English and English & Modern Languages
English Language and Literature
During your first year you will be studying four ‘papers’ (the term used in Oxford for examined subjects, like modules). These will introduce you to literary study and to work in the medieval and modern periods. These papers are examined at the end of your first year.
English and Modern Languages
If you hold an offer for English and Modern Languages, you can find the relevant advice on reading via the link below.
English Papers and Reading Lists
1. Introduction to English Language and Literature (Paper 1)
This paper introduces you to English Language and Literature as a discipline, and to a variety of approaches to reading texts and to thinking about language use. In the first term (Michaelmas Term), you will explore fundamental questions about the nature of literature and its study. In the second term (Hilary Term), you will be introduced to formal study of the English language, with reference to its historical development, its use as a literary medium, and its imbrication with various cultural and social factors.
This paper is taught through core lectures in the English Faculty, supplemented by college classes and tutorials.
Please read the following two books before you arrive:
Derek Attridge, The Work of Literature (Oxford, 2015)
Peter Barry, Beginning Theory, 4th edition (Manchester, 2017)
If you would like to get a head start on your work for the language side of the paper, you can read the following, but be sure to prioritise reading for Michaelmas (both for this paper and for papers 2 and 3).
Ronald Carter and Walter Nash, Seeing through Language: A Guide to Styles of English Writing (Oxford, 1990)
Simon Horobin, The English Language: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2018)
Paper 1 requires you to have a working knowledge of English grammar and to be able to discuss it with accuracy: to this end, and especially if you have not formally studied English Language at A-level or equivalent, you may find it useful to work through David Crystal’s Making Sense of Grammar (2004) before you arrive.
2. Early Medieval Literature, c. 650-1350 (Paper 2)
This paper introduces you to the literature, language, and cultural history of early medieval England. The focus is on literature in Old English (the language spoken by the migrant peoples who settled in Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries and by their descendants) and Early Middle English (the phase of the language that developed after the Norman Conquest of 1066 brought Old English into sustained contact with French). The paper will be taught in both the first (Michaelmas) and second (Hilary) terms through classes and tutorials, supported by Faculty lectures. There will be revision in the third (Trinity) term.
There is an incredibly rich body of literature in Old English, including texts in a wide variety of genres such as epic, lament, chronicle, riddle, dream vision, hagiography, and homily, while Early Middle English sees the flourishing of debate poetry, lyric, and romance. You will also have the opportunity to do a small amount of comparative work with other early medieval literatures in translation (e.g. Anglo-Latin, Anglo-Norman, and Old Norse).
The main focus of the paper at St John’s is on working closely with the language of Old English literature, you will find an Old English grammar guide here.
There are four Old English set texts:
- The Dream of the Rood
- The Wanderer
- An extract from Beowulf (‘Beowulf’s fight with Grendel’)
- The Battle of Maldon
All four are contained in the following edition, and you must obtain your own copy.
Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson, A Guide to Old English, 8th edn (Oxford, 2011)
You should also read a wide selection of early medieval texts in translation before you arrive. I’d like you to acquire and read the following two books:
R. D. Fulk, The Beowulf Manuscript: Complete Texts and The Fight at Finnsburg (Cambridge, MA, 2010) — a facing page translation of all of the texts in the Beowulf manuscript.
Elaine Treharne, ed. Old and Middle English c.890-c.1400: An Anthology, 3rd edn (Oxford, 2010) — this has facing page translations and glossed versions of a number of Old and Middle English texts. (There’s no requirement to read beyond about p. 600 as texts after this fall outside of the ‘period boundary’ for this paper, but feel free to do so, of course, if they spark your interest.)
It is also important to gain a familiarity with the cultural and historical background to the texts. The following will be helpful as a starting point, but there’s no need to own your own copy:
John Blair, The Anglo-Saxon Age: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2000).
3. Literature in English, 1830-1910 (Paper 3)
In Michaelmas term most of your tutorial work will be on this paper. The following reading list features most of the books we will be focusing on in seminars and tutorials, and you will be expected to bring along copies of these texts when we meet. You will find that there is not all that much time available during term itself, and it is therefore important that you get through as many of the books on this list as possible before you come to Oxford, so that you can focus on wider reading or re-reading when you’re here. You should prioritise the poems of Tennyson and Browning, the novels of George Eliot and Henry James, and the essays of Matthew Arnold and J.S. Mill, as we will be thinking about these writers in the first half of term.
To familiarise yourself with the diverse range of Victorian poetry I recommend Francis O’Gorman’s Victorian Poetry: An Annotated Anthology (2004), which you can browse both by author and by genre. Walter Houghton’s The Victorian Frame of Mind (1963) remains a useful introduction to wider intellectual contexts.
Unless specified otherwise, you should acquire the OUP editions of each text, for ease of shared reference in seminars and tutorials:
Matthew Arnold: Culture and Anarchy and Other Selected Prose, ed P.J. Keating (Penguin)—be sure to read at least Culture and Anarchy (1867-8) and Friendship’s Garland (1871).
J.S. Mill: On Liberty, Utilitarianism, and Other Essays, ed. Mark Philip and Frederick Rosen (OUP)—read On Liberty (1859).
George Eliot, Scenes of Clerical Life (1857), Adam Bede (1859), Middlemarch (1871-72); if you have time also Daniel Deronda (1876).
Henry James, The American (1876), Daisy Miller (1878), The Portrait of a Lady (1880-81), and at least one of James’s later fictions: either What Maisie Knew (1897) or The Ambassadors (1903).
Alfred Tennyson: use Tennyson: A Selected Edition (Longman) ed. Christopher Ricks; focus on In Memoriam (1850) and Maud (1855).
Robert Browning: read widely in the OUP selected edition, which is entitled Major Works, ed. Daniel Karlin and Adam Roberts; focus especially the poems collected in Men and Women (1850), also read the extracts of The Ring and the Book (1868) – the full text of this long poem is available online at this Project Gutenberg webpage.
John Ruskin: Selected Writings, ed. Dinah Birch (OUP)—read widely in this short collection, which offers a great introduction to the diversity and range of Ruskin’s thought; see especially extracts from The Stones of Venice (1851-53) and Fors Clavigera (1871).
A.C. Swinburne: Poems and Ballads & Atalanta in Calydon, ed. Kenneth Haynes (Penguin)—focus on Poems and Ballads (1866).
Ralph Waldo Emerson, essays on ‘Nature’(1836),‘Self-Reliance’, ‘Experience’: use the Library of America edition, entitled Emerson: Essays and Lectures.
Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (1891-2), especially ‘Song of Myself’, ‘Calamus’, ‘Crossing Brooklyn Ferry’; use the Library of America edition, entitled Whitman: Complete Poetry and Collected Prose.
Emily Dickinson: the selection provided in Helen Vendler’s Dickinson: Selected Poems and Commentaries is a good place to start; use R.W. Franklin’s Poems of Emily Dickinson: Reading Edition to read further.
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845); use the OUP edition, ed. D. McDowell.
Walter Pater, Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873); if you have time and inclination, go on to Marius the Epicurean (1885).
Oscar Wilde, Intentions (1891), use the Penguin edition of Wilde’s Selected Critical Prose, ed. Linda Dowling (full title is The Soul of Man Under Socialism and Selected Critical Prose); there are several decent editions of Wilde’s fiction, drama, and poetry for further reading if you are interested.
While many Victorian intellectuals were doubtful about traditional religious authority, their writings are nonetheless steeped in the language and moral atmosphere of the Christian bible. Having some awareness of these allusions and resonances will significantly deepen your understanding, and if you are not familiar with the bible you will find it helpful to read at least the Gospel of Matthew, and St Paul’s letters to the Corinthians. The ‘King James Version’ is the best one to read for literary purposes, and you can easily find it online.
4. Literature 1910 – Present Day (Paper 4)
You should concentrate on reading for the Victorian paper over the summer as this is what you will be studying when you arrive at St John’s. Modern literature is studied in Hilary term, and you will have time to prepare for this paper in the Christmas vacation. However if you want to read ahead I suggest you start with the poetry of Wallace Stevens and T.S. Eliot, the fiction of Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and J.M. Coetzee, and the plays of Samuel Beckett.
Study skills for incoming undergraduates
As an Oxford student, you have many great opportunities ahead, but studying here can also be very challenging. To help you prepare for this, we have put together some resources that will help you develop your study skills before you start at Oxford, no matter your subject.
Starting at Oxford
Starting a course at Oxford can be very daunting, but there are many resources out there to help you succeed! Here are some useful guides from across the University that you might want to check out:
- Study skills and training: Here you can find advice on academic good practice including avoiding plagiarism, managing your time, reading, note taking, referencing and revision.
- Student life: It’s not all about academics at Oxford; here you can find out about the range of other opportunities available to you as a student, as well as tips on how to navigate student life with your workload. If you prefer podcasts, much of this information is available in that form here!
- Managing your budget: Student finances can be daunting at first glance. You can find can find more information on managing your money at university here, as well as information on fees and funding.