BA English
About this course
Bachelor of Arts in English, a degree in English Literature focused on literary texts, critical analysis, and cultural history. Core topics include Statistics, Research Methods, and Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning. Students may undertake a placement year and complete an independent dissertation in the final year. The first year covers foundational literary forms and historical contexts through compulsory modules such as English on the Move, Poetic Language, The Act of the Essay, The Invention of English Literature: Medieval to Early Modern, and The Novel, alongside optional modules including Literary Transformations, Theory and Criticism, and World Dramas. The second year examines later periods and global texts through compulsory modules like Desire and Decay: Literature of the Long Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Humanities Study Abroad Preparation Module, The Worlding of English Literature, Year Abroad Report Module for Humanities Students, and Year in Employment, with optional modules such as AI Utopias and the Climate Crisis, Corpus Linguistics: Working with Large-scale Text Data, and Scriptwriting. The third year centres on independent study with the compulsory English Dissertation, while optional modules allow students to explore topics like American Gothic, Fantasy Film and Fiction, and Holocaust 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: ABB IB: Pass, with 32 points overall with 16 points at Higher Level
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What students say
Based on about 26 final-year students who answered (a small group: a rough guide only)
- Teaching on my course: 99%
- Learning opportunities: 98%
- Assessment and feedback: 93%
- Academic support: 98%
- Organisation and management: 95%
- Learning resources: 96%
- Student voice: 94%
Do students stay on the course?
Based on about 35 students who started
- Continued on course: 100%
What graduates do next
Based on about 11 graduates who answered (a small group: a rough guide only)
- Working: 45%
- Working and studying: 5%
- Further study: 15%
- Unemployed: 15%
Most common jobs
- Business and public service associate professionals: 20%
- Secretarial and related occupations: 15%
- Teaching Professionals: 15%
- Artistic, literary and media occupations: 15%
- Sales occupations: 10%
- Find their work meaningful: 85%
- Feel on track for their future plans: 65%
- Use what they learnt on the course: 75%
Where graduates work (5 years on)
Based on about 245 graduates, across similar courses at this university
- North West: 1%
- Yorkshire and the Humber: 1%
- West Midlands: 1%
- East of England: 7%
- London: 34%
- South East: 40%
- South West: 13%
- Wales: 2%
Who gets in
Based on about 45 students who started
- A levels: 100%
Accreditation & quality ratings
TEF 2023 (whole university): Silver overall, Silver for student experience, Silver for student outcomes.
Modules
- English on the Move
- Poetic Language
- The Act of the Essay
- The Invention of English Literature: Medieval to Early Modern
- The Novel
- Literary Transformations
- Theory and Criticism
- World Dramas
- Desire and Decay: Literature of the Long Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
- Humanities Study Abroad Preparation Module
- The Worlding of English Literature
- Year Abroad Report Module for Humanities Students
- Year in Employment
- Eve and the Angels: Love, War, and the End of Epic in Milton's Paradise Lost
- AI Utopias and the Climate Crisis
- African Freedoms and the Novel
- Brief Encounters: Writing Short Stories
- Cities of the Dead: Death, Mourning and Remembrance in Modern Britain
- Corpus Linguistics: Working with Large-scale Text Data
- Darwin and the Making of Evolutionary Thought: Myth, Memory, and Modern Society
- Data, Culture, and Justice
- Decolonising Modernity
- Digital Futures of the Past: Power, Ethics, and Representation
- Mind, Matter, Machine: Writing and Technological Change
- Pirates, Princesses and the Politics of Romance
- Queens, Devils and Players in Early Modern England
- Queering the Digital
- Retail Therapy: A Journey Through the Cultural History of Shopping
- Romantics and Victorians
- Scriptwriting
- Speech Acts
- Women, Writing and the Canon, 1770-1900
- English Dissertation
- Burning Worlds, Drowning Worlds: Oil Cultures, Climate Crisis, and Traumatic Desires in World Literatures
- AI Utopias and the Climate Crisis
- American Cinema Since 1965
- American Gothic
- Cities of the Dead: Death, Mourning and Remembrance in Modern Britain
- Creative Writing in Schools
- Darwin and the Making of Evolutionary Thought: Myth, Memory, and Modern Society
- Data, Culture, and Justice
- Digital Futures of the Past: Power, Ethics, and Representation
- Digital Life: Myths, Social Media, And Artificial Intelligence
- Environmental Cinema and Media
- Eve and the Angels: Love, War, and the End of Epic in Milton's Paradise Lost
- Fantasy Film and Fiction
- Framing the Past:Stardom, History and Heritage in the Cinema
- Holocaust Literature
- Money and Meaning in American Fiction
- Pirates, Princesses and the Politics of Romance
- Queering the Digital
- Scriptwriting
- Shakespeare Then and Now
- Streaming, Social Media, and Stans: Music Culture in the Platform Era
- Telling True Stories: Narrative Non-Fiction
- Utopias and Dystopias in Literature and Culture
Questions about this course
How much do graduates of BA English at University of Southampton earn?
The median salary is £25,000 after 15 months, £25,000 after 3 years, £31,000 after 5 years. After five years the middle half of graduates earn between £25,500 and £39,000. The £31,000 median after five years is £3,000 more than the UK median for Literature in English.
What do graduates of BA English at University of Southampton do next?
65% were in work or further study 15 months after finishing (Graduate Outcomes 2023-24).
Are students happy with the teaching on BA English at University of Southampton?
99% of final-year students were positive about the teaching in the National Student Survey 2025-26.
What grades do I need for BA English at University of Southampton?
The typical offer is ABB at A level, or 32 points in the IB. The average entrant had 125 UCAS points.
Does BA English at University of Southampton 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 at University of Southampton?
100% of students continued into their second year, and 0% left higher education.