Description

Contents

The programme for the MA in Medieval English Literatures consists of taught modules taken in the first two terms, and a dissertation of 20,000 words researched and written under individual supervision during the third term and the summer vacation.

In the first term students take the core module, Approaching the Literatures of Medieval England, which introduces issues, methodologies and critical approaches essential for the integrated study of early and late medieval English literatures, including seminars on, for example: 'Negotiating the Conquest', 'Literature at Court', 'Authors and Authorship'. Student also take a further module from a range of literary and interdisciplinary topics which may include: Cultural Identity in Anglo-Saxon Literature, The Monsters and the Critics, Textual Criticism and Codicology, Cities and their Hinterlands and Early Medieval York.

In the second term students take the core module, Rereading Old Books, which takes as its focus texts which influenced the thought and writing of the Middle Ages, when ideas of 'authority' were especially powerful. Texts may include: the Psalms, the Apocalypse, writings by Virgil, Ovid, Boethius and Bede. Students also take a further module chosen from the literary and interdisciplinary topics on offer, which may include: Fictions of Audacity (on Middle English Romance), The French of England, Saints and Texts, Viking Poetry, Renovatio (on the 12th-century Renaissance) and Gender and Sexuality.

Requirements

The normal minimum requirement for entry to the MA is a good B.A. degree (in UK terms, an upper second or the equivalent), with English literature as a major subject. Mature applicants seeking a specialist qualification after professional experience, or those wishing to return after an interval to continue their education, are welcome even if they do not have recent conventional qualifications. All applications are sympathetically considered on their merits.

Applicants need not have specialised in medieval literature at undergraduate level, nor need they have already mastered the languages required for the degree. The aim of this programme is to provide intensive training during the course, and for this the most important pre-requisites are intelligence, enthusiasm, a capacity for very hard work and a desire to learn - as well as a fascination with the Middle Ages.

Applicants for whom English is a second language are normally expected to have achieved one of the following scores: IELTS: 7.0; TOEFL: 620 (paper-based test)/260 (computer-based test)/105 (internet-based test); or (preferably) Cambridge Proficiency: A or B.

English Language Requirements