English Literature and Language

Entry requirements

MPhil - First or Second Class Honours Degree or equivalent award in an appropriate discipline or appropriate research or professional experience which has resulted in appropriate evidence of achievement.

PhD - A Postgraduate Masters Degree in a discipline which is appropriate to the proposed programme of study or First or Upper Second Class Honours Degree or equivalent award in an appropriate discipline or appropriate research or professional experience at postgraduate level which has resulted in published work, written reports or other appropriate evidence of achievement.

Months of entry

January, October

Course content

The University of Worcester welcomes applications to undertake research towards MPhil and PhD degrees in English Literature and Language.

Research at Worcester has grown significantly in recent years. We aim to produce research that is distinctive, socially and culturally relevant, and that influences national agendas. We continually strive to develop new areas of research excellence while, in certain areas, our work has already been acknowledged as world-leading.

School of Humanities

The School of Humanities has a strong mix of academics with a high degree of professional and personal experience, enabling you to get the most out of your programme. Our staff have expertise in a wide range of literary themes, including: early modern drama and poetry, including Shakespeare studies; Romantic and Victorian literature; modern and contemporary literature; American and Irish literature; literature and the environment; children’s literature; health and ability; textual scholarship; and creative writing projects with a critical component.

Supervision areas

The School of Humanities has a strong mix of academics with a high degree of professional and personal experience, enabling you to get the most out of your programme. Our staff have expertise in a wide range of literary themes, including: early modern drama and poetry, including Shakespeare studies; Romantic and Victorian literature; modern and contemporary literature; American and Irish literature; literature and the environment; children’s literature; health and ability; textual scholarship; and creative writing projects with a critical component.

Recent successful projects have included: Australian eco-Gothic; nature and home in the poetry of Edward Thomas and Robert Frost, 1912-1917; commemoration, oblivion and cultural memories in print culture in Restoration England, 1658-1666; and the country house in English women’s poetry 1650-1750.

Some of our current research students are exploring: the representation of regicide in Shakespeare’s history plays; criticism and canon-formation among eighteenth-century Anglican clergy; survival and the formulation of child heroes in Terry Pratchett’s fiction; children’s Islamic literature in Britain, the USA, and Canada; vulnerability and resilience in Sonya Hartnett’s novels; the island imagination; the ‘abhuman’ in multi-volume vampire fiction; and the concept of ‘postqueer’ in relation to multi-platform online narratives.

Resources

With study space and IT provision in the Research Office, and access to the University of Worcester’s virtual resources and state of the art library facilities, the English Literature and Language team at Worcester have an excellent range of resources to support your learning and research project.