Skip to main content
Department of English Studies

Taught MA in English Literary Studies

Our English Literary Studies (MA) gives you choice, flexibility and the opportunity to specialise. You might range from medieval manuscripts to critical theory, or from the legacies of Romantic poetry to contemporary Anglophone literatures.

You will learn from the rich variety of research expertise among our Department's academic staff. With the support of a programme of research skills training and expert supervision, your studies will be capped off by a dissertation, devised on a subject of your choice.
Course information

Spacer

Life as an English MA student

Find out more about what it's like to study on our MA programme in a blog from our former MA student, Lydia Shaw, who went on to study a PhD with us. Or watch Helena in the video below, as she describes her reasons for choosing Durham and her experience of studying as a postgraduate.

This is the image alt text

Postgraduate Life

Living and studying as a postgraduate English student may be different to an undergraduate experience, as you integrate into the research and support culture of our Department.
Laptop coffee and phone crop

Careers and Employability

A taught MA in English Studies from Durham University can be the stepping stone to a successful career. Around two thirds of our taught postgraduates secure employment 15 months after graduating. Almost one third go onto further PhD study.
One of the college signpost located around the grounds

International Students

Durham English Department is ranked in the top 50 in the QS World Subject Rankings 2024. And located amid a medieval World Heritage Site, we are also an inspiring place in which to study English as a prospective international student.
Durham Cathedral
University student
My time doing an MA was my favourite at university, and I’m so glad I followed my gut when it was telling me I wasn’t quite ready to leave academia and enter the job market straight after finishing third year. I felt a lot less pressure to get top marks during my MA and therefore had more confidence to experiment with my ideas, take risks, push the boundaries of analysis, and follow other interests alongside literary works, such as art history and theatrical performance.
Ella Mackenzie
MA Romantic and Victorian Literary Studies, 2021

Other MA Programmes

Other opportunities beyond our literary studies MA programmes include:

Creative Writing MA

Taught by award-winning creative writers on an academically rigorous programme.
A person writing in a notebook with a cup of coffee

Interdisciplinary MAs

We contribute to interdisciplinary MA programmes in Medical Humanities, Medieval and Early Modern Studies, the Digital Humanities, and Environmental Humanities.
an eye cast in blue light looking through glasses

Shape your path in the Arts and Humanities

Across our 15 postgraduate taught programmes (PGT), our range of Postgraduate Taught elective modules offers the flexibility to create a degree that reflects your intellectual passions and your future ambitions.

Postgraduate paths Arts and Humanities 2

Spacer

Laptop

Apply now

Get ready to start your postgraduate studies at one of the world's leading Departments of English Studies.

Apply now Ask us questions