English Language/Latin

English language and Latin is a combination that brings together the study of two languages and their associated literary and cultural traditions across a remarkable span of time. English literature, understood broadly from its early modern origins to contemporary writing, forms one of the richest and most varied bodies of work in any language, encompassing drama, poetry, fiction, essay and experimental forms across centuries of cultural change. Latin gives you access to the ancient texts that shaped European thought, literature, law and religion, from Virgil and Cicero to medieval scholastic writing and the documents of the early modern period.

Together the two strands develop an unusually wide linguistic and literary range.

At the University of Glasgow the programme is studied part time, which allows you to develop your expertise in both fields at a pace that suits your circumstances. The four-year honours degree structure characteristic of Scottish universities gives additional breadth in the earlier years. The programme also includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to pursue your studies in a different academic environment and to broaden your engagement with literary and linguistic culture beyond your home institution.

You will develop competence in Latin language at a level that allows you to read primary texts in the original alongside your study of English literature. You will engage with critical theory, literary history and the range of methods that scholars in both fields bring to primary texts. The combination of close reading, philological attention and historical contextualisation develops analytical and writing skills of considerable precision.

Graduates from English language and Latin programmes pursue careers in education, publishing, journalism, librarianship, cultural institutions, the civil service and the legal profession. The philological and analytical training is also excellent preparation for postgraduate study in English, classics, comparative literature, linguistics or medieval studies.