Classics and English at Oxford

8

Hello,
I’m thinking of applying to Oxford for the Classics and English degree and am a bit put off by the lack of choice in the modules. It seems very dictated with only slightly more choice in what I study than my a levels.
If anyone is studying Classics and English at Oxford (or just single honours classics or English) what is your experience with the course? Would you say there is a lot of freedom in what you learn?

Reply 1

Stiffy Byng

19

Many Oxford undergraduate degrees may look like that from the outside, but are in fact very broad.

The courses ensure that students get into the core materials in depth, but within what may appear a narrow range there is enormous breadth.

Classics and English at Oxford are a deep dive into and a long swim in a deep, wide, and slow moving river; not a series of shallow swims in several narrow and rapid streams.

Oxford is not perfect, but among the many things that Oxford really knows how to do well are Classics and English.

Reply 2

xyz1234567

11

There is no choice in the first year but masses of choice in the second part of the degree. You can basically pick from any modules on the Classics course and on the English course. It’s an incredibly flexible degree.

Reply 3

xyz1234567

11

In case you weren’t aware, you can find the course handbooks on the English Faculty website. There are separate handbooks for Prelims and Finals, and they give details of the course structure and the choices you have.

If you really want to get into detail, you then need to cross reference with the Classics and the English handbooks which tell you more information about each individual paper (eg what texts are involved if you choose Greek tragedy or Byzantine literature or Latin didactic poetry). But basically there is an awful lot of choice for the second part of the course. You can also do a paper in ancient philosophy or history if you want to move beyond literary study.

Reply 4

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post

by Removite

Hello,
I’m thinking of applying to Oxford for the Classics and English degree and am a bit put off by the lack of choice in the modules. It seems very dictated with only slightly more choice in what I study than my a levels.
If anyone is studying Classics and English at Oxford (or just single honours classics or English) what is your experience with the course? Would you say there is a lot of freedom in what you learn?

As above, the course is actually quite free, and as I understand you get a bit of leeway in what you study in the individual tutorials for each paper to focus on particular texts/topics of interest.

If you look at the English teaching, they focus on quite broad periods and within that you may study any number of authors, themes or topics, and as I understand the structure of the examinations for English are very broad to allow you to answer on more or less any relevant text from that period - therefore giving you leeway to individualise your studies in discussion with your tutor, from what I can see. That's actually quite an unusual amount of freedom for any undergraduate course.

See this response to a FOIA request for English faculty reading lists: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/english_literature_reading_lists/response/1937190/attach/3/FOI%2020211124%202%20ltr.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1

"In an undergraduate English degree at Oxford there are no “modules”, only “papers” (assessments), most of which have a broad thematic or period based scope – so students may write on any author within the period, for instance."

Emphasis mine.

The classics options are vast, you can see them either in the handbooks or on the classics website. While you are required to take a certain amount from just the classical literature strand, there are still a huge range of options in that area, and you can take other non-literature classics options. You also do at least one and potentially more genre papers connecting to the two subjects.

As for the overall course structure, it's fairly flexible even without considering the internal flexibility/options within each paper; you're only prescribed two papers (the dissertation, which can be on any relevant subject of your choosing, and a paper on the Epic genre connecting the two halves of the course). You can see more in the handbook: https://oess.web.ox.ac.uk/handbooks#collapse1778766

You may be confusing the fact that the FHS consists of only 7 papers over 2 years for a lack of choice, compared to other unis where you might do e.g. 16 modules over that period. While at another unis the greater number of modules adds a layer of granularity, often there will be less choice in what you take as module options, more compulsory modules, and within each module they will normally be more rigidly programmed as to what you study with less freedom of choice for you. You won't have anywhere near the freedom and flexibility as the papers seem to offer at Oxford. So I don't think it represents a lack of choice, it simply reflects a simpler structure to enable a greater degree of freedom within that overarching structure.

(edited 11 months ago)

Reply 5

Stiffy Byng

19

Original post

by Removite

Hello,
I’m thinking of applying to Oxford for the Classics and English degree and am a bit put off by the lack of choice in the modules. It seems very dictated with only slightly more choice in what I study than my a levels.
If anyone is studying Classics and English at Oxford (or just single honours classics or English) what is your experience with the course? Would you say there is a lot of freedom in what you learn?

I add that at some universities a student can obtain a degree in English despite reading no Shakespeare. At Oxford, a student of English reads all of Shakespeare.

Classics and English at Oxford

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