You will study an exciting variety of novels, poems and plays. You might find yourself looking for the psychological undercurrents in a fantasy novel, applying feminist theory to a Renaissance courtly sonnet, studying the motif of the vampire in Gothic horror or exploring the treatment of love in the comedies of Shakespeare. There's the chance to write a dissertation on a topic of your choosing. You will develop key skills for the future: our students learn how to frame a convincing argument, express it in discussion, analyse writing in all styles and work effectively alone or in a group.

At Chester, we offer an engaging and supportive atmosphere in which ideas about literature are shared. Your contact hours will include individual tutorials with lecturers, seminars with other students and a tutor, and lectures attended by your whole year. Group discussion is at the heart of the degree, and we do everything we can to make the study of literature exciting, varied and dynamic. We offer a wide range of assessment: as well as writing essays and sitting exams, you can gain marks for private study projects, oral presentations and creative writing depending on the options you choose. You can opt to study film as well as literature, or to link literature to wider issues like trauma, crime, fashion and science. You can customize your degree as you progress, so by the third year you might be taking several optional modules as well as working on a dissertation whose title you have created and where you work individually with a lecturer. Our hard work in designing and teaching the course is reflected in the most recent National Student Survey (2017) where 93% of our students were satisfied with their teaching, which is well above the national average for the subject.