
English Literature - MA
Currently viewing course to start in 2023/24 Entry.
Our MA in English Literature is taught by a team of distinguished critics, scholars and creative writers, all working at the cutting edge of their disciplines....
- Level Postgraduate Taught
- Study mode Full Time
- Location City Centre
- Award MA
- Start date September 2023
- Fees View course fees
- School School of English
- Faculty Faculty of Arts, Design and Media
Overview
Our MA in English Literature is taught by a team of distinguished critics, scholars and creative writers, all working at the cutting edge of their disciplines. As well as developing your skills as a critical thinker, you will join a thriving intellectual community, and benefit from a range of guest seminars and masterclasses, many of which are organized through our Institute of Creative and Critical Writing.
What's covered in this course?
The course is aimed at undergraduates who want to take their interest in literature to the next level, as a career development opportunity or simply for the love of the subject. Students with interests in both literary criticism and creative writing can opt to take a module from our MA in Creative Writing.
At the centre of the course is the module ‘Literature and Place’, which encourages students to think about how literary writing responds to, and creates, the places we inhabit and move through. Situated in the heart of a culturally diverse and always evolving city, you will be perfectly located to think about how writing intersects with the world it describes.
Texts for study are drawn from a range of historical periods, but the intellectual focus is distinctly contemporary.
As well as receiving specialist tuition from expert tutors, you’ll attend our programme of guest speakers and public events devoted to the ongoing life of literary writing.
I have spent four excellent, rewarding and productive years in the School of English at BCU. I always found the academic teaching team incredibly supportive and above all devoted to developing the skills and interests of the students. The MA year in particular struck precisely the right balance between the taught modules and the independent learning required to achieve an MA.
Russell Cook
Why Choose Us?
- BCU English is an established member of the M4C – the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership. In English and Creative Writing we have a strong record of securing doctoral funding and our experience and expertise will be invaluable for students who wish to take their studies to the next level.
- You'll become part of the Faculty of Arts, Design and Media’s 6,000-strong student community, and you will be supported by our highly experienced staff, who are all nationally and internationally recognised academics and writers.
- Our teaching staff are also expert researchers in English Language and Literature. You will be joining an elite research community. 94% of research in English at BCU was judged to be either world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*) in REF2021
- You’ll study at both the home of the School of English in Millennium Point, and at our £63 million development the Curzon Building, which boasts a richly stocked University Library, a wealth of digital learning resources, a Students’ Union and a dedicated student support hub.
- This is a fully taught MA in which you will study four bespoke modules in addition to a final project, for which you will have a dedicated tutor. You will study in small, friendly groups and receive expert tuition. All of our teaching is designed specifically for students of English Literature.
- You will be able to take advantage of an exciting programme of guest seminars and public events hosted by BCU’s Institute of Creative and Critical Writing. There is also an option to study some Creative Writing within the course and we are well placed to help you develop final projects that explore the intersections of creative and critical work, of traditional scholarship and cutting-edge practice.
Similar Courses
OPEN DAY
Join us for an on-campus Open Day where you'll be able to meet us in person. You'll get the chance to learn about courses in subject talks, chat to tutors and explore our campus. We'll post you a detailed event programme to help plan your day and find your way.
Next Event: Saturday 24 June
Entry Requirements
Essential Requirements
Essential | ||
---|---|---|
2.2 or above in English Literature or relevant subject. |
||
Alternative equivalent professional qualifications and experience may be considered. |
||
Online interviews will be offered at the discretion of the course team. |
||
For anyone who has studied at undergraduate level in a non-English-speaking country, we also require an English Language qualification equivalent to a British Council IELTS score of 7.0, with no score in any category under 6.5. |
||
If you do not meet all of the essential entry requirements, you will be required to complete a successful interview in order to receive an offer for this course. |
Fees & How to Apply
UK students
Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.
Award: MA
Starting: Sep 2023
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Full Time
- 1 year
- £8,500 in 2023/24
- Full Time
- 18 months (including Professional Placement - see below*)
- £9,350 in 2023/24
International students
Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.
Award: MA
Starting: Sep 2023
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Full Time
- 1 year
- £16,870 in 2023/24
- Full Time
- 18 months (including Professional Placement - see below*)
- £18,557 in 2023/24
*Professional Placement option
The Professional Placement version of the course is optional and is offered as an alternative to the standard version of the course.
This will allow you to complete a credit bearing, 20 week Professional Placement as an integral part of your Master’s Degree. The purpose of the Professional Placement is to improve your employability skills which will, through the placement experience, allow you to evidence your professional skills, attitudes and behaviours at the point of entry to the postgraduate job market. Furthermore, by completing the Professional Placement, you will be able to develop and enhance your understanding of the professional work environment, relevant to your chosen field of study, and reflect critically on your own professional skills development within the workplace.
You will be responsible for finding and securing your own placement. The University, however, will draw on its extensive network of local, regional and national employers to support you in finding a suitable placement to complement your chosen area of study. You will also benefit from support sessions delivered by Careers+ as well as advice and guidance from your School.
Placements will only be confirmed following a competitive, employer-led selection process, therefore the University will not be able to guarantee placements for students who have registered for the ‘with Professional Placement’ course. All students who do not find a suitable placement or do not pass the competitive selection process will be automatically transferred back to the standard, non-placement version of the course.
Personal statement
You’ll need to submit a personal statement as part of your application for this course. This will need to highlight your passion for postgraduate study – and your chosen course – as well as your personal skills and experience, academic success, and any other factors that will support your application for further study.
Not sure what to include? We’re here to help – take a look at our top tips for writing personal statements and download our free postgraduate personal statement guide for further advice and examples from real students.
Course in Depth
Modules
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 140 credits)
This module allows students to explore the evolution and transformation of literary texts through processes of writing, publishing, editing and adapting. There is a focus on the roles of different participants (authors, publishers, editors, readers) in respect of three case studies from different periods and genres (normally but not exclusively a play, a collection of poems, and a work of prose fiction, one of which will usually be by a living writer). So doing, the module provides an introduction to Master’s level study of key critical issues and debates concerning authorship, the literary canon, and the roles of publishers, performers, editors and readers in the production of meaning. An editorial exercise forms part of the assessment regime, encouraging skills of research, pedagogy, transcription and critical evaluation.
The module will centre on William Shakespeare, Macbeth; Wordsworth, The Prelude (1805 and 1850 versions) and a contemporary novel.
The content of this module will be drawn from a range of historical periods, relating to locations and environments, both real and imagined. You will be encouraged to think about the connection between writing, place and placelessness as it develops through history. The module is also interested in the ‘place’ of literature in our own local, national and global contexts: how does an informed understanding of writing and its relation to place (or displacement), through time, help us to see how literature might intervene in, or modify, the world now. Indicative texts for study: The country house tradition of poetry; dystopian/utopian writing – e.g. Thomas More, Utopia; Romanticism and ideas of nationhood (e.g. the poetry of Robert Burns); contemporary fiction and statelessness (e.g. Abdulrazak Gurnah, By the Sea).
The 20-credit bespoke Research Methods module focuses on the skills necessary to complete a major project: project management, networking, liaising with partners, extended writing skills, archival skills. It is carefully placed to support the initial stages of the major project and your progression on to a significant piece of independent research. Assessment will involve organizing a conference with your classmates, at which you will each give a 20-minute presentation.
The purpose of the module is to enable you to undertake a sustained, in-depth and theoretically informed research project exploring an area that is of personal interest to you. It is important that we can support you appropriately, so you will be guided towards choosing a research topic which is relevant to your discipline and in which your lecturers have expertise. The outcome may take the form of a written dissertation or a practical outcome with accompanying reflective, critical and contextual material. The main consideration when choosing your topic is that it must be relevant to your programme and you should consider the relevance of this topic to your future academic or professional development.
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete at least 40 credits from the following indicative list of OPTIONAL modules.
Literature and Truth is a provocative and original module that typifies the MA in exploring a range of literary and intellectual concerns while enabling a focus on the here and now. We will take an in-depth look at literature preoccupied with the presence and absence of truth. We will consider literary experience as a distinct mode of truthfulness, dystopian fiction, social critique, and the role writing plays in creating individual identity.
Indicative texts for study: Shakespeare’s Othello; Swift, A Tale of a Tub; George Eliot, Daniel Deronda; Ezra Pound’s poetry; D. H. Lawrence, The Rainbow and Fantasia of the Unconscious; Sylvia Townsend Warner, Summer Will Show.
In this module, you will study the nature and practice of creative nonfiction, exploring the distinctive issues it raises for writers in recent published works and in your own, including the ethical considerations involved in drawing from real-life subjects as source material, the quality of truth, and the interplay between ‘fact’ and ‘fiction’. You will explore several forms of creative nonfiction, including memoir, travel writing, nature writing, auto/biography, the personal essay, the nonfiction thriller, and literary journalism, and consider the variations in style these might involve.
The module is an opportunity to learn and critically reflect on the skills of collaboration by enabling you to create a research-informed interdisciplinary project with students from complementary disciplines, or with academic staff.
Core modules are guaranteed to run. Optional modules will vary from year to year and the published list is indicative only.
Professional Placement
In order to qualify for the award of MA English Literature with Professional Placement, a student must successfully complete all of the Level 7 modules listed above as well as the following Level 6 module.
This module is designed to provide you with the opportunity to undertake a credit bearing, 20-week Professional Placement as an integral part of your Master’s Degree.
The purpose of the Professional Placement is to improve your employability skills which will, through the placement experience, allow you to evidence your professional skills, attitudes and behaviours at the point of entry to the postgraduate job market. Furthermore, by completing the Professional Placement, you will be able to develop and enhance your understanding of the professional work environment, relevant to your chosen field of study, and reflect critically on your own professional skills development within the workplace.
Download course specification
Download nowMA English Literature is full time, taught over two semesters, and incorporates 180 credits. You will take one 40 credit and one 20 credit taught module in each semester. A major project or dissertation extends from semester two into the summer vacation.
Taught seminars will be supplemented by guest speakers who are concerned in various ways with the positive role that literature and literary study might take on in our present political and social climate (nationally and globally). This will include experts drawn from our impressive range of professional and creative sector contacts: e.g. Birmingham Literature Festival and Writing West Midlands.
Assessment briefs will allow you to develop a range of projects in the form of extended essays, and you will also develop a major project. This might have a traditional English Literature academic focus, but there is also scope to develop original projects with other parts of the Faculty (Media, Fine Art, Music) or in pedagogical theory (e.g.. a project concerned with innovate teaching techniques).
Employability
Studying MA English Literature will help you to develop a range of high-level skills and knowledge.
Upon completion of the course you will be able to:
- Form and communicate complex judgements and ideas and demonstrate comprehensive research skills relating to the advanced study of English Literature.
- Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of techniques in conceptual analysis as it relates to the advanced study of English Literature.
- Critically evaluate current research and advanced scholarship in the discipline, to evaluate methodologies and develop critiques of them and, where appropriate, to propose new hypotheses.
- Demonstrate originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in the discipline.
- Develop the independent learning ability and self-direction required for continuing professional and academic development.
Industry Links
The School of English has links with local and regional arts organisations, authors, poets, and many more leading professionals. Our staff and students have worked with:
- Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
- The Birmingham Midland Institute
- Writing West Midlands (the Literature Development Agency for the region)
- Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
- The Library of Birmingham
Find out more about how we work with industry here.
International
Birmingham City University is a vibrant and multicultural university in the heart of a modern and diverse city. We welcome many international students every year – there are currently students from more than 80 countries among our student community.
The University is conveniently placed, with Birmingham International Airport nearby and first-rate transport connections to London and the rest of the UK.
Our international pages contain a wealth of information for international students who are considering applying to study here, including:
- Explore some of the good reasons why you should study here.
- Find out how to improve your language skills before starting your studies.
- Find all the information relevant to applicants from your country.
- Learn where to find financial support for your studies.
Facilities & Staff
Our Facilities
When you join Birmingham City University, the first thing you will notice is the high standard of our campuses. With an investment of £340 million across our buildings and facilities, we are committed to giving you the very best learning environment to help shape your experience.
You will study at both the home of the School of English in Millennium Point, and at our £63 million development the Curzon Building, located on our City Centre campus in the vibrant second city that is Birmingham.
Discover your bright and open learning spaces, your 24 hour (during term time) library, drama, media and radio studios, along with state of the art lecture theatres, and a variety of sociable break-out areas, all adding to your unique learning experience.
Our staff
Dr Anthony Howe
Reader in English Literature and MA English Literature Course Director
Dr Anthony Howe is Reader in English Literature and Associate Director of Research in the School of English at Birmingham City University. Originally from the North East of England, he studied at Liverpool (BA; MA) before taking a PhD at Cambridge. Prior to his current post he taught at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford. He is a Senior...
More about AnthonyDr Gemma Moss
Reader in Modern and Contemporary Literature
Before joining BCU, Gemma taught at the University of Salford and the University of Manchester, where she completed an MA in Postcolonial Literature and an AHRC-funded PhD. Gemma is author of Modernism, Music and the Politics of Aesthetics (Edinburgh University Press, 2021). She is currently editing E. M. Forster’s first novel, Where Angels Fear to...
More about GemmaDr Sarah Wood
Head of Birmingham Institute of Media and English
Sarah Wood holds degrees from JMU, the University of Liverpool, and Birmingham City University, where she gained her PhD. Her research interests are in feminism and science fiction. She has an article on Octavia Butler forthcoming in FEMSPEC and is working on further studies of Butler as well as of Nalo Hopkinson and slave narrative.
More about Sarah