English (1700-1830) MSt

University of Oxford

The English master's programmes are designed to serve both as an autonomous degree for students wishing to pursue more advanced studies in English literature, and as a solid foundation for doctoral research.

Course structure

The MSt programme consists of four main components, through which you have the opportunity to pursue interests within your chosen MSt strand, as well as across period boundaries. In the first two terms, you will take a core course (A) tailored to your specific programme, a compulsory course in book history and theories of text (B) also tailored to your programme, and choose two courses from a wide range of options (C). Under the guidance of a specialist supervisor you will also research and write a dissertation, which is submitted in the final term.

A. Core course: Literature, contexts and approaches

This is the core course for this MSt. It is formally non-assessed but compulsory. Classes on literature, contexts and approaches introduce representative key texts and current debates on the literature and cultural history of the period. This course is designed to provide a solid foundation for advanced literary study.

B. Core course: Bibliography, theories of text, history of the book, manuscript studies

This is a compulsory, assessed course, taught via a range of lectures and seminars in each of the first two terms. It is designed to train you for research in English, through the study of bibliography, palaeography, book history and theories of text (appropriate to the relevant period).

C. Special options

The special option courses allow you to develop and pursue your research interests, whether related or unrelated to other work undertaken as part of the MSt degree. You may choose to study any C-course option from any period. The courses are taught in weekly, small group seminars. The list of available C-course options changes from year to year; courses taken by MSt students in this strand have, in recent years, included ‘Wordsworth and Coleridge 1797-1817’, ‘Prose Fiction of the Late Eighteenth Century’, ‘Reading Visual Satire’, ‘The Philosophical Poem: Pope, Wordsworth and Tennyson’, ‘Forming the Critical Mind’, ‘Women’s Poetry, 1680-1830’ and ‘Senses of Humour: Wordsworth to Ashbery’.

D. Dissertation

You will write a dissertation on a subject of your choice, determined in consultation with your course convenors and dependent on the availability of a suitable academic supervisor. Dissertation supervisors will be appointed in Michaelmas term; in Hilary term, there is a faculty workshop on MSt dissertations.