English Literature

English literature is one of the foundational disciplines of the humanities, concerned with the critical reading and interpretation of literary texts across a vast range of periods, forms, genres and cultural contexts. Studying it develops your capacity to engage with complexity, to construct sustained and well-evidenced arguments, and to communicate your thinking clearly and compellingly. It also develops a kind of attentiveness to language and meaning that has value across almost every professional and intellectual context.

At the University of Edinburgh, this four-year programme develops your critical, analytic, linguistic and creative skills by engaging with a broad range of texts and a variety of approaches to reading. You will move across historical periods and literary forms, developing your understanding of how literature has changed over time and how it relates to the social, cultural and political contexts in which it was produced and received. The programme encourages intellectual independence and the willingness to question received interpretations, developing the skills of close reading and rigorous argument that characterise the discipline at its best.

A year abroad is built into the programme, giving you the opportunity to study literature at an international partner institution and broaden your perspective on literary culture beyond the British tradition.

English literature graduates enter careers in an exceptionally wide range of fields. Publishing, journalism, education, broadcasting, the civil service, law, marketing, advertising, arts administration and creative work are among the most common destinations. The skills developed through literary study, including the ability to read carefully, write clearly, argue persuasively and understand diverse perspectives, are valued across virtually every professional context.

Postgraduate study in literature, creative writing, education, cultural studies or linguistics is a natural next step for those who want to deepen their engagement with the discipline or pursue academic careers.