BA (Hons) English Literature

Set in 600 acres of countryside in North Staffordshire, we have one of the largest and most beautiful campuses in Britain. We’re proud to be No.2 in England for Student Satisfaction with Course (Guardian University League Table, 2020), investing more than £140m in our campus in the last ten years, including £45m new science laboratories. In 2021 we were proud to be awarded Sustainability Institution of the Year at the prestigious Green Gown Awards as part of our mission to become a carbon neutral campus by 2030. We're committed to supporting you to achieve your career goals, and have a dedicated Careers and Employability team who can assist you to navigate your options beyond Keele. Are you inspired by the drama of Caryl Churchill and Oscar Wilde, the novels of Jane Austen and Zadie Smith, the poetry of Sylvia Plath and Linton Kwesi Johnson? Do you have a passion for exploring literary works that challenge your views and prompt creativity? As an English Literature student at Keele, you will immerse yourself in literature from Shakespeare to the contemporary and examine literature in English from across the world, including Britain, North America and Africa, taking a truly global perspective.Is your imagination captured by the literature of the Renaissance and the Victorians, or the opportunity to know more about postcolonialism or postmodernism? As an English Literature student at Keele, you'll be encouraged to delve deep into a range of literary works, which may include authors such as Emily Bronte, Aphra Behn, Tsitsi Dangarembga and J M Coetzee.Our intellectually stimulating and engaging approach to exploring novels, poetry, drama, graphic novels and other types of literature produce intelligent, perceptive, socially aware and compassionate individuals who are able to make a real impact. English Literature at Keele is a vibrant community of staff and students who are passionate in their belief that literature and culture are vital to understand the world around us.You'll tackle a range of issues and unprecedented challenges of our cultural moment, which could include decolonisation, sustainability and the environment, gender and sexuality, migration, political extremism, or the role of literature as an arbiter of truth in an era of information overload and fake news. We are committed to enabling you to tailor your degree. Alongside the compulsory English Literature modules, you are given the flexibility to choose optional modules which not only align with your literary interest, but also your career aspirations. We enable you to embed an interdisciplinary approach to your studies, by offering you the opportunity to explore modules outside of the English Literature curriculum, including those from areas such as Creative Writing, Film, History, Media, Education and Modern Languages.Studying English Literature at Keele enables you to develop key skills in reading, writing and critical thinking. Taught by expert lecturers, you will explore and interpret literary texts that will challenge your views, advance your tastes, prompt your creativity, and give you the opportunity to become a versatile graduate. Through a range of activities and assessments, our diverse course will equip you with a wide array of attributes that employers are looking for, including problem solving, creativity, emotional intelligence, and digital literacy. You will pursue your passions, grow in confidence, and gain a unique set of transferable skills that will be invaluable for your future career in a variety of sectors.