Why study this course?
This course is one of five pathways available in the MLitt in English Literature. Each pathway develops well-rounded expertise in the literature of the period through a mix of core and option choice modules.
Highlights
- Choose to extend and deepen your knowledge of English literature across the historical breadth of the discipline and spanning a wide geography of writing in English.
- Greater flexibility, with the option to study modules in both Women, Writing and Gender and Postcolonial and World Literatures.
- Tailor your interests in dialogue with the School’s world leading experts in literary studies.
- Choose from optional modules in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in the International Education and Lifelong Learning Institute, to acquire English teaching skills and improve your employability.
Contact details for Programme Director, Dr Lorna Burns, are available on his profile. You can also find out about his teaching and research interests.
The other pathways available are:
- Medieval Literature
- Shakespeare and Renaissance Literary Culture
- Romantic and Victorian Studies
- Modern and Contemporary Literature and Culture
Students on any pathway may, subject to permission, take up to 30 credits from any 5000-level module from another School. Some 30-credit 3000- or 4000-level modules within English may also be open to MLitt students, for example EN3114 Reading Old English.
Course information may change. Module information and course content, teaching and assessment may change each year and after you have accepted your offer to study at the University of St Andrews. We display the most up-to-date information possible, but this could be from a previous academic year. For the latest module information, see the module catalogue.
Optional modules
Create your bespoke programme of study by choosing from the optional modules offered by the School of English.
You will take two 30-credit modules per semester. Modules offered by the School of English are detailed below. You must take a total of 120 credits across semesters 1 and 2.
- Critical Approaches, Theories, and Research Skills: introduces students to the debates, concepts, theories, and methodologies that have shaped the study of literature across a long history, and offers students the opportunity to develop research skills essential to postgraduate study in English literature.
- Reading the Medieval Text: provides specific skills and areas of knowledge necessary for undertaking research in medieval literature, including palaeography and codicology, and scholarly editing.
- The Forms of Renaissance Literature: explores key works of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literature in relation to the cultural forms that shaped early modern writing.
- Romantic and Victorian Lives and Texts: examines the phases of literary and cultural production and reception, from the lives of authors and cultural figures, through the conditions of publication of their work.
- Reading the Modern: is an exploration of influential British, American and French modernists' pursuit to develop modes of representation compatible with a newly urban, industrialised and mass-oriented age.
- Medieval Literature in Context: teaches some central Old English, Middle English, and Older Scots texts in their wider cultural and temporal contexts.
- The Worlds of Renaissance Literature: investigates the relationship between Renaissance English literature and the wider world, both in terms of the influence of continental vernaculars on English writing and the transformations produced by global travel and nascent imperial expansion.
- Romantic and Victorian Literary Cultures: shows how thoroughly literature is connected to broader discursive and historical contexts globally. Literary works could make decisive and poignant contributions to particular political debates, and the literary sphere itself has its own politics.
- Contemporary Literature and Culture: exposes students to a range of contemporary authors, poets and playwrights, moving between a detailed focus on highlighted key works and a wider perspective on individual writers' oeuvres.
- Women, Writing and Gender: examines continuity and change in women’s writing and constructions of gender across the period 1700 to the present.
- Postcolonial and World Literatures: focuses on a diverse range of texts drawn from across the globe and spanning the long-history of imperialism, from colonial encounters to contemporary global challenges in an era of world literature.
What other students say
"The best part of the programme is definitely having the opportunity to read and discuss texts alongside classmates and academics who love them as much as I do. Studying here has given me both the qualification and skills I need for my future career and opportunities to meet people working in my desired area."
- Robyn (Northamptonshire, England) – 2020
Dissertation
The MLitt concludes with the writing of a 15,000-word dissertation.
Students identify a topic for their dissertation out of their own research interests in consultation with a member of staff.
The dissertation is researched and written following the completion of the core modules of the MLitt and is typically submitted in August.
Further study
Many graduates continue their education by enrolling in PhD programmes at St Andrews.
In addition to the MLitt, the School offers a two-year Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree option.
Our team
Meet the academic, teaching, and professional services staff within the School of English.
The staff teaching on the programme will vary in any one year.