| Qualification | Start dates | Entry requirements | Full- or Part-time | UCAS Code | Assessment | |
| Bachelor of Arts (BA Honours) | January July September | A-level: BBB | Level of English required | Full-time | Q3V1 | Exam and written assignment |
Course Outline
English Literature here is taught to small groups by energetic and enthusiastic staff, led by Oxford-trained academics with international research profiles in 19th and 20th-century studies. Ideas developed in core seminars are taken forward in weekly small-group tutorials, where half a dozen students are encouraged to discuss and interpret specific passages of writing, under the watchful guidance of their tutor.
Our students are expected to read widely, and to develop strong lines of argument and personal responses to what they find, anchored in an informed understanding of the discipline and with reference to the critical debates that animate it.
The degree is structured around a combination of period study, thematic study, and modules inculcating theoretical and practical skills. Victorian literature modules cover prose from Dickens to Gaskell, and poetry from Browning to Hardy; twentieth-century literature topics range from Rhys, Hurston, Woolf, and Plath to Hemingway, Forster, Larkin, and Beckett. Shakespeare is one central focus. Other earlier writers who are studied include Marlowe, Donne, Webster, Herbert, Milton, Dryden, Centlivre, Swift, Pope, Blake, Wordsworth, Austen, Keats, and Shelley. You can explore some of the modules on this website. Thematic study encourages students to analyse contextually based on sociological variations, gender, contemporary politics, and psychological influences. We encourage the understanding of contemporary literary and cultural theory while never losing sight of the values of liberal/aesthetic education.
The History minor offers outline and conceptual courses which concentrate on the period from 1800 to the present day – all of which are apt to compliment contextual Literature courses throughout. So the programme not only teaches literature history; it also teaches you to think historically and to research and write coherently with historical content in mind.
Our recent graduates have gone on to pursue careers in the media, creative writing, teaching, academia, business and marketing.
Teaching Methods
In this department we believe in the surpassing value of the reading, discussing and understanding of great works of literature, not simply as processes that lead to higher levels of employability and the development of valuable critical skills (which they undoubtedly do) but as ends in themselves which are enriching and, ultimately, liberating. Small-group teaching is the key here and we run our programmes through seminars, workshops, tutorials (6 students maximum) and informal one-to-one discussion. A third of the programme is taken up by learning modern world history to proficiency and beyond.
What our students and alumni say
“The degree has been a wonderful experience. I’ve learnt about all aspects of writing in the English language as well as having the opportunity to research an area of special interest to me for my Dissertation. I’ve also studied with an enthusiastic, friendly and diverse group of students from all over the world. The best thing has been the people, staff and students. As far as I can gather, at nowhere else – except maybe Oxford and Cambridge – would you get the chance to have this much real, one-to-one interaction with lecturers.”
Bethan Jeremy (English Literature, 2008)
