English

Students in a lecture

The Department of English has a long and distinguished history in literary studies. You will join a small, friendly department that puts small-group teaching at the heart of its degree. Our undergraduate degree ranges from the medieval period to the present day, but also provides ample opportunity for you to pursue your own enthusiasms, whether by author, topic, period, or critical approach. We also have a lively postgraduate community and many of our students go on to study our MA courses and research degrees.

English courses

Single honours

Joint honours

Why study English at Bristol?

An English degree at Bristol is distinguished by a strong commitment to literary studies, as a serious yet immediately pleasurable academic discipline, together with an awareness of how much may be gained through dialogue with other disciplines in the University and beyond.

The degree covers major texts and authors from all periods of English literature, and also gives you the opportunity to develop your own special interests. Core period units in years two and three offer you the opportunity to study the full historical development of English literature from the medieval period to the present day, while in optional special subject units, based on the research interests of teaching staff, you will explore particular authors, topics, or genres. There may be an opportunity for Single Honours students to spend one teaching block of the second year at a university in Europe or North America.

What kind of student would this course suit?

This course would suit intelligent, imaginative, hard-working students who love reading widely.

How is this course taught and assessed?

Teaching is delivered through a mix of lectures, tutorials and seminars. Students are expected to participate in small group teaching and may be asked to give introductory talks to initiate discussion.

Assessment is by written coursework essays and some examined work.

What are my career prospects?

The development of a broad range of skills and analytical techniques related to communication is considered very favourably by employers. Recent Bristol English graduates have been successful in obtaining employment not only in the more obvious fields such as the media, journalism, publishing, theatre, arts administration and various kinds of teaching, but also in industry, commerce, social work, computing, accountancy, human resources and law. Some have even written successful novels, plays and poems.