BA (Hons)

English Literature

Teaching & Learning

Learn to identify, evaluate and analyse a range of texts. You will be able to produce sophisticated interpretations of texts and write across a range of genres, forms and styles for a diverse range of audiences. The tabs below detail what and how you will study in each year of your course. The balance of assessments and overall workload will be informed by your core modules and the option modules you choose to study – the information provided is an indication of what you can expect and may be subject to change. The option modules listed are also an indication of what will be available to you. Their availability is subject to demand and you will be advised which option modules you can choose at the beginning of each year of study.

What you'll learn

Consider examples of the three main genres into which Shakespearean texts were divided in the First Folio. You'll be encouraged to examine and problematise these categories. This module will consider the contexts of performance and reception for which this drama was produced and the contested role of theatre within Early Modern culture. By examining drama as a social practice, and exploring texts in relation to their historical moment of production, you'll explore some approaches to the contextual study of literature.
This module will support you as you start to work at degree level and develop strategies for the interpretation of contemporary literary texts. You'll engage with a range of post-millennial texts that seek to problematize the contemporary period. Teaching will focus on literary innovations and ways in which texts interact with techniques, approaches and debates in literary studies today. Your learning will explore a range of critical approaches through a number of set texts to help you develop key skills that will inform your work.
This module will enable you to study narrative by examining a series of short stories, introducing key concepts such as genre and subgenre, context, and theory. You'll explore specific ideas about narrative fiction such as reliability, authority, perspective, chronology, and story versus plot.
Focus on a single, long novel from a canonical text published in an early period as you explore the formal features of the novel. You'll start to study critical theory as a means of enabling elaborate reading of a longer literary text.
This module will introduce the principles of adaptation from literary text to a range of mediated forms. You'll focus on the study of one key chosen text, and will explore its adaptations to various other literary and media forms. This study will enable you to consider the key principles that underpin textual adaptation, explore the ways in which form impacts the production of a text, analyse the adaptation as an important ingredient in literary production. You'll respond creatively to literary text or selections of texts, by producing your own short adaptations.
Study a wide variety of poetry written in English and gain an understanding of the development of poetry from the Shakespearean period through to contemporary times. You will be better acquainted with a range of poetry in order to develop your sense of literary history. You will study critical and theoretical perspectives and interpretive tools to enable you to approach the reading and analysis of poetry with confidence.
Consider examples of the three main genres into which Shakespearean texts were divided in the First Folio. You'll be encouraged to examine and problematise these categories. This module will consider the contexts of performance and reception for which this drama was produced and the contested role of theatre within Early Modern culture. By examining drama as a social practice, and exploring texts in relation to their historical moment of production, you'll explore some approaches to the contextual study of literature.
This module will support you as you start to work at degree level and develop strategies for the interpretation of contemporary literary texts. You'll engage with a range of post-millennial texts that seek to problematize the contemporary period. Teaching will focus on literary innovations and ways in which texts interact with techniques, approaches and debates in literary studies today. Your learning will explore a range of critical approaches through a number of set texts to help you develop key skills that will inform your work.
This module will enable you to study narrative by examining a series of short stories, introducing key concepts such as genre and subgenre, context, and theory. You'll explore specific ideas about narrative fiction such as reliability, authority, perspective, chronology, and story versus plot.
Focus on a single, long novel from a canonical text published in an early period as you explore the formal features of the novel. You'll start to study critical theory as a means of enabling elaborate reading of a longer literary text.
This module will introduce the principles of adaptation from literary text to a range of mediated forms. You'll focus on the study of one key chosen text, and will explore its adaptations to various other literary and media forms. This study will enable you to consider the key principles that underpin textual adaptation, explore the ways in which form impacts the production of a text, analyse the adaptation as an important ingredient in literary production. You'll respond creatively to literary text or selections of texts, by producing your own short adaptations.
Study a wide variety of poetry written in English and gain an understanding of the development of poetry from the Shakespearean period through to contemporary times. You will be better acquainted with a range of poetry in order to develop your sense of literary history. You will study critical and theoretical perspectives and interpretive tools to enable you to approach the reading and analysis of poetry with confidence.

What you'll learn

Explore key features and phenomena of literature in the eighteenth century. You'll study topics such as the rise of the novel form, the development of the Gothic, and the early Romantic movement in Britain. Focusing on new literary emergences, this module will explain these in historical terms as you draw on key theoretical and critical debates on the period.
Study a selection of literature of the 20th century and examine how literature writes about some of the key events of the for example as WWI, WWII, post-war austerity and the Cold War. You will understand key terms such as modernism and postmodernism. You will consider texts that focus on the idea of alienation and dystopia and the place of the individual in society and explore why writers of the period turned to imagining the future in order to express their concerns with their present moments. In preparation for writing your dissertation, you will be guided through the process of developing your own research question to become a more independent learner.
Gain a conceptual and critical vocabulary for reading and analysing texts from formerly colonised regions of the world. Given the central role played by narrative and representation in the expansion of empire, you'll explore how literature has responded to, challenged, and intervened in histories and experiences of colonialism and exploitation. This module will encourage you to consider how literature explores the multiple legacies of colonialism in our present world. You'll read some of the most exciting and challenging literature written in English by writers from South Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, so you can explore that history and its legacies in our globalised present.
Develop critical and interpretative skills informed by an understanding of the role theory plays in literary studies. This module will enable you to become more confident and more adventurous in your study of literature.
Explore key features and phenomena of literature in the eighteenth century. You'll study topics such as the rise of the novel form, the development of the Gothic, and the early Romantic movement in Britain. Focusing on new literary emergences, this module will explain these in historical terms as you draw on key theoretical and critical debates on the period.
Study a selection of literature of the 20th century and examine how literature writes about some of the key events of the for example as WWI, WWII, post-war austerity and the Cold War. You will understand key terms such as modernism and postmodernism. You will consider texts that focus on the idea of alienation and dystopia and the place of the individual in society and explore why writers of the period turned to imagining the future in order to express their concerns with their present moments. In preparation for writing your dissertation, you will be guided through the process of developing your own research question to become a more independent learner.
Gain a conceptual and critical vocabulary for reading and analysing texts from formerly colonised regions of the world. Given the central role played by narrative and representation in the expansion of empire, you'll explore how literature has responded to, challenged, and intervened in histories and experiences of colonialism and exploitation. This module will encourage you to consider how literature explores the multiple legacies of colonialism in our present world. You'll read some of the most exciting and challenging literature written in English by writers from South Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, so you can explore that history and its legacies in our globalised present.
Develop critical and interpretative skills informed by an understanding of the role theory plays in literary studies. This module will enable you to become more confident and more adventurous in your study of literature.

Option modules may include

Explore and unpack the idea of ‘black’ writing as a complex notion by studying texts published in Britain over a long historical period. You'll practise effectively communicating critical insights into the historic marginalisation of black voices in English (especially British) literature, and/or understand the importance of such voices, past and present, in contemporary society through working on simulated ‘live-briefs'.
Explore key aspects of fiction writing and respond to a range of authors from different cultures to produce your own short stories. You'll study and practise elements of narrative craft, for example characterisation, dialogue, dramatisation, point of view and story architecture.
Explore key aspects of writing for screen and respond to a range of texts to produce your own short scripts and/or treatments. You'll study and practise key aspects of screenwriting craft including structure, dialogue and scene design, and how these are deployed in writing stories for screen.
Understand the way that humanities disciplines and skills intersect with a range of professional working contexts. You will complete 36 hours of live-brief learning to gain first-hand experience of planning, delivery and evaluating a professional working brief set by an industry partner organisation. You will work as a group across 10 weeks alongside a tutor to design, deliver, present and evaluate the brief to industry standards. As well as conducting a reflective case study of your brief, you will complete a CV, cover letter, LinkedIn profile and undertake a recorded mock interview.
Explore issues of context - what it is, where it comes from and what its relation is to other forms of information. You will develop strong research skills by taking a theoretically informed approach to contextual study of literature.
Extend your knowledge of writing poetry that you built in your first year. You'll develop and refine your understanding of areas such as the poetic line, voice, diction, form(s), image, and register. This module will enable you to develop skills in close reading and analysis. It will give you an eye to provide actionable and constructive feedback to one another in a workshop setting. Reflective work, and an emphasis on writing process, will be as important as the finished product. You'll be encouraged to seek out and emulate your own models and inspirations from a wide range of poets and forms.
Explore and unpack the idea of ‘black’ writing as a complex notion by studying texts published in Britain over a long historical period. You'll practise effectively communicating critical insights into the historic marginalisation of black voices in English (especially British) literature, and/or understand the importance of such voices, past and present, in contemporary society through working on simulated ‘live-briefs'.
Explore key aspects of fiction writing and respond to a range of authors from different cultures to produce your own short stories. You'll study and practise elements of narrative craft, for example characterisation, dialogue, dramatisation, point of view and story architecture.
Explore key aspects of writing for screen and respond to a range of texts to produce your own short scripts and/or treatments. You'll study and practise key aspects of screenwriting craft including structure, dialogue and scene design, and how these are deployed in writing stories for screen.
Understand the way that humanities disciplines and skills intersect with a range of professional working contexts. You will complete 36 hours of live-brief learning to gain first-hand experience of planning, delivery and evaluating a professional working brief set by an industry partner organisation. You will work as a group across 10 weeks alongside a tutor to design, deliver, present and evaluate the brief to industry standards. As well as conducting a reflective case study of your brief, you will complete a CV, cover letter, LinkedIn profile and undertake a recorded mock interview.
Explore issues of context - what it is, where it comes from and what its relation is to other forms of information. You will develop strong research skills by taking a theoretically informed approach to contextual study of literature.
Extend your knowledge of writing poetry that you built in your first year. You'll develop and refine your understanding of areas such as the poetic line, voice, diction, form(s), image, and register. This module will enable you to develop skills in close reading and analysis. It will give you an eye to provide actionable and constructive feedback to one another in a workshop setting. Reflective work, and an emphasis on writing process, will be as important as the finished product. You'll be encouraged to seek out and emulate your own models and inspirations from a wide range of poets and forms.

What you'll learn

You will demonstrate a full range of skills, knowledge, and competencies developed over three years of study. This module provides an opportunity for you to choose and explore a field of study that has particularly engaged your interest.
You will demonstrate a full range of skills, knowledge, and competencies developed over three years of study. This module provides an opportunity for you to choose and explore a field of study that has particularly engaged your interest.

Option modules may include

By reflecting on learning acquired through work placements, this module will focus on promoting self-awareness of your ‘career story’. You will look at how you evaluate your current skills, explore the future possibilities in your career development and navigate pathways through those chosen possibilities. This module will enable you to become ‘cartographer’ of your own future experience. You will embark upon a minimum of 80 hours work placement, supported by reflective exercises, and build expertise and confidence through a range of assessments designed by the course team and employer partners. Conceptualised and designed by digital specialists, the module is purposefully created to be delivered and experienced online – reflecting the increasingly distributed nature of work communications and embracing digital environments as an integral aspect of how employees and the self-employed progress their careers.
Understand the key concepts and debates in disability studies and how these can be applied to literary texts. This module will emphasise the centrality of literary studies to the emergent, interdisciplinary area of medical humanities.
Examine a body of reading, thought, and practice in contemporary writing loosely understood as `avant-garde' or experimental writing. Given the renegade nature of these works, we will move away from using such generic categories as poetry or prose, even as we try to understand how these texts usefully extend and interrogate precisely those categories. Through a programme of close reading, in-class and online discussion, and independent study, you will critically and creatively engage with a rich tradition of contemporary literary practice.
This module explores Renaissance tragedy with a particularly the sub-genre of revenge tragedy. You will explore canonical works such as Hamlet but also less familiar examples of the genre such as The Revenger's Tragedy. You will understand and analyse the plays in relation to the culture in which they were produced and the ideological tensions which traverse them.
Examine the development of 20th-century fiction by women with particular reference to the genre of romantic fiction. You will explore how a number of writers have modified and transformed the conventions of romantic fiction and discuss the appeal of romantic fiction in terms of its specific historical contexts and in relation to psychoanalytic models of desire and narrative. This module will provide the opportunity to study these texts alongside some key feminist theories of gender and sexuality of the 20th century. You will be encouraged to develop advanced analytic skills, coupled with critical self-reflexivity in the understanding and application of theory. The group oral presentation of ideas and argument will build on your existing communication and collaboration skills.
Understand how writers and film-makers have imagined city spaces and identities in a range of postcolonial locations. Through an exciting range of literary and cinematic texts, and drawing on theories of urban space, place, and postcoloniality, you will explore issues that are of central importance to the world many of us live in today, including migrant labour, asylum seekers, refugees, and illegal immigrants; crime, conflict, and policing; memory, history, and urban space; class, gender, race, sexuality, and the postcolonial city amongst others.
Explore the development of the Gothic from its literary origins in the mid-18th century through to the mid-20th century. You will analyse the literary and cultural properties of Gothicism as it has shifted and diversified over this period and you will be encouraged to engage with Gothic novels alongside a range of forms across a wide cultural and historical spectrum. This module will also introduce you to theoretical and critical methods of analysing the Gothic such as Freud's concept of the uncanny and Julia Kristeva's theory of abjection.
Engage with debates about masculinity which took place during the long 18th century. You will read a range of literary texts, including novels and poetry and focus on important models of 'manliness' which were prevalent in the period. This module will encourage you to situate texts in relation to historical context, and also to engage with theory.
Examine the relationships between writing and the Northern Ireland conflict (1966-1998). You will consider the ways in which writing responds to serious and prolonged political and social crisis and how it offers insights into issues normally considered to be purely within the realm of party or national politics. This module will enable you to understand the way literature negotiates the tensions between the demands of artistic integrity and independence and the pressures to speak out or to contribute towards the resolution of violent political division. You will also look at texts produced after 1998, a time of somewhat uncertain `peace and reconciliation'.
Study a selection of American plays from the 1920s to the 1990s, focusing on the ways in which they dramatise the relationship between public issues and private concerns. This module investigate the ways in which American drama stages the enduring conflict between the search for individual happiness and the making of social and political bonds in a society based on an ideology of competitive individualism. The module will provide opportunities to refine your skills in collaborative work, oral presentation, guided research, and independent study.
Gain an understanding of the cultural connections between Africa and the African Diaspora through the analysis of a range of key literary works. Through close reading and analysis of the modules primary texts and the interrogation of postcolonial theoretical debates, you will be encouraged to explore the intersections and tensions between issues of race, gender, identity, education and language within the contexts of slavery, colonialism, migration and exile.
Study the autobiographical branch of creative non-fiction.You will complete a number of creative writing exercises and regular workshops to help you refine your work with feedback from fellow students and tutor feedback in class, online, verbally, and in writing. This module will see you read a range of exemplary works of autobiographical non-fiction with a critical eye to begin making connections between the techniques and approaches of published works and your own.
Develop professional skill in the processes, principles and practices of editing. Working as an editor, you'll reconstruct a historical text into a modern format, lead the text’s readers through the intricacies of that text, and introduce that text to an interested, but not necessarily expert, audience.
Examine how stories told in a range of media forms can drive social change. You'll engage with complex social issues and find out how stories can raise awareness and bring about attitudinal changes in audiences. This module will encourage you to learn how characters can be used to create empathy and offer multiple perspectives on social problems. You'll understand how to structure stories, the role of narration and how to craft compelling messages for different audiences. This module will introduce you to different ways of crafting stories such as, fiction (short stories), podcasting, documentary and video. You'll also explore how storytelling is used in, for example, film, television, journalism, marketing and across different social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.
By reflecting on learning acquired through work placements, this module will focus on promoting self-awareness of your ‘career story’. You will look at how you evaluate your current skills, explore the future possibilities in your career development and navigate pathways through those chosen possibilities. This module will enable you to become ‘cartographer’ of your own future experience. You will embark upon a minimum of 80 hours work placement, supported by reflective exercises, and build expertise and confidence through a range of assessments designed by the course team and employer partners. Conceptualised and designed by digital specialists, the module is purposefully created to be delivered and experienced online – reflecting the increasingly distributed nature of work communications and embracing digital environments as an integral aspect of how employees and the self-employed progress their careers.
Understand the key concepts and debates in disability studies and how these can be applied to literary texts. This module will emphasise the centrality of literary studies to the emergent, interdisciplinary area of medical humanities.
Examine a body of reading, thought, and practice in contemporary writing loosely understood as `avant-garde' or experimental writing. Given the renegade nature of these works, we will move away from using such generic categories as poetry or prose, even as we try to understand how these texts usefully extend and interrogate precisely those categories. Through a programme of close reading, in-class and online discussion, and independent study, you will critically and creatively engage with a rich tradition of contemporary literary practice.
This module explores Renaissance tragedy with a particularly the sub-genre of revenge tragedy. You will explore canonical works such as Hamlet but also less familiar examples of the genre such as The Revenger's Tragedy. You will understand and analyse the plays in relation to the culture in which they were produced and the ideological tensions which traverse them.
Examine the development of 20th-century fiction by women with particular reference to the genre of romantic fiction. You will explore how a number of writers have modified and transformed the conventions of romantic fiction and discuss the appeal of romantic fiction in terms of its specific historical contexts and in relation to psychoanalytic models of desire and narrative. This module will provide the opportunity to study these texts alongside some key feminist theories of gender and sexuality of the 20th century. You will be encouraged to develop advanced analytic skills, coupled with critical self-reflexivity in the understanding and application of theory. The group oral presentation of ideas and argument will build on your existing communication and collaboration skills.
Understand how writers and film-makers have imagined city spaces and identities in a range of postcolonial locations. Through an exciting range of literary and cinematic texts, and drawing on theories of urban space, place, and postcoloniality, you will explore issues that are of central importance to the world many of us live in today, including migrant labour, asylum seekers, refugees, and illegal immigrants; crime, conflict, and policing; memory, history, and urban space; class, gender, race, sexuality, and the postcolonial city amongst others.
Explore the development of the Gothic from its literary origins in the mid-18th century through to the mid-20th century. You will analyse the literary and cultural properties of Gothicism as it has shifted and diversified over this period and you will be encouraged to engage with Gothic novels alongside a range of forms across a wide cultural and historical spectrum. This module will also introduce you to theoretical and critical methods of analysing the Gothic such as Freud's concept of the uncanny and Julia Kristeva's theory of abjection.
Engage with debates about masculinity which took place during the long 18th century. You will read a range of literary texts, including novels and poetry and focus on important models of 'manliness' which were prevalent in the period. This module will encourage you to situate texts in relation to historical context, and also to engage with theory.
Examine the relationships between writing and the Northern Ireland conflict (1966-1998). You will consider the ways in which writing responds to serious and prolonged political and social crisis and how it offers insights into issues normally considered to be purely within the realm of party or national politics. This module will enable you to understand the way literature negotiates the tensions between the demands of artistic integrity and independence and the pressures to speak out or to contribute towards the resolution of violent political division. You will also look at texts produced after 1998, a time of somewhat uncertain `peace and reconciliation'.
Study a selection of American plays from the 1920s to the 1990s, focusing on the ways in which they dramatise the relationship between public issues and private concerns. This module investigate the ways in which American drama stages the enduring conflict between the search for individual happiness and the making of social and political bonds in a society based on an ideology of competitive individualism. The module will provide opportunities to refine your skills in collaborative work, oral presentation, guided research, and independent study.
Gain an understanding of the cultural connections between Africa and the African Diaspora through the analysis of a range of key literary works. Through close reading and analysis of the modules primary texts and the interrogation of postcolonial theoretical debates, you will be encouraged to explore the intersections and tensions between issues of race, gender, identity, education and language within the contexts of slavery, colonialism, migration and exile.
Study the autobiographical branch of creative non-fiction.You will complete a number of creative writing exercises and regular workshops to help you refine your work with feedback from fellow students and tutor feedback in class, online, verbally, and in writing. This module will see you read a range of exemplary works of autobiographical non-fiction with a critical eye to begin making connections between the techniques and approaches of published works and your own.
Develop professional skill in the processes, principles and practices of editing. Working as an editor, you'll reconstruct a historical text into a modern format, lead the text’s readers through the intricacies of that text, and introduce that text to an interested, but not necessarily expert, audience.
Examine how stories told in a range of media forms can drive social change. You'll engage with complex social issues and find out how stories can raise awareness and bring about attitudinal changes in audiences. This module will encourage you to learn how characters can be used to create empathy and offer multiple perspectives on social problems. You'll understand how to structure stories, the role of narration and how to craft compelling messages for different audiences. This module will introduce you to different ways of crafting stories such as, fiction (short stories), podcasting, documentary and video. You'll also explore how storytelling is used in, for example, film, television, journalism, marketing and across different social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.