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English Literature MA

MA1 yearFull-time

Browse languages and area studies courses in UK

School of English, Drama, and Creative Studies · Language and area studies

Deepen your love of literature and learn how to analyse a range of texts with our English Literature MA. Explore a range of literary periods or specialise on one of our pathways. You'll turn your passion for reading into transferable critical thinking skills. On the MA you'll conduct rigorous research and analyse literature, developing your own interpretations - perfect for preparing for a PhD or a wide range of careers. Our English Literature MA explores many literary and cultural texts across key literary periods. You'll discover new ways to approach literature by considering different theories, methods and the key intellectual debates surrounding literary movements. - You can focus in-depth on the area of English Literature you're passionate about with our pathway options. Our current pathways are: Medieval Literature; Long Nineteenth-Century Literature; Modern and Contemporary Literature; and Popular Literature and Culture. Alternatively, you can pick modules from across these literary periods. Either way, you’d need to apply to MA English Literature and if you'd like to specialise, you'll choose the pathway when you begin the course. All students who complete the course will graduate with an MA in English Literature and your degree certificate won't refer to the pathway you choose. - Live in a city that shares your love of literature - contribute to our student newspaper, enjoy talks from high profile authors like Michael Rosen, and attend city-wide literary festivals. - Join postgraduate-run literary reading groups or attend talks and conferences led by academic staff in the department. - — University of — is ranked in the top 30 for English Language and Literature (— University Rankings 2025).

Getting in

As the university states it

You should have an honours degree in English Literature or in a similar subject with a heavy literary element. You’ll need at least a high 2:1 (65 or above) result, or a 3.5/4.0 GPA. Prospective students with joint honours in English Literature and another similar subject, or single honours in a subject that includes substantial work in English Literature, are welcome to apply. You'll need to have a very high competence in written English and we expect you to have an extensive undergraduate exposure to literary studies in English across a broad historical range. We may also require you to submit a sample of written work, but this will be decided on a case-by-case basis and you can return to your application to upload this at a later date. The example work would need to be a piece of academic writing that you submitted for your first degree, demonstrating your ability to closely read and analyse primary texts (e.g. a novel, poem, or film), and to construct an argument (creative writing and journalism are not acceptable). You must also submit a personal statement. This should be an account of your current, developed literary interests arising from your undergraduate or other literary studies and should indicate your plans to extend these as a postgraduate student of English literature.

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Course details as published by the university. No graduate-outcome statistics are published for UK postgraduate courses, so none are shown.