English as a New Minor Subject
The School of English is delighted to offer students from a range of disciplines the option to take up English as a New Minor Subject from their Senior Fresh year. Students who choose this pathway will take 60 ECTS in English across Years 2 to 4.
Why choose English?
This pathway presents an exciting opportunity to learn about the rich diversity of English literature from the Middle Ages to the present day, in a variety of literary cultures, including not only Britain, Ireland and the United States, but many other countries around the globe. Ours is one of the oldest Schools of English in the world, and we have maintained an exceptional international reputation for teaching and research. Our teaching takes many different forms, but we pride ourselves on a distinctive commitment to small group teaching, and aim to foster an environment in which students can articulate their own views and participate in academic discussion and debate. The skills developed by students of English are in high demand from employers, especially in journalism, broadcasting, teaching, advertising, marketing and business, arts management, publishing, law and diplomacy.
What will I study?
If you choose to take up English as a New Minor Subject, you will take 60 ECTS in English across Years 2 to 4 of your degree. This pathway has been carefully designed to ensure that students get a solid grounding in the field while also preserving an exceptional degree of choice and variety.
In the Senior Fresh year, you will take 20 ECTS in English. In the first semester, you will take the 10 ECTS module Genres: Introduction to Literary Studies, which covers a diverse range of poetry, drama and fiction, and provides essential skills for the study of English Literature. In the second semester, you will take either the 10 ECTS module Irish Writing, or two 5 ECTS modules from the following list: Early Modern Literature: Themes, Texts and Context; Cultures of Retelling; Pulp: Introduction to Popular Literature.
In the Junior Sophister year, you will again take 20 ECTS in English. In the first semester, you will choose at least one period-based module: either Writing the Body, 1690 - 1800: Race, Gender and Power or British Romantic Literature, 1789 -1830; for your second module you may choose the other period-based module, or US American Identities: Harlem Renaissance to the Present, or Literary Theories. In the second semester, you will choose at least one period-based module: either Victorian Writing or Modernisms: Making it New; for your second module you may choose either the other period-based module,or Postcolonial Literature: Introduction to Key Debates and Texts, or Imagining the Contemporary: No Future?
In the Senior Sophister Year, you will again take 20 ECTS in English, choosing from the School’s diverse list of Sophister options, which cover the entire range of English literature from the Middle Ages to the contemporary. Having gained a solid grounding in the development of English literature in the previous years, you will now have the opportunity to deepen your expertise in areas of particular interest to you.
Further information
The School of English webpage provides a wealth of information about the modules we offer, and you can find more details in the sections on the Fresher and Sophister years. If you have any further queries, please feel free to contact the Director of Undergraduate Teaching and Learning, Dr Julie Bates (batesju@tcd.ie).