Art History and English Literature

Art history and English literature share a commitment to close reading as an intellectual practice, and they approach their respective objects, visual and textual, with a common set of interpretive and analytical ambitions. Art history asks how images and objects are made, what they mean, and how their meanings have been constructed and contested over time. English literature does the same for written texts, attending to form and language, to historical context, and to the ways in which literary works participate in the cultures that produce them.

Together, the two disciplines develop an exceptionally refined capacity for close attention, contextual thinking, and the construction of interpretive arguments.

At the University of Manchester, this three-year full-time programme includes a foundation year, giving students a structured introductory stage before the main degree. Manchester is an exceptional environment for both disciplines. The university has strong research traditions in art history and in English literature, and the city's rich cultural infrastructure, including Whitworth Art Gallery, the Manchester Art Gallery, and HOME cinema and arts centre, provides regular and immediate access to the kinds of objects and performances that both subjects study.

The foundation year builds academic and analytical skills that prepare you for the demands of both disciplines at degree level.

You will study the history of art from a range of periods and traditions alongside English literature from the medieval to the contemporary, developing the reading, writing, and research skills that both disciplines require. The ability to move between visual and verbal forms of cultural expression, and to bring the interpretive methods of one discipline to bear on the other, is a particular strength that this combination cultivates.

Graduates in art history and English literature move into careers in museums, galleries, arts journalism, publishing, heritage, broadcasting, the literary and cultural sectors, and education. The combination of visual and textual analytical skills is valued in communications, advertising, and any professional context that requires sophisticated engagement with image and language. Postgraduate study in art history, English literature, cultural studies, museum studies, or creative writing is another strong route.