Online Courses in English Literature
Shiver with terror in a dark graveyard; fit your gas mask in an ecstasy of fumbling; press down slivers of rusty meat at Lowood School; discover Lady Audley’s dreadful secret; spend a day in turn-of-the-century Dublin. Reading – the world in your hands.
Reading is more readily and easily available now than ever: browse a library; go into a bookshop; click on an internet site… The treasury of literature opens to you. But do you see a sweet-shop window before your, or a minefield? Are the choices exciting, or daunting? Would you like some help in finding and choosing and in getting the most from literary texts? Studying English literature in a short online course will help you to do just that. These courses can help you to acquire skills of close critical analysis and the knowledge and understanding of context that will enable you to study, write about, appreciate, and above all enjoy literary texts.
NEW! - Literary Theory: An Introduction
This course is for anyone interested in developing their critical reading skills, learning more about literary theory, and using literary theory to understand and enjoy literature more deeply. Find out more about this course
Ancestral Voices: the earliest English Literature
Old English literature isn't all about battles and boozing: find out more... Find out more about this course
Brontës
How did three sisters living an apparently secluded and eventless life write some of the most original, passionate and dramatic novels and poetry in the English language? Find out more about this course
Contemporary British Fiction: an introduction
If you enjoy reading and discussing novels; you read reviews of fiction, you have opinions and ideas about novels; if you have ever thought 'so many books, so little time', and wondered how to decide which authors to try... Find out more about this course
Critical Reading: an introduction to literary studies
Learn to analyse, write about, appreciate, and above all enjoy literary texts. Find out more about this course
English Poetry of the First World War
Some of the most powerful and moving English poetry of the modern period was written during or about the First World War. Find out more about this course
Fiction by Victorian Women: George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, Margaret Oliphant, and others
Some of the greatest writers of the Victorian period were women. Find out more about this course
Jane Austen
There's more to Austen than bonnets and romance. Much more. Find out more about this course
Trollope, Eliot, Dickens and Hardy: Reading Victorian Fiction
Madness, hilarity, doubt and devotion...Find out more about this course
The Department for Continuing Education also offers a class-based, Undergraduate Foundation Certificate in English Language and Literature. See here for details.