Margaret Ellsberg

Prof. Ellsberg centered the course around "the lives of others" (nature). You will spend the semester reading short pieces (poems and narratives) about trees, dogs, peacocks, tortoises--you name it. She fills the class with personal anecdotes and random bits of wisdom, as well as bouts of "story time" with Roald Dahl.

Um. This class was an interesting one, to say the least. I'm very thankful I was able to take it online; GOOD LUCK to those taking it in person. The required readings are very good ones, but can sometimes be difficult to keep up with due to the amount of reading. Professor Ellsberg is also an interesting lecturer, she likes to go on tangents a lot and it can be difficult to have a meaningful conversation about the text at times.

Professor Ellsberg is one of the best teachers I've ever had at Columbia. She is brilliant with the material and makes the readings and lectures very lively and entertaining. The workload for the course is phenomenal and low-stress, allowing you to enjoy the material and get a lot of real-life factoids to have after its over.

I am also writing this as an alum. While taking Freshman English, I also struggled with the eccentric Ellsberg, trying to figure out what she wanted and how to get an A in her class. The workload was easy and the class, it seemed, a breeze, a cop-out to the more difficult professors offering the course. Now as an alum (who majored in English and now teaches English) I can say conclusively, no one at Barnard helped improve my writing like Ellsberg did. She was brilliant, teaching us to cut the self-important, self-indulgent "intellectual" nonsense out of our papers and condense everything into two pages. She taught us how to cut the superfluous out and say what you need to say as effectively and concisely as possible. She taught us that good writing was easy to comprehend, effective at conveying a point, and free of pointless popcorn words. "Simplicity is genius," as Einstein said, and Ellsberg taught us how to apply that to our writing. Super grateful I took her course and highly recommend her. Sure she was late sometimes, went in tangents, etc but she was so effective and taught us so much, I have no complaints.

I took this class last semester and it was utterly disappointing. I don't think anyone in the class actually improved her writing. Mostly, we spent our time reading New Yorker articles and talking about the various dramas of the Professor's life--she is always late for some fantastic excuse. She doesn't ask much of us (10 typed pages for the whole class), and doesn't give much back either (she frequently loses papers and only returns them towards the end of the semester). If you actually want to learn how to write, do not take this class. Also, don't take this class if you are a non-native speaker, have an accent, or are first-gen college. She will be condescending. Take this class if you want to engage in petty conversation about horses and whatever other anecdotal poo poo the class decides to share. It's a pity that she's teaching at this school.

Great class. The material really grows on you and you'll even find yourself enjoying it sometimes - Candide, come on, it's great. Prof. Ellsberg is great, so great in fact that you'd wish she's stop being late and TEACH more. However, the material she teacher is extremely fascinating/relevant/helpful. Really improves your writing and teaches you what not to do ever in barnard, such as include the word states in your essays. If you're going to take this class, take it with her. Soooooo low stress, fun class. People actually voluntarily chose to add an extra class to the end of the semester. Definitely will take another class with her.

Disclaimer - This class was taken online, so my experience may be completely different from those who take it in person. The easiest, most chill class I have taken here at Barnard. Never did readings, wrote a 2 page paper, participated in class, etc. etc. Professor Ellsberg is great, she's super fun and really knows her stuff. She makes discussions really interesting and I have a LOT of appreciation for the texts I've read so far. But I really needed a light class and this was it.

Where do I begin? The WORST professor I have ever had at Barnard/Columbia. She's constantly late and has a HUGE ego, newsflash, not everything is about you! The class was so boring that I stopped coming and only went for the midterm and final. She goes off her "5 Great Laws" when grading her papers, and will deduct points for using the verb to be. She constantly wastes time talking about her life, nothing to do with the literature we were assigned. The only great thing about the class is that I passed.

Professor Ellsberg was one of the most humane, full of life, kind, creative, and interesting teachers I happened to meet in my time at Columbia. As an international student, I came having very little knowledge of English poetry and literature. Professor Ellsberg opened my eyes to this world, and turned her class into my favorite part of the week. I also loved Professor Ellsberg's choice of readings, like Jane Eyre for example. However, she was so easy going and wanting her students to enjoy the class that she would jokingly tell us we could watch the movies for assigned readings if we ran out of time. Essentially, we never got tested on the content of the readings so they were really only used to enrich our knowledge and love of literature. To say her tests were fair game is an understatement. Professor Ellsberg's tests consisted of quotes/passages she took directly out of poems we read in class. EVERY single quote was taken out of a poem she told us explicitly would be on the exam. Therefore, if you became familiar with the poems she mentioned would be on an exam you could easily ace it. In short, take this class - you will not regret it!

2 page papers. Regular reading per week.