English (Medieval and Renaissance Literature)

The English (Medieval and Renaissance Literature) program offered by University College Cork examines canonical and lesser-known texts, forms, and authors from the islands of Britain and Ireland, ranging from the earliest works in English, such as riddles, elegies, and wisdom poetry, to the proliferation of texts and genres in Middle English writing of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, including Chaucer, to the cheap print of the sixteenth century and the popular plays of Shakespeare.

We take a particular interest in interrogating conventional boundaries between periods (including between Old and Middle English, and between medieval and Renaissance texts), between genres, and between media (from oral to written traditions, from page to stage, and from text to screen).

Under the guidance of the MA’s expert scholars, who have published widely on many of the topics covered on the course, you will explore key conceptual and critical issues in Old, Middle, and Renaissance English literature; the historical, cultural, and material contexts of this literature; and the afterlives and legacies of this literature across time and media (transmission, reception, adaptation, appropriation).

Careers Information

Our English MA graduates are linguistically and critically adept writers and researchers. On this program they develop a broad skill set, knowledge, and experience in independent research, effective verbal and written communication, critical thinking, organisation, teamwork, problem-solving, and time management.

Equipped with this array of transferable skills, MA graduates progress to careers in areas such as publishing, second-level teaching, arts and heritage, journalism and broadcasting, civil service, technical writing, and policy research development. Having developed the discipline-specific skills for the study of earlier literatures, graduates have also advanced to doctoral study in the fields of Old, Medieval, and early modern English, and Digital Humanities, and to careers within and beyond academia.

Courses Include

• Middle English Literature

• Old English Literature

• Renaissance Literature

• Earlier Literature and its Modern Reception

• New Histories of the Book: Theories and Practices of Earlier Writing

• Contemporary Research: Skills, Methods, and Strategies