Ellen McWhorter, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Director, Honors Program
English
Dr. McWhorter specializes in 20th-century American literature, specifically Modernist poetry, poetics and philosophies of language. Her courses frequently explore how early-20th-century literature articulates alternative ways of knowing that are devalued in American culture at large.
Degree(s)
Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Teaching
- Senior Seminar
- Modern American Poetry
- Modern American Literature
- Literature of the Harlem Renaissance
- Poets of New England
- Introduction to Literary Studies
- Major American Authors
- Justice and Inequality in Life and Literature (co-taught with Associate Professor of Criminology Dr. Brittnie Aiello)
- Introduction to College Writing
Dr. McWhorter also directs the Merrimack College Honors Program. She teaches Honors: Introduction to College Writing, Honors: Senior Capstone, and Honors: Introduction to Literary Studies.
Professional Experience
Dr. McWhorter has presented papers both here and abroad on the work of writers and philosophers from Edwin Rolfe to Ludwig Wittgenstein. Her essay on the poetry of Mina Loy recently appeared in The European Journal of American Studies. In addition, an essay on James Joyce’s Exiles is forthcoming in James Joyce Quarterly, and an essay on embodiment in the poetry of Edwin Rolfe is forthcoming in Rethinking Marxism. She is currently at work on an essay about coded erotics in the poetry of Angelina Weld Grimké.
