English Literature

Why this course?

• Ranked in the top 5 universities in London for English (Guardian University Guide 2024).
• Ranked in the top 10 universities in the UK for student satisfaction in English (Complete University Guide 2022).
• A diverse curriculum covering the traditional - including Shakespeare and Dickens - as well as modern issues, such as gender, multiculturalism and environmentalism in literature.
• Teaching designed for you: the contact time you need to succeed, with timetables designed to recognise your wider commitments.

About this course

Words and stories have the power to change lives. At the University of Roehampton we take both a creative and a practical approach to exploring literature and the written word. On this course there is no limit to your imagination. As a member of Roehampton’s diverse and passionate community of readers, writers and thinkers, you will have the opportunity to encounter exciting texts and writers from around the globe; experience multicultural London through modern fiction, film, and television; find out about how Black writers have challenged the status quo; uncover ideas about gender and sexuality in writing over the ages; find out what Shakespeare's plays can tell us about 21st-century politics and delve into the history and future of children's literature.

This course offers all students the option of a one-year paid work placement.

Skills

In our BA English Literature programme, our primary objective is to guide you towards graduation with a well-rounded and professional skillset. This entails cultivating your ability to become a discerning and adaptable reader, as well as honing your professional writing skills to seamlessly adjust your style to suit various contexts. You will also develop essential competencies in research, analysis, problem-solving, digital content creation, copywriting, and effective communication. Notably, you will gain practical experience through our in-house publisher, Fincham Press, adding a hands-on dimension to your learning. These three essential components of your education will empower you for an exciting and diverse career.

Career opportunities

Graduates of BA English Literature go on to work in a wider range of professional and leadership roles in the media, the public sector, the cultural heritage sector, the charity sector, the civil service, and industry. They become journalists, copywriters, podcasters, librarians, editors, teachers, social media marketers, policy advocates, and fundraising strategists - to name just a few. This is because they have learned to think deeply, and critically, about the culture that surrounds them, and to communicate complex ideas persuasively and accessibly for different audiences.

Teaching designed around you

At Roehampton, we want to provide you with the flexibility you need while you study, and the contact time to help you succeed. We schedule our teaching across no more than three days each week. Plus, we'll confirm which days these are well in advance of the start of term, so you can plan ahead. So, if you want to have more focused personal study time, a part-time job, need to balance family commitments, or want to reduce the time you spend commuting, we’re the ideal choice for you.

Student support available 24/7

At Roehampton, student support is available 7 days a week. Our committed academic staff will support, help and guide you throughout your studies and help you prepare for your future career. We also offer study, wellbeing and careers support on-campus and online, so you can get the help you need when you want it. We offer a wide range of scholarships and bursaries. We also provide other ways to support the cost of living, including free buses and on-campus car parking, hardship support and some of the most affordable student accommodation and catering in London. Find out more about how we can support you.

In your first year, you will immerse yourself in a wider range of literature, building your knowledge of modern and classic books. You will learn how to present your work effectively and confidently, and gain experience of evaluating and using critical material. Our current students study texts including John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, and explore London in literature.

In your second year, you’ll get to focus on particular historical periods. This could include Victorian Literature which gave us Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy and Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes; American Literature Before 1900, which includes classic books such as Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; or Literature 1900-1950, covering the poetry of the Great War and the politics of gender. You will also be able to choose from a wide range of other modules on topics such as utopian/dystopian fiction and children’s literature.

In your final year, you’ll get to shape your course in areas that interest you by choosing from our rich and varied modules. These could include Literature and Cinema which looks at how the works of Shakespeare and Beckett have been adapted for film; Writing Multi-Cultural Britain, where you can study authors such as Zadie Smith; or Subversive Children’s Literature which includes the work of Melvin Burgess and Mark Haddon.

To work as a teacher at a state school in England or Wales, you will need to achieve qualified teacher status (QTS). This is offered on this course for the following level:

• Course does not award QTS