Classical Studies with English

Classical studies and English literature make natural companions. Both disciplines are fundamentally concerned with how language constructs meaning, how texts emerge from and reshape their cultural contexts, and how works produced centuries ago continue to speak to readers in the present. Studying them together at King's College London allows you to draw connections across time and form, reading Homer or Virgil alongside Shakespeare or Woolf, and developing a genuinely comparative understanding of literary tradition.

This three-year full-time BA is an interdepartmental programme that encourages you to build a curriculum around your own interests. You will engage with the literature, philosophy, history, and culture of ancient Greece and Rome, developing the analytical skills to read these texts closely and situate them within their historical and intellectual contexts. Alongside this you will study English literature across its full historical range, from the medieval period through to contemporary writing.

The combination produces graduates with a distinctive perspective: an understanding of how the Western literary tradition is rooted in classical culture, and how that inheritance has been adapted, challenged, and transformed over centuries. A typical entry tariff of 152 points reflects the academic rigour expected of students entering the programme.

Throughout the degree you will develop skills in close reading, critical argument, essay writing, and the interpretation of complex texts. You will also engage with literary theory and with questions of canon, translation, and cultural authority that are central to both disciplines. The flexibility of the programme means you can pursue the areas that most engage you, whether that is ancient epic, Renaissance drama, classical philosophy, or twentieth-century fiction.

Graduates of classical studies and English literature programmes go on to careers in publishing, journalism, law, teaching, the civil service, heritage, arts administration, and many other fields where strong analytical and communication skills are valued. Postgraduate study in classics, English, or comparative literature is a well-worn route for those drawn to academic research or specialist professional work.