You're introduced to the full range of English literature, from the Middle Ages to the present day. There are a few set texts, so that while you must study widely you can also focus on topics of interest to you. There are few set texts, so that while you must study widely, you can also focus on topics of interest to you. Teaching is provided through lectures, seminars, and small-group supervisions and classes. You typically attend at least six hours of lectures or seminars, and two to three hours of individual, paired or small-group supervision each week. You normally write one or two short essays per week which you then discuss with your supervisor.
Year 1 (Part IA)
You take two compulsory papers:
• Paper 1: Practical Criticism and Critical Practice;
• Paper 2: Shakespeare (assessed by a portfolio of essays submitted in Easter Term).
You also start work on two of the period papers, which will be examined in Part IB.
Year 2 (Part IB)
You take one compulsory paper (Paper 4: English Literature and its Contexts 1300 - 1550), and a further three papers from the following list:
• Paper 3: Early Medieval Literature and its Contexts 1066-1350;
• Paper 5: English Literature and its Contexts 1500-1700;
• Paper 6: English Literature and its Contexts 1660-1870;
• Paper 7a: English Literature and its Contexts 1830-1945 or Paper 7b: English Literature and its Contexts 1870-Present.
One of Papers 4 – 7b can be replaced by a dissertation.
Year 3 (Part II)
You take two compulsory papers:
• Practical Criticism and Critical Practice II
• Tragedy, which ranges from ancient Greek drama to contemporary writing
You also write a compulsory dissertation (of 6,000-7,500 words) and either submit a second dissertation (of 6,000-7,500 words) and take one optional paper, or choose two optional papers. The optional papers change regularly, and the following are available in 2018-19:
• Chaucer;
• Medieval English Literature 1066-1500: The Medieval Supernatural;
• Early Modern Drama 1588-1642;
• Material Renaissance;
• Lyric;
• Special Period of English Literature 1847-72;
• Modernism and the Short Story;
• Contemporary Writing in English;
• Postcolonial and Related Literatures;
• American Literature;
• The Ethical Imagination;
• History and Theory of Literary Criticism;
• Literature and Visual Culture.
Subject to certain restrictions, any paper other than the medieval and Shakespeare ones can be replaced by one element from a range of borrowable options provided under the Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, the Classics, and the Modern Languages Triposes. Further details of these papers are available on the Faculty website.