English

Magdalen currently has 25 undergraduates reading English, including 3 in the joint schools with Classics and Modern Languages. There are 15 graduates in English.

The course

A full course description may be found on the Oxford English Faculty website at http://www.english.ox.ac.uk. From this it will be seen that at Oxford the English course falls into two parts. As taught at Magdalen, the first year of the course involves studying literature from 1832 to 1900 and 1900 to the present, Old English literature, and 'An Introduction to Literary Studies'. The second and third years are devoted to studying periods of literature earlier than 1832, together with Shakespeare, the English Language, and a number of other papers and subjects selected by each student from a wide range of options offered by the Faculty.

Tuition

The study of English can and should lead an individual student into diverse areas. Philosophical questions arise; history presses in; writings in languages other than English are relevant, or urgently need considering; other art forms offer models, influences, aims, inspirations, antagonists; ethical debates are engaged in; religious faiths and their histories come into question; the social sciences - psychology, anthropology, sociology, linguistics, to name a few - have their part to play, or their spanner to throw into the works. The subject ‘English’ sprawls in many directions. This is recognised in the flexibility of the Oxford English course, which encourages students to explore and test individual literary interests and critical opinions as they develop over the course of a degree. The same flexibility characterises the way in which this course is taught at Magdalen. Each week first-year English undergraduates attend classes in Old English translation, seminars in literary criticism, and an essay-based tutorial – singly or in pairs – devoted to a topic or author chosen from one of the two period papers. Second- and third-year undergraduates attend a similar mixture of classes, seminars and tutorials as part of their preparation for the final set of exams. Most of this teaching happens within Magdalen (supplemented by Faculty-organised lectures), although students who have chosen to study certain optional papers may be taught by specialists outside College.

The Fellows in English are currently Prof Laurie Maguire, Dr Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, and Dr Simon Horobin. Laurie Maguire teaches the period from 1509 to 1740. Her research interests are in Renaissance medicine, Renaissance drama, textual criticism, theatre history, feminist criticism and reception of classical texts. She is the author of Shakespearean Suspect Texts (1996), Studying Shakespeare (2004), Where There’s a Will There’s a Way (2006), Shakespeare’s Names (2007), and Helen of Troy: From Homer to Hollywood (2009); she edited How To Do Things with Shakespeare (2007) and co-edited Textual Formations and Reformations (1998). Robert Douglas-Fairhurst teaches the period from 1740 to the present. His research concentrates on Romantic and Victorian literature, with additional interests in the visual arts, the history and practice of literary criticism, and the relations of literature and science. He is the author of Victorian Afterlives (2002), and editor of Dickens’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ and Other Christmas Books (2006) and Great Expectations (2007). Simon Horobin teaches Old and Middle English and the English Language. He has research interests in Middle English language and literature and is the author of An Introduction to Middle English (2002), The Language of the Chaucer Tradition (2003) and Chaucer’s Language (2006), and co-editor of New Perspectives on English Historical Linguistics (2004).

The College

In addition to a well-stocked library, Magdalen has an active dramatic society (the Magdalen Players), and a particularly well-established poetry society (the John Florio Society) which meets to discuss members’ own work, anonymously presented.

Entry requirements

We expect all candidates for English to be taking an A-level (or equivalent qualification) in English Literature or English Language and Literature. Given the philological and historical nature of some parts of the course, we have also found a modern or ancient language (for candidates from schools which offer them) or History to be useful, but successful candidates in the past have studied a wide range of subjects at school or college. Candidates for joint schools will usually be studying a second A-level (or equivalent) that corresponds to the subject they wish to combine with English.

All candidates in English and the joint schools are required to sit the ELAT (English Literature Admissions Test), which will take place on 7th November 2012 in the candidate's school/college or an approved test centre. Registration with Cambridge Assessment is required for this test. Further details on registration and a sample test are available at: www.elat.org.uk. The test will form part of the common application process for candidates wishing to read English at any Oxford College.

All candidates are also required to send in three copies of one recent piece of marked English Literature schoolwork, to be sent directly to Magdalen College, c/o The Tutor for Admissions, to reach the College no later than 10th November. This should not be a timed essay, an essay on foreign literature in translation, or creative writing, and should be submitted with a cover sheet under the signature of a teacher with a guarantee that it is entirely the candidate’s own work. Copies should be secured together by a paperclip only. Those candidates short-listed for interview will be given a brief interview on general, mainly literary questions. At a second, longer interview they will be asked for critical comment on a poem, or poems, or prose extracts, which they will have been given at the College a short time in advance. Please note that Magdalen candidates are sometimes asked to come to Oxford one day before the officially announced date for interview.

We do not encourage deferred entry in this highly competitive subject largely for procedural reasons, but outstanding candidates with carefully considered plans for a gap year should not feel deterred from making an application for deferred entry. Please note, however, that applications for deferred entry in the joint schools of Classics and English, and English and Modern Languages, cannot normally be considered.

Enquiries

Prospective candidates are warmly invited to attend one of the College’s Open Days, at which the English tutors will be very glad to answer any questions. In order to maintain fair and equal treatment of all candidates, private appointments are not encouraged, although it is possible to discuss individual cases if circumstances make it impossible for a student to attend an Open Day.

External links