English Literature

English literature is the study of texts, what they say and how they say it, the worlds they construct and the ideas they carry, and the contexts of history, culture, and politics from which they emerge and which they in turn help to shape. It is a discipline that trains you in the most careful form of reading, asking you to attend to language with precision and to bring both historical knowledge and critical theory to bear on what you read. The texts you study range across centuries and genres, from medieval poetry and Renaissance drama to the modern novel and contemporary experimental writing, and the skills you develop in reading and arguing about them are among the most transferable any degree can offer.

At the University of East Anglia, English literature carries a particular prestige. UEA is the home of the UK's most famous creative writing programme, and its English department has produced some of the most significant literary critics and writers of recent decades. The intellectual culture of the department, which takes both the study and the making of literature seriously, creates a stimulating environment in which to read, think, and write.

The typical entry tariff of 136 points reflects the analytical and compositional demands of a programme at a research-led institution with high expectations of its students. You will study literary history and genre, critical theory, close reading, and the relationship between texts and the broader cultures and contexts that produced them.

English literature graduates go on to an enormous variety of careers. Publishing, journalism, teaching, law, the civil service, marketing and communications, arts administration, broadcasting, and heritage are among the most common, but the list extends in almost every direction. The skills the discipline develops, reading carefully, arguing persuasively, and writing with clarity and force, are foundational to professional life in any field that involves engaging seriously with language and ideas.

Many graduates also pursue postgraduate study in English, creative writing, journalism, or related fields, and some go on to academic careers that keep them close to the literature they love.