Introduction
If you are interested in how our language evolved and the ways in which it has created some inspirational writers like Scott, Burns, Barrie, Doyle, Stevenson, this could be the programme for you.
You will be immersed in wonderful characters, stories and literature of Scotland understanding the history, culture and arts of the time and how the language and literature fits in. You will study the classics of Shakespeare, controversial literature and Romantic, Victorian and other times.
Study Information
At a Glance
- Learning Mode
- On Campus Learning
- Degree Qualification
- MA
- Duration
- 48 months
- Study Mode
- Full Time
- Start Month
- September
- UCAS Code
- Q314
Have you ever wondered how our language was created and why we speak like and write like we do? What inspires us to write great works and why are they great? We have a vast and interesting past of conflict, settlers from Scandinavia to Germany and Africa leading to Brythonic, Norn, Doric, and Gaelic. English itself is complicated by words similar to Viking, Italian, French, Gael, German and other more exotic influences due to our trading and travelling past.
Aberdeen offers focused, supportive teaching from internationally renowned scholars who are leaders in their field. Our flexible, modular degree programmes in English allow you to develop your own interests and enthusiasms while acquiring advanced critical and communicative skills that will prepare you for a wide range of careers. Our literature has inspired people the world over to create and understand the times we live in, documenting them forever, inspiring our imagination and creating visions from the past in our minds.
The literature of Scotland is intertwined with heritage and innovation from the early Middle Ages to the modernist period looking at the great periods such as Romanticism and writers such as Sir Walter Scott. In Aberdeen, we are not far from the birth place of J.M.Barrie of Kirriemuir who inspires children's imaginations globally and the adventures of Robert Louis Stevenson and more recently Alistair McLean to give a different dimension to our survival instinct in modern times. Throughout all of this literature we are able to build a picture of living, culture, history and thinking of each period.
With English you can also look at literature from Ireland, translated European literature and American literature looking at the approach to writing, theory and reading.
What You'll Study
- Year 1
-
Compulsory Courses
- Academic Writing for Language & Literature (AW1008)
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This compulsory evaluation is designed to find out if your academic writing is of a sufficient standard to enable you to succeed at university and, if you need it, to provide support to improve. It is completed on-line via MyAberdeen with clear instructions to guide you through it. If you pass the evaluation at the first assessment it will not take much of your time. If you do not, you will be provided with resources to help you improve. This evaluation does not carry credits but if you do not complete it this will be recorded on your degree transcript.
- Getting Started at the University of Aberdeen (PD1002)
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This course, which is prescribed for level 1 undergraduate students (and articulating students who are in their first year at the University), is studied entirely online, takes approximately 5-6 hours to complete and can be taken in one sitting, or spread across a number of weeks.
Topics include orientation overview, equality and diversity, health, safety and cyber security and how to make the most of your time at university in relation to careers and employability.
Successful completion of this course will be recorded on your Enhanced Transcript as ‘Achieved’.
- Acts of Reading (EL1009)
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15 Credit Points
This course introduces students to the study of English by exploring the dynamic relationship between author, reader and text in a series of classic works of fiction and poetry. It covers a broad historical range (from Folk Tales and ballads to 21st century postmodernity) and offers a basic grounding in key elements of literary theory, literary history and the varieties of literary form.
- Controversial Classics (EL1513)
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15 Credit Points
Literature can provoke, offend and disturb as well as entertain. This course considers some of the most powerful and controversial works of modern literature. It examines the circumstances of publication, the nature of the controversy, and the cultural and critical impact of each work. The course shows how poems, plays and novels can raise searching questions about national, racial and personal identity, and looks at the methods used by writers to challenge their readers, as well the responses of readers to such challenges.
- Rethinking Reading (EL1536)
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15 Credit Points
'Rethinking Reading' complements the module ‘Acts of Reading’. Intended primarily for students with degree intentions in English, this course introduces key areas in critical theory that inform the current work of staff at Aberdeen. It asks students to consider the history of English studies and its relationship to colonialism, and how this impacts on conceptions of literature and authorship, alongside topics such as gender and sexuality, and genre. Through a series of modules, the course introduces each area of theory alongside a literary text used as a case study. The course supports students in learning to read and use critical theory in your work, incorporating reflective learning and a practical focus on the techniques involved in critical writing.
Optional Courses
Select a further 90 credit points from courses of choice.
- Year 2
-
Compulsory Courses
- Encounters with Shakespeare (EL2011)
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30 Credit Points
So you think you know Shakespeare? This course invites you to think again. Studying a range of plays we get behind the mythology of Shakespeare, and rediscover the dynamic inventiveness of the Elizabethan theatre. Shakespeare and his contemporaries were the principal players in a period of literary experimentation that reinvented the possibilities of literature. Encounters with Shakespeare is your chance to find out more.
Optional Courses
Select AT LEAST ONE of the courses listed below.
Plus, select a further 60 credit points from courses of choice.
- Power, Empire and Equality (EL2018)
- The Tragedy of Knowledge (EL2512)
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30 Credit Points
This course traces the use of key Western myths from antiquity to the present to examine the way knowledge is often presented as both dangerous and compelling. As well as introducing students to a range of historical, social, and formal variations on the theme of knowledge, the course also highlights the role of storytelling and adaptation in the formation of knowledge and understanding.
- Year 3
-
Optional Courses
Select ONE course from EACH of the following categories:
Medieval/Renaissance Literature
- EL30CP: Page and Stage: Renaissance Writings 1500-1640
- EL35DQ: Knights, Virgins and Viragos: Chaucer and Medieval Writing
Romantic/Victorian Literature
- EL30XR: Romanticism
- EL30VC: Fallen Women and Self-Made Men
- EL35VB: Bildungsroman to Alien Invasion
- EL30SB: Britain and the 19th Century World
- EL35QA: Sympathy for the Devil: Scottish Short Stories
Contemporary/Modern Literature
- EL35KN: Haunted Texts
- EL30FF: Modernism: Make it New
- EL30RD: American Voices: Self and Society,1850-1930
- EL30WC: Queer Times
- EL35UT: Art and Atrocity: Representations of Violence and Trauma
- EL35UT: Art and Atrocity: Representations of Violence and Trauma
- EL35ZF: Images Adequate to Our Predicament: Art for the Anthropocene
Plus ONE OR BOTH from the following:
- EL30YB: Creative Writing: Creativity and Craft
- CE301C: Celtic Encounters: The Gaelic World in
Irish and Scottish Literature
Plus further courses of choice to make up 120 credit points.
- Page and Stage: Renaissance Writings 1500 - 1640 (EL30CP)
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30 Credit Points
This course explores the poetry, drama and prose of a period often referred to as the golden age of English literature. A period which saw Shakespeare and his contemporaries produce innovative new literary works in which the language of desire took centre stage.
- Knights, Virgins and Viragos: Chaucer and Medieval Writing (EL35DQ)
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30 Credit Points
Knights, Virgins, and Viragos offers an introduction to the variety of medieval literature and culture. Turning a critical eye on the role misconceptions of the Middle Ages play in present day white supremacy, the course highlights genres from medieval drama to life writing, with attention to the medieval history of race making and modern responses to the work of Chaucer in the poetry of Patience Agbabi.
- Modernism: Make IT New (EL30FF)
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30 Credit Points
The early twentieth century was a time of great literary experimentation as literary modernists rose to the challenge to make it new. We will explore modernism’s stylistic experimentation while also considering the social contexts and changes that shaped this literature. The course will examine a range of writers, genres, movements and locations which prompt us to consider what, when and where was modernism.
- American Voices: Self and Society, 1850 - 1930 (EL30RD)
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30 Credit Points
This course examines an important and diverse period in the development of American literature, lasting from the mid-nineteenth century until the 1930s. During the course we will be analysing works by a variety of American writers from this period in their historical, social and political contexts as well as considering the ways in which they pioneered innovative literary forms and techniques.
- Creative Writing: Creativity and Craft (EL30YB)
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30 Credit Points
This course offers students the opportunity, through lectures and interactive workshops, to develop their understanding of, and practical skills in, the writing of prose fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction. Taught by widely published, award-winning writers, it provides a thorough, practice-based understanding of creative process and of the technical challenges involved in developing an original idea into a completed literary artefact, presented to a professional standard. It also contributes to students' future career potential, whether as ‘creative’ or other kinds of professional writers/communicators.
- Fallen Women and Self - Made Men (EL30VC)
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30 Credit Points
The Victorian period is often seen as a time of sexual repression and rigid gender roles, in which men and women were expected to perform in accordance with established codes of behaviour that were based on assumptions about innate masculinity and femininity. While this perception of Victorian attitudes may be true to some extent, many Victorians were well aware of the dangers of gender stereotyping, and wrote fiction in order to interrogate and challenge these expectations. Focussing mainly on the novel, but including some poetry and drama, this module explores how Victorian writers engaged with gender stereotypes, and considers the literary tactics that authors used to re-examine, overthrow and sometimes reaffirm them. We will also consider how these stereotypes changed during the nineteenth century in response to public controversies and campaigns that kept questions of gender at the forefront of public consciousness. Figures such as the Fallen Woman, the Self-Made man and the Angel in the House will be explored in texts by authors including Emily Brontë, Christina Rossetti, Robert Louis Stevenson and Thomas Hardy.
- Art and Atrocity: Representations of Violence and Trauma (EL30UT)
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30 Credit Points
How is the artist to respond when the virtual becomes the real and when words cannot carry the weight of trauma? How can an author avoid the accusations of voyeuristic prurience or crass opportunism when he or she attempts to re-present events of public violence? This multi-disciplinary course examines work from a wide range of modes, including fiction, poetry, film and graphic art, and looks at the difficulties of inscribing trauma and the ethics and praxis of remembrance. Key events covered include the Holocaust, the Sabra and Shatila massacre, 9-11, the Gulf War and the conflict in the Balkans.
- Haunted Texts (EL35KN)
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30 Credit Points
This course offers an overview of a wide range of twentieth-century Scottish literature, focusing on themes of haunting, death, and place. Including novels, short stories, poetry, and drama, the course explores questions of the relationship between self and society, the legacy of the past, and the formation of gendered and regional identities. There are lots of ghosts.
- Art and Atrocity: Representations of Violence and Trauma (EL35UT)
-
30 Credit Points
How is the artist to respond when the virtual becomes the real and when words cannot carry the weight of trauma? How can an author avoid the accusations of voyeuristic prurience or crass opportunism when he or she attempts to re-present events of public violence? This multi-disciplinary course examines work from a wide range of modes, including fiction, poetry, film and graphic art, and looks at the difficulties of inscribing trauma and the ethics and praxis of remembrance. Key events covered include the Holocaust, the Sabra and Shatila massacre, 9-11, the Gulf War and the conflict in the Balkans.
- Bildungsroman to Alien Invasion (EL35VB)
- Images Adequate to Our Predicament: Art for the Anthropocene (EL35ZF)
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30 Credit Points
Through the effects of technological progress, industrialisation, deforestation, mining, our dependence on fossil fuels and plastics, and the testing of nuclear weapons, humans have become geological agents – radically transforming the Earth System in ways that will leave a trace for millions of years to come. This realisation has come to be known as the ‘Anthropocene’ – the time of humans. The implications – materially, emotionally and intellectually – are vast and complex. How do writers and artists respond to this complexity? What role can literature, film and visual art play in our understanding of it? This course addresses these and other questions. By studying select works of literature, film and visual art from the last sixty years alongside critical, theoretical and scientific writing on the Anthropocene, can we identify those images that might be thought adequate to our predicament?
- Celtic Encounters: the Gaelic World in Irish and Scottish Literature (CE301C)
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30 Credit Points
Celtic Encounters looks at the ways in which Irish and Scottish writers have reimagined texts of Celtic origin in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, from the Irish Literary Revival through the Scottish Literary Renaissance, to the present day. Writers have adapted Old Gaelic sagas and hero tales for modern consumption, reinvented themselves as latter-day bardic poets, and been inspired by the Celtic and Gaelic past to produce daringly modernist and experimental new work.
- Year 4
-
Compulsory Courses
- Dissertation in Scottish Literature (EL4510)
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30 Credit Points
Students will have the opportunity to write a dissertation on a topic of their choosing within Scottish literature.
Optional Courses
Select THREE from the following courses:
NOTE: You are required to choose a minimum of 90 credit points from “Scottish” courses across levels 3 and 4.
- All for One: the Politics of Love and Friendship in Literature (EL40WH)
- Literature and Medicine (EL40HQ)
- Screenwriting: the Narrative Within the Frame (EL40TM)
- Brief Encounters (EL40TL)
- Vulnerable Bodies, Precarious Lives (EL40KF)
- Wandering Women: Literature, Place and Environment (EL45JA)
- Horrible Histories: Violence and Trauma in the Scottish Novel (EL45QV)
- The Art of Screenwriting (EL45PG)
- Sex and Death: Exploring the Forbidden in Gothic Fiction (EL45VA)
- The Shock of the Now: Contemporary Poetry (EL45FJ)
- Not the Queen's English (EL40SC)
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30 Credit Points
This course will focus on the ways in which non-standard English is used within anglophone literary texts from the late-eighteenth century to the present day. Classes will cover a wide range of geographical spaces and publishing contexts discussing Scots-language poetry, postcolonial approaches to English, and African-American literature. Authors covered may include: Robert Burns, Zora Neale Hurston, Anne Donovan, Jackie Kay, Chinua Achebe, Tom Leonard, and Percival Everett.
- Controversy and Drama: Marlowe to Revenge Tragedy (EL40CT)
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30 Credit Points
This course begins by considering the theatre that gave us Marlowe and Shakespeare, among other major dramatists, as an institution actively engaged in the controversies of politics and religion of the age. Part 1 of the course focuses on the plays of Christopher Marlowe, whose controversial life is unusually well documented and whose plays starkly anticipate later tensions in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama . Part 2 considers how those tensions in politics and religion developed in later drama, giving particular attention to the genre of revenge tragedy.
- Amnesty, Amnesia, Archive (EL40UU)
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30 Credit Points
From 1968-1994, Northern Irish writers and visual artists found themselves addressing key questions: what is the role of the artist in a divided society, and must s/he engage with political events? This course considers how the artists framed these dilemmas and how they have been framed by them. Following the outbreak of peace in the province, the role of artists changed: their work now focused on the victims of violence and to demand justice. This course examines the different approaches taken to remembrance by writers/artists and explores the ways in which memory and trauma are framed in their work.
- British Poetry of the 20th Century (EL40YN)
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30 Credit Points
This course will explore the work of some of the most influential and innovative voices in 20th century British poetry. Beginning with the Modernist revolution in technique, theory and taste, it will trace some of the main continuities and reactions that stemmed from the first decades of the century and which culminated in a richly diverse and fascinating late 20th century/early 21st century poetic landscape.
- Staging the City: Renaissance Urban Drama (EL45AD)
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30 Credit Points
Drama was the entertainment phenomenon of the early modern period: a popular art form that developed swiftly and attracted mass audiences. London was both the city that played host to this new cultural form, and the subject of much of its output. The course will examine the relation between life in the early modern city and the great flowering of drama by celebrated authors of the period. Using works by well-known writers such as Middleton, Jonson and Shakespeare, as well as lesser known authors, we will explore how the plays of the period engage with key concerns of urban living.
We will endeavour to make all course options available. However, these may be subject to change - see our Student Terms and Conditions page.
How You'll Study
Learning Methods
- Individual Projects
- Lectures
- Research
- Tutorials
Assessment Methods
Students are assessed by any combination of three assessment methods:
- Coursework such as essays and reports completed throughout the course.
- Practical assessments of the skills and competencies they learn on the course.
- Written examinations at the end of each course.
The exact mix of these methods differs between subject areas, years of study and individual courses.
Honours projects are typically assessed on the basis of a written dissertation.
Why Study English and Scottish Literature?
- Attractive, in-depth courses covering all periods of English literature plus Scottish, Irish and American literature and creative writing with our prize-winning and published creative writing team.
- Friendly and committed teaching staff at the forefront of research in their field.
- Excellent library resources built up over 500 years and located in the Sir Duncan Rice Library, combined with state-of-the-art IT facilities.
- A range of teaching methods, from lectures and seminars to small-group tutorials and individual supervision.
- To enhance understanding of the literary and linguistic contexts of Scottish literature.
- To enhance understanding of the cultural and historical contexts of Scottish literature.
- To explore the merits of national/transnational approaches to Scottish literature.
- To explore the significance of contemporary critical theories for analysing Scottish literary texts.
- To encourage students to formulate their own critical responses to Scottish literatures.
Aberdeen Global Scholarship
The University of Aberdeen is delighted to offer eligible self-funded international on-campus undergraduate students a £6,000 scholarship for every year of their programme.
View the Aberdeen Global ScholarshipEntry Requirements
Qualifications
The information below is provided as a guide only and does not guarantee entry to the University of Aberdeen.
General Entry Requirements
- 2024 Entry
-
SQA Highers
Standard: AABB
Applicants who have achieved AABB (or better), are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/ Advanced Highers may be required.
Minimum: BBB
Applicants who have achieved BBB (or are on course to achieve this by the end of S5) are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/Advanced Highers will normally be required.
Adjusted: BB
Applicants who achieve BB over S4 and S5 and who meet one of the widening access criteria are guaranteed a conditional offer. Good performance in additional Highers/Advanced Highers will be required.
More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.
A LEVELS
Standard: BBB
Minimum: BBC
Adjusted: CCC
More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.
International Baccalaureate
32 points, including 5, 5, 5 at HL.
Irish Leaving Certificate
5H with 3 at H2 AND 2 at H3.
Entry from College
Advanced entry to this degree may be possible from some HNC/HND qualifications, please see www.abdn.ac.uk/study/articulation for more details.
- 2025 Entry
-
SQA Highers
Standard: BBBB
Applicants who have achieved BBBB (or better), are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/ Advanced Highers may be required.
Minimum: BBC
Applicants who have achieved BBC at Higher and meet one of the widening participation criteria above are encouraged to apply and are guaranteed an unconditional offer for MA, BSc and BEng degrees.
Adjusted: BB
Applicants who have achieved BB at Higher, and who meet one of the widening participation criteria above are encouraged to apply and are guaranteed an adjusted conditional offer for MA, BSc and BEng degrees.
We would expect to issue a conditional offer asking for one additional C grade at Higher.
Foundation Apprenticeship: One FA is equivalent to a Higher at A. It cannot replace any required subjects.
More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.
A LEVELS
Standard: BBC
Minimum: BCC
Adjusted: CCC
More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.
International Baccalaureate
32 points, including 5, 5, 5 at HL.
Irish Leaving Certificate
5H with 3 at H2 AND 2 at H3.
Entry from College
Advanced entry to this degree may be possible from some HNC/HND qualifications, please see www.abdn.ac.uk/study/articulation for more details.
The information displayed in this section shows a shortened summary of our entry requirements. For more information, or for full entry requirements for Arts and Social Sciences degrees, see our detailed entry requirements section.
English Language Requirements
To study for an Undergraduate degree at the University of Aberdeen it is essential that you can speak, understand, read, and write English fluently. The minimum requirements for this degree are as follows:
IELTS Academic:
OVERALL - 6.0 with: Listening - 5.5; Reading - 5.5; Speaking - 5.5; Writing - 6.0
TOEFL iBT:
OVERALL - 78 with: Listening - 17; Reading - 18; Speaking - 20; Writing - 21
PTE Academic:
OVERALL - 59 with: Listening - 59; Reading - 59; Speaking - 59; Writing - 59
Cambridge English B2 First, C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency:
OVERALL - 169 with: Listening - 162; Reading - 162; Speaking - 162; Writing - 169
Read more about specific English Language requirements here.
Fees and Funding
You will be classified as one of the fee categories below.
| Fee category | Cost |
|---|---|
| RUK | £9,250 |
| Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year | |
| EU / International students | £20,800 |
| Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year | |
| Home Students | £1,820 |
| Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year |
Additional Fees
- In exceptional circumstances there may be additional fees associated with specialist courses, for example field trips. Any additional fees for a course can be found in our Catalogue of Courses.
- For more information about tuition fees for this programme, including payment plans and our refund policy, please visit our Tuition Fees page.
Scholarships and Funding
UK Scholarship
Students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland, who pay tuition fees may be eligible for specific scholarships allowing them to receive additional funding. These are designed to provide assistance to help students support themselves during their time at Aberdeen.
Aberdeen Global Scholarship
The University of Aberdeen is delighted to offer eligible self-funded international on-campus undergraduate students a £6,000 scholarship for every year of their programme. More about this funding opportunity.Funding Database
View all funding options in our Funding Database.
Careers
There are many opportunities at the University of Aberdeen to develop your knowledge, gain experience and build a competitive set of skills to enhance your employability. This is essential for your future career success. The Careers and Employability Service can help you to plan your career and support your choices throughout your time with us, from first to final year – and beyond.
- More information on employability at the University of Aberdeen
- More information on the Careers and Employability Service
Our Experts
Information About Staff Changes
You will be taught by a range of experts including professors, lecturers, teaching fellows and postgraduate tutors. However, these may be subject to change - see our Student Terms and Conditions page.
Discover Uni
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Get in Touch
Contact Details
- Address
-
Student Recruitment & Admissions
University of Aberdeen
University Office
Regent Walk
Aberdeen
AB24 3FX