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Ph.D. in English

Applicants must have completed all requirements for the Master's Degree in English or a cognate discipline or have the Master's Degree in hand. This concentration requires 54 hours of course work (inclusive of 24 transfer hours).

Prerequisites: (15 hours)

Students who have not completed the following course work in their Master's program must complete these courses within the first two years of the Ph.D. program:

  • English 500 Introduction to the Professional Study of English (3 hours)
  • English 551 Topics in Medieval Studies, when taught as Bibliographic and Research Methods (3 hours)
  • English 547 Introductory Old English (3 hours)
  • English 581 Chaucer (3 hours)
  • History 503 Early Middle Ages, 300 to 1050, or 504 High Middle Ages (3 hours)

Course Requirements (30 hours)

Seminars (11 hours):

  • English 650 Seminar: Studies in British Literature: Chaucer, Old English Literature (4 hours)
  • English 680 Studies in Genre, Backgrounds, Forces: Old English or Middle English and other Medieval Languages (4 hours)
  • History 668 Seminar and Studies in Medieval History (3 hours)

English Medieval Language and Literature (9 hours) to be selected from:
  • English 551 Topics in Medieval Studies: Medieval Aesthetics, Medieval Drama and other topics
  • English 548 Beowulf and Other Topics:
    Old English Poetry, Anglo-Saxon Prose
  • English 549 Middle English Language
  • English 550 Middle English Literature, excluding Chaucer

Multidisciplinary course work
(9 hours, only 3 of which may be taken in the History Dept.):

To be taken in Art History, Medieval History, Medieval Philosophy, and Medieval Language and Literature other than English, such as Old Norse, Medieval Latin, Medieval Spanish

English 697: Problems for the Doctor's Degree (1 hour):

Under the guidance of the students' committee members, students must prepare and submit an article-length essay (20–30 pages, inclusive of notes) for publication in any of the major medieval journals

Foreign Language Requirement:

As a PhD in Medieval Studies, you must demonstrate a reading knowledge of Latin, to be satisfied no later than your second year. Competency is satisfied either by passing a language examination or Latin 202 (Intermediate Latin) or Latin 352 (Accelerated Latin Reading) with a grade of B or better. Also, competency must also be demonstrated in an additional language other than English.

Ph.D. Comprehensives

In accord with the Department of English policy on the Ph.D. English Comprehensive Examination, students must take three field examinations of four hours length each. Because a degree in the Ph.D. concentration in Medieval Studies in English connotes a special mastery of medieval English, the examinations must cover Old English, Middle English, and one other medieval disciplinary field. As suggested by the listings in the Graduate Study Bulletin 2005-06, a field comprises a large area of study.

Ph.D. Dissertation

The policies regarding protocol and procedures for completing the doctoral dissertation in the Ph.D. Concentration in Medieval Studies in English generally fall in line with those expressed in the Graduate Study Bulletin 2005-06. Because the concentration is distinctively interdisciplinary, the dissertation should show some expertise in a discipline (or sub- division of a discipline) other than English, as for example, English medieval literature and history of medicine [sub-division of History]; English medieval literature and philosophical thought [sub-division of Philosophy]; English medieval literature and paleography [sub-division of History]; English medieval literature and medieval political ideology [History]; English medieval literature and the aesthetics or influences of medieval art [Art History]. These issues are discussed by the candidate and the dissertation committee.

Institute for Medieval Studies
University of New Mexico
2045 Mesa Vista Hall | (505) 277-2252 | medinst@unm.edu