BA English
Please note: This page is for 2027 entry. Click here for 2026 entry.
| UCAS code | Q300 |
|---|---|
| Duration | 3 years |
| Entry year | 2027 |
| Campus | Streatham Campus |
| Typical offer | A-Level: AAB |
|---|---|
|
A-Level: BBB |
| UCAS code | Q313 |
|---|---|
| Duration | 4 years |
| Entry year | 2027 |
| Campus | Streatham Campus |
| Typical offer | A-Level: AAB |
|---|---|
|
A-Level: BBB |
| UCAS code | Q315 |
|---|---|
| Duration | 4 years |
| Entry year | 2027 |
| Campus | Streatham Campus |
| Typical offer | A-Level: AAB |
|---|---|
|
A-Level: BBB |
Why study BA English at Exeter?
- You’ll develop your expertise in subjects ranging from medieval to contemporary literatures.
- We offer diverse optional modules so you can build a programme reflective of your literary interests.
- Our English department includes world-class experts in the subfields of film studies and creative writing.
- Excellent facilities on campus include our Special Collections relating to world-renowned writers, The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum which is a unique film and popular culture resource and our Digital Humanities Lab. Exeter has also recently been awarded UNESCO City of Literature status.
- Participate in events involving internationally acclaimed authors, actors and filmmakers.
- Opportunity to combine English with other subjects as part of our Combined Honours courses.
![]()
Top 10 in the UK for English
![]()
Top 50 in the world for English Language and Literature
QS World University Subject Rankings 2026
![]()
Unique on-site resources: Exeter’s Special Collections archive and The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum
![]()
85% of English graduates in/due to start employment or further study 15 months after graduation
Based on full-time, first degree, UK domiciled graduates, HESA Graduate Outcomes survey 2022/23 data (published 2025)
Whilst my studies here at the University of Exeter have been incredible (I cannot speak highly enough of my English course), my time at Exeter has been defined by what I do away from the books.
I have taken managerial roles within societies, broadening my circle of peers and allowing me to develop my leadership skills. Not only have I been involved in voluntary positions, the University’s broad internship programme has allowed me to take paid work in the Digital Humanities Labs, assisting academics on world leading research and pioneering and fostering new relationships between the University and the rest of the world.
This internship has let me interact with texts like the first edition of William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies’ (with the rarely seen first chapter) and even taken me to Canada, all of which is incredible experience, and will stand me in good stead for further study. I chose the study abroad option at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, as I believe that having international experience is key to success as work between countries continues to become more globally significant and the world is becoming smaller through communication and travel,’
Connor
BA English with Study Abroad (Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia)
Entry requirements (typical offer)
| Qualification | Typical offer | Required subjects |
|---|---|---|
| A-Level | AAB | B in an accepted Humanities or Social Science subject* (see below) |
| IB | 34/665 | HL5 in an accepted Humanities or Social Science subject* (see below) |
| BTEC | DDD | Applicants studying a BTEC Extended Diploma are also required to achieve an A-Level grade B in an accepted Humanities or Social Science subject* (see below) |
| GCSE | C or 4 | English Language |
| Access to HE | 30 L3 credits at Distinction Grade and 15 L3 credits at Merit Grade | To include at least 12 L3 credits at Merit Grade in an accepted Humanities or Social Science subject* (see below) |
| T-Level | Distinction | Applicants studying a T-Level will also require GCE A-Level grade B in an accepted Humanities or Social Science subject* (see below) |
| Contextual Offer | A-Level: BBB |
Specific subject requirements must still be achieved where stated above. Find out more about contextual offers. |
| Other accepted qualifications | ||
| English language requirements |
International students need to show they have the required level of English language to study this course. The required test scores for this course fall under Profile B1. Please visit our English language requirements page to view the required test scores and equivalencies from your country. |
|
NB General Studies is not included in any offer.
Grades advertised on each programme webpage are the typical level at which our offers are made and provide information on any specific subjects an applicant will need to have studied in order to be considered for a place on the programme. However, if we receive a large number of applications for the programme we may not be able to make an offer to all those who are predicted to achieve/have achieved grades which are in line with our typical offer. For more information on how applications are assessed and when decisions are released, please see: After you apply
*Accepted Humanities and Social Science subjects:
- Anthropology
- Classics and Ancient History
- Drama
- English
- Geography
- Government and Politics
- History
- Law
- Media Studies
- Modern Languages
- Philosophy
- Politics
- Psychology
- Religious Studies
- Sociology
Course content
You will explore the work of some of the giants of English literature as well as discovering more unusual works from the past and engaging literary and cultural works from the contemporary moment.
At Streatham, our team’s vast expertise offers plenty of choice so you can develop an understanding of many different genres and forms of writing. As well as covering the full breadth of the English literary landscape from the Middle Ages to the 21st century, our degree programmes give you the opportunity to learn about the history of cinema, study creative writing (poetry, prose and screenplays), and you’ll also encounter global literatures and digital media.
Indeed, the range of media we cover on our modules is vast: as well as plays, novels, poetry, and short stories, we engage with film, television, video games, graphic novels and the creative industries.
You may notice changes to some of our modules over the coming months. This is because we are making space for the following:
- Minors: Future Skills Pathways - Alongside your main degree you may be eligible (depending on your course) to choose modules from another subject to broaden your skills and interests.
- Skills to Thrive built into every degree - Essential skills for your future, including communication, problem-solving, teamwork and digital confidence.
- Increased innovation and wellbeing - More room for creative learning, real-world projects and a healthier study rhythm.
Please note that the module information displayed here is subject to change.
90 credits of compulsory modules, 30 credits of optional modules
Compulsory modules
| Code | Module | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Compulsory 1 | ||
| Approaches to Criticism | 30 | |
| Beginnings: English Literature before 1800 | 30 | |
| The Poem | 15 | |
| Academic English | 15 | |
EAS1032: Approaches to Criticism
This module will introduce you to a broad range of critical and theoretical approaches to reading texts. Such approaches, developed throughout the twentieth and twenty-first century and deployed by English Studies scholars, are intended to be both worthy of historical study in their own right and useful to your own research at university. Over the course of the module you will explore a range of ways in which you might approach familiar and unfamiliar texts, and be encouraged to question exactly what a text might be and why it is worth our critical attention.
To cover a significant range of critical and theoretical approaches to literary and film studies in the context of English Studies, including work on language and meaning, texts and reading, the mind and the brain, ideology and power, gender and sexuality, race and empire. The module encourages you to recognise dialogue and dissent within the field, and introduces the ground rules for scholarship in the discipline of English Studies.
EAS1035: Beginnings: English Literature before 1800
This module selects texts that represent some of the richest sources and most complex moments of English cultural history before 1800. These texts, and the cultural elements they combine, went on to have afterlives of great significance for English language, literature and other media. In other senses, they offered legacies that were not taken up, and what has been lost in cultural transformations will also be considered.
The module aims to
- introduce you to these major literary texts. In doing so, we aim to cultivate modes of reading and critical analysis broadly informed by an attention to history and context. Such analysis will include ideas of subjectivity, identity, conflict, community, myth, the transmission of stories, storytelling, translation, transformation, and influence. This module will emphasise essay-writing skills that are fundamental to research and communication in English literature.
EAS1038: The Poem
Despite its strong oral traditions and origins, poetry is the origin of all written literature. It is the base on which all that literature - drama, novels, non-fiction prose - is built. Many of its formal elements are used in common and rhetorical speech. This module is designed to introduce you to the mechanical aspects of poetry and to its history; in addition, it offers you insight into the history and influence of important poetic eras, as well as into how understanding of it may be enriched by literary theory. By the end of the module, you will have a firm grounding in the poem as a form and as a literary force.
The aim of the course is to cultivate skills of formal analysis which can be used in combination with other interpretive and creative techniques later in the degree. There will thus be a close focus in seminars on details of language in particular examples of poetry.
EAS1040: Academic English
Academic English introduces you to the techniques needed to write successful, university-level analytical essays on literary texts and topics. Using model essays and articles, seminar discussions, your own essay writing, and guided readings, you will learn how to write well structured, clearly argued persuasive analytical essays, with a focus on some of the fundamentals of writing: arguments/thesis statements, paragraphing, clarity of expression, essay formatting and accurate referencing. You will also learn how to locate, evaluate, and use secondary (critical) sources that support your essay's argument, as well as how to cite those sources correctly. There will also be attention to ways of analysing literature effectively.
Optional modules
| Code | Module | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Optional 1 | ||
| Digital Cultures: Narrative, Creativity, Industry | 15 | |
| The Novel | 15 | |
| Rethinking Shakespeare | 15 | |
| Imagine This: Prompts for Creative Writing | 15 | |
EAS1016: Digital Cultures: Narrative, Creativity, Industry
Digital technology has transformed almost every area of human life over the last sixty-five years, and the written word remains at the core of this ongoing transformation. This module will introduce you to some of these developments across literary cultures, and you will gain an understanding of how phenomena such as interactive storytelling, artificial intelligence and the Internet have come to influence literature's subject matter as well as its modes of publishing and production. Alongside critical readings and discussions, you will conduct practice-based research by learning to use some of the technologies and software that define modern literary cultures..
This module aims:
- To consider how digital technology makes itself apparent in modern literary, visual and creative cultures.
- To introduce you to a diverse range of authors, poets, artists, technologists, theorists and critics both commenting upon and using digital technologies to explore new possibilities in literature.
- To explore the historical relationship between literary cultures, visual cultures and emerging technologies, grounding students' understanding of current debates in this field.
- To enable you to create a diverse portfolio of creative and critical responses to the topics explored in class, including both traditional written outputs and digital prototypes.
EAS1037: The Novel
This module will introduce you to an exciting range of novels representative of diverse narrative styles drawn from different historical periods and national contexts. The module covers the development of this important genre from the birth of the novel in eighteenth-century England through the nineteenth-century and modernist periods into the present day. It provides an invaluable foundation for future study in a number of literary fields.
- To introduce students to an exciting range of novels representative of diverse narrative styles drawn from different historical periods and national contexts. The module covers the development of this important genre from the birth of the novel in eighteenth-century England through the nineteenth-century and modernist periods into the present day.
- To address the emergence and reception of the novel in relation to its historical and literary contexts and to its adoption, and adaptation, of particular voices and forms. Close readings of chosen novels will be supplemented by theoretical and critical analysis. Stylistic changes - such as the move from nineteenth-century realist fiction to modernist experimentation - will be explored alongside specific texts which illuminate the impact of cultural change on fictional form.
- In looking at a variety of examples of prose fiction, to examine the pleasures of the novel, as well as the historical conditions and textual strategies which underpin those pleasures.
EAS1041: Rethinking Shakespeare
This module explores Shakespeare's plays from a wide range of perspectives. You will study in depth some of the plays and examine the contexts of their production and reception; the plays' print history; early modern performance practices, and how other writers and film directors have adapted Shakespeare's plays. Through engaging with the sources and precursors to Shakespeare's plays, the intricacies of textual production and editorial history, as well as how these plays have been reimagined by other writers, you will be asked to rethink notions of textual stability in relation to the 'Shakespearean text' and encounter the nuances and richness available within Shakespeare Scholarship.
The module aims to explore the processes by which Shakespeare's plays came into existence, how they achieved their unique status in English literature and culture, and how Shakespeare's dominance has been and continues to be challenged. The module illuminates the role (and texts) of other writers involved in the legacy of Shakespeare's plays, from the Restoration to the twenty-first century, and encourages you to examine these often neglected influences within modern understandings of Shakespeare. Throughout, the module pays close attention to the particular possibilities of theatre as a mode of cultural production.
EAS1044: Imagine This: Prompts for Creative Writing
This module will ask you for a creative writing response to whatever 'prompt' is suggested - whether it's a newspaper headline, the Ted Hughes archive in The Old Library, or a geographical feature. It will invigorate your entrepreneurial spirit, and will include expressions written in both poetry, prose and dramatic forms. Working across a wide range of writing styles and genres, you will make literature that works for the ear and the body and the page. The assessment will be entirely creative, and in that sense the module complements the other term-2 compulsory module on the Combined Honours English and Creative Writing degree programme, 'Critical Reflections', for which the assessment will be wholly critical/academic.
This module has a clear set of learning strategies, offering you a series of stepping stones that navigate the creative process in different forms. You will develop learning strategies that will encourage self-starting intelligence and invention, an entrepreneurial spirit. It will explore the notion of the 'good idea' and its relationship with form - whether poetry, prose, or dramatic expression, as well as strategies for successful drafting/rewriting. The overall intention of the module is for you to develop an individual creative process that might be carried forward into a writing life.
Please note that the module information displayed here is subject to change.
120 credits of optional modules.
You must choose at least one module from this group [Groups 1 and 2]: you may select 30-60 credits of optional modules from this group.
You must choose at least one module from this group [Groups 1 and 2]: you may select 30-60 credits of optional modules from this group.
You may select 0-60 credits of optional modules from this group [Group 3] (although you are not required to choose any from this group).
Optional modules
| Code | Module | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Group 1 Optional Modules | ||
| Desire and Power: English Literature 1570-1640 | 30 | |
| Theatrical Cultures in Early Modern England | 30 | |
| Chaucer and His Contemporaries | 30 | |
| Renaissance and Revolution | 30 | |
| Satire and the City: English Literature 1660-1750 | 30 | |
| Group 2 Optional Modules | ||
| Revolutions and Evolutions 19C Writings | 30 | |
| Modernism and Modernity: Literature 1900-1960 | 30 | |
| Romanticism | 30 | |
| Empire of Liberty: American Literature of the Long Nineteenth Century | 30 | |
| Group 3 Optional Modules | ||
| Adaptations: Text, Image, Culture | 15 | |
| Creative Writing: Building a Story | 30 | |
| Creative Writing: Making a Poem | 30 | |
| British Cultures: The Exeter Seminar | 15 | |
| Comics Studies: Histories, Methodologies, Genres | 15 | |
| Creative Industries: Their Past, Our Future | 30 | |
| Humanities after the Human: Further Adventures in Critical Theory | 30 | |
| Culture, Crisis and Ecology in a Postcolonial World | 30 | |
EAS2026: Desire and Power: English Literature 1570-1640
This module introduces you to a wide range of literature written during a crucial turning point in the English Renaissance, when society was undergoing enormous change and upheaval at every level. It covers the work of dramatists, such as Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Webster; poets, including Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Wroth, Spenser, Sidney, and Donne; and inventive prose writers like Thomas Nashe and John Stow. It deals with constructions of race, sexuality, and disability; explores issues of cultural contact and migration; examines the role of literature in upholding and subverting authority; and investigates the representation and meanings of violence.
The module aims to familiarise you with the breadth and depth of the literature of the English Renaissance, its fascinating contexts, complexities, and contradictions. You will engage with the ways in which Renaissance writers address eroti-cism, religion, race, class, authorship, social change, and anxiety about the power of the monarchy. You will learn about theoretical and critical landmarks in Renaissance Studies, as well as recent, cutting-edge critical perspectives on the Re-naissance, its cultural discourses and current resonances.
EAS2036: Theatrical Cultures in Early Modern England
Theatrical Cultures in Early Modern England focuses on the 'golden age' of English drama from the Elizabethan period through to the Civil War which produced the works of Shakespeare and other playwrights who continue to influence our understanding of this period and its drama today. Each week, you will explore a new performance environment, so that over the course of the term you will acquire a nuanced understanding of the performance culture that shaped the work of Shakespeare, Jonson, Middleton, Cary and their fellow playwrights.
Through the prism of theatre history, the module explores how gender, sexual, national and racial identities were constructed not just through the written texts but also through theatrical conventions and technologies such as cross-dressing, blackface performance and the use of stage space, lighting and costuming. The study of both texts and their performance contexts will shed light on how popular and elite culture responded to immigration and the beginnings of colonial expansion and the slave trade.
The module's texts furthermore illuminate how increasing opportunities for women's participation in theatrical culture, foreign policy under Elizabeth I and James I and the growth of a mercantile middle class are related to the development of English drama.
EAS2071: Chaucer and His Contemporaries
This module introduces you to late medieval English literature. You will have the chance to explore some exceptionally inclusive poetic imaginations and a world of devotion, brutality, exclusion, chivalry, urbanity, misogyny, piety, courtly sophistication, sharp minds and some very bodily bodies.
We will look at religious and secular, and courtly and popular traditions, and themes such as 'courtly love', that adores women and puts them on a pedestal, arguably the better to ignore them; the constructions of femininity and masculinity in a Christian chivalric culture; the ways in which a tension-riven society went about presenting a harmonious vision of itself; and a Christianity that approached its God with a mixture of familiarity and awe. The module is split more or less equally between the works of Chaucer and the anonymous literature of the late Middle Ages.
The module aims to provide an introduction to the literature of the late Middle Ages in England.
The syllabus is split more or less equally between the works of Chaucer and the anonymous literature of the late Middle Ages. You will also consider the particular nuances of Middle English as a vehicle for literary expression and explore late-medieval culture.
EAS2080: Renaissance and Revolution
This module introduces English literature written during the most violent and turbulent period of English history: the seventeenth century. The module traces literature from Shakespeare to Milton, exploring literary culture at the courts of the Stuart kings James I, Charles I, and Charles II, as well as literary reactions to the civil war, the execution of the king, and the rule of Oliver Cromwell. It includes drama, poetry, and prose, and studies major male and female writers within their wider literary and historical landscape.
EAS2102: Satire and the City: English Literature 1660-1750
The period 1660 to 1750 was politically and culturally tumultuous. The Stuart dynasty was restored to the throne, and then deposed again. London expanded massively, becoming the largest city in Europe and a centre for financial and criminal activity. The theatres - closed during the civil war and interregnum - reopened, and actresses appeared on the English stage for the first time. The spread of literacy and growth of the press led to the emergence of many new literary genres - above all the periodical and the novel - and of the first professional authors, many of whom were women. Satire and polemical writing flourished in the period, as writers reacted against (or celebrated) these seismic shifts. This module offers an in-depth look at the writing of this period.
The long eighteenth century is a key period in British history and literature, when many of the cultural productions that inform our contemporary modernity - the novel, the periodical, the marketplace for a new, expanded print culture - emerged and started to take shape. You will read a broad range of texts, drawn equally from the poetry, prose and drama of the period, and learn to identify how these relate to the revolutionary times in which they were written.
EAS2029: Revolutions and Evolutions 19C Writings
Revolutions and Evolutions explores a wide range of literature written during the Victorian period. You will study literary texts by writers such as Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, and Thomas Hardy in relation to central historical, social, and cultural developments in the nineteenth century. The texts on this module are thematically arranged in order to illuminate a number of the important and exciting conceptual developments of the nineteenth century including industrialisation and progress; class consciousness and democracy; globalisation and colonialism; developing notions of the self and subjectivity; and conceptions of nature , ecology and evolution.
As well as studying a selection of major Victorian texts in depth, to consider these texts in their historical, social, and cultural contexts. The use of a course reader will introduce you to a range of texts beyond the core reading that will give you a broad understanding of the major themes that influence the literary production of the period. Such themes include imperialism, industrialisation and urbanisation; gender and identity, religion, secularism and the rise of science; liberalism; the emergence of the mass market; and the development of new literary forms such as the short story
EAS2103: Modernism and Modernity: Literature 1900-1960
Modernism and Modernity explores a wide range of British, American and Irish authors from the first half of the twentieth century (1900-1960). In different ways, these authors sought to challenge established ways of using language and reinvent literature itself. You will study the texts in relation to their political, aesthetic and critical contexts. Particular attention is paid to innovation and experimentation, to the emergence and development of literary and cultural movements and to literatures' perceived responsibility in a time of change. You will learn skills in contextual and historical analysis, and independent research.
- As well as studying literary texts in depth, this module aims to strengthen your skills in contextual and historical analysis and research. Lectures and seminars will introduce key concepts and provide advice on further independent research. Study group meetings and prepared seminar presentations will give you the opportunity to develop your own approaches to the syllabus texts and other materials.
EAS2106: Romanticism
The Romantic movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries transformed European culture, and had profound implications for a modern understanding of the self, nature, feeling, gender, imagination, the sublime, freedom and the role of the artist as an interpreter of all these. This module introduces some of the key canonical texts of British Romanticism produced during the years 1780-1830, in order to understand the phenomenon of Romanticism, its relation to historical, political, and aesthetic developments, and its legacy in today's world. The module is essential study for an understanding of literary history as a whole, and prepares you for more in-depth study of Romantic topics in Year 3 and beyond.
In addition to the primary literature, we will pay close attention to the central concepts and concerns of the era; the visual arts; Romantic experimentation with poetic forms; and the intertextual literary circles that formed between key Romantic figures. The early weeks of the module will introduce key Romantic concerns. At the centre of the module will be an exploration of writings by leading authors of the period, including Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Mary Wollstonecraft, John Keats, Lord Byron, and Charlotte Smith.
EAS2116: Empire of Liberty: American Literature of the Long Nineteenth Century
This module explores key literary texts of the United States during the long nineteenth century. You will study a broad range of major contributions - including poetry, the novel, the short story, slave narratives, and autobiography - as well as the intersections of literature with broader contextual issues, such as literary nationalism, the literature of enslavement and the American Civil War, and the Gilded Age.
You will learn how the turbulent social and political development of the US during this time is reflected through literature, considering contexts such as the constitution of the democratic state, the fraught history of ethnic and race relations, the changing gender politics of US society, and how transnational models of culture have affected our understanding of the US literary canon.
Module aims:
- To consider major artistic forms and styles such as the American gothic, poetry, the tale and the short story, the autobiography, the slave narrative, and the American novel
EAF2520: Adaptations: Text, Image, Culture
The process of adapting material between media, including literary forms, such as scripts, short stories, novels and plays and visual forms, including film, television, graphic novels, webtoons, and games is one of the oldest, most dominant and most ubiquitous strategies in the creative industries. By analysing a wide range of adaptations in different forms you will be able to understand the rich and complex relationships between textual and visual media at distinct historical moments and in specific cultural contexts. This module introduces key issues in transmedia studies and offers you the opportunity to understand adaptation as a creative process and adaptations as cultural products.
EAS2031: Creative Writing: Building a Story
The module develops a toolbox of writing techniques and approaches for contemporary short fiction. It will prepare you for the contemporary writing world by focusing on the kinds of writing that are being published at the present time, while examining the production of literary texts within their traditions and lineages. Through practical exercises and seminar discussions, you will explore a variety of techniques, styles and content and build towards a portfolio of short stories and an accompanying critical essay that will show how you have reflected on and implemented the concepts and techniques taught on the course.
The course comprises a fortnightly lecture on key aspects of short story writing, as well as technical material on the set texts; a weekly 2-hour seminar that helps you develop the techniques introduced in the lectures, and fortnightly 'Workshops' to further develop and give and receive critical feedback on creative work and critical reading in progress. These approaches are designed to enhance the understanding of the practice, as well as the historical, social and critical contexts that produce short story writing and writers.
Only B.A. English and Creative Writing students and Creative Writing majors on the Liberal Arts programme are permitted to take BOTH EAS2031 AND EAS2032: Making a Poem.
EAS2032: Creative Writing: Making a Poem
The module develops a toolbox of writing techniques and approaches for writing contemporary poetry. It will prepare you for the contemporary poetry world by focusing on the kinds of 'page poetry' that are being written and published at the present time, while examining the production of literary texts within their traditions and lineages. Through practical exercises and seminar discussions, you will explore a variety of textual form and content.
The course comprises lectures on key aspects of poetry writing technique, as well as material on the set texts; seminars that help you develop the techniques introduced in the lectures, and workshops to receive and give detailed criticism and feedback on works in progress. These approaches are designed to enhance the understanding of the practice, as well as the historical, social and critical contexts that produce poetry and poets.
Only students enrolled on the B.A. English and Creative Writing programme and who are Creative Writing majors on the Liberal Arts programme may take BOTH this module and EAS2031: Building a Story.
EAS2033: British Cultures: The Exeter Seminar
This module is especially designed for inbound study abroad students and will enhance your experience of visiting Britain by providing you with a critical introduction to British Culture from the medieval period through to the present day. The module covers a variety of cultural forms (including literature and film) and genres (including drama, fiction and poetry) and encourages you to reflect on the processes by which - sometimes competing - ideas about national identity have been created, disseminated and interpreted in Britain. Teaching is by regular seminars and assessment is by a reflective learning log, a presentation, and an independent study.
This module aims to provide inbound study abroad students with a distinctive critical introduction to British Cultures, including national legends, icons, beliefs and values. It will provide you with the opportunity to study some familiar texts in depth and will introduce you to some that you might not yet have encountered. The aim is to equip you with skills that will enable you to interpret examples of British Culture in relation to their contexts. The module is taught by a convenor with frequent guest contributions from specialists in the department who have research interests in this area.
EAS2037: Comics Studies: Histories, Methodologies, Genres
This module will introduce you to the academic analysis of the medium of comics, including graphic novels, periodicals (‘comic books’), and webcomics, examining comics from the US, Franco-Belgian, and British industries. Comics Studies moves from the origins of comics in the nineteenth century all the way through to the digital present, and will equip students for further intellectual adventures into the study of sequential art.This module engages with the various methods that comics scholars deploy, from close-reading texts to sociological accounts of fandom, from studying sales figures to the history of censorship. After encountering multiple methodologies, students are encouraged to make connections between different weeks and to pursue interdisciplinary approaches to Comics Studies.As well as online resources such as the Underground and Independent Comics database, students benefit from the material held in the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum. Seminar teaching draws upon these archivesEAS2089: Creative Industries: Their Past, Our Future
Creative Industries: Their Past, Our Future tracks the profound changes that the creative industries have gone through during the 20th and early 21st centuries. The module, which focuses on the publishing industry, museums, film and theatre, looks at how each of these industries has become increasingly focused on 'users', tracking how the industries have worked with emergent technologies, including social media and AI, to shape new forms of engagement; how they have widened participation and redefined access; reinvented values (aesthetic, economic, social); and dealt with generational and social divides.
You will learn about how the creative industries operate as organisations; how they design their relationships to readerships, visitors and audiences; how they use a range of technologies to reach out to different communities; how they produce novel forms of aesthetic, social, and economic value; and how they usually operate through shrinking budgets.
The module requires no prior knowledge or skills and is open to anyone with an interest in the current and future developments of the creative industries.
EAS2090: Humanities after the Human: Further Adventures in Critical Theory
Humanities After the Human considers how critical theory - a constellation of writing that includes philosophy, sociology, political manifesto, and cultural commentary - has decentred the (white, heterosexual, able-bodied, cisgender, male) human subject as the privileged site of meaning, knowledge, and creativity. In so doing, this course tries to imagine those yet-to-be-enumerated possibilities of being and relating to others and the world around us that models of subjectivity in late consumer capitalism tend to foreclose. You will build on concepts introduced in Approaches to Criticism and reflect on the challenges that critical theory poses for the study of literature, the limits of the self, possibilities of kinship, and the organisation of social life. It is advantageous for you to be familiar with the material in Approaches , although it is not a prerequisite.
On this module we will interrogate the assumptions bound up with white Euro-American neoliberal subjectivity, such as interiority, individualism, private property, and naturalised partitions. How have critics deterritorialised the received coordinates of self and world, public and private, mind and body, man and woman, human and non-human? What happens when familiar myths of being are left behind in favour of new utopian communalities, queer and trans futures, and rhizomatic connections? And what does this mean for how we read literature and other cultural texts?
EAS2113: Culture, Crisis and Ecology in a Postcolonial World
This module offers an introduction to World Literatures and film focused on Africa, the Caribbean, Middle East and South Asia, assessing how texts inscribe the social, historical and environmental impact of colonialism and new and adapted forms of imperialism. Focussing on issues such as development and disaster, conservation and animal rights, resource exploitation, and the effects of neoliberalism and global tourism, the module will introduce you to a range of texts - essays, films, novels, poems, and short stories - to investigate the cultural representation of the consequences of global crisis. While considering stylistic and thematic features, the module will map the convergences and divergences of postcolonial and environmental perspectives. This focus enables you to explore the deep connections between imperial power relations and contemporary issues of globalization.
Please note that the module information displayed here is subject to change.
Typically, any placement year will take place in Year 3. If you are not taking a placement year please see the Final Year modules for year 3.
With Study Abroad
120 credit compulsory placement module
Compulsory modules
| Code | Module | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Compulsory 1 | ||
| Study Abroad | 120 | |
HAS3999: Study Abroad
The Study Abroad programme enables you to undertake a year-long study placement at a partner university outside of the UK, as part of your degree programme.
This module serves as the administrative mechanism for recording the Study Abroad assessment results of students within the Faculty of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS). Students participating in the Study Abroad programme and based in a HASS department (except for the Law School, the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, Modern Languages, and the School of Education) will be registered on this module during their Study Abroad placement year.
The Study Abroad programme widens the range of modules available to you during Stage 3 of your degree programme; enables you to broaden your academic horizons by studying in a different learning culture and (where relevant and appropriate) in languages other than English; and aims to promote resilience, independence, cultural awareness, and communication skills.
With Employment Experience
120 credit compulsory placement module
Compulsory modules
| Code | Module | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Compulsory 2 | ||
| Employment Experience | 120 | |
HAS3998: Employment Experience
This module allows you to undertake and to learn from an extended work placement during the third year of a four year “with Employment Experience” programme. You will use one or more work placements to gain skills that equip you to work in the employment market and to improve your knowledge of the work environment. You are encouraged to think about the intercultural competence and the employability skills that you acquire during your year.
To progress to this module, you will have secured a suitable placement for a minimum of 26 weeks.
Having developed the skills necessary to find relevant roles and apply for roles in the graduate labour market, this is an invaluable opportunity to develop work-related skills and experience that will further enhance your success in the graduate labour market and support your future career choices.
During your placement year you will be supported by the Module Convenor and Placement Team.
The module assessment structure provides opportunity and support for you to evaluate your skills and achievements using personal development techniques. You will also write an Employer Report to showpiece the culmination of your academic and business skills.
This module aims to:
Please note that the module information displayed here is subject to change.
60 credits of compulsory modules, 60 credits of optional modules
Compulsory Modules
- You must select EAS3003: Dissertation, EAS3122: Creative Writing Dissertation or EAS3510 Dissertation by Collaborative Project (you cannot choose more than one module from this group).
- You must select either EAS3195: Acts of Writing: From Decolonisation to Globalisation, EAS3179: Life and Death in Early Modern Literature or EAS3234: Citizens of the World
Compulsory modules
| Code | Module | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Compulsory Choice 1 | ||
| Life and Death in Early Modern Literature | 30 | |
| Acts of Writing: From Decolonisation to Globalisation | 30 | |
| Citizens of the World | 30 | |
| Compulsory Dissertation Choice | ||
| Dissertation | 30 | |
| Creative Writing Dissertation | 30 | |
| Dissertation by Collaborative Project | 30 | |
EAS3179: Life and Death in Early Modern Literature
In this module, we will read early modern works that are engaged with the milestones of human life: childhood, adolescence, parenthood, marriage, ageing and death. These stages of the life cycle are represented in a wide range of plays, poems, and prose pieces by such writers as William Shakespeare, Thomas Heywood, Isabella Whitney, John Donne, Thomas Middleton, Dorothy Leigh and Katherine Philips. Analysing the module's core texts, you will encounter a rich variety of early modern views on how the stage of an individual's life is related to his or her understanding of self, family, and state. In addition to literary representations of the life cycle, you will examine non-literary materials such as ballads and songs, sermons, and medical writing from the same period. In its combined exploration of core and contextual materials, this module aims to encourage you to pursue textual analyses that recognise important nuances within early modern representations of Life and Death. You will be given the opportunity to investigate how early modern writers' concerns with birth, marriage, and death prompt exploration of adjacent fields such as illegitimacy, impotence, health, sickness, ageing, spiritual uncertainty and poetic legacy.
EAS3195: Acts of Writing: From Decolonisation to Globalisation
Acts of Writing focuses on the processes of decolonisation, the decline of Empire, and the move to a globalising and interconnecting world, which have shaped the mid-20th to early- 21st century. The module allows you to consider key cultural and critical debates responding to these events. You will engage in detail with texts that consider questions of nationhood and community, revisionist historiography, the ethics of representation, collective guilt and responsibility, identity politics, new subjectivities and art's relationship with economic and cultural globalisation.
EAS3234: Citizens of the World
What did it mean to be a citizen of the world in the eighteenth century and Romantic period? This module, designed for specialist and non-specialists, explores the shift from the cosmopolitan view that the enlightened person was at home everywhere to the Romantic view that one may be an exile even in one's own country. The module examines major works by writers such as Austen, Voltaire, Wollstonecraft, Polidori and Keats, as well as lesser-known texts, to build up a detailed view of eighteenth-century and Romantic literary culture. We will explore themes such as nation, empire, slavery, identity and literature's evolving role in mediating between the self and the wider world.
EAS3003: Dissertation
The dissertation is an independent research project, which enables you to operate autonomously and responsibly, and take a positive and active role in your learning. You will plan and produce a sustained piece of critical work that highlights the skills you have learnt over the course of your degree programme, incorporating a range of research methods and methodologies.
You will receive guidance from a supervisor and receive support through a series of workshops and lectures. The dissertation module teaches you time management skills and gives you the flexibility to devise and follow your own research questions, extending your knowledge in a specialism which you have particularly enjoyed.
- To enable you to operate independently and responsibly, and take a positive and active role in your learning, in the service of the production of a sustained piece of critical work. It allows you to devise your own research questions and to pursue these lines of inquiry. You will work under the guidance of an academic supervisor, with extra support provided by occasional workshops and lectures to develop key skills for researching a chosen subject and preparing a finished manuscript.
EAS3122: Creative Writing Dissertation
This module gives the opportunity to pursue a sustained piece of original writing of your choosing. You will have the chance to develop both your imaginative and critical abilities through the completion of a portfolio of creative work and reflective commentary. Possible project forms include an extract from a novel, a sequence of short stories, a collection of poetry, a combination of poetry and prose or a screenplay.
You will choose your project in consultation with academic staff and then write the dissertation, along with a related self-reflexive essay, under appropriate academic supervision.
The dissertation provides the opportunity to gain skills in active learning, research and writing.
- This module aims to provide the opportunity, at the end of your BA programme, to pursue a sustained piece of creative writing. A project is chosen by you, in consultation with an academic member of staff, and thereafter you write the dissertation, along with a related self-reflexive essay, under appropriate academic supervision. The module therefore develops qualities of independence, active learning, research and writing.
EAS3510: Dissertation by Collaborative Project
This module gives you the opportunity to share your university English learning with a non-academic audience by creating a project in collaboration with an external partner. Sample external partners include but are not limited to: the creative industries (e.g. a publisher); heritage organisations (e.g. a museum); a school; a library; an archive; a charity. The format of the project output is flexible: for example, it could be a website, series of blog posts, set of podcasts or video essays, set of lesson plans, online exhibition, edition, translation with introduction, edited collection of poetry, interactive guided walk. It will be based on scholarly research and it will communicate a topic that falls generally into the remit of English and Creative Writing. If you want to hone your employability skills and create a piece of work that will be read and used by a specific non-academic audience, this module is for you.
Optional modules
| Code | Module | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Optional 1 | ||
| Queering British Screens | 15 | |
| Hardy and Women Who Did: the Coming of Modernity | 30 | |
| Writing the Short Film | 30 | |
| Heroes and Exiles: English Poetry of the Age of Beowulf | 30 | |
| James Joyce's Ulysses | 30 | |
| Life and Death in Early Modern Literature | 30 | |
| Visual and Literary Cultures of Realism | 30 | |
| Encountering the Other in Medieval Literature | 30 | |
| Writing for Children and Young Adults | 30 | |
| Resource Fictions: Oil, Water and Conflict in the World-System | 30 | |
| Acts of Writing: From Decolonisation to Globalisation | 30 | |
| The Death of the Novel | 30 | |
| Virginia Woolf: Fiction, Feeling, Form | 30 | |
| "Reader, I Married Him": The Evolution of Romance Fiction from 1740 to the Present | 30 | |
| Romance from Chaucer to Shakespeare | 30 | |
| Citizens of the World | 30 | |
| The Rise of Science | 30 | |
| Harlem and After: African American Literature 1925-present | 30 | |
| Food, Environment and Literature in Early Modern England | 30 | |
| The Poetry of Place | 30 | |
| Piracy in Early Modern Literature, 1570-1730 | 30 | |
| Poetry and Politics | 30 | |
| Ghosts, Witches and Demons: the Renaissance Supernatural | 30 | |
| Jane Austen: In and Out of Context | 30 | |
| The Development of British Children's Literature | 30 | |
| Art, Industry and the Modern, 1840-1900 | 15 | |
| American Counterculture in Literature | 30 | |
| Fiction Matters | 30 | |
| Migration, Literature and Culture | 30 | |
| Surrealism and its Legacies | 30 | |
| "Mad": Cultures, Histories, Phantasies, Imaginaries of Mental Distress | 30 | |
Course variants
BA English with Study Abroad
UCAS code: Q313
Our four-year ‘with Study Abroad’ degree offers you the possibility of spending your third year abroad, studying with one of our many partner universities.
Why study abroad?
Living and studying in a different country is an exciting experience that broadens your academic and cultural horizons, as well as giving you the opportunity to widen your circle of friends. Students who have studied abroad demonstrate initiative, independence, motivation and, depending on where they stay, may also have gained a working knowledge of another language – all key qualities that employers are looking for in today’s competitive employment environment.
Where can I study abroad?
We have partnership arrangements with many prestigious institutions across the globe. Exactly where you can apply to study will depend on the subjects you are studying at Exeter. For a full list please visit the Study Abroad website.
Are there any academic requirements to study abroad?
Yes. If you wish to study abroad as part of this degree course, you must achieve an overall grade of at least 60% (a 2:1) for your first year of study. This applies to all students, even if you are registered on the 'with Study Abroad' variant from the start of your degree.
Does it count towards my degree?
Credit for academic work during your year abroad is arranged by agreement between the University of Exeter and the host institution. These marks are then translated back into your degree at Exeter. If you are studying abroad for a semester or full year, your time abroad will count toward your final degree.
How does it affect my tuition fee and funding?
For the year that you spend studying abroad you will pay a significantly reduced tuition fee to Exeter, but nothing to your host university – for more information visit our fees pages. If you were previously eligible, you will continue to receive a maintenance loan whilst on your Study Abroad year.
BA English with Employment Experience
UCAS code: Q315
Our four-year ‘with Employment Experience’ degree offers you the option of spending your third year carrying out a graduate-level work placement or placements, within the UK or abroad, as part of your degree.
Why choose to include Employment Experience?
Undertaking graduate-level work during your degree unlocks a world of experience that allows you to develop essential employability and interpersonal skills that relate to your degree and future career.
A work placement will dramatically boost your confidence, enhance your CV and develop graduate-level skills and competencies that employers are looking for.
Where will I do my work placement?
The sector and country you choose to work in is very much your choice, as you will be responsible for finding and organising your placement.
We will provide plenty of guidance and support during your first and second years which will prepare you to research and apply for placements. Ultimately, the university will give final approval to your placement to make sure you have a valuable experience.
How does it affect my tuition fees and funding?
For your ‘Year In Industry’ you will pay a significantly reduced tuition fee to Exeter – for more information visit our fees pages. If you were previously eligible, you will continue to receive a maintenance loan whilst on your year of work placement/s.
Is the placement paid?
You will be paid in accordance with the rules of the country you work in and there may be visa restrictions or requirements which you need to consider when applying.
Find out more
Fees
Tuition fees for 2026 entry
UK students: £9,790 per year
International students: £24,950 per year
Scholarships
The University of Exeter offers a wide range of scholarships to support your education, with £7 million available for international students applying to study with us in the 2026/27 academic year, including our prestigious Exeter Excellence Scholarships*. We also provide scholarships for sport, music and other achievements, alongside regional and partner awards such as Chevening, The Beacon Trust and the British Council. Financial support is available for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, lower income households and other under-represented groups to help them access, succeed and progress through higher education.
* Terms and conditions, including deadlines, apply. See our website for details.
Learning and teaching
How will I learn?
The nature of learning at university involves considerable self-guided study and research. You will be taught through a combination of lectures and discussion-based seminars. We also support the development of team-based learning by organising students into study groups, and we make full use of both traditional learning resources and our virtual learning environment. Lecturers and tutors are all available to provide further support in one-to-one consultations.
Most of your work will be done in group and self-directed study: reading or viewing module material, writing essays or preparing for your seminars. Active participation in seminars develops important transferable skills such as good verbal and visual communication and effective interaction with other people. You will also develop a range of professional abilities, such as time management and team working, plus valuable critical, analytical and communication skills.
We are actively engaged in introducing new methods of learning and teaching, including the increasing use of interactive computer-based approaches to learning. Through our virtual learning environment, you can access detailed information about modules, and interact through activities such as discussion forums. You will also have access to online subscription databases and websites, such as Early English Books Online (EEBO), Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), MLA FirstSearch and JSTOR.
How will I be assessed?
You will be assessed in a variety of ways but primarily through exams and coursework. Coursework includes essays, a dissertation and presentation work. The ratio of formal exam to coursework is on average 40:60. Your first year doesn’t count towards your final degree classification, but you do have to pass it in order to progress.
Other/Extra-curricular opportunities
We provide an exciting range of special lectures and seminars by visiting academics and renowned writers, actors and film directors. In addition to your academic work, the student-run English Society organises book and poetry readings, film screenings and social events, providing an opportunity to meet students who share a love of literature, culture and the arts. Students from the English department are always active on the University student newspapers, radio and TV station and in the University’s drama groups.
Optional modules outside of this course
Each year, if you have optional modules available, you can take up to 30 credits in a subject outside of your course. This can increase your employability and widen your intellectual horizons.
Minors: Future Skills Pathways
You can study a Future Skills Pathway alongside your main degree by choosing up to 30 credits of modules from a different subject area in your second and final years.
Facilities
Students in the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum
We are exceptionally lucky to have some fantastic facilities and resources on the Streatham Campus.
Special Collections
We have Special Collections relating to writers such as Agatha Christie, Daphne du Maurier, and William Golding, and we integrate these into our teaching so students can share the excitement we have when discovering new insights from manuscripts, letters, and business papers.
The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum
Our unique film and popular culture resource, contains items going back hundreds of years. We regularly take students into its archives and think about the study of literature in relation to visual texts.
Digital Humanities Lab
Digital Humanities is increasingly important in all areas of humanities research, including history, archaeology, literatures and languages. This research space enables the examination, preservation and analysis of historical, literary and visual material. Facilities in the lab include:
- a flagship seminar room equipped with a 4.2-metre video wall, encouraging interactive engagement in a shared display space
- two state-of-the-art photography labs, including provision for the 2D digitisation of heritage material and primary sources
- an audio-visual lab with a recording studio and sound editing suite
- a MakerSpace equipped with 3D scanning and printing equipment
Your future
Employer-valued skills this course develops
An English degree puts you in a great position to succeed in a range of careers. Oral and written communication is at the heart of our programme and you will learn to present your ideas in a variety of formats. You will also develop strong research and analytical skills and the ability to problem solve and make informed decisions. Through a balance of independent study and teamwork you will learn to manage your time and workload effectively.
Professional experience
With practical modules on offer and opportunity to undertake professional placements, a degree in English will give you plenty of opportunity to develop your professional portfolio which will give you the skills and experience needed to be successful in your chosen career.
Career paths
Our students have progressed to a broad range of work sectors including education, arts management, publishing, journalism, marketing, finance and events management, working for companies such as:
Recent Graduates are now working as*:
- Actor
- Assistant Brand Manager
- Assistant Director
- Copywriter
- Data Analyst
- Journalist
- Policy Adviser
- Product Manager
- Radio Producer
- Youth Worker
Recent Graduates are now working for*:
- European Parliament
- Rolls Royce
- Oxford University Press
- Warp Films
- Oxfam
- Estee Lauder
Other recent graduates have progressed to postgraduate courses in:
- MA Cultural Heritage Management
- MA English Literary Studies
- PGCE English primary
- MA Magazine Journalism
- Postgraduate Certificate in Counselling Skills
* Please note that, due to data protection, the job titles and organisations are listed independently and do not necessarily correspond.







