-
EN-237
Exploring the Bloody Chamber: Medieval to Postmodern
This module will analyse narratives of female enclosure and gender conflict in a selection of texts from the fourteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Our specific focus is the story of the serial wife-killer Bluebeard: we will begin by examining variants of this fairy-tale narrative before both tracing it back to its mediaeval antecedents and following its continuing presence as an influence on more contemporary texts. In the process, we will discuss theories of gender, race and class in order to account for the persistent presence of this story in Western culture.
-
EN-266
Medieval Encounters
Many of the elements of our culture were first imagined or developed in the medieval period, but have continued to speak to post-medieval readers. This module will introduce students to the literature of the medieval period, with a particular emphasis on contacts or encounters between medieval texts and more modern cultures via literary translations and transformations. These translations will include both medieval responses to earlier classical and biblical traditions, and modern re-imaginings of medieval texts and ideas (including the notion of 'medievalism').
A major theme of the course will be the cultural continuities and discontinuities between medieval literature and later texts, and the ways in which medieval narratives and images were adapted to meet the needs of other cultural circumstances. Students will develop an awareness of key aspects of medieval literary culture including ideas of authorship and authority, religious traditions, and romance codes. Students will also gain an understanding of the functions of translation and re-appropriation in literary and cultural production. Although all texts will be available in modern English and fully-glossed versions, the module will equip students with the necessary linguistic skills to read and analyse Middle English texts.
-
EN-3031
Dissertation - English Literature
The Dissertation is an optional, two-semester, 40-credit module designed to develop high-level academic skills and intellectual independence in the students. A first-semester skills-building programme will include: research skills, summary skills, bibliographic skills, ability to synthesise succinctly, planning and organisational skills, correct presentation of a thesis and bibliography, presentational skills and public speaking. Students conduct research on a subject of their choice, devised in consultation with a member of the English literature staff. The topic will be devised to fall within staff research and teaching specialisms, broadly defined. Students attend group sessions on research skills in Semesters 1 and 2, and have individual meetings with supervisors in Semester 2.
-
EN-314
Chaucer
This course examines a selection of Chaucer¿s Canterbury Tales in all their complexity, controversy, and accomplishment. We will focus on a range of genres (romance, lays, fabliaux), themes (class, religion, marriage, sexuality and gender, power, as well as story-telling, authorship and textuality), and cultural preoccupations central to Chaucer¿s age (social mobility, relations between the sexes, moral and religious orthodoxy and deviance). We will pay specific attention to how the texts represent and construct emerging identities in the later Middle Ages. This course emphasises the importance (and rewards) of an attentive work on language and close critical analysis.
-
EN-M003
Words of Power
This team-taught module asks you to explore the relationship of power to language. The course has a number of strands: the question of postcolonial `writing back¿ to power; historical forms of political and cultural resistance and iconoclastic protest in Wales, Britain and America; questions of language, faith and ethical commitment; the philosophical tensions between mind-dependent or mind-independent truth, post-truth and language; the carnivalesque idea of language as double-voiced or `dialogic¿; ideas about art and communication, aesthetic autonomy, political intervention; the rhetorics of persuasion, propaganda and agit-prop; the relationship between monolingualism, language difference and uneven global economics; the ecocritical movement between writing in the world and an environmental sensibility of writing the world; questions of language, gender, agency and affect; styles of communication; intellectual property and the expropriation of language in the age of AI.
You will scrutinise a variety of texts and literary genres: novels, poems, drama; works of literary criticism, theory and philosophy, polemical essays and long-form journalism; digital interventions. You will reach a deeper understanding of the indissoluble relationship ¿
be it benign or malign, creative or repressive ¿ between the expressiveness of the word and the exercise of power. Importantly, taking this course will enhance your awareness of how your own language may be used and abused ¿ an ever more urgent requirement in the digitised workplace.
-
EN-M007
Special Research Topic 2
This intellectually rich and flexible module enables MA students to shape their own academic pathway by engaging with specialist areas of research aligned with the expertise of our academic staff. The Special Research Topic is designed for those who wish to explore a focused area of interest in depth, supported by staff who are active researchers at the forefront of their fields.
The content of the module varies each year, reflecting staff research and availability, and offers a broad range of literary and theoretical perspectives across periods and genres. Indicative topics might include:
¿ Gender and genre in modern Wales
¿ Angela Carter
¿ Neo-Victorian Gothic writing
¿ Medieval bodies, gender, and sexuality
To foster a strong sense of academic community and intellectual exchange, the module opens and closes with whole-cohort seminars. These sessions provide a space for students and staff to introduce their research interests and to reflect on the wider significance of their studies.
The Special Research Topic encourages originality, independence, and critical sophistication, offering students a chance to develop advanced research skills within a supportive and stimulating environment. It is ideal preparation for a dissertation or further academic research, as well as careers that demand analytical rigour and effective communication.
-
EN-M31
Dissertation
Individual project devised and defined in discussion between supervisor and student.
-
ENE1002
Approaches to Gender in English Literature
From the earliest myths of creation to the modern literary canon, masculinity has long been entwined with the act of authorship. Think of the Biblical story of Genesis: Adam is made first, Eve fashioned from his rib ¿ a story that has echoed through centuries of cultural narratives, shaping perceptions of creativity and authority. But literature is also a space of resistance, where writers challenge the structures that have defined who gets to speak and be heard.
This module dives into the voices that disrupt, reshape and reclaim literary authorship. We¿ll explore how both male and female writers have resisted the masculinisation of literary tradition and carved out a space for female, queer and alternative masculinities within their work. We will study a series of texts written across centuries, each offering a unique perspective on gender, power and writing.
Along the way, you will engage with groundbreaking debates in gender theory, encountering key thinkers such as Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir and Judith Butler. Through reading, discussion and independent analysis, you¿ll develop your own interpretations of the set texts, uncovering how literature both reflects and challenges the structures of gendered authorship .
-
ENE1003
Premodern Voices
How did people in premodern times understand themselves and their worlds? `Premodern Literature¿ explores foundational questions about how we read and interpret texts from the distant past: What does it mean to read literature written in a different language, or from a different worldview or moral framework? How do concepts like authorship, audience, and genre function in premodern contexts? In what ways do themes such as gender, power, war, travel, courtly love, identity, and religion emerge in these works? This module introduces you to the rich and diverse world of premodern literature, spanning the medieval and early modern periods (c.1000¿1700). Through close engagement with a range of texts - from epic poetry, devotional texts and courtly romance to drama, metaphysical poetry, and early printed prose - you will explore how literature shaped and reflected the cultural, religious, and political landscapes of the premodern world.
You will also be introduced to some of the key critical tools and contexts necessary for studying premodern literature, including manuscript culture, early print, and the transition from orality to literacy. Close attention will be paid to the development of language, through Old English, Middle English, and early modern English. The module encourages you to think critically about the relationship between literature, language, and history, and to consider how premodern texts continue to resonate with - or challenge - us today.
-
ENE1004
Discovering Literature
Discovering Literature is an introductory module designed to provide a broad and engaging foundation in English literary studies. Spanning over a millennium of literary history, from the early medieval period to the present day, this module invites students to explore the richness and diversity of English literature through a chronological and thematic journey. It introduces key texts, authors, and movements that have shaped literary traditions and cultural discourse across time.
The module is structured to guide students through major literary periods, including Old and Middle English literature, the early modern period, Romanticism, nineteenth-century literature, Modernism, Postmodernism, and contemporary writing. Students will encounter a wide range of genres including poetry, drama, prose, and emerging digital forms, and will be introduced to, and encouraged to critique, the literary canon. Discovering Literature equips students with essential critical and technical skills that will underpin their academic development throughout their degree. Students will be introduced to key literary terms, concepts, and analytical methods, including close reading, narrative theory, genre analysis, and critical perspectives including feminism, postcolonialism, and ecocriticism.
Discovering Literature lays the intellectual and methodological groundwork for more specialised study in subsequent years and fosters a lifelong engagement with literary culture.
-
HIMD00
Medieval Studies Dissertation
The Medieval Studies dissertation gives you the opportunity to pursue a substantial research project in a subject of your own choosing. Under the supervision of a specialist in the field, and using the materials you created in the Research Folder module, you will develop advanced research skills and expert subject knowledge. The module encourages independent study while supporting you in constructing coherent and persuasive arguments, communicating complex ideas effectively, and engaging critically with medieval scholarship. Completing this dissertation will not only deepen your knowledge of medieval history but also prepare you for postgraduate research or professional applications.
-
HIMM00
Reading Medieval Manuscripts
Medieval manuscript sources are crucial to our understanding of the Middle Ages. Research across the disciplines of medieval studies is grounded in the study and use of medieval books and documentary sources. This module aims to give you the skills, knowledge and confidence to engage with original manuscript sources of various types, from early Anglo-Saxon Gospel books to medieval chronicles, from illustrated books of hours to critical legal documents. Students will engage with these sources via digital and printed images and full-scale printed facsimiles, learning to recognise and transcribe medieval hands from all periods. Students will be given the chance to read original manuscripts during a visit to the West Glamorgan Archive Service (Swansea), and other repositories such as the National Library of Wales (Aberystwyth) and Hereford Cathedral Library may also be visited. This module assumes no prior knowledge of medieval manuscripts, nor any prior knowledge of the medieval languages featured in the manuscript samples, including Latin, Old English and Middle English.
