Molly Murray

Goddess, literal goddess. If you have her as your lit hum prof your Columbia experience is already better than most's.

AMAZING! Our class became so close and we would always be making jokes about different characters. Prof. Murray is super engaging and loves her students to have discussions. Her class was always so fun and I always looked forward to it. I learned so much from Prof Murray but also from my classmates. She doesn't lecture, she really wants everyone to contribute - so if you want to sit in the corner and be quiet then you won't do well in this class. You have to be willing to speak up about your ideas but she fosters such an engaging environment that you will soon feel very comfortable talking. We also did weekly 'vibe checks.' Overall Prof Murray is great, tells stories about her son, brings snacks for us.

This course was standard for one of Prof. Murray's lectures; an extremely engaging lecturer with handout in hand, Prof. Murray took us through the century (or, highlights therein) with a bottomless wealth of information and a snarky, endearing tone. The class also had a wealth of graduate students, which added a sense of depth to the course, and added to the air of specialization in the room. Prof. Murray was able to make the material relevant to those without a basic knowledge of the period, for which she should be commended.

Prof. Murray presented organized lectures with an effective, affected tone that made a class of over one hundred feel like a class of thirty. Her lectures throughout the semester were comprehensive and connected. She was receptive to office hours and remembered names after one or two visits--again, an impressive feat in a class of this size. She is quickly responsive to emails, and very reasonable about her workload. After effusively offering extensions for the first paper and sixty members of the class took her up on it, she refused to tie extensions for the second paper. Not sure of our class disillusioned her from offering ever again, but it might be worth being cautious with that offer in the future.

If you are a poetry or lit person this class is probably for you. If you are neither of these things, DO NOT take this class. The only part of this class that makes it an "Intro" is that it is a survey of 1000 years of poetry. Besides that, it is completely taught for lit majors and 'poetry people.' The professors are both lively and brilliant (especially Golston), but at the end of the day the class is an unbelievable drag. Murray's lectures are rushed and scattered, and she can be quite condescending if you visit her office hours. Golston is much better, but the lectures lack big picture ideas and spend too much time on historical background and abstract concepts. Too much time is spent reading into things that aren't in the text. Overall, very disappointing and a huge pain in the ass as a non-lit person.

A diffident and mediocre lecturer, but you weren’t really expecting more from CRCW, were you? Of course, the quality of a lecture is inversely proportionate to your requirement to be there, so you don’t have much choice. Her energy and enthusiasm are genuine enough but quickly fizzle into inarticulate apologies for her own, well, inarticulateness (Is this making sense? Do you guys get it? Am I doing OK?) And so on. These blandishments capture the timbre of the lecture much more accurately than her bursts of dynamism. She’s solid on the poetry and the drama, but for someone ‘famously averse’ to narrative fiction – novels in particular – she sure likes to talk about it. Molly is approachable and nice. If you’re taking CRCW your relationship with your seminar leader will be much more important for determining what you get out of the class (in terms of learning and grades), and I certainly wouldn’t recommend against taking the class on account of Molly’s lectures.

Prof. Murray is a new addition to the Columbia English Department. Though her lectures are a little bit rushed, they are interesting and informative. Plus, she is a really sweet person and makes class enjoyable.

If you have Professor Murray, you've been blessed by the SSOL gods. Don't switch out! I'm currently a sophomore. I was in her LitHum class last year, and just a few days ago I saw her walking and we talked. Soon after, I had a sudden epiphany to write this review. Yes, she's that good. Just being reminded of her would make you want to shower her "professoral abilities", as she likes to say, with rainbows of praise. You will probably not be bored during class. She's incredibly smooth with discussions, bringing up interesting topics or controversial questions regarding the text. She often allows students to reply to each other before moving on. While some professors try to engage as many people in a single conversation, Professor Murray allows two students to debate on a topic in a back-and-forth manner. This means that the conversations are very natural and seem to be more like a true discussion instead of just class participation points. Listening to these energetic conversations are also quite fun and engaging. She also helps build upon student ideas. Oftentimes, it's hard to get my idea across, but Professor Murray always reformulates it in a more cohesive way before throwing it back to the class. It's really helpful! It keeps the discussion clear and smooth. Though the LitHum course itself seems to be quite stressful for some people, Professor Murray makes it as stress-free…

Two papers, one of which was more of a project and entailed contextual research that was, admittedly, more familiar to graduate students, but took into account students' experience with such projects; a midterm that included an essay and passage identification; a final that the class voted (by narrow margin!) to be take-home.

Professors Murray and Golston were both incredible. They are brilliant, passionate, and knowledgeable, and their lectures were both insightful and fascinating. They also worked really well as a team. It will be a great loss for the department if Columbia ever loses either of them. Prof. Murray is truly inspirational (and well dressed) and was always willing to recommend extra books and articles. My bookcase is now filled with books that she and Prof. Golston recommended. Besides their amazing lectures, though, Profs. Murray and Golston were also very available and friendly. They never hesitated to stay and chat about poetry after class and were very encouraging when I asked paper questions. As for the course, for anyone interested in poetry, what could be better? The readings were all amazing, and Profs. Murray and Golston interspersed them with insightful analysis and interesting anecdotes. Even though I had read many of the poets before, I learned a great deal from this class and really enjoyed tracing the progression of English poetic theory. We also had a guest lecture on hip-hop by Kalefa Sanneh and two poets read for the last class--both really wonderful things.