About this major

An English major will introduce you to a wide range of literary and cultural works including poems, plays, novels and films that extend from medieval times to the present day. You will encounter the richness, breadth and depth of the discipline's research and teaching culture, allowing you to customise your study according to your interests.

Areas of specialisation include Old and Middle English (800-1500); Early Modern (1500-1750); Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century; Modern and Contemporary; Australian, American, British and World literatures; literary theory; cultural, gender, postcolonial and transnational studies; film, multimedia, linguistics and language studies; and creative writing.

Whatever pathway you choose, you will explore questions about genre, period and place across a wide spectrum of works in English. You will learn to analyse and explain the formal and linguistic features of texts, aspects of their genre and history, and their dynamic role in local and global cultures. You will formulate and pursue meaningful theories of critical analysis, reading communities and literary value.

We offer a broad and dynamic discipline that will prepare you for a career in teaching, the media, public and community service, and academia, and in any vocation or area that demands intellectual flexibility and versatility, critical thinking and the ability to communicate. The cultural knowledge and analytical skills provided by an English major are not only marketable for this variety of vocations but will enrich you, and carry you through your life.

For more information on the program structure and content including unit of study information, please refer to the Arts and Social Sciences Handbook.

This major is offered by English discipline.