English Literature: Literature and Society: Enlightenment, Romantic and Victorian MSc

Our MSc in Literature and Society: Enlightenment, Romantic and Victorian gives you the opportunity to engage with a range of topics in literary study, centred on the literary history of England, Scotland and Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries.

This taught masters programme includes two core seminar courses in literature, one per semester. These examine how literary genres in prose and verse developed alongside significant shifts in intellectual, social and political contexts from the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688 to the end of the Victorian era.

In this time period, key developments include:


- the Enlightenment, the invention and elaboration of modern ‘liberal’ ideas of society


• Romantic conceptions of nationality and national history



- the challenge to these ideas presented by industrial society and a global imperial polity


Our core courses in literary studies will cover the ways in which novels and poems mediated, reflected and resisted these and other developments.

Alongside these courses, you will also take one option course in both semesters, choosing from a range of options.

You will also study research skills and methods in both semesters to help prepare you for your masters dissertation, an independent piece of research of 15,000 words. For your dissertation, you will pick a topic that aligns with your own interests and typically complete the writing between April and August.

Why Edinburgh
Literature has been taught at our university for over 250 years, making us the home of the oldest department of English Literature in the world.

We are a community of writers and readers, and there are lots of opportunities to write and share your own work across the University, such as ‘The Student,’ the UK’s oldest student newspaper (founded in 1887 by Robert Louis Stevenson) and annual student writing prizes.

The University also hosts the prestigious James Tait Black Awards, established in 1919, and recognised as one of the oldest literary prizes in Britain.

As a UNESCO World City of Literature, Edinburgh is a remarkable place to study prose, poetry and drama. The city offers exceptional resources for literary study, from the University's Special Collections to the National Library of Scotland and Scottish Poetry Library.