A couple of years ago, a novel appeared about the mysterious death of the first tenured woman in Harvard's English Department--she was found poisoned in the men's room of Warren House, the department's headquarters.

Things have yet to get that bad in the real English Department. Both tenured woman on its faculty were in fine health at last report, and no poison stronger than sherry has been discovered in Warren House.

But this term, the department has begun a broad investigation of a serious, if bloodless, problem: the structure of its undergraduate curriculum.

In both faculty committee meetings beginning next week and informal surveys of student opinion, the department will weigh a broad range of improvements in tutorials, general examinations, concentration requirements, and English 10, a survey course required of concentrators.

The department routinely reviews various areas of its curriculum, but this is the first wholesale examination in nearly a decade.

The review was prompted in large part by the long period of time that has elapsed since the last comparable examination, says Department Chairman Larry D. Benson.

But he adds, "We're aware certain concentrators have complaints about certain parts of the program."

Cultural Revolution

More specifically, to explain the review, department members city a growing sense that undergraduates find concentration requirements too cumbersome, "By the time one finishes reading our concentration description, its so confusing one wants to major in Chese," says Professor of English John Bullitt, who is in charge of English 10.

Honors concentrators in English are currently required to take a half-course each in the Bible, Shakespeare, and a foreign literature, in addition to English 10. The over wheeling majority (those who do not paretic a track the emphasizes creative writing, combine English with another field, or design their own program) must also take two courses in literature before 1660, besides Shakespeare and the Bible.

Undergraduate opinion of these regulations seems to bear out the department's worst fears. "They suck," says one senior in the department. Other upperclassmen single out the requirements as reasons they chose to major in other concentrations, such as Literature or History and Literature.

Among the reforms the department is considering. Benson says, are incorporating some of the current course requirements into the sophomore tutorial and simplifying the general examinations.

Other possible changes department members say the curriculum review may bring include.

* teaching English 10 chiefly in lectures by a variety of department members, instead of in sections, as the course is currently taught.

* beeling up the department's emphasis of 20th-century literature.

* granting credit for sophomore tutorial, which is currently required of honors concentrators but carries no credit: and

* adding a required unit on critical theory to the tutorials.