English Literature BA

at University of Warwick

You will begin with the foundations of literary studies, reading work from the ancient past to the present, from Homer and Virgil to Alison Bechdel and Janelle Monae.

Your critical thinking and grasp of literary theory will develop in Modes of Reading, while in Medieval to Renaissance English Literature you’ll take in some of the great writers of English literature, such as Chaucer, Sidney, Spenser, and Shakespeare. Epic into Novel will give you an understanding of some of the most celebrated literary forms of classical and modern times, while you will tackle the literature and politics that define contemporary life in Modern World Literatures (though if you’d prefer to learn a language instead, that option is open to you too). All of our students also take our Academic Enrichment program in which we guide your development as a literary critic and researcher on your other first-year modules.

In your second year you can choose from an array of modules on all periods alongside our core module, Literature in Theory, and a module of your choice on pre-1900 literature.

The core in your final year is a Research Project on a topic of your choice, and you also choose two further modules and a fourth on one of our many Global literature modules.

Year One
Modes of Reading
What is a reader? How is our understanding and perception of a text formed? What does it mean to think critically when we read? This module allows you to explore these questions by putting a spotlight on the question of critical thinking in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. By studying a series of literary texts in relation to some of the most influential literary and cultural theorists of the last hundred years, you will take your own position on everything from Marxism, queer and feminist theory to ecocriticism and postcolonial critique.

Medieval and Early Modern Literature
Taking you from the mythical court of King Arthur to the real world of ambition, intrigue, and danger in the courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, this module introduces you to early literature written in a range of genres (romance, epic, fabliau) and poetic forms. You will study texts like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Thomas More’s Utopia, Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, and Shakespeare’s sonnets to explore some of the period’s highest ideals—‘trawthe’ or integrity—as well as some of humanity’s darkest impulses: greed, deception, revenge, and desire.

Epic into Novel
Tracking the transition from the epics of the ancient world to the novels of modernity, this module introduces you to some of the most influential and formative works of world literature. You will study central texts of the classical world, such as Homer’s Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid; the ancient Indian epic The Mahābhārata; Milton’s Paradise Lost; as well as novels like Henry Fielding’s bawdy comedy Tom Jones and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o’s novel of decolonising Kenya, A Grain of Wheat. Reading across history and cultures, between languages and genres, you will develop the skills to analyse narrative, character, and style.

Modern World Literatures
This module introduces you to the defining concerns, styles, and contexts of modern world literature from 1789 to the present. You will encounter concepts like Romanticism, modernity, gothic, and postcolonialism through novels, short stories, poetry, and drama from revolutionary France to Meiji era Japan, industrial Britain to the decolonizing Caribbean. Your reading might include Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein, Lu Xun’s story of China in transition 'Diary of a Madman', or Clarice Lispector’s haunting meditation on life in Rio de Janeiro The Hour of the Star.

Year Two
Literature in Theory
In your second year, you will study our core module, ‘Literature in Theory’, in which you develop the ideas you explored in ‘Modes of Reading’. This interdisciplinary module asks why and how we study literature. Readings, lectures, and seminars focus on specific themes such as authorship, the literary marketplace, literature in relation to politics, power, data, and the environment, and the relationship of race, gender, sexuality, and class to our study of texts and knowledge. Teaching juxtaposes short theoretical texts with literary and cultural readings, including visual and media texts, such as Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts, Booker T. Washington’s Up from Slavery, and Amitav Ghost’s In An Antique Land.

Choose an option on pre-1900 literature
To give your degree historical breadth and depth, we invite students to take one of our many options on pre-1900 literature. The range of modules varies each year, and examples include Romantic and Victorian Poetry, The Nineteenth-Century Novel, Crime Fiction: Nation and Empire, Britain 1850-1947, American Horror Story: US Gothic Cultures 1790-present, Eighteenth-Century Literature, Seventeenth-Century Literature, Austen in Theory, George Eliot and Sociology, Literature and Revolution 1640-1660, Literature and Empire: Britain and the Caribbean to 1900, English Literature and Feminisms 1790-1899, The Classical Tradition in English Translations, Arthurian Literature, Asia and the Victorians.

Your choice
Alongside Literature in Theory and a pre-1900 module, you can choose two further modules from the department on anything you're interested in; and one of these modules can be taken from another department. Our students often enjoy modules in History, Film and Television Studies, Philosophy, Theatre and Performance Studies, the Warwick Writing Programme, Warwick Business School, Politics and International Studies, and beyond.

Year Three
Research project
In your final year, you will write a Research Project on a subject of your choice—you might be keen to explore a favourite writer, or a theme or area of research you’ve discovered during your degree. Working with a supervisor who will offer you regular guidance through the year, you will develop your ideas into either a long dissertation OR two shorter essays and immerse yourself in your field. Academic workshops make sure you’re connected to other students on the module and will guide you through the process of identifying your argument, working with sources, and writing research-based essays.

Choose an option on global literature
To ensure your degree covers literature written in English from all over the world, we invite students to take one of our many options on global literature. The range of modules varies each year, and examples include The Global Novel, New Literatures in English, Commodity Fictions: World Literature and World Ecology, Literature and Empire: Britain and the Caribbean to 1900, Twentieth-Century Avant Gardes, Yiddish Literature in Translation, Asia and the Victorians, American Horror Story: US Gothic Cultures 1790-present, Alternative Lifeworlds Fiction: Science Fiction, Fantasy and the Weird, Disasters and the British Contemporary, Devolutionary British Fiction, The Novel Now.

Your choice
Alongside Research Project and a global literature module, you can choose two further modules from the department on anything you're interested in; and one of these modules can be taken from another department. Our students often enjoy modules in History, Film and Television Studies, Philosophy, Theatre and Performance Studies, the Warwick Writing Programme, Warwick Business School, Politics and International Studies, and beyond.

Optional modules
Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:

• American Horror Story
• The English Nineteenth Century Novel
• Literature, Environment, Ecology
• US Writing and Culture, 1780-1920
• Romantic and Victorian Poetry
• Queering the Literary Landscape
• Devolutionary British Fiction
• Ecopoetics
• Shakespeare and Selected Dramatists of his Time
• Crime Fiction
• Alternative Lifeworlds Fiction
• Literature and Empire
• Jane Austen in Theory
• Early Modern Drama
• Women and Writing
• The Classical Tradition
   

All applicants, regardless of their visa requirements, are required to show that their ability to understand and express themselves in both written and spoken English is sufficiently high for them to derive full benefit from their degree course. The level of competence required depends on what type of degree you wish to study. Many applicants can demonstrate this through a satisfactory level of achievement in, for example, GCSE English Language or the English courses within the International Baccalaureate.

Applicants whose academic qualifications meet the University’s admissions requirements, but whose English language qualifications are not accepted as equivalent, may be offered a place at Warwick conditional on an acceptable English language qualification being achieved before they join the University. A number of English language tests are accepted; some of the most frequently offered ones are detailed below.

Please note that certain English tests (including IELTS and PTE) must be taken within two years and one month prior to the start of your course at Warwick. Applicants whose tests fall outside this timescale will need to retake a suitable English language test.

Applicants who require a visa to study in the UK may, depending on the circumstances, be asked to provide evidence of a secure English language test (e.g. IELTS for UKVI (Academic)), rather than an examination (such as International Baccalaureate English) due to the visa requirements set by the UK government.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS (2022 Entry)

If you do not meet the English Language Requirements for your course in full, you may still be eligible for the course on condition of:

• Meeting the English Language Requirements for our Pre-sessional English course, and
• Successfully completing the Pre-sessional English course

Please use the table below to find the relevant band for the course(s) in which you are interested. You can sort the table by clicking on the heading of the column you wish to sort by.

If you are an overseas or EU student enrolling in 2022, your annual tuition fees will be as follows:

• Band 1 – £22,280 per year (classroom-based courses, including Humanities and most Social Science courses)
• Band 2 – £28,410 per year (laboratory-based courses, plus Theatre and Performance Studies, Economics, and courses provided by Warwick Business School, with exceptions)

Fees for 2023 entry have not been set. We will publish updated information here as soon as it becomes available, so please check back for updates about 2023 fee rates before you apply.

Warwick Undergraduate Global Excellence Scholarship 2022

We believe there should be no barrier to talent. That's why we are committed to offering a scholarship that makes it easier for gifted, ambitious international learners to pursue their academic interests at one of the UK's most prestigious universities. This new scheme will offer international fee-paying students 250 tuition fee discounts ranging from full fees to awards of £13,000 to £2,000 for the full duration of your Undergraduate degree course.

Graduates from these courses have gone on to work for employers including:

• Archant
• Barclays
• Bloomsbury
• British Council
• Civil Service
• Maidstone Borough Council
• Newsquest Media Group
• Pan Macmillan
• Royal Opera House
• The Sunday Times
• Teach First
• Tesco
• Weber Shandwick

They have pursued roles such as:

• Journalists
• Newspaper and periodical editors
• Publishers
• Creative directors
• Arts officers, producers and directors
• Authors, writers and translators
• Musicians and composers
• Teachers
• Advertising accounts managers
• Business sales executives
• Solicitors and legal associate professionals
• Management consultants and business analysts
• Marketing associate professionals
• Academics and researchers