Overview

This programme at the University of Leeds invites students to encounter new perspectives, discover influential creative voices, and grow as both thinkers and communicators. It presents literature as a living social and political force that actively shapes the world around us, with modules responding to pressing present-day concerns such as the environment, race, identity, and disability. Students work across a broad span of authors, genres, periods, and cultures.

What You'll Learn

• Foundational skills in critical reading and persuasive academic writing

• How literature engages with race, ethnicity, and the legacies of colonialism

• Approaches to drama, poetry, or fiction as areas of specialist focus

• The relationship between literature and urgent contemporary issues, including the climate crisis and questions of embodiment

• Literary traditions ranging from the medieval period to the present day, and from local to global contexts

• Themes such as gender, social class, and wellbeing as they appear across different texts

• A wide selection of further topics spanning postcolonial, American, and other historical and geographical traditions

• The option to explore a subject outside the School of English through a discovery module

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be able to read literary texts critically and construct well-supported written arguments about them. They will be able to situate literature within its historical, cultural, and political contexts, and draw connections between texts from different periods and parts of the world. Students will also be equipped to engage thoughtfully with contemporary social issues through a literary lens, and to communicate complex ideas with clarity and confidence.