English Literature

Course summary

Literature is a vast ocean that we never finish exploring. You may have seen the ship carrying Sir Henry Baskerville back to claim his accursed inheritance (The Hound of the Baskervilles). A less luxurious boat transported Magwitch to Australia (Great Expectations). And yet another boat, becalmed under the burning sun, contains Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner – fresh from killing the albatross – and his fellow crew members, all desperate for water and forgiveness. It is now time to sail much further across the ocean. If you like exploring texts, English is for you. You will learn to analyse, construct an argument and produce supporting evidence; to compare different texts; to decide which characters win your approval or disapproval; and above all to wonder at what great writers achieve with words.