English Literature

In this course, Professor Nick Groom (University of Exeter) explores the history of the supernatural in English and American literature. The course begins by thinking about two of the key sources of supernatural literature, looking in the first...

In this course, Professor Gina Wisker (University of Brighton) explores Toni Morrison's 1987 novel, Beloved. We begin by providing a broad introduction to Black women's writing, focusing in particular on the works of Alice Walker, Zora Neale...

Shakespeare’s most famous – and infamous – tragedies draw on the Roman playwright Seneca for their dramatic form and theatrical style - including ‘Hamlet’, ‘King Lear’, and ‘Titus Andronicus’. Seneca also had a huge influence on Shakespeare’s...

In this course, we explore several aspects of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. We begin by thinking about the play’s status as a comedy, before looking at a number of aspects of the play and its performance. In particular, we explore the...

In this course, Dr Katie Halsey (University of Stirling) explores Jane Austen's 1813 novel, Pride and Prejudice. We begin by providing a broad introduction to the historical, literary, social and cultural context of the novel including the early...

In this course, Dr Madeleine Davies (University of Reading) explores Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel, the Handmaid's Tale. We begin by thinking about some of the contexts – political, religious, literary – that are relevant when reading the novel,...

In this course, Dr Edmund White (University of Oxford) explores the religious and literary background of Paradise Lost. This course provides an introduction to the religious culture of seventeenth-century England, and shows how this culture...

This course provides readers of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales with a broader context of Chaucer’s life and times as well as the kind of literature that was being written in the Medieval period that may have inspired Chaucer when it came...

In this course, Dr Will Abberley (University of Oxford) explores the influence of Charles Darwin's 'Origin of Species' on contemporary works of Victorian literature: 'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens, 'The Coming Race' by Edward...

In this course, we explore Jean Rhys' 'Wide Sargasso Sea' alongside 'Jane Eyre'. Written as a prequel to 'Jane Eyre', 'Wide Sargasso Sea' shares many of the same themes (not to mention characters) as Bronte's novel. In this course, we...

In this course, Mr Clive Wilmer (University of Cambridge) provides an in-depth analysis of Robert Browning's 'My Last Duchess'. The course begins by introducing Browning himself and the dramatic monologue form, before asking us to consider the...

This course explores the theme of love from the earliest English literature to the present day – from authors that you have likely heard of, such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Byron and Keats, to authors that are perhaps less well-known. This...