English Literature and Latin BA Honours

UCAS code QQ36

This degree caters for students whose interests range from the language and literature of ancient Rome, to literature written in English from the earliest times to the present day. Modules are available on Latin and Greek topics, ancient history and philosophy, English literature of all kinds and from all periods, American and post-colonial literature, film, and English language and linguistics.

The programme also focuses on the close relationship between the two subjects, by requiring you to write two individually supervised special studies, one in Stage 2 and one in Stage 3, on an aspect of classical influence in English literature. These essays are meant to reflect your own individual interests and they may be as varied as an essay in dialogue form between Ben Jonson and Horace, or one comparing the ‘Star Wars’ trilogy to ancient Greek myth!

Therefore, the main aim of the degree is to encourage you to read as widely as possible in English literature and Latin and related areas, but always with a view to the inter-relationships between these two fields. You will be required to keep your Latin language up to standard by a basic minimum of compulsory translation modules throughout the degree. After the preparatory Stage 1, you will be expected to exercise choice in the options. At each stage, you must take modules to a value of 120 credits in all, but you have a great deal of choice as to where these credits come from.

Stage 1

All students take the following modules in English:

  • Selected Texts (I and II) (a lecture series which introduces you to the historical and theoretical context of texts studied)

  • Tutorial (I and II): weekly small-group sessions in which the works in Selected Texts (I and II) are discussed in small groups of students led by a teacher

  • Shakespeare Studies (the module uses a mixed group of Shakespeare’s plays to explore various theoretical and theatrical approaches to his work. It is usually tied in to the RSC’s autumn season in Newcastle.

You can also take one or two of the following English modules:

  • Mediaeval Literature (a survey of Old and Middle English literature (c 750 – c 1500 AD) within its historical and cultural contexts)

  • Literary Theory (an introduction to modern approaches to the study of literature)

  • Writing Skills (a course designed to help you bridge the gap between school and university in terms of the advanced study of English literature).

All students take the following modules in Latin:

  • Either Latin Level I: Intermediate (Language and Literature: I and II) or Latin Level I: Senior (Translations and Unseens, Prose and Verse, Essays) ― depending on your proficiency at entry.

  • You can then choose other modules from a range including the following topics: The Ancient State • Greek Art and Architecture • Roman Art and Architecture • Acient Philosophy • Introduction to Greek.

Stage 2

You must do at least 40 credits in English and 40 credits in Latin, but otherwise you choose how to construct your course:

  • Special Study I (an essay dealing with an aspect of Classical influence on English literature)
  • Interpretation of Latin Texts: Level II
  • At least 20 further credits from a wide selection of modules on the Latin syllabus including: Virgil: Aeneid • Horace: Odes • Roman Historiography • Ciceronian Oratory • Intellectual Life in the Late Roman Republic • Propertius • Lucretius • Catullus Senecan Tragedy • Ovid: Amores • Ovid: Metamorphoses • Ancient Pastoral Poetry (and you can also take up to 20 credits worth of other modules taught by the Department of Classics)
  • At least 40 credits from English Bands 4-6 (Mediaeval, Renaissance and Seventeenth-Century, Eighteenth-Century and Romantics)

Stage 3

You must do at least 40 credits in English and 40 credits in Latin, but otherwise you choose how to construct your course:

  • Special Study II (an essay dealing with an aspect of Classical influence on English literature)
  • Interpretation of Latin Texts: Level III
  • At least 20 credits from the same Latin syllabus as at Stage 2 (and up to 20 credits worth of other modules from Classics)
  • No less than 40 but no more than 60 credits worth of modules to be selected from English Bands 1-11 (the full range: Linguistic, Mediaeval, and Literary Studies; Extended Study and File of Creative Work).

For a complete list of bands and modules in the School of English Literature, language and Linguistics, click here.