English, BA (Hons)

Course summary

Why study BA English at GoldsmithsOur BA English degree gives you the opportunity to develop the critical and verbal skills needed for confident, effective reading of literary texts and criticism.

• Bold, flexible, and richly diverse – this degree will take you on a thrilling intellectual and imaginative journey. Along the way, we encourage you to ask big, complex, and often challenging questions about how to read literature in all its cultural, artistic, and political contexts.

• Hugely varied – you will travel across histories, cultures, and languages and be encouraged to engage in debates around, for example, gender and sexual identity, the Transatlantic slave trade, climate change, feminism, Caribbean writing, indigenous literature and philosophical ideas about what it means to be human across time.

• Design your own curriculum - read both traditional and non-traditional texts alongside other cultural works such as films, photography, museums, and visual arts.

• Transferable skills and careers support – our degree prepares you for a range of roles by developing your communication, analytical, and research skills. You’ll have the option to do a work placement as part of your course.

• Intensive pastoral care and academic support – we offer three years of support for your essay writing and research skills as well as a dedicated pastoral care system tailored to your individual needs.

• Experience London – our location allows you access to the wealth of cultural institutions and opportunities that the capital offers right on your doorstep

Year 1 In your first year, you will take the following compulsory modules. Explorations in Literature Approaches to Text Genre Ideas in Practice Creative-Critical Project Year 2 In the second year, full-time students take these compulsory modules: Reading the Past: from Bede to Sterne The Long Nineteenth Century You will also choose one of the following modules: The Goldsmiths Project or Work Placement (English) You will have the opportunity to take the module 'Communicating the Climate Crisis' as part of the Goldsmiths Connected Curriculum or you can choose another 15-credit Goldsmiths Elective Module. Optional modules You will also choose 2 optional modules from a list provided by the Department of English and Creative Writing. Modules vary from year to year, but may include the following: Homer and Contemporary Literature Staging Women’s Voices: Feminism and Writing (Enlightenment to now) Poetry since 1945 American Gothic Language and Society Creative and Life Writing Aesthetics Black British Literature Year 3 In your final year, you will take two compulsory modules: Challenging World Literature: Diversity and Difference Modern and Contemporary Literatures Optional modules You will also take 3 to 4 optional modules to the total of 60 credits, chosen from a list provided by the Department of English and Creative Writing. Modules may vary from year to year, and examples have included the below: Caribbean Women Writers Decadence Writing Lives Discourse Analysis: Language, Culture and Politics Shakespeare’s Sisters: Contemporary Women’s Writing 1960s to the present Contemporary Indigenous Literatures and Cultures American Crime Fiction Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.