English Literature MA

About This Course

Our English Literature MA offers the opportunity to pursue English literary studies at an advanced level. Here you will be able to develop the skills and knowledge required for textual, theoretical and historical analysis in your chosen field while participating fully in a vibrant research environment of published writers and researchers.

The programme consists of taught modules (Part One) mainly assessed by essays, followed by a dissertation (Part Two).

On this MA you can explore your interests across the wide-ranging field of English literary studies in their choice of taught modules, or they may elect to follow a programme of taught modules and one-to-one supervision in more specialised areas of interest. For those wishing to specialise there is also the opportunity to cluster module choices around particularly strong areas of department expertise, such as:

Medieval and Early Modern Literature: These are well-known and internationally recognised areas of expertise at Bangor. Members of the School of English undertake research in medieval English poetry, prose and drama; the literature of the Tudor period; the drama of Shakespeare and his contemporaries; early modern book history; and seventeenth-century literature in poetry and prose as well as on the stage. Particular areas of interest include Chaucerian studies, medieval romance, Arthurian literature, medieval and early modern drama, pre-modern travel writing, early modern memory studies, George Herbert and devotional poetry, autobiographical writing, Milton, polemical prose, words and music, manuscript studies, and the work of women writers across the medieval and early modern periods.

Material Texts: This subject area introduces the postgraduate student to many of the methodologies associated with the history of the book, the sociology of texts, the history of reading and the theories associated with editing. The investigation of the material text and the circumstances of production and consumption are growing areas within the discipline of literary studies.

Revolution and Modernity, 1750 to the Present: This area of expertise – unique in the UK – offers students the opportunity to become intimately acquainted with the historical, cultural and literary forces that have shaped our contemporary age.