BA English and History of Art

Programme overview

Entry requirements

Entry Requirements are available on the Course Search entry

Programme specification

The information on this page is accurate for students entering the programme in 2022/2023 or before. For students entering the programme from September 2023 or after, you can find the details of your programme: BA English and History of Art(For students entering from September 2023 onwards)

This engaging course provides you with an opportunity to develop an understanding of literature in English from the medieval period to the present day, as well as an awareness of the ways that art is produced and perceived and how this has changed over time.

You will be introduced to the key skills and knowledge needed to critically analyse texts and art, and the historical contexts of the production and reception of art. Our wide range of optional modules allow you to specialise in areas that are of interest to you, from medieval literature to contemporary fiction, Shakespeare to world theatre, aesthetics to museum studies and Buddhist monuments to the dynamics of gender and the body that are operative in art history and visual culture.

With so many galleries and museums located in the region, such as the Leeds Art Gallery, the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, as well as a vibrant cultural scene, it’s a fantastic place to discover these two complementary disciplines.

Year 1

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
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Compulsory Modules

At Level 1, students are required to take 120 credits, with a minimum of 40 credits in both English and History of Art:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ARTF1028	From Art History’s Myths to Critical Art History	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ARTF1049	Art History as Practice	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL1065	Reading Between the Lines	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL1110	Literature, Culture and Critique	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Optional Modules

Level 1 students may select up to 40 credits from the following English optional modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL1070	Drama: Text and Performance	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL1221	Modern Fictions in English: Conflict, Liminality, Translation	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL1261	Poetry: Reading and Interpretation	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL1855	Race, Writing and Decolonization	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Level 1 students may select up to 40 credits from the following History of Art modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ARTF1027	Cultural History	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ARTF1056	Critical Approaches to Display, Institutions, and Engagement	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ARTF1300	Ways of Seeing	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ARTF1301	Ways of Thinking Seeing	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Discovery Modules

Candidates may take up to 40 credits of Discovery modules in place of two of the option modules above.

Year 2

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
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To be eligible for a joint honours award, students must pass at least 40 credits at level 2 in each of the named subjects.

Compulsory Modules

Students must take the following compulsory modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ARTF2212	Methods in Practice: Art-Historical Research	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ARTF2213	Origins, Structures, and Critique: Framing the Discipline of Art History	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Optional Modules

Students must select at least one of the following modules. They may also select both options, if preferred:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL2030	Writing Environments: Literature, Nature, Culture	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2045	Body Language: Literature and Embodiment	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Student may also select one or more modules from the options below, to fulfil the minimum requirement of 20 credits of English modules per semester. Students can select a maximum of one module (20 credits) per basket.

Basket 1:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL2029	Renaissance Literature	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2144	Life, Love and Death from Chaucer to Marlowe	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Basket 2:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL2065	Postcolonial Literature	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2090	Modern Literature	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Basket 3:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL2095	Other Voices: Rethinking Nineteenth-Century Literature	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2096	The World Before Us: Literature 1660–1830	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Basket 4:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL2055	American Words, American Worlds	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2080	Contemporary Literature	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Basket 5: Please note that some of the modules in this basket have pre-requisites for enrolment.

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL2034	Cursing and Courtesy: (im)politeness in English	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2037	Forensic Approaches to Language	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2042	Language Policy, Planning, and Politics	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2049	Language of the Media	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2051	Language in Society	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Basket 6: Please note that some of the modules in this basket have pre-requisites for enrolment.

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL2023	Power of Language	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2032	Children, Talk and Learning	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2033	Crime Fiction Stylistics: Crossing Languages, Culture, Media	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2039	Keywords: the words we use and the ways we use them	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2047	Trial Discourse: The Proceedings of the Old Bailey 1674-1913	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2048	Dialect Hunting	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2143	Writing in the Age of Digital Media and AI	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2181	Digital Discourse: language, social media, AI	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Students may select up to 40 credits of History of Art option modules from Basket 7. Note that the list is indicative, and may change year by year:

Basket 7:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ARTF2055	Variant Modernism: British art in the short 20th Century	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ARTF2069	The Art Market: Moments, Methodologies, Meanings	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ARTF2094	Art, Power and Portraiture	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ARTF2145	Bodies of Difference	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ARTF2205	Renaissance / Anti-Renaissance: Critical Approaches to Early Modern Art in Europe	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Level 2 students may take up to 40 credits of Discovery modules or a module from Basket 8 in place of English or History of Art options, provided they have fulfilled the programme requirements to take at least 40 credits in both JH subjects. Note that the list is indicative, and may change year by year:

Basket 8:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
FOAH2020	Towards the Future: Skills in Context	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST2240	Hands on Heritage	20	Not running in 202627
HIST2260	Digital Methods for History, Art and Literature	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Optional modules run subject to enrolments. These modules may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Discovery Modules

Level 2 students may take up to 40 credits of Discovery modules (or a module from Basket 8) in place of English or History of Art options, provided they have fulfilled the programme requirements to take at least 40 credits in both JH subjects.

Year 3

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

To be eligible for a joint honours award, students must pass at least 40 credits at level 3 in each of the named subjects. Your Final Year Project counts as 40 credits on one side of your degree.

Optional Modules

Students will be required to study ONE of the following Final Year Project modules:
Basket 1:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ARTF3170	Dissertation	60	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP
ENGL3005	Textual Editing Project	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
ENGL3041	Final Year Project	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP

Students may choose from the list of specialist research modules in English provided they have met the requirement to study at least 40 credits of History of Art modules. The list provided below is indicative and is subject to change year by year depending on staff availability:
Students may choose up to 40 credits from Basket 2, provided they have chosen a minimum of 40 credits of Art History modules at Level 3: Note that the list is indicative, and may change year by year.
Basket 2:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL3031	Sex and Suffering in the Eighteenth-Century Novel	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3033	Writing and Gender in Seventeenth-Century England	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3034	Romantic Lyric Poetry	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3037	Speech Acts: Contemporary Approaches to Text and Performance	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3046	Parts, Periodicals, Newspapers: Literature and the Nineteenth-Century Press	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3073	Turks, Moors and Jews: Race and Identity in Early Modern Drama	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3114	Forming Victorian Fiction	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3321	Angry Young Men and Women: Literature of the Mid-Twentieth Century	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3477	Cursing and Courtesy: (im)politeness in English	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3479	Forensic Approaches to Language	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3482	Language Policy, Planning, and Politics	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3491	Language of the Media	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3579	Law and Literature: Transgression, Justice, and Interpretation	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3680	Postcolonial London	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
FOAH3001	Global African Writing	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Students may choose up to 40 credits from Basket 3, provided they have chosen a minimum of 40 credits of Art History modules at Level 3: Note that the list is indicative, and may change year by year.
Basket 3:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL3008	Writing Modern Sexualities	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3027	Shakespeare	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3061	Heart Disease in Contemporary Literature	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3062	Charles Dickens Then & Now	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3065	Page, Publication and Audience	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3068	African American Narrative	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3072	Narratives of Witchcraft and Magic	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3164	Imagining Posthuman Futures	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3181	Digital Discourse: language, social media, AI	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL32111	Gender, Culture and Politics: Readings of Jane Austen	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3391	September 11 in Fact and Fiction	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3394	Bowie, Reading, Writing	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3396	Fictions of the End: Apocalypse and After	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3462	Slavery and Antislavery in the Atlantic Imagination	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3475	Children, Talk and Learning	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3476	Crime Fiction Stylistics: Crossing Languages, Culture, Media	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3481	Keywords: the words we use and the ways we use them	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3485	Trial Discourse: The Proceedings of the Old Bailey 1674-1913	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
LLLC3953	Advanced Creative Writing Project	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.
Basket 4:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ARTF3034	From Trauma to Cultural Memory: The Unfinished Business of Representation and the Holocaust	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ARTF3042	Cultural Diversity in Museum and Material Culture - Case Study	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ARTF3059	Critical approaches to photography	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ARTF3063	Postcolonial Feminisms	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ARTF3064	Art, Ecology and Empire	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ARTF3099	Antique Dealers: The Market for 'Decorative Art' from Curiosities to Retro	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Discovery Modules

Candidates may choose to study up to 40 credits of Discovery modules over both Level 2 and 3 or pursue additional modules in the two named subjects.

Last updated: 12/05/2026 17:13:38

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