History/Scottish Literature

History and Scottish literature is a combination of disciplines united by their engagement with how Scottish identity, culture, and experience have been shaped and expressed over centuries. Scottish literature encompasses one of the richest bodies of writing in the British Isles, from the medieval poetry of Barbour and Henryson through Burns, Scott, Stevenson, and MacDiarmid to the extraordinary flourishing of contemporary Scottish writing from novelists, poets, and playwrights who continue to define the field. History, approached from Glasgow's wide-ranging programme spanning medieval to modern times and across the globe, provides the social, political, and cultural contexts within which that literature was produced.

At the University of Glasgow, this four-year, full-time programme draws on research expertise in Scottish, British, European, American, and global history, including specialist strengths in slavery studies, gender history, and war and intelligence studies. The Scottish literature strand gives you rigorous literary training through the study of texts in their historical and cultural contexts, developing close reading skills, critical argument, and engagement with the Scottish literary tradition in all its linguistic richness, including work in Scots, Gaelic, and English. The two disciplines enrich each other: history gives context and depth to literary interpretation, and literature provides vivid, nuanced access to the past that historical sources alone cannot offer.

The programme includes a year abroad, expanding your academic and personal horizons. An entry tariff of 200 points reflects the highly selective nature of the programme.

Graduates go on to careers in education, journalism, publishing, arts administration, heritage organisations, the civil service, broadcasting, and cultural policy. The combination of historical rigour and literary sensitivity is particularly valuable in roles concerned with Scottish culture, heritage, and identity. Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in Scottish literature, history, or related fields.