English Literature and History

English literature and history is a combination that develops two of the most fundamental ways human beings have of understanding their own experience: through the stories they tell and through the study of how the past has shaped the present. English literature brings the tools of close reading and critical analysis to bear on texts across centuries and traditions, asking how language makes meaning and what literature reveals about the societies that produce it. History approaches the past through evidence, argument and interpretation, reconstructing contexts, explaining change and understanding the forces that have made the world what it is.

Each discipline enriches the other.

At the University of Chichester, this three-year programme invites you to explore your passion for both English literature and history, discovering new literary worlds and engaging in critical debates as you analyse texts from a variety of contexts, time periods and authors. You will develop your analytical, research and communication skills across both disciplines, building the capacity for independent study and sustained argument that both literary and historical scholarship demand. The combination of creative and critical engagement that the programme develops is intellectually stimulating and produces graduates with a genuinely broad and transferable set of skills.

Graduates from English literature and history programmes enter careers in education, publishing, journalism, broadcasting, the civil service, archiving, heritage management, law, marketing, communications and the arts. The combination of analytical depth and clear expression that both disciplines require is valued across virtually any professional context. Many graduates pursue postgraduate study in literature, history, education, cultural studies or journalism.

The programme's emphasis on critical engagement with diverse texts and contexts means you graduate with both intellectual range and the practical skills to make use of it across a wide range of professional settings.