A bookcase with books at haphazard angles

Postgraduate English Literature courses

An author reads to a room of students

The Department of English Literature is one of the leading departments for the postgraduate study of English Literature and culture in the UK. We are one of the top 50 English departments in the world (QS 2021) and our students explore, research and study a wide range of literary specialisms, from Old English to Digital Cultures and everything in between. Our perspectives on the field - theoretical, historical, and intellectual - are diverse and methodologically rigorous.

Our postgraduate programmes have an excellent staff-to-student ratio and we offer supportive guidance and expert tailored supervision so that students can pursue their own research interests.

Students are part of an active community in the department, with conferences, reading groups and events run by the postgraduate students as well as academic staff. Students are also encouraged to take part in our wide variety of research centres from Reformation and Early Modern Studies to Modernist Cultures.

Each year, students have the opportunity to participate in the department Graduate Conference for MA/MRes/MPhil/PhD students. This is organised by a graduate student committee who are in charge of curating the theme and call for papers, putting together the programme, and managing a small budget to cater the event.