A conversation with Caroline Morris, English alumni

Caroline Morris graduated from Catholic University in 2022 as an English Major with minors in writing, Hispanic studies, and Theology & Religious Studies. During her time at Catholic, she helped found and held multiple executive positions on the literary magazine Vermilion, was a staff writer and copy editor at The Tower, worked as digital content editor at Inventio, was Vice President of the English Society, sang with The Washingtones, and had the honor of receiving the H. Edward Cain Award for Excellence in Literary Study. Since graduating, she’s traveled to 10 countries, including Ireland, where she is now studying for her M.Phil in Irish Writing at Trinity College Dublin.

What is your current job/title?

I wear two hats — I am a full-time graduate student at Trinity College Dublin and work part-time as Associate Editor at Fitch Ink.

Why did you choose to study English at Catholic U.?

The English department at Catholic U. is amazing. I went to study English in college because I loved reading and wanted to get a high-quality, in-depth education on the best writers of all time. And that’s exactly what I got at Catholic U., from Chaucer and Shakespeare to James Joyce and Virginia Woolf.

What was your path from graduation to your current job like? What advice can you give senior majors and recent grads about life after graduation?

As to my job that keeps me housed and fed, it came from an old connection I bumped into who said her company always needed copy editors. Which lends to my advice: Get experience in the writing world and make connections!

And even though I’d been in the working world for two years and loved my company, that time and experience helped me realize how much I wanted to go to graduate school. I’d loved the Joyce-Yeats seminar I took at Catholic U, which inspired me to travel to Ireland for a month after graduation. I fell in love with the country and especially with Trinity, which inspired me to apply to their M.Phil in Irish Writing. So that’s my second piece of advice: travel as much as you can while you’re young! It’ll teach you so much about yourself and the world.

How has your English background served you professionally?

The skills of good writing and excellent analysis are invaluable in the workplace. And you’d be shocked how much about the nature and rhythms of storytelling you take in, then you get a dry writing assignment and can feel the structure from all those great books in your head showing you how to make it interesting. 

What do you like the most about Trinity?

The literary history. Ireland has such a rich tradition of storytellers, and so many of them came from Trinity, Dublin, or both. There are locations from books around every corner. I’ve visited the tower James Joyce lived in. Oscar Wilde was born in what is now one of my classrooms. Hozier, who I consider a poet (and perhaps my favorite one), went to Trinity for a semester! And this history then draws some of the greatest minds that I have the privilege of learning from. I’m so excited to get to contribute original research at the end of this year about a subject I love written while in Dublin, the beating heart of Irish literature!

Plus, being in Dublin is a huge bonus as Irish writing is on the rise. There are book launches here every week and countless cute bookstores!

What does a typical week at school look like for you?

I’m in 3-4 modules this semester, all the classes stacked in the middle of the week which gives me an extra long weekend! The three big ones are Perspectives in Irish Writing, Maria Edgeworth (an Irish author from the late 17th and early 18th century), and a creative writing poetry class. Grad school, especially in Ireland, encourages students to lead their learning, so they told us to expect reading 16 hours a week on our own. Exciting!

What did you learn as an English major at Catholic U. that has stayed with you?

My biggest takeaway was Irish literature! I feel very passionately that this huge chunk of influential literature (and the history of its island and people) often gets glossed over in English education. Catholic U. did a great job of exposing us to literature from areas colonized by the British Empire like Ireland, India, and the Caribbean, and putting literature in its cultural and historical contexts.

Do you have any advice for current English majors?

Take time before going to grad school. This was advice from one of my professors, Dr. Okuma, who advised me to take a break after graduation and make sure I really wanted it. If I didn’t want to go back to grad school, I’d save lots of time and money. If I did end up going, I wouldn’t be on the cusp of burnout, I’d have some adventures outside my beloved academia, and I’d know it was absolutely the right choice. And it absolutely is! I’ve never been happier than I am now studying at Trinity.