English Literature and History, MA (Hons)

Our joint honours programme in English Literature and History promotes a profound understanding of the modern world through critical analysis of diverse texts, while illuminating historical contexts. In English Literature, students cultivate critical, analytical, linguistic, and creative skills by engaging with a wide range of global texts and approaches, spanning writing in English from the late Middle Ages to the present. The History component offers a distinctive array of themes, periods, and regions, from the early Middle Ages to today, covering Britain, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, with approaches including political, cultural, social, economic, intellectual, gender, global, and transnational perspectives.Edinburgh, as the first UNESCO City of Literature and home to many literary greats, features the UK's oldest English Literature department. The programme is flexible: in years 1 and 2, students select from a broad range of disciplines alongside core subjects, while in years 3 and 4, they choose courses based on personal interests to develop detailed knowledge of specific topics or texts.