BA (Hons) English and History Bachelor's degree at Keele University

Were there 'defining moments' in the past? You will debate this question through exploring a series of 'moments' in the last 1000 years of world history, encountering different History staff at Keele and learning about different types of History. As you encounter a range of scholarly writing and primary sources and develop the core skills you will need to study History at university, you will consider the relevance of this History to the world we live in today.

How do you craft a compelling university essay, analyse a literary text, and put criticism to use? How can you interpret a work within its historical context, or apply literary theory to it? Through studying a wide range of texts, from novels such as Wuthering Heights, to Renaissance tragedy, to the poetry of Toni Morrison, you'll develop essential skills for academic reading and writing. This module will enhance your appreciation of literature and prepare you for advanced study throughout your

In this module you will explore key developments in global societies and the interactions between them in the medieval and early modern world. The value of different approaches to the past is a core part of this module, so you will encounter social, political, religious, economic, and cultural History. You will develop skills in academic reading, learn to communicate to varied audiences, and begin to explore pre-modern primary source material, which will prepare you for later years of your degre

What makes a work of literature 'classic'? What do we mean when we call something an example of 'popular culture'? This module invites you to compare 'classic' texts (such as Hamlet, The Great Gatsby, and The Color Purple) with adaptations that share their themes or challenge their values. You'll learn new ways to think about why some texts are called 'classics' and some are not, and enrich your understanding of the way that texts interact with one another across genres.

The module starts at a surprise location. You receive a blank book and start to write. It's a journal: you submit it later, alongside your creative or critical piece. Back in Keele you look at children's writing from different periods and cultures. You consider imagination and myth, the politics of representation, the construction and subversion of gender roles. You think about voice and vision. Your expressive skills flower as you explore storytelling techniques and the transformative power of

This module introduces you to key characteristics of fiction. You will gain an understanding of how these can be employed to explore the meaning of a text. Engaging with fiction by writers from all over the world, you will learn how to analyse core elements such as narrative voice, structure and the evocation of place, and develop your own ability to write short, creative prose pieces. Guided by Keele's award-winning novelists, you will attain a solid foundation for writing longer prose pieces i

The past is presented in many different ways, including in contemporary film and media. In this module you will consider 'public history', examine representations of the past in visual culture, and discuss the importance of these representations to collective memory, constructions of identity, and contemporary politics. Working with students from different subjects, you will begin to develop key skills for Humanities students, including how to evaluate and interpret sources and communicate your

Gothic Nightmares introduces you to the representation of spooks, automatons, monsters and supernatural horrors in literature, film, and TV from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Each week you will read a short story and a critical text, and watch an example of the gothic genre from film or TV. Why has the gothic persisted as it has? Why do we need (or want) to be scared? What are we afraid of anyway?

As you encounter key ideas, individuals and events in modern history around the world, you will discover how societies changed over time and across place from c.1750 to the present. You will develop fundamental skills including communicating to academic and non-academic audiences, and an awareness of core concepts in modern history. You will also encounter a wide range of primary sources and learn how to analyse them effectively in preparation for your next two years of study.

History is ever-present outside of the academic setting in places such as heritage sites, museums, schools, advocacy organizations, newsfeeds and social media. In this module you will grapple with how history is communicated to different groups for different purposes. A field trip will serve as a case study to complement your teaching programme, and you will put your skills into practice by producing and reflecting on your own public history intervention, with guidance from staff.

This module introduces you to the many ways that your literary knowledge and communication skills will be useful in future employment. Studying a range of poems, speeches, and plays, you will learn how to employ effective rhetorical strategies to communicate professionally with different audiences, enabling you to give speeches, design lesson plans or exhibitions, or run social media campaigns. The module includes masterclasses from professionals working in, for example, museums, theatres, and s

There are many varied approaches to studying History. This module will consolidate your understanding of these approaches through a lecture series, and you will choose a strand of theme-based seminars. You will be guided to produce your own research project through group workshops and individual supervisions, developing the key research and analytical skills that will be essential for the individual research project that you will embark on in your final year.

This module expands your understanding of literature's relation to History. You will study novels, poems, and plays from the Victorian period to the present, relating them to social, political and cultural contexts including class, race, gender and sexuality. You will be exposed to a range of literary styles and genres including realism, modernism, postmodernism and the postcolonial, extending your knowledge of different types of literature in preparation for the final year of your degree.

The 1500s to the 1830s was a period of rapid historical change, including shifts in cultural norms, new debates about gender, class, empire, and race, and the questioning of traditional religious beliefs. You will explore how English poetry, drama, and fiction responded to these transformations, and develop your understanding of how texts relate to their wider social and cultural contexts. You will acquire the advanced critical skills you will need to draw on in the final year of your degree.

Building on your first year, in this second-year module you will extend your knowledge of different literary approaches and theories, exploring topics such as feminism, race studies, ecocriticism, and the history of emotions.