BA English Literature

About this course

Literature is the art of using language to illuminate human experience, and studying it at degree level is about more than reading widely, though that is certainly part of it. English literature as an academic discipline asks you to read critically, to situate texts in their social and historical contexts, and to construct careful arguments about how literary works produce meaning and why they matter. The depth of understanding you develop about language, narrative, and the relationship between texts and the worlds that produce them is genuinely intellectually distinctive. At York St John University the philosophy underpinning the English literature programme is that words matter, and that reading literature from times, places, and lives that are different from your own provides a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us. This part-time programme allows you to engage with both the literary texts themselves and their place in the societies and cultures surrounding them, at a pace that suits your circumstances. The programme includes a foundation component, a placement year that connects your literary education to professional contexts, a year abroad that broadens your cultural and literary horizons, and work placement activity that helps you see how the skills you develop apply in the world beyond the academy. English literature graduates are found across a remarkable range of careers. Publishing, journalism, education, the civil service, marketing and communications, arts administration, broadcasting, and the third sector all recruit people with the reading, writing, and analytical skills that a literature degree develops. Some graduates go on to write professionally, and others teach English at secondary level or further and higher education. The placement year experience and year abroad both strengthen your graduate profile. Postgraduate study in literature, creative writing, cultural studies, or education is a well-trodden route for those who want to deepen their expertise.

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