English and History

English and history are disciplines that have always informed each other. Literature is itself a historical document, shaped by the moment and place of its production and often addressing the conflicts, values, and anxieties of its time. History, in turn, reaches for language and narrative to communicate what the evidence reveals, and at its best it has a literary quality that reflects the complexity of the lives it describes.

Studying the two together allows you to read a text as both an aesthetic object and a historical artefact, and to think about history through the stories that different times and places told about themselves.

At the University of Southampton, this part-time programme develops your knowledge of literature in English and of history side by side, allowing you to explore connections and contrasts that enriched reading of one discipline through the other. You might study the fiction of a period alongside its historical context, or approach the literature of a previously colonised society with an awareness of the political history that shaped it. The programme includes a year abroad option, giving you the chance to study in another country and to encounter literary and historical traditions from a different perspective.

The combination develops skills that are among the most valued in the graduate labour market: close reading, sustained argument, historical awareness, research, and the ability to communicate complex ideas in writing with clarity and precision. Graduates go on to careers in education, journalism, publishing, heritage, archiving, the civil service, public affairs, and the cultural sector. Many continue to postgraduate study in English, history, or related fields, and some pursue academic careers in disciplines that engage seriously with both language and the past.