing of the text;

• Knowing about meaning: how to question, compare, connect, and interpret.

Through the study of literature, whether written in English or translated into English from another language, the English program at Lansing Community College strives to help our students develop an appreciation and understanding of literature’s personal, cultural, and historical significance and learn how to understand and analyze its meaning.