English and Greek

English and ancient Greek is a pairing that takes two of the deepest and most enduring literary traditions and places them in dialogue. English literature spans a thousand years of creative achievement in the language most widely read in the world today; ancient Greek gives you access to the texts that sit at the very foundation of Western literary, philosophical and scientific thought. Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Thucydides, Plato and Aristotle were not merely great writers in their own right: they shaped the questions and forms that every subsequent literary tradition has engaged with, consciously or not.

At the University of St Andrews you will study these two traditions over four years within a programme that teaches you to read closely across a range of genres and historical eras, and to consider the ideas, human values and historical forces that have helped shape literature. Your English studies will develop your critical reading, literary-historical knowledge and analytical writing across medieval, early modern, romantic, Victorian and modern texts. Your ancient Greek will take you from the foundations of the language through to engagement with literary and philosophical texts in the original, developing the close attention to language and form that distinguishes a classical education.

The programme includes a year abroad, extending your intellectual engagement with the two traditions in an international context.

Graduates of English and ancient Greek bring an extraordinary range of textual, analytical and linguistic skills to whatever they pursue. Careers include teaching, academic research, publishing, journalism, law, the civil service, arts and cultural administration, heritage, broadcasting, and the wide range of roles in which rigorous critical thinking and clear, elegant writing are valued. Postgraduate study in English, classical studies, comparative literature, law, or education is a well-established route for those who wish to develop specialist expertise or pursue academic careers.