Program Overview

History of Art and English BA

Overview

The History of Art and English BA is a joint honors degree that combines the study of art history and English literature. The program explores the relationship between art and literature, examining how they reflect and shape cultural, social, and historical contexts.

Qualification and Entry Requirements

• Qualification: BA Jt Hons
• Entry Requirements: ABB
• UCAS code: QV33
• Duration: 3 Years full-time
• Start Date: September 2025
• Fees: £9,535

Course Information

The program covers a wide range of topics, including:

• English modules:
  • Studying Language
  • Drama, Theatre, Performance
  • Studying Literature
  • Beginnings of English
• History of Art modules:
  • History of Art: Renaissance to Revolution
  • History of Art: Modern to Contemporary
  • Art, Methods, and Media

Optional Modules

• Year 2:
  • European Avant-Garde Film
  • Black Art in a White Context: Display, Critique and The Other
  • The Sixties: Culture and Counterculture
  • Film and Television in Social and Cultural Context
  • Los Angeles Art and Architecture
  • Art at the Tudor Courts
  • Memory, Media and Visual Culture
  • Media Identities: Who We Are and How We Feel
  • Understanding Cultural Industries
  • Digital Communication and Media
  • Work placement
  • From Talking Horses to Romantic Revolutionaries: Literature
  • Literature and Popular Culture
  • Modern and Contemporary Literature
  • Texts Across Time
  • Literary Linguistics
  • The Psychology of Bilingualism and Language Learning
  • Language Development
  • Language in Society
  • Ice and Fire: Myths and Heroes of the North
  • Chaucer and his Contemporaries
  • Old English: Reflection and Lament
  • Names and Identities
  • Twentieth-Century Plays
  • Shakespeare and Contemporaries on the Page
  • Shakespeare and Contemporaries on the Stage
  • From Stanislavski to Contemporary Performance
• Year 3:
  • Dissertation in History of Art
  • Contested Bodies: Gender and Power in the Renaissance
  • Mobility and the Making of Modern Art
  • Photographing America
  • Performance Art
  • Art and Science: 1900 to the present
  • Self, Sign and Society
  • Working in the Cultural Industries
  • Film and Television Genres
  • Gender, Sexuality and Media
  • Public Cultures: Protest, Participation and Power
  • Songs and Sonnets: Lyric poetry from Medieval Manuscript to Shakespeare and Donne
  • Contemporary British Fiction
  • Single-Author Study
  • The Gothic Tradition
  • Island and Empire
  • Oscar Wilde and Henry James: British Aestheticism and Commodity Culture
  • The Self and the World: Writing in the Long Eighteenth Century
  • Making Something Happen: Poetry and Politics
  • Reformation and Revolution: Early Modern literature and drama
  • Modern Irish Literature and Drama
  • One and Unequal: World Literatures in English
  • Language and the Mind
  • Discourses of Health and Work
  • Language and Feminism
  • Teaching English as a Foreign Language
  • Advanced Stylistics
  • English Place-Names
  • Dreaming the Middle Ages: Visionary Poetry in Scotland and England
  • The Viking Mind
  • Modern Irish Literature and Drama
  • Changing Stages: Theatre Industry and Theatre Art
  • Reformation and Revolution: Early Modern literature and drama
  • English Dissertation: Full Year

Assessment Methods

• Commentary
• Dissertation
• Essay
• In-class test
• Portfolio (written/digital)
• Presentation
• Reflective review
• Written exam

Careers Overview

The History of Art and English BA program provides students with a unique combination of subject knowledge and professional skills, making them adaptable and resilient in the job market. Recent graduate destinations include:

• Advertising, marketing, and public relations
• Publishing, journalism, and broadcasting
• Curation, conservation, and museum work
• Business, finance, and management
• School and university teaching
• Charity and voluntary sector
• Acting and theatre work
• Arts and heritage management

Contact Time and Study Hours

• Minimum scheduled contact time: 12 hours (Year 1), 10 hours (Year 2), 8 hours (Year 3)
• Independent study: 200 hours per 20-credit module (combined teaching and self-study)

Campus

• University Park Campus: 300 acres, with green spaces, wildlife, period buildings, and modern facilities. It is one of the UK's most beautiful and sustainable campuses, winning a national Green Flag award every year since 2003.