English BA

This programme provides a historically-based overview of literature from the seventh century to the present day, together with opportunities to specialise in particular periods of literature, in modern English language, and in thematic areas. We offer a highly regarded and varied syllabus that combines traditional literary skills and modern thought. Students are encouraged and supported to develop their own interests and specialisms.

In the first year of your degree you will take four modules which constitute a foundation for the study of English literature. Students study eight further modules across years two and three (four in each year). Two of those eight are compulsory, the other six modules are chosen from a list covering many periods of English literature and various themes within the discipline.

The first year of the English BA acts as a foundation for the two following years, covering major narrative texts from the Renaissance to the present, an introduction to Old and Middle English, the study of critical method, and the study of intellectual and cultural sources (texts which influence English literature but which are not in themselves necessarily classified as such).

In the second and third year you will study compulsory modules on Chaucer and Shakespeare and choose six further modules, ranging from Old English to the Romantic Period to London in Literature, and many more. Students also have the opportunity to study American literature and literature in English from other countries.

Within these compulsory and optional papers you will work with your tutor and in seminars to focus your reading and essay writing around topics that interest you, within the parameters of your chosen modules. The degree thus combines breadth and depth with individual freedom to explore a wide variety of writers and ideas.

The flexible second- and third-year programme is deliberately structured to give you maximum freedom to choose modules in whichever combination suits you.

Modules are assessed by regular tutorial essays and final examinations at the end of the second and third years (although one desk exam per year may be substituted for a coursework essay). During the third year you will also independently research and write a longer essay about a topic of particular interest.

Upon successful completion of 360 credits, you will be awarded a BA (Hons) in English.