English Literature and History

English literature and history is a joint degree that develops skills common to both disciplines while also allowing you to engage with the particular methods and questions of each. Both subjects are concerned with understanding human experience through close attention to texts and evidence, and both require you to construct sustained, evidence-based arguments about complex material. Studying them together gives you a richer and more versatile intellectual formation than either would provide alone.

At the University of Durham this three-year full-time programme provides a thorough grounding in English literature from Chaucer and Shakespeare through to twentieth and twenty-first-century plays, poems and novels, alongside literary theory and a wide range of carefully designed modules. The history element develops your understanding of specific periods, themes and problems in historical inquiry, building the research skills, archival awareness and analytical rigour that serious history demands. A sandwich year gives you the opportunity for substantial professional experience before your final year, the option to study abroad adds an international dimension, and work placement opportunities throughout the programme connect academic study with real professional contexts.

The combination of literary and historical knowledge and the analytical and communicative skills developed across both disciplines makes this degree unusually versatile in the graduate market.

Graduates move into publishing, journalism, law, the civil service, education, heritage, museum work, broadcasting, arts and cultural organisations, management and research. Many pursue postgraduate study in English, history, cultural studies, law or related fields. The rigour and range of the Durham degree prepare graduates for competitive positions across a wide spectrum of careers.