English Literature, BA (Hons)

English Studies offers a comprehensive foundation in the 'great tradition' of English literature, spanning from Chaucer and Shakespeare to modern plays, poems, and novels, alongside literary theory and diverse, research-driven modules. The curriculum integrates traditional and emerging areas of study, fostering analytical skills, critical thinking, and persuasive expression through various literary approaches. Students may opt for a placement year or study abroad, extending the programme to four years.The first year emphasises critical analysis and close reading of texts, building on prior knowledge. The second year expands to a broader array of literary periods and authors, enhancing understanding of diverse approaches. The final year culminates in a 10,000-word dissertation on a self-chosen topic, with assessment primarily through essays, exams, and this independent research project. Core modules include introductions to drama, the novel, and poetry, with options like romance and epic literature.

Year 1 Core modules: Introduction to Drama introduces the work of, and critical debate about, a wide historical range of drama and dramatists writing in English, typically covering work from all or most of the following areas: the medieval, early modern, Restoration and Augustan, Romantic, Victorian, and twentieth and twenty-first century: post-medieval dramatists to be covered might include, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Behn, Gay, Shelley, Wilde, Shaw, Beckett, Kushner and Butterworth. Introduction to the Novel introduces ways of reading English novels and various contexts for studying them. You will be familiarised with strategies for engaging with fictional texts formally as well as historically, by situating the novels studied in their distinctive cultural environments while also being taught the ways in which novelistic form and technique have changed over time. Introduction to Poetry introduces a wide range of poems by poets writing in English from the early modern to the contemporary periods including some American poetry. You will develop your understanding of traditional major verse forms, modes of organisation and genres (e.g. blank verse, the couplet, the stanza, lyric, elegy, sonnet, epic, pastoral, ode, open form). In recent years, optional modules have included: Romance and the Literature of Chivalry Epic and Literature of Legend Ancient Worlds and English Literature