This dynamic and diverse course provides a thorough exploration of English Literature from the Early Middle Ages to the present day. It allows you to pursue your interests through a range of core and optional modules. All our English lecturers are active, publishing researchers in their specialist fields, offering expert teaching in subjects ranging from Shakespeare to Victorian literature.

The course aims to provide you with a comprehensive and thorough understanding of English Literature from the earliest English literature and the Renaissance to the Victorians and the most contemporary literature. Through this course, you will develop your ability to understand and analyse literary texts and to have a true understanding of historical context and the theoretical framework in which they are set. You will also be encouraged to develop your own research interests through a wide range of optional modules (run according to student numbers and staff availability) and a final year dissertation. You will engage with texts through extensive reading and consolidate your own responses by studying intellectual, theoretical and historical contexts. You will be taught through seminars and group discussions which allow you to share and to critically inform your ideas.

Take a look at the blog to which some of the English staff and students at Northampton have contributed.

Please see below the 2016 Subject Futures Week video, which highlights just some of the creative industry guests who attended to share knowledge and insights with students about the reality of working and life after University.

Starting university is a big step and we want you to have everything you need from day one. That’s why if you choose to study this course full-time at Northampton from September 2018, you will be provided with your own brand new Hewlett Packard laptop* to keep at no additional cost. For more information on this and many other benefits you can enjoy, please visit our benefits webpages.

*Terms and conditions apply. Please see the benefits webpages for more information.

Course content

Year one

Here we set down the foundations of your degree. The six modules are compulsory and through them you will develop a range of skills that will serve you well through your degree. They include a variety of assessments to help you adjust to degree-level study, as well as close reading and group discussion. The modules that are offered to both Single and Joint Honours students are:

• Contemporary Shakespeares, where you will encounter the Bard in a variety of modern genres including the graphic novel and screen adaptations
• Identity Under Construction: Late Twentieth Century Literature. Here you will explore the development of English Literature from Orwell and the end of the Second World War to the present
• Language and Creativity, which examines the English Language in its everyday and creative functions and provides a comprehensive understanding of variation in language across different social and professional contexts

In addition, BA English Single Honours students will study:

• Reading Literary Genres. This module considers the literary devices that are used in different types of literature including comedy, tragedy, epic, poetry, science-fiction and fantasy
• Creative Reading and Writing. Here we discuss the dual roles involved in the construction of meaning in literature: the writing and the reading of text, looking at genre conventions and literary techniques along with effective critical thinking, reflecting and writing across the broad genres of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama
• Life, Liberty and Happiness: Introduction to American Literature which explores the development of a national literature and culture in the US from the Colonial period up to the present day, and considers themes including race, gender, region, the West, class, war and counter-culture

Year two

Here we develop the knowledge and skills you now possess. There are three core modules for Single Honours BA English:

• Experimental Literature, in which you will read and discuss a wide range of literature from the first half of the twentieth century
• Victorian Visions where you will encounter important genres such as poetry, drama and fiction, and writers from Charles Dickens and the Brontës to Oscar Wilde
• Thinking English: Reflections, Concepts, Perspectives. In this module you will be introduced to a range of ways in which literature might be discussed in its wider cultural and theoretical context

There is also a wide range of optional modules* in which you can read and discuss a diverse range of literature according to your interests, including: 

• Sex, Sexuality and Twentieth-Century Fiction
• From Blade to Book: Early English Literature
• From Fairy Tale to the Contemporary Child Hero
• Contemporary American Fictions: Slavery, Sci-Fi and Serial Killers
• Creative Nonfiction
• Literature and the City
• Writing Northamptonshire

Year three

In your final year of study, you will be required to take a combination of the following BA English modules. The core modules are:

• Early Modern Literature: Page, Stage and Screen which provides new perspectives on that period, from Renaissance Sexualities to Visions of the New World
• Satire and Revolution: Re-Reading Eighteenth Century Literature which focuses on the long eighteenth century, a period of intellectual and cultural progress, but also of wicked wit and violence

The optional modules* include:

• Contemporary Women’s Writing
• Gothic Worlds 1750-1900
• Adaptations
• Writing Town and Country
• Celebrity, Publicity and American Literature

You may also choose to write your Dissertation related to English Literature. This is an independent study in which you learn how to research and write extensively on a topic of your own choice. It is an opportunity for you to explore a favourite period, genre, theme or even an individual author in greater detail. During this time, you will have regular supervisory consultation.

*Modules are run depending on student numbers and staff availability.

Module information is quoted for 17/18 entry. Please note that modules run subject to student numbers and staff availability, any changes will be communicated to applicants accordingly.

Methods of Learning

We use a variety of learning methods including seminar discussions (normally between 15-25 in a group), as well as individual and small group research and online discussions.

Assessments

English modules are assessed through a variety of methods, including essays, individual and group presentations, time-constrained essays, blogs, participation in online discussion groups, creative writing and formal examinations.

Facilities and Special Features

You will benefit from:

• core period modules from the Renaissance to the present day
• a wide range of optional modules
• opportunities to develop creative writing skills
• opportunities to study American literature
• a diverse range of assessment methods

Reading List

The reading list* for first year students is available to download.

*Subject to change.

Career Opportunities

Students who have studied with us have gone on to a variety of careers, including: teaching, postgraduate study (via MA courses in English or related areas), adult education, journalism, theatre management, marketing, editorial work with major publishers, librarianship, arts administration, museum and curatorial work, librarianship, bookselling, social work training, management trainee schemes with large companies, local government.

For application information please see our how to apply page.

Standard entry requirements apply. A typical offer would be BCC at A Level or DMM at BTEC for single honours English. Applicants would normally be expected to hold an English GCSE, A level or equivalent qualification. We welcome applications from those with a range of non-traditional educational or professional qualifications.

For information regarding English language requirements at the University, please see our IELTS page.

Additional Costs

We do ask that you buy the prescribed primary texts for each module. We carefully review the costs of every module each year, so that they do not exceed £100 per module. In practice, by using libraries, freely available online resources and second-hand copies of books, costs are often less than half of this total figure.

You will have the chance to attend a range of research seminars, conferences, field trips and other activities beyond the curriculum for free or at minimal cost.

This course is available to international students.

Full-time international tuition fees

For information on our international tuition fees, please see our Tuition fees for international students page.

Please note that tuition fees for EU students will remain the same as UK fees for 2018/19. For more information, please visit the Gov UK website.

How to apply as an international student

For information on how to apply to study with us, please see our How to apply page.

Scholarships available to international students

For information on the scholarships available to you as an international student, please see our International scholarships page.