Literary texts attempt to understand and articulate areas of human experience that cannot be expressed simply or directly. Their subjects include love, bereavement, wonder and doubt. Literary writers approach those subjects obliquely, creating fictions, poems and performances. They skew and enhance ordinary language with imagery and irony, and they distort its sounds through metre and rhyme.

To study literature is not an altogether simple matter. The understanding of literary texts requires a precise grasp of their language, approach and context. Moreover, scholars of literature have argued copiously about the nature and significance of texts. Literary study involves acknowledging and entering these debates, and sometimes taking sides in them.

The major in literature aims to help students develop their capacities and knowledge in three areas. First, our students become disciplined interpreters and users of language. Second, they know a range of texts of different types and from different places and periods. Finally, literature students need to develop a sharp critical edge to assess and use ideas and theories.

Students may choose to write an Honours Thesis (HT) or do an smaller research project through an Independent Study course. Students who opt not to do an HT or IS can read level-4000 courses to fulfil the Honours requirements.

The following programmes are offered in English Literature:

• Single Major (B.A. Honours)
• Single Major (B.A.)
• Second Major in English Literature
• Minor in English Literature