The study of English literature allows you to travel without leaving home, to witness historical moments that took place before you were born, and to study the human condition up close, in all its pain and glory. Great literature can give you as much of an insight into the complexities of human nature as any psychology textbook can. It can help you see complicated situations from multiple angles. It can be thought-provoking, moving, shocking, funny – often all at the same time.
We hope that studying English will be a pleasurable and challenging earning experience and that you will acquire intellectual flexibility, an ability to approach problems with an open mind, and a capacity to express yourself coherently and clearly.
Maynooth University Department of English
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Course Information for Incoming First Year Students
English at Maynooth University provides an exciting and rewarding student experience. Throughout your degree, you will be encouraged to engage in critical debate about the meaning and value of literature through lectures, tutorials, and seminars.
First Year English modules are specifically designed to guide students from school or access to university-level study. Prospective First Year students will find a general overview here: First Year Information for Prospective Students 25-26
The BA in Creative Writing and English offers students the opportunity to develop critical and creative skills within one programme, which is innovative not only for its integration of two intertwined subjects, but for its industry links and its teaching practices. In First Year students take three 7.5 credit modules of Creative Writing and English in each semester PLUS 1 other subject, which may include Critical Skills, from the available Subject Groups 1, 2, 4 or 5.
Course Information for Continuing Students
Second Year English comprises four core modules that variously examine literary theory, literary form, literature in history and through the politics and aesthetics of place, as well as a number of option modules that allow students to focus their study on a specific theme, writer, period, or genre.
Module Information for Continuing Second Year Students: Second Year Information 25-26
Third Year English consists of large lecture based modules and option modules with tutorials in the first semester, these modules delve further into how literature enables us to engage with the world. In the second semester students choose from a range of elective modules that provide exciting opportunities for specialisation. These final semester modules will allow students to bring all the skills and knowledge they have accumulated over their degree to a particular area of study. Here they develop and apply their understanding of literary texts and cultural production with the guidance of their seminar leader.
Module Information for Continuing Third Year Students: Third Year Information 25-26