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English Literature

Join English Literature as part of a Combined Honours degree. Explore and understand a selection of writings from the Renaissance to the Modern Age.

About the programme

UCAS Code: BA Combined Honours (Y001)

In English Literature you'll have the chance to study a selection of writing from the medieval period to the Modern Age, with the study of film.

During your studies, emphasis is placed on the development of critical and writing skills. You can also get involved with other like-minded English Literature students for social activities in the English Society

You can get creative and attend workshops, writing activities and more with the Creative Writing Society

This is offered by the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics.

Pre-requisites

Students do not need to have taken English Literature at A-level to study English Literature here, but evidence of preparedness to study English Literature is essential.

This evidence may include having studied a related subject at A-level and achieved an A or B grade or having a strong personal interest in Literature in conjunction with A or B grades in your A-levels.

Modules

Find out about our typical modules. Modules are subject to change and could differ on an annual basis.

Stage 1

Select the module code for specific module information. This includes the module summary and aims, knowledge, the skills you'll gain, and the module leader.

Students taking three subjects in Stage 1 take the following two compulsory modules:

Module CodeModule Title Credit Value Semester 
SEL1034 Beginnings 20 1
SEL1035 Revolutions 20 2

Students taking two subjects at Stage 1 must take SEL1034, SEL1035 and the following module:

Module CodeModule Title Credit Value Semester 
SEL1033 Doing Criticism 20 1
Stage 2

SEL1003 AND SEL1004 ARE BOTH PRE-REQUISITES FOR ALL STAGE 2 MODULES

Candidates must select Stage 2 modules in English Literature to a credit value of not less than 40 and not more than 80. 

Candidates taking 40 credits in English Literature in Stage 2 must select: 

  • One module from Group 1 and one module from Group 2.                                                                                                                     

Candidates taking 60 credits in English Literature in Stage 2 must select:

  • One module from Group 1 and one module from Group 2.
  • One further module, from either Group 1 or Group 2.

Candidates taking 80 credits in English Literature in Stage 2 must select:

  • One module from Group 1 and one module from Group 2.
  • One further module, from either Group 1 or Group 2.
  • The Independent Research Project, SEL2210

 

Group 1 Modules

Module CodeModule Title Credit Value Semester
SEL2201 Renaissance Bodies (Capped at 150) 20   2
SEL2202 Writing New Worlds, 1688-1789 (Capped at 150) 20   2
SEL2203 Revolutionary Britain, 1789-1832 (Capped at 150) 20   1
SEL2219 Monsters, Misery & Miracles: Heroic Life in Old English Poetry (Capped at 150) 20  1
SEL2224 Poetry Workshop (Capped at 60)
(Note: pre-requisite of SEL1000 waived for Combined Honours students) 
20  2
SEL2226 Theatre Script Workshop (Capped at 30) 
(Note: pre-requisite of SEL1000 waived for Combined Honours students)
20

 2

SEL2227 Prose Workshop (Capped at 45) 
(Note: pre-requisite of SEL1000 waived for Combined Honours students)
20  2
SEL2228 Screenwriting Workshop (Capped at 60)
(Note: pre-requisite of SEL1000 waived for Combined Honours students)
20  2
SEL2232 Stagecraft in Early Drama (Capped at 150) 20  1

Group 2

Module CodeModule Title Credit Value Semester 
SEL2204 Victorian Passions: Victorian Values (Capped at 150) 20   1
SEL2206 Contemporary Cultures (Capped at 150) 20   1
SEL2207 Modernisms (Capped at 150) 20   2
SEL2215 Creative Practice (Capped at 80)
(Note: pre-requisite of SEL1000 waived for Combined Honours students)
20  1
SEL2233 Literatures of Decolonisation (Capped at 150) 20  2

 

Independent Research Project

Module CodeModule Title Credit Value Semester
SEL2210 Independent Research Project (Capped at 150)
20   2
Stage 3

SEL1034 AND SEL1035 ARE BOTH PRE-REQUISITES FOR ALL STAGE 3 MODULES

Candidates must select Stage 3 modules in English Literature to a credit value of not less than 40 and not more than 80.

Candidates taking 40 credits in English Literature in Stage 3 must select:

  • One module from Group A and one module from Group B.                                                                                

Candidates taking 60 credits in English Literature in Stage 3 must select:

  • One module from Group A and one module from Group B.
  • One further module from either Group A or Group B.

Candidates taking 80 credits in English Literature in Stage 3 must select:

  • One module from Group A and one module from Group B.
  • A further 2 modules from any of the modules in Group A, Group B, Group D* or Group E.

* Students can only take one of the modules in Group D.

Students who are already taking a 20 or 40 credit independent study module on any other part of their degree cannot take either the Dissertation or a Portfolio module.  Further, students who are already taking more than 20 credits of independent study on any other part of the degree cannot take a module from Group D.

 Group A 

Module CodeModule Title Credit Value Semester 
SEL3379 Enlightened Romantics: A Revolution in Feeling (Capped at 48) 20 2
SEL3412 Writing Liberty in the Romantic Era (Capped at 48) 20 2
SEL3420 Fiction and the Philosophy of Terror: From the Supernatural to the Sublime (Capped at 48) 20 2
SEL3442 War Writing: Heroic and Hostile Discourses in Early Literature (Capped at 48) 20 1
SEL3444 Envious Show: Wealth, Power and Ambition in Narratives of the Country House, 1550 – 2000 (Capped at 64) 20 1
SEL3451 Keats and Romantic Epic (Capped at 48) 20 2
SEL3452 Shakespeare and Company: Gender, Power and Theatre (Capped at 48) 20 1
Group B 
Module CodeModule Title Credit Value Semester
SEL3091 Sex and Money: Economies of the Victorian Novel (Capped at 48) 20 2
SEL3346 Documentary Storytelling: Theory and Practice 1 (Capped at 15) 20 1
SEL3347 Documentary Storytelling: Theory and Practice 2 (Capped at 15) 20 2
SEL3378 Landscapes of American Modernism (Capped at 48) 20 2
SEL3395 The Victorian Novel: Time, Change and the Life Course (Capped at 48) 20 2
SEL3397 American Poetry Now (Capped at 48) 20 1
SEL3409 Planetary Imaginations: Literature in the Time of Environment Crisis (Capped at 48) 20 2
SEL3428 Freedom and Imagination: US Literature 1850 - 1900 (Capped at 48) 20 1
SEL3429 Deep North: Modern Literature of the North East (Capped at 48) 20 1
SEL3433 Popular Romance and Contemporary Political Discourse (Capped at 48) 20 1
SEL3434 Making Young Adult Literature (Capped at 48) 20 2
SEL3447 Exposing Ourselves: Privacy, Contemporary Performance and the Public Sphere (Capped at 48) 20 2
SEL3449 Devolutionary Fictions: Literature, Politics and the British State since 1960 (Capped at 48) 20 2
SEL3450 Border Fictions: Migration, Memory and Transgressions in Global Anglophone Literature, 1900 - Present Day (Capped at 48) 20 1


Group D

Students can only take either SEL3364 or SEL3365, not both.

Students who are already taking more than 20 credits of independent study on any other part of the degree cannot take either SEL3364 or SEL3365.

Those wanting to take 40 credits of independent work in English Literature should choose the Dissertation or a Portfolio module (from Group E).

Module Code

Module Title 

Credit Value 

Semester

SEL3364 Independent Essay 1 (English Literature) 20 1
SEL3365 Independent Essay 2 (English Literature) 20 2

Group E

Module CodeModule Title Credit ValueSemester 
SEL3400 Prose Portfolio (Pre-requisite one of SEL2224, SEL2226, SEL2227 or SEL2228) 40 1&2
SEL3401 Theatre Script Portfolio (Pre-requisite one of SEL2224, SEL2226, SEL2227 or SEL2228) 40 1&2
SEL3402 Poetry Portfolio (Pre-requisite one of SEL2224, SEL2226, SEL2227 or SEL2228) 40 1&2
SEL3403 Screenwriting Portfolio (Pre-requisite one of SEL2224, SEL2226, or SEL2227) 40 1&2
SEL3405 Dissertation: Digital Exhibition (Pre-requisite SEL2210) 40 1&2
SEL3417 Dissertation: Digital Edition 40 1&2
SEL3362 Dissertation: Long-Form Essay (Pre-requisites SEL2210) 40 1&2

Get in touch

If you have any questions about choosing this subject as part of your Combined Honours degree, contact us and we'll be more than happy to help. 

Subject adviser

Kate De-Rycker - School of English Literature, Language & Linguistics

 

Our address

Combined Honours Centre
9th Level, Henry Daysh Building
Newcastle University
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU

Tel: +44 (0)191 208 7479