BA English Literature
About this course
Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, an undergraduate degree focused on literary analysis and critical interpretation across historical periods and genres. Core topics include Research Methods. Students can choose to undertake an optional year abroad as part of their studies. The first year covers foundational methods through modules such as Approaches to Critical Reading, Approaches to Literary Cultures, and Theory and Practice of Criticism. The second year expands into specialized historical and thematic areas including Gothic, Victorian Literature, and Colonial/Postcolonial. The final year allows students to explore focused topics such as Shakespeare's Tragedies, Jane Austen’s Fiction, and Orwell's Books, culminating in a compulsory Dissertation in English Literature.
Written by AI from the university's course page and module list. It can get details wrong, so check the official course page before you rely on it.
Entry requirements
A Level: AAB - see below for full requirements.. IB: 6,6,5 - 32 points overall.. BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma: DDM.
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What students say
Based on about 68 final-year students who answered
- Teaching on my course: 97%
- Learning opportunities: 92%
- Assessment and feedback: 92%
- Academic support: 95%
- Organisation and management: 93%
- Learning resources: 93%
- Student voice: 85%
Do students stay on the course?
Based on about 95 students who started
- Continued on course: 95%
- Left higher education: 5%
What graduates do next
Based on about 38 graduates who answered
- Working: 69%
- Working and studying: 15%
- Further study: 8%
- Unemployed: 3%
Most common jobs
- Business and public service associate professionals: 25%
- Administrative occupations: 15%
- Teaching Professionals: 15%
- Artistic, literary and media occupations: 10%
- Elementary occupations: 5%
- Find their work meaningful: 95%
- Feel on track for their future plans: 80%
- Use what they learnt on the course: 70%
Where graduates work (5 years on)
Based on about 150 graduates, across similar courses at this university
- North West: 3%
- Yorkshire and the Humber: 9%
- East Midlands: 6%
- West Midlands: 30%
- East of England: 6%
- London: 23%
- South East: 12%
- South West: 9%
- Wales: 2%
Who gets in
Based on about 110 students who started
- A levels: 97%
- Other qualifications: 1%
- No formal qualifications: 2%
Accreditation & quality ratings
TEF 2023 (whole university): Silver overall, Bronze for student experience, Gold for student outcomes.
Modules
- Approaches to Critical Reading
- Approaches to Literary Cultures
- Discover a Classic: Literary Research
- Literary Worlds: From Revolution to Postmodernity
- Literary Worlds: From Riddles to Novels
- Theory and Practice of Criticism
- Approaches to Children's Literature A
- Approaches to Children's Literature B
- Approaches to Fantasy, Sci Fi and Dystopia A
- Approaches to Fantasy, Sci Fi and Dystopia B
- Approaches to Medieval Literature A
- Approaches to Medieval Literature B
- Approaches to North American Literature A
- Approaches to North American Literature B
- Approaches to Plays and Performance: Shakespeare and Beyond A
- Approaches to Plays and Performance: Shakespeare and Beyond B
- Gothic
- Imagined Worlds: Genre Fiction and Popular Culture
- Shakespeare: Elizabethan
- Eighteenth-Century and Romantic Literature
- Literature 1950-Present
- Restoration and Revolution
- Earliest English
- Popular Fiction Before the Novel
- Reading the Renaissance
- Colonial/Postcolonial
- Literature and Environment: Crisis and Resistance
- Shakespeare: Jacobean
- Our Digital World
- Rags and Riches: Wealth and Poverty in American Literature and Culture
- The Social Life of Literature
- Aspects of Modernism
- Gender and Sexuality Studies
- Victorian Literature
- British Theatre
- Drama and Media Writing
- Editing: Theory & Practice
- Film Genre
- Film Theory and Criticism
- Stylistics
- The Structure of English
- Dissertation in English Literature
- Fantasy and fandom: writing back to the medieval in modern fantasy
- Interactivity: The Theory and Practice of Getting Stuck In
- Last Year's Novels
- Paradise Lost: Text and context
- Remembering World War One
- The Art of Translation
- Victorian Drama: Realism and Sensation, from Factory Lads to Fallen Women
- Boring Beyond Belief?: Uncreative Writing
- Bringing Out the Bodies: Technology, Transhumans and Skin
- British Popular Romance
- Elizabeth I and her Poets
- Literary Ecologies: Environmental Crisis in American Writing
- Multiple Voices: New York City Poetics, 1960-1985
- Writing/Painting
- Decoding Pop Culture
- Flourish for the Players (Shakespeare's Contemporaries)
- From Plato to the Postmodern: Theories of Literature and Art
- Hidden Romanticism
- Islamophobia and the Novel
- Jane Austen’s Fiction
- Orwell's Books: Writing Politics, Resisting Tyranny
- Bedtime Stories: Reading Children’s Picture Books
- Daphne du Maurier: Horror, Romance & Obsession
- Literary Decolonizations
- Politics and Terror in the Age of Revolutions
- Shakespeare's Tragedies
- Single Author: Virginia Woolf
- The Figure of the Witch: Witch Writings c. 1400-1700
- Professional Skills
- Professional Skills - Freelance
- Adaptation: Theory and Practice
- Children's Film and Television
- Film and Television Authorship
- Screen Performance
- Screenwriting: Film
- Extreme Fictions
- Sympathetic Texts
- A Common Language? English in the U.K. and the U.S.A. (and beyond)
- Animal Communication and Language Evolution
- Business Discourse and Communication
- Narratives across Media
Questions about this course
How much do graduates of BA English Literature at University of Birmingham earn?
The median salary is £28,000 after 15 months, £24,000 after 3 years, £30,500 after 5 years. After five years the middle half of graduates earn between £24,000 and £36,000. The £30,500 median after five years is £1,500 more than the UK median for English studies.
What do graduates of BA English Literature at University of Birmingham do next?
93% were in work or further study 15 months after finishing (Graduate Outcomes 2023-24).
Are students happy with the teaching on BA English Literature at University of Birmingham?
97% of final-year students were positive about the teaching in the National Student Survey 2025-26.
What grades do I need for BA English Literature at University of Birmingham?
The typical offer is AAB at A level, or 32 points in the IB. The average entrant had 143 UCAS points.
Does BA English Literature at University of Birmingham include a placement year or year abroad?
The course has an optional placement year and an optional year abroad.
How many students continue on BA English Literature at University of Birmingham?
95% of students continued into their second year, and 5% left higher education.