Undergraduate

English

A student sits reading a book in the seventh floor observatory of the Brynmor Jones Library, University of Hull.
Six students doing collaborative work at a group work desk in the Brynmor Jones Library, University of Hull.
The exterior of the seven-storey Brynmor Jones Library lit up at dusk.
A student sits studying rare, antique books at the Rare Books room in the Brynmor Jones Library, University of Hull.
Four students sit laughing outside on campus with a red-brick, ivy-clad university building behind them.

Look around

Study the breadth of English and American poetry, short fiction, drama and novels. From medieval and Renaissance to #MeToo and Black Lives Matter.
Our English degree trains you to analyse, research and communicate at a very high level. It gives you the skills that are prized in many professions.
Our literary legacy is inspirational. Andrew Marvell, Philip Larkin, Stevie Smith, Tom Paulin, J.R.R. Tolkien and Winifred Holtby have ties to Hull.
The 7-storey Brynmor Jones Library is home to 1 million+ books. Our Rare Books room includes a variety of titles published between 1473 and 2002.
Join our student-led English Society and HUWrites. Share your unique voice at open mics. And publish your work in our in-house literary magazines.
Retreat to the sanctuary of the Reading Room where you can catch up on the newest poetry, prose and criticism in our library of literary journals.
A student sits reading a book in the seventh floor observatory of the Brynmor Jones Library, University of Hull.
Six students doing collaborative work at a group work desk in the Brynmor Jones Library, University of Hull.
The exterior of the seven-storey Brynmor Jones Library lit up at dusk.
A student sits studying rare, antique books at the Rare Books room in the Brynmor Jones Library, University of Hull.
Four students sit laughing outside on campus with a red-brick, ivy-clad university building behind them.
Brynmor Jones Library Reading Room

Code

Duration

Mode

  • Standard course
  • With a foundation year
  • September 2024

Typical offer

What does this mean?

Literature affects how we interpret and communicate with the world around us. It informs our understanding of ourselves and other cultures, past and present.

At Hull, you explore global literature with internationally-renowned researchers. You work on real-world projects, covering themes such as sustainability, collaboration and resilience.

And you join a University with an inspirational literary legacy. Renowned poets and writers from Andrew Marvell to Philip Larkin, Stevie Smith to Tom Paulin, J.R.R. Tolkien to Winifred Holtby, all have ties to the University and city.

  • 5th in the UK

    for Student Satisfaction with English 1

  • Over 1 million books

    in our 7-storey library

  • 90+ years

    of teaching English, since 1928

  • Published writers

    and scholars teach on this course

  • 5th in the UK

    for Student Experience 2

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Course overview
Module options

About this course

You’ll study literature from the medieval and Renaissance eras through to #MeToo and Black Lives Matter. And you’ll debate literature that speaks to urgent issues including the environment and social justice.

Our modules cover a wide range of genres and forms. English and American poetry. The literature of modernism and experimentation. Children's literature, fantasy, and science fiction. Drama from ancient Greek to contemporary British. Dystopian fiction, transgression, the Gothic, and crime fiction. And many more.

The literary scene in Hull is buzzing. So you'll find plenty of opportunities to make your own mark and share your unique voice. Join our thriving English Society and engage with world-leading authors, book clubs and socials. HUWrites provides a platform for performance with termly showcases and student-led podcasts. You’ll also get the chance to design, edit and publish with our in-house magazines, Document 1 and Hull Scribbler.

Scheduled study hours and how you’re assessed

Throughout your degree, you’re expected to study for 1,200 hours per year. That’s based on 200 hours per 20 credit module. And it includes scheduled hours, time spent on placement and independent study. How this time is divided across the year varies and depends on the module you are studying.

How you'll be assessed depends on the course you study, and the modules you choose. You may be assessed through a mix of examinations, coursework, presentations and group projects.

Choose your modules

Each year, you’ll study modules worth a certain number of credits, and you need 120 credits per year. Most modules are 20 credits – so you’ll study six modules each year. Some longer modules, such as a dissertation, are worth more. In these cases, you’ll study fewer modules - but the number of credits will always add up to 120. Some modules are compulsory, some are optional, so you can build a course that’s right for you.

Preparing for Learning in Higher Education

This module is designed to give you the best possible start to your university studies, making sure you have all the essential skills you need to succeed. Through lectures and workshops we will teach you how to write in an academic style, how to find quality sources, how to reference work, culminating in writing up a mini-research project.

Core•20 credits

Introduction to Study in the Humanities

This module equips you with a suite of analytical and theoretical tools to support you as you progress along your academic journey. You'll develop an interdisciplinary understanding of approaches to study in the humanities by working with a variety of resources, including novels, films and aspects of the visual arts.

Core•20 credits

Research in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Education

This module will equip you with the necessary skills to conduct and analyse research in a specific interest, supported by academics within your subject. You'll navigate through the research process, from identifying an area of interest to presenting their findings to your peers.

Core•20 credits

Group Challenge (Humanities)

Formulate and execute a group led enquiry into texts, cultural artifacts, film, music or dance. You'll explore their topics in groups at supervised workshops and develop questions on the cultural object relates to the living world of human experience, as well as developing your own methods to answer these questions.

Compulsory•20 credits

Foundation in Data Analysis

Develop a strong foundation in data collection and analysis. This module will introduce you to qualitative and quantitative data and how to analyse it; the collection of primary and secondary data; the production of high quality graphics; and report writing.

Compulsory•20 credits

Academic Writing Skills

Developing confidence in expression, oral as well as written, is a key feature of this module, which also aims to familiarise you with submission and assessment procedures in the context of Higher Education. This is a clear building block onto your degree programme and places you at a distinct advantage when you move into the following year.

Compulsory•20 credits
6 Modules

Exploring English

In this introductory module you will focus on the key skills needed to help you transition from your pre-university studies to the work that you will do at university. You'll learn how to collaborate with your peers in practical skills workshops and start building up an academic support network. Your tutors will monitor your individual progress by means of an e-portfolio.

Compulsory•20 credits

Young Worlds: Literature of Childhood

An introduction to the ways in which authors, artists and film-makers have represented childhood in diverse cultures from the mid-nineteenth to the twenty-first century. You will consider how the assumed innocence of childhood has been both idealized and challenged over time, and what the child’s perspective on adult life has contributed to our understanding of social attitudes to childhood.

Compulsory•20 credits

Poetry, Past and Present

Discover English-language poetry from across the globe – poetry that crosses continents and cultural perspectives and gives voice to the complexities of gender and sexuality. Learn about the key poetic concepts of metre and rhyme and about different verse forms, including sonnets, songs, and ballads.

Compulsory•20 credits

The Power of the Word: Stylistics

Analyse the language techniques used by inspirational writers and public figures in their fights against racism and sexism. The module will focus on how we can analyse fiction and non-fiction to uncover the distinctive styles of inspired wordsmiths, of different genres of writing and speaking, and how powerful effects give meaning to the texts that inspire us.

Compulsory•20 credits

Drama, Conflict and Identity

Study landmark plays which highlight enduring issues of identity and human conflict. You will develop the critical skills, technical vocabulary, and knowledge of staging practices needed to analyse plays as text and performance, while discovering that drama is a malleable form where direction, performance and changing audiences can open up very different interpretations.

Compulsory•20 credits

Reading the World: Intercultural Encounters

This module introduces you to writing which crosses borders and boundaries. Focussing principally upon novels and short stories published in English between 1818 and 2018, you will examine a series of intertextual encounters between writers variously engaged in the exploration of fundamental and enduring questions relating to individual and cultural identity.

Compulsory•20 credits
6 Modules

Crime and Transgression

Societies, cultures and communities often construct themselves around what they define as ‘criminal’ or ‘transgressive’. Question how societies and cultures enforce discipline upon ‘transgressive’ individuals and groups: what is a ‘crime’ and who effectively gets punished? Explore how societies respond to those who transgress against heteronormative relationships or those whose gender identities put them beyond their societies’ very narrow definitions.

Compulsory•20 credits

All the World’s a Stage: Shakespeare and Early Modern Theatre

Rather than studying Shakespeare in isolation, this module places him among the many inventive and influential playwrights of the time. You will be introduced to ground-breaking plays in key genres (tragedies and comedies) and sub-genres (such as revenge drama and city comedy) which flourished in the purpose-built commercial playhouses. This module explores the drama’s extraordinary legacy: a rich trove of plays of exceptional emotional reach, eloquence, invention, and imaginative daring. Provocative, moving and evocative—these plays form part of a golden age of English theatre.

Compulsory•20 credits

Secrets, Scandals and Rebellions

Explore the nature of secrecy, scandals and rebellions in eighteenth and nineteenth-century literature, and how aspects of these controversies are still live issues reflected in real-world scenarios. Consider a literary text of your own choice in the style of investigative journalism, and then collaborate with other students on a project linking a fictitious scandal of the past with something you identify as a continuing controversy today.

Compulsory•20 credits

Writing the Environment

This module showcases the power of language, literature, and the creative word to shape and shift attitudes towards our planet and its future survival. It will encourage you to explore eco-writing and environmentalist discourse responding to three of today’s urgent environmental challenges: pollution, the climate crisis, and sustainability.

Compulsory•20 credits

Travel, Cultural Encounters and Conflict

Take the notion of travel in its broadest sense to explore the experience of individuals and groups who come into contact with each other. Starting in the eighteenth century with an exploration of Turkish painting alongside French and British Orientalist art, you will consider representations of countries such as Ireland in the Famine years, accounts of the Rwandan genocide, and Afghanistan at the turn of the twenty-first century.

Optional•20 credits

Dystopian Fiction

Study exciting dystopian fiction from the past and right up to the present day. As well as reading and responding to a range of texts, you will have creative opportunities to build and explore new worlds, implementing your own survival strategies. The assessments include academic and creative options, giving you a range of opportunities to excel.

Optional•20 credits

Love, Desire, Death

Trace the development of representations of love, desire and death in English poetry and drama over the course of almost three hundred and fifty years. Following on from ‘All the World’s a Stage’ in trimester one, this module will encourage you to deepen your engagement with familiar writers like Shakespeare and Marlowe, but will also introduce you to important Medieval writers and key Renaissance poets through the specific lens of their treatment of love, desire and death.

Optional•20 credits

Making It New

Explore experimentation, radicalism and innovation in literature. Many writers of the 20th century rebelled against previous ways of writing, thinking these methods were no longer relevant to a rapidly changing world. You will have the chance to study a range of exciting, ground-breaking texts from the early 1900s to the 1990s.

Optional•20 credits

In Year 2 you will be encouraged to expand and deepen your knowledge of literature chronologically and thematically. You take a total of six modules.
8 Modules

Research Project

This module supports you in the design and completion of a final-year independent or collaborative research project. Develop your intellectual autonomy and produce a distinctive and dynamic project which reflects your growing expertise as a researcher in any field of English Studies.

Compulsory•40 credits

Unruly Subjects: Voices from the Margins

Study writing which was regarded with suspicion by the authorities and incorporates marginal figures, such as prostitutes, the poor, same-sex lovers and female adventurers. Our subject is unruliness: how it was defined, represented, attacked and, on occasion, celebrated in writing from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment.

Optional•20 credits

Crime Scenes

Engaging with a key genre within popular culture, you will analyse contemporary society via a number of prismatic themes, or re-framings of the ‘crime scene’: crime and its (social) environment; the status of the murdered body; the mind of the psychopath; crime fiction’s early engagement with LGBTQ+ issues, and with racial discrimination and oppression.

Optional•20 credits

Voyage Out: Navigating the Language and Literature of the Sea

This module introduces you to sea narratives from the eighteenth century to the present day. You will engage with a range of fictional and non-fictional representations of seafaring and maritime adventure, and diverse perspectives on the individual’s negotiation of the threshold between land and sea.

Optional•20 credits

Writing Britain Now

Read and respond to texts written during the 21st century, novels, short stories and plays that focus on topical issues such as Brexit, immigration, racial inequality, climate change, and terrorism. You will also have an opportunity to reflect on the different perspectives diverse contemporary writers bring to the concerns of our time.

Optional•20 credits

Intercultural Shakespeares

Examine four Shakespearean texts that dramatise or examine an intercultural encounter, and consider how these plays have been appropriated by and adapted in other cultures and by those intent on challenging dominant cultural norms. The module will be of interest to students who want to gain more understanding of Shakespeare’s plays, particularly in relation to debates regarding race, colonialism, gender and sexuality, and cultural appropriation.

Optional•20 credits

Gothic Imagination

Explore the Gothic as a literary genre and cultural mode from its origins to its contemporary international manifestations. Gothic responds to the dominant culture of its time and represents an important mode of articulation for socially, politically, sexually marginalized groups. It responds to and negotiates racial, religious, gender and political issues and demonstrates an ongoing capacity to register the tensions that lie behind the surface of culture and identity.

Optional•20 credits

Written on the Body

Feminist and gender criticism and theory are going through major developments in contemporary culture. At the same time, new and traditional gender identities, sexual orientation and intersectional, blended identities are raised and analysed in literary texts. This module will allow you to take account of the newest developments in its critical engagement with feminism and gender in relation to a range of contemporary texts.

Optional•20 credits

Our Year 3 modules are designed to allow you to explore particular topics and genres in greater depth. These modules often develop from the research interests of individual members of staff. You will write a Research Project, on a topic chosen by you, with the support and guidance of your supervisor. On top of the Research Project, you choose a further 4 modules.
8 Modules

Playlist

Dr Anna Fitzer

Course Overview 3 mins

Ellie Williams

Student story 1 min

Maya Tyrrell

Student story 1 min

Teaching facilities

University Life 1 min

Entry requirements

What do I need?

When it comes to applying to university, you'll need a certain number of UCAS points. Different qualifications and grades are worth a different amount of points. For this course, you'll need…

Use UCAS's calculator to work out your estimated points

We consider experience and qualifications from the UK and worldwide which may not exactly match the combinations above.

But it's not just about the grades - we'll look at your whole application. We want to know what makes you tick, and about your previous experience, so make sure that you complete your personal statement.

Have questions? Our admissions team will be happy to help.

What do I need?

If you require a student visa to study or if your first language is not English you will be required to provide acceptable evidence of your English language proficiency level.

See other English language proficiency qualifications accepted by the University of Hull.

If your English currently does not reach the University’s required standard for this programme, you may be interested in one of our English language courses.

Visit your country page to find out more about our entry requirements.

Fees & funding

How much is it?

Additional costs you may have to pay

Your tuition fees will cover most costs associated with your programme. There are some extra costs that you might have to pay, or choose to pay, depending on your programme of study and the decisions you make:

  • Books (you can borrow books on your reading lists from the library, but you may buy your own)
  • Optional field trips
  • Study abroad (incl. travel costs, accommodation, visas, immunisation)
  • Placement costs (incl. travel costs and accommodation)
  • Student visas (international students)
  • Laptop (you’ll have access to laptops and PC’s on campus, but you may want your own)
  • Printing and photocopying
  • Professional-body membership
  • Graduation (gown hire and photography)

Remember, you’ll still need to take into account your living costs. This could include accommodation, travel, food and more.

How do I pay for it?

How much is it?

Additional costs you may have to pay

Your tuition fees will cover most costs associated with your programme. There are some extra costs that you might have to pay, or choose to pay, depending on your programme of study and the decisions you make:

  • Books (you can borrow books on your reading lists from the library, but you may buy your own)
  • Optional field trips
  • Study abroad (incl. travel costs, accommodation, visas, immunisation)
  • Placement costs (incl. travel costs and accommodation)
  • Student visas (international students)
  • Laptop (you’ll have access to laptops and PC’s on campus, but you may want your own)
  • Printing and photocopying
  • Professional-body membership
  • Graduation (gown hire and photography)

Remember, you’ll still need to take into account your living costs. This could include accommodation, travel, food and more.

How do I pay for it?

Our academics

You’re taught by internationally-renowned scholars, published poets, fiction writers, and scriptwriters. People who bring their expertise, creativity and passion into everything you learn.

We’re part of the Larkin Centre research group. In REF 2021, 93% of our research was ranked world-leading or internationally excellent.3

See more academics for this subject
Richard Meek
Featured academic

Dr Richard Meek

Richard's research interests include Shakespeare and the history of emotion. He gave the opening keynote lecture at the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions conference 'Hamlet and Emotions: Then and Now' in Perth, Australia.

Dr Catherine Wynne
Featured academic

Dr Catherine Wynne

Catherine has contributed to TV and radio programmes on Bram Stoker and Arthur Conan Doyle for Channel 4, BBC 2, BBC World Service, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, and Irish Radio. She was also a guest expert on Bram Stoker at a British Library event.

Take a look at our facilities

Brynmor Jones Library

Our 7-storey library is home to 1 million+ books, extensive digital resources drawn from libraries and archives across the world, and stunning panoramic views of the city from the 7th floor.

Reading Room

You’ll find the Reading Room on the first floor of our library. It offers a comfortable space and a quiet environment to study – away from the hustle and bustle of the campus.

Rare Books

Our collection includes a variety of titles published between 1473 and 2002. Texts are in 18 languages. Places of publication range from Amsterdam to Zwickau, covering 26 countries on 5 continents.

Study Rooms

You'll find over 1,000 work spaces in our library. From boardroom-style meeting venues with big-screen PCs, to informal group-study areas and interactive whiteboards.

See more in our virtual tour

Look around

Look around

Look around

Look around

Brynmor Jones Library Observation Deck
Brynmor Jones Library Reading Room
Brynmor Jones Library Rare Books Room
Brynmor Jones Library Group Study Room
A between-the-books closeup of a student reading in the Brynmor Jones Library at the University of Hull.

Future prospects

Hull counts poets Douglas Dunn and Roger McGough among its alumni. But an English degree doesn’t just pave the way for a literary career. It trains you to analyse, research and communicate at a very high level. It gives you the skills that are prized in many professions.

With this kind of grounding, you’ll gain the adaptability to flourish in many arenas. These may include more obvious paths, such as teaching or library and archive work. Or in any field requiring research skills and the ability to translate concepts into written or spoken forms, such as those needed by managers in any industry.

University of Hull Open Day

Your next steps

Like what you’ve seen? Then it’s time to apply.

The standard way to apply for this course is through UCAS. This will give you the chance to showcase your skill, qualities and passion for the subject, as well as providing your academic qualifications.

How to apply

Not ready to apply?

Visit our next Open Day, and see all that Hull has to offer for yourself. Talk to our lecturers about your subject, find out what university is really like from our current students, and take a tour of our beautiful campus and amazing facilities.

Book your place now

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  1. (Joint 5th) The Complete University Guide 2024.
  2. (English) The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024
  3. Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021.

 

All modules presented on this course page are subject to availability and this list may change at any time.

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