English Literature

English Literature is one of the richest and most transferable degrees available, combining deep engagement with the texts that have shaped human thought and culture with the development of analytical precision, critical rigour and the ability to write with clarity and purpose. A literature degree trains you to read carefully, to think about how language works, to understand the historical and cultural contexts of texts, and to construct and communicate original arguments. These are capabilities that are valuable across an extraordinary range of professional contexts.

At the University of Surrey, the three-year full-time degree develops your critical reading and writing skills across a wide range of literary periods, genres and traditions, from medieval and early modern literature through Romantic, Victorian and modernist writing to contemporary fiction, poetry and drama. You will study the formal elements of literary texts alongside their cultural and historical contexts, learning to apply different critical frameworks and to engage with the scholarly debates that animate literary study. Surrey integrates digital skills and contemporary tools across its programmes, recognising that graduate employers increasingly value the ability to work with digital resources and to communicate effectively in digital environments.

Surrey's campus in Guildford, in the prosperous south-east of England, gives students access to a wide range of professional employers in the region and in London.

Graduates of English literature degrees work in publishing, journalism, copywriting, education, the civil service, communications, public relations, the arts, law and the third sector. The analytical and writing skills the degree develops are broadly valued and genuinely transferable. Postgraduate study in English literature, creative writing, education, journalism or cultural studies is a natural continuation for those who want to develop further expertise.