English

English literature is one of the humanities disciplines with the deepest connections to how we understand ourselves and each other. Reading fiction, poetry and drama carefully means engaging with the full range of human experience, imagination and moral complexity, and developing the capacity to question the assumptions of our own moment. Literature allows us to think through historical and social processes, to discover ideas and ways of being that are unfamiliar or challenging, and to articulate and evaluate the complexity of our own times with greater nuance and precision.

At the University of Bristol, this three-year full-time degree, which is available with a foundation year for students who benefit from additional preparation, is taught by one of the UK's strongest English departments in a research-intensive university environment. The foundation year provides a thorough grounding in the critical and analytical skills that degree-level literary study requires. In the main programme you will study literature across periods, genres and traditions, developing your skills of close reading, critical interpretation and sustained written argument.

You will engage with canonical texts alongside less familiar voices, read across cultural and national traditions, and develop your ability to situate literary works within their historical and social contexts. Independent research plays an increasing role as you progress, culminating in a substantial piece of work that demonstrates your capacity for original inquiry.

Seminars, discussion and the discipline of extended essay writing are central to the experience. You will be expected to develop and defend your own well-supported readings of texts.

Graduates from Bristol's English degree move into publishing, journalism, education, the creative industries, law, the civil service, public policy, communications, the cultural sector, and a very wide range of other careers. The analytical and communication skills developed through literary study are among the most transferable in higher education, and postgraduate study in English, creative writing, or related fields is a natural pathway.