BA English Literature
About this course
BA Honours in English Literature, an arts degree centred on textual analysis, literary history, and creative writing across various periods and genres. Core topics include Research Methods and Design & Creative Practice. Students can undertake an optional placement year or an optional year abroad. The first year covers core critical foundations through the compulsory modules Transformations, Doing Criticism, Beginnings, and Revolutions, alongside optional topics such as Introduction to Creative Writing. In the second year, students select from a broad range of optional modules including Renaissance Bodies, Revolutionary Britain, 1789-1832, and Contemporary Cultures, as well as creative workshops in poetry and prose. The final year offers further specialised study through options such as Landscapes of American Modernism, Shakespeare's Show Business, and Literature and Human Rights, alongside independent projects including the Dissertation: Long-Form Essay and Independent Essay I (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 IB: 34 points
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Admissions (2022 entry, home applicants)
Offer rate 98%: 342 offers from 349 applications, from the university's Freedom of Information return.
What students say
Based on about 64 final-year students who answered
- Teaching on my course: 90%
- Learning opportunities: 85%
- Assessment and feedback: 79%
- Academic support: 94%
- Organisation and management: 83%
- Learning resources: 93%
- Student voice: 74%
Do students stay on the course?
Based on about 110 students who started
- Continued on course: 95%
- Left higher education: 4%
- Moved to a lower qualification: 1%
What graduates do next
Based on about 89 graduates who answered, across similar courses at this university
- Working: 61%
- Working and studying: 15%
- Further study: 13%
- Unemployed: 5%
Most common jobs
- Business and public service associate professionals: 26%
- Teaching Professionals: 15%
- Media Professionals: 9%
- Sales occupations: 8%
- Administrative occupations: 6%
- Find their work meaningful: 75%
- Feel on track for their future plans: 72%
- Use what they learnt on the course: 52%
Where graduates work (5 years on)
Based on about 290 graduates, across similar courses at this university
- North East: 33%
- North West: 12%
- Yorkshire and the Humber: 13%
- East Midlands: 6%
- West Midlands: 2%
- East of England: 6%
- London: 19%
- South East: 5%
- South West: 3%
- Wales: 1%
- Scotland: 1%
Who gets in
Based on about 105 students who started
- A levels: 99%
- Other HE qualification: 1%
Accreditation & quality ratings
TEF 2023 (whole university): Silver overall, Bronze for student experience, Silver for student outcomes.
Modules
- Transformations
- Doing Criticism
- Beginnings
- Revolutions
- Introduction to Creative Writing
- Drama, Theatre & Performance
- Renaissance Bodies
- Writing New Worlds, 1688-1789
- Revolutionary Britain, 1789-1832
- Victorian Passions: Victorian Values
- Contemporary Cultures
- Creative Practice
- Monsters, Misery & Miracles: Heroic Life in Old English Poetry
- Poetry Workshop
- Theatre Script Workshop
- Prose Workshop
- Screenwriting Workshop
- Literatures of Decolonisation
- Early 20th Century American Literature
- Medieval Worlds, 1100-1500
- Overseas Exchange (Semester 1)
- Overseas Exchange (Semester 2)
- Career Development for final year students
- Sex and Money: Economies of the Victorian Novel
- Documentary Storytelling: Theory and Practice
- Dissertation: Long-Form Essay
- Independent Essay I (English Literature)
- Independent Essay II (English Literature)
- Landscapes of American Modernism
- Enlightened Romantics: A Revolution in Feeling
- Women on Trial: Gender, Power, and Performance in Shakespeare's England
- Time, Change, and the Life Course in Literature of the Long Nineteenth Century
- American Poetry Now
- Prose Portfolio
- Theatre Script Portfolio
- Poetry Portfolio
- Screenwriting Portfolio
- Dissertation: Digital Exhibition
- Writing Liberty in the Romantic Era
- Literature and Human Rights
- Dissertation: Editing Project
- Fiction and the Philosophy of Terror: From the Supernatural to the Sublime
- Reading Freud: An Introduction to the Principles of Psychoanalytic Theory
- Freedom and Imagination: US Literature 1850-1900
- Envious Show: Wealth, Power and Ambition in Narratives of the Country House, 1550-2000
- Unsex'd Females: Feminism in the Age of Revolution and Reaction
- Keats and Romantic Epic
- Queer/Trans/Early Modern
- Growing Up Global: Children's Literature and the Child
- Shakespeare's Show Business
Questions about this course
How much do graduates of BA English Literature at Newcastle University earn?
The median salary is £25,000 after 15 months, £23,500 after 3 years, £30,000 after 5 years. After five years the middle half of graduates earn between £25,500 and £36,000. The £30,000 median after five years is £1,000 more than the UK median for English studies.
What do graduates of BA English Literature at Newcastle University do next?
89% 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 Newcastle University?
90% 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 Newcastle University?
The typical offer is AAB at A level, or 34 points in the IB. The average entrant had 133 UCAS points.
What is the offer rate for BA English Literature at Newcastle University?
98% of home applicants received an offer for 2022 entry: 342 offers from 349 applications, according to the university's Freedom of Information return.
Does BA English Literature at Newcastle University 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 Newcastle University?
95% of students continued into their second year, and 4% left higher education.