Centre for Scandinavian Studies
Aberdeen has the largest concentration of experts on early Scandinavia in the British Isles.
Celtic & Anglo-Saxon Studies and English, MA
Introduction
Celtic & Anglo-Saxon Studies and English at Aberdeen adds to a fascinating study of the lives and legacy of the Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Scandinavian peoples. In this programme, you will explore English language and literature through the ages and in all its glory, at a leading centre ranked second in the UK for the quality of our research. You will graduate with wide career options across the arts and skills transferable whichever direction you choose.
Study Information
At a Glance
- Learning Mode
- On Campus Learning
- Degree Qualification
- MA
- Duration
- 48 months
- Study Mode
- Full Time
- Start Month
- September
- UCAS Code
- 7Q5Q
Aberdeen has been a centre for Celtic studies for more than a century and is now a leading research centre in all aspects of the northern polar regions including its peoples. You will study literature, culture, history and languages, inspired by leading specialists in the history and literature of Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia in the Middle Ages, in medieval Celtic and Scandinavian literature, and the cultural history of Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England.
English gives you all the advantages of a highly-rated teaching, research and creative hub, where you will explore poetry and prose through the dynamic relationship between author, reader and literary text, study every period from Chaucer to contemporary English, Scottish, Irish, European and American writers and examine the cultural and critical impact of powerful and controversial modern works.
You will be inspired by enthusiastic teachers and researchers, themselves acclaimed authors and poets, and be encouraged to develop your own creative writing skills.
This subject combination gives you essential skills in critical thinking, core writing, research, communication and other attributes which will make you attractive to employers whatever your career choice. Our graduates work in a wide variety of areas in the arts and elsewhere, including heritage management, teaching, publishing, research, librarianship, enterprise and broadcasting.
What You'll Study
- Year 1
-
Compulsory Courses
- Academic Writing for Language & Literature (AW1008)
-
This compulsory evaluation is designed to find out if your academic writing is of a sufficient standard to enable you to succeed at university and, if you need it, to provide support to improve. It is completed on-line via MyAberdeen with clear instructions to guide you through it. If you pass the evaluation at the first assessment it will not take much of your time. If you do not, you will be provided with resources to help you improve. This evaluation does not carry credits but if you do not complete it this will be recorded on your degree transcript.
- Getting Started at the University of Aberdeen (PD1002)
-
This course, which is prescribed for level 1 undergraduate students (and articulating students who are in their first year at the University), is studied entirely online, takes approximately 5-6 hours to complete and can be taken in one sitting, or spread across a number of weeks.
Topics include orientation overview, equality and diversity, health, safety and cyber security and how to make the most of your time at university in relation to careers and employability.
Successful completion of this course will be recorded on your Enhanced Transcript as ‘Achieved’.
- Barbarians, Romans, Gods and Warriors (CE1033)
-
15 Credit Points
This course gives you an exciting introduction to the Celtic and Germanic worlds. In lectures and small-group tutorials, we will explore the peoples who inhabited western and central Europe in Antiquity. We will discuss their cultures and their interactions with Greece and Rome. The course also covers the fates of these cultures in the post-Roman world. Change over time will provide a major driver of the course: for instance, empire and its effect; the history and impact of the "barbarian"; the successive impacts of Roman religion and of Christianity, and how they were represented in mediaeval "heroic" literature.
- Magic, Mystery, Spells and Potions in the Ancient World (DR152C)
-
15 Credit Points
This course will look at magic in the ancient Greek, Roman and Ancient Near Eastern World. The course will explore the concept of magic and key themes associated with magical rituals and practitioners.
Optional Courses
Select AT LEAST TWO of the following:
- The Rise of Christianity (DR1038)
- Modern Irish Language for Beginners 1 (CE1036)
- Gaelic Scotland (GH1015)
- Gaelic for Beginners 1A (GH1007)
- Latin 1 (LT1009)
- Gaelic for Beginners 1B (GH1507)
- Latin 2 (LT1507)
- Modern Irish Language for Beginners 2 (CE1536)
PLUS:
- Acts of Reading (EL1009)
Also, select ONE OR BOTH of the following:
- Controversial Classics (EL1513)
- Rethinking Reading (EL1536)
- Modern Irish Language for Beginners 1 (CE1036)
-
15 Credit Points
This course gives students an introduction to the modern Irish language. It covers basic conversation skills, and the structures of the language, through the use of songs, videos and speaking practice in class. It is open to those with little or no knowledge of the language.
- Gaelic Scotland (GH1015)
-
15 Credit Points
Gaelic is Scotland's oldest living language. In this introductory course you will learn about the Gaels, their history and their role in the shaping modern Scotland. You will also learn about how Gaelic language and culture became minoritised in its own country. Students will learn learn about various contemporary initiatives that are aimed at saving and promoting this indigenous language and culture and this will be compared to minority languages and cultures elsewhere in the world.
- Gaelic for Beginners 1a (GH1007)
-
15 Credit Points
This is an 11-week course in the modern Scottish Gaelic language for students who have little or no prior experience of the language, or for students with no formal qualifications in Gaelic.
You will learn Gaelic through a mixture of interactive language classes, a class which focuses on conversational skills, and a programme of homework exercises, together with self-directed learning.
By the end of the course, you will be able to speak, read, write and understand Gaelic at a basic level and you will have mastered a large working vocabulary.
- Latin 1 (LT1009)
-
15 Credit Points
Latin 1 is an introductory, intensive course for those with little or no previous exposure to Latin. Students completing this course should have a Latin vocabulary of about 400 words and a basic understanding of Latin grammar and syntax. Students successfully completing this course will be adequately prepared to attend Latin 2. Students will very likely discover that their knowledge of English vocabulary and grammar/syntax is improved by their study of Latin. The etymological roots of many English words can be traced to the Latin language.
- Gaelic for Beginners 1b (GH1507)
-
15 Credit Points
This is an 11-week course in the modern Scottish Gaelic language for students who have completed GH1007 Gaelic for Beginners 1A.
You will attend three interactive language classes and one conversation class each week, as well as undertaking self-directed learning.
By the end of the course you will be expected to have mastered a large working vocabulary and to be competent in understanding and using most of the major structures of the language.
- Latin 2 (LT1507)
-
15 Credit Points
Latin 2 picks up where Latin 1 finished in first term. By the end of this course students should have a more or less comprehensive understanding of Latin syntax and grammar, a Latin vocabulary of 700-800 words, and should be capable of translating simple Latin texts into idiomatic English. Students will very likely discover that their knowledge of English vocabulary and grammar/syntax is improved by their study of Latin.
- Controversial Classics (EL1513)
-
15 Credit Points
Literature can provoke, offend and disturb as well as entertain. This course considers some of the most powerful and controversial works of modern literature. It examines the circumstances of publication, the nature of the controversy, and the cultural and critical impact of each work. The course shows how poems, plays and novels can raise searching questions about national, racial and personal identity, and looks at the methods used by writers to challenge their readers, as well the responses of readers to such challenges.
- Rethinking Reading (EL1536)
-
15 Credit Points
'Rethinking Reading' complements the module ‘Acts of Reading’. Intended primarily for students with degree intentions in English, this course introduces key areas in critical theory that inform the current work of staff at Aberdeen. It asks students to consider the history of English studies and its relationship to colonialism, and how this impacts on conceptions of literature and authorship, alongside topics such as gender and sexuality, and genre. Through a series of modules, the course introduces each area of theory alongside a literary text used as a case study. The course supports students in learning to read and use critical theory in your work, incorporating reflective learning and a practical focus on the techniques involved in critical writing.
- The Rise of Christianity (DR1038)
-
15 Credit Points
The course will introduce you to the first five centuries of Christian life and belief. It traces the rise of Christianity from its origins as a Jewish sect to a position of cultural and religious dominance in the Roman Empire. It also looks at the development of central themes in early Christian theology and spirituality. The course consists of a series of lectures on key topics, and tutorial seminars on researching and presenting your work, and on various early Christian texts. The course also requires your own reading and research.
- Modern Irish Language for Beginners 2 (CE1536)
-
15 Credit Points
This course gives students an introduction to the modern Irish language. It covers basic conversation skills, and the structures of the language, through the use of songs, videos and speaking practice in class. It is open to those with little or no knowledge of the language.
- Acts of Reading (EL1009)
-
15 Credit Points
This course introduces students to the study of English by exploring the dynamic relationship between author, reader and text in a series of classic works of fiction and poetry. It covers a broad historical range (from Folk Tales and ballads to 21st century postmodernity) and offers a basic grounding in key elements of literary theory, literary history and the varieties of literary form.
- Year 2
-
Compulsory Courses
- Encounters with Shakespeare (EL2011)
-
30 Credit Points
So you think you know Shakespeare? This course invites you to think again. Studying a range of plays we get behind the mythology of Shakespeare, and rediscover the dynamic inventiveness of the Elizabethan theatre. Shakespeare and his contemporaries were the principal players in a period of literary experimentation that reinvented the possibilities of literature. Encounters with Shakespeare is your chance to find out more.
Optional Courses
Select AT LEAST TWO of the following:
- Vikings: An Introduction (HI2526)
- Introduction to Scottish Gaelic Literature (GH2514)
- Scottish Folklore and Oral Traditions (EF2501)
- Magic, Mysteries, Spells and Potions in the Ancient World (DR252C)
- The Celts, their Neighbours and the Classical World (CE2536)
- The Rise of Christianity (DR201L)
- Arthur in Medieval Celtic and Scandinavian Literature (CE2034)
PLUS:
- The Tragedy of Knowledge (EL2512) OR Power, Empire and Equality (EL2518)
Plus, select further courses of choice to make up 120 credit points.
- Arthur in Medieval Celtic and Scandinavian Literature (CE2034)
-
15 Credit Points
The course provides a survey of literature on Arthur in the Middle Ages, focusing on early Welsh and Gaelic sources, related Scandinavian literature and French, Welsh and English romances. It includes discussion of broader themes and questions posed by the literature, e.g. whether Arthur could have been a real person, how the Arthurian legend evolved over time and in different areas of Europe, and why the character has been elevated to iconic status.
- The Rise of Christianity (DR201L)
-
15 Credit Points
The course will introduce you to the first five centuries of Christian life and belief. It traces the rise of Christianity from its origins as a Jewish sect to a position of cultural and religious dominance in the Roman Empire. It also looks at the development of central themes in early Christian theology and spirituality. The course consists of a series of lectures on key topics, and tutorial seminars on researching and presenting your work, and on various early Christian texts. The course also requires your own reading and research.
- The Celts, Their Neighbours, and The Classical World (CE2536)
-
15 Credit Points
Greek and Roman interactions with, and perceptions of, Celtic and Germanic peoples will form the central theme of this course. We will analyse individual Classical authors' motives and judgments in relation to Celts and Germani, and how these perceptions evolved against the background of the emerging Roman Empire. The course also involves discussion of broader themes and questions posed by the sources, e.g. the portrayals of Celtic and Germanic peoples in Greek and Roman art, and the possible uses by Celtic and Anglo-Saxon literatures of Classical texts.
- Magic, Mystery, Spells and Potions in the Ancient World (DR252C)
-
15 Credit Points
This course will look at magic in the ancient Greek, Roman and Ancient Near Eastern World. The course will explore the concept of magic and key themes associated with magical rituals and practitioners.
- Scottish Folklore and Oral Traditions (EF2501)
-
15 Credit Points
This course introduces students to the principal aspects of Scottish oral traditions from historical times to the present. It should appeal to both international and local students who are interested in learning more about traditional culture in Scotland, as well as the disciplines of Ethnology, Folklore, and Ethnomusicology.
- Introduction to Scottish Gaelic Literature (GH2514)
-
15 Credit Points
This survey course is an introduction to Scottish Gaelic literature from the 17th century to the modern day. Scottish Gaelic has one of Europe's oldest secular literatures and this is an exciting choice for anyone with an interest in Scotland's history, literature and culture: it is taught using translated texts and originals for those whose Gaelic language is good enough. Students will gain new perspectives on key areas of Scottish society such as Jacobitism, the Clearances, the Highland Land Wars, the Celtic Twilight Movement and the Gaelic renaissance in the modern period. This course is suitable for anyone in Programme Year 2 with an interest in Scottish society.
- Vikings: an Introduction (HI2526)
-
15 Credit Points
The year 793: a surprise viking attack on the peaceful monastic island of Lindisfarne. This raid is often considered to mark the beginning of the so-called Viking Age, a time of turbulence and transformation with repercussions throughout Europe and beyond. This period saw violence and warfare, cultural contact and religious conversion, political overhaul, and literary and artistic creativity. As well as critically interrogating the concepts of the ‘viking’ and the ‘Viking Age’, this course provides an introduction to key themes and topics in the study of early Scandinavia, c. 800-1200.
- The Tragedy of Knowledge (EL2512)
-
30 Credit Points
This course traces the use of key Western myths from antiquity to the present to examine the way knowledge is often presented as both dangerous and compelling. As well as introducing students to a range of historical, social, and formal variations on the theme of knowledge, the course also highlights the role of storytelling and adaptation in the formation of knowledge and understanding.
- Power, Empire and Equality (EL2518)
-
30 Credit Points
This optional course in literature allows students at pre-Honours to learn about the impact of global colonialism through the writings of those who experienced it and its repercussions. It includes theorists of our time and texts like Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen. The texts on this course are necessarily concerned with enslavement and freedom, with how one encounters difference, and what it means to possess or claim territory. In examining these issues students will engage with issues of power and equality over centuries of writing about colonialism and empire.
- Year 3
-
Optional Courses
Select 60 credit points of level 3 Celtic & Anglo-Saxon courses from the table of courses below.
- Independent Study in Celtic & Anglo-Saxon Studies A (CE3599)
Plus two level 3 EL courses to be chosen from two of the groups below
Medieval/Renaissance Literature
- EL30CP: Page and Stage: Renaissance Writings 1500-1640
- EL35DQ: Knights, Virgins and Viragos: Chaucer and Medieval Writing
Romantic/Victorian Literature
- EL35XR: Romanticism
- EL35SB: Britain and the 19th Century World
- EL30QA: Sympathy for the Devil: Scottish Short Stories
- EL 30VC: Fallen Women and Self-Made Men
- EL 35VB: Bildungsroman to Alien Invasion
Contemporary/Modern Literature
- EL35KN: Haunted Texts
- EL30FF: Modernism: Make it New
- EL30RD: American Voices: Self and Society,1850-1930
- EL35WC: Queer Times
- EL30UT: Art and Atrocity: Representations of Violence and Trauma
- EL35UT: Art and Atrocity: Representations of Violence and Trauma
- EL 35ZF: Images Adequate to Our Predicament: Art for the Anthropocene
- Page and Stage: Renaissance Writings 1500 - 1640 (EL30CP)
-
30 Credit Points
This course explores the poetry, drama and prose of a period often referred to as the golden age of English literature. A period which saw Shakespeare and his contemporaries produce innovative new literary works in which the language of desire took centre stage.
- Knights, Virgins and Viragos: Chaucer and Medieval Writing (EL35DQ)
-
30 Credit Points
Knights, Virgins, and Viragos offers an introduction to the variety of medieval literature and culture. Turning a critical eye on the role misconceptions of the Middle Ages play in present day white supremacy, the course highlights genres from medieval drama to life writing, with attention to the medieval history of race making and modern responses to the work of Chaucer in the poetry of Patience Agbabi.
- Romanticism (EL35XR)
-
30 Credit Points
The Romantic movement swept Europe in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and produced some of the most innovative and exciting literature that has ever been seen. This rule breaking art helped shape the way that we consider art today and underpins many of our ideas about imagination, originality, creativity and self-expression. This course will explore the ways in which the Romantic movement manifested itself across Britain and Ireland and will consider writers such as Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Scott, Austen and Byron.
- Britain and the Nineteenth - Century World (EL35SB)
-
30 Credit Points
The Romantic (1782-1832) and Victorian (1832-1901) periods were ones of remarkable activity for British citizens abroad. Imperial expansion, increasing international trade, major conflicts and growing mass migration all drew more British citizens than ever into contact with the wider world. This course explores the footprints left by these interactions in nineteenth-century literature. Writers covered may include Henry Derozio, Jane Austen, Mary Prince, Robert Louis Stevenson and Arthur Conan Doyle.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Scottish Short Stories (EL30QA)
-
30 Credit Points
While the short story is often said to have developed in America, nineteenth-century Scottish writing is in fact instrumental in the emergence of the form. Often drawing on oral and folk traditions Scottish writers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries employ the supernatural, or our fear of it, to explore subjects such as guilt, fear, remorse and the extent to which we can control our own destinies. This course will explore the ways in which the short story in Scotland develops from the early nineteenth century until the beginning of the twentieth. It will include writers such as Walter Scott, James Hogg, John Galt, Margaret Oliphant, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle and Jane Findlater.
- Modernism: Make IT New (EL30FF)
-
30 Credit Points
The early twentieth century was a time of great literary experimentation as literary modernists rose to the challenge to make it new. We will explore modernism’s stylistic experimentation while also considering the social contexts and changes that shaped this literature. The course will examine a range of writers, genres, movements and locations which prompt us to consider what, when and where was modernism.
- American Voices: Self and Society, 1850 - 1930 (EL30RD)
-
30 Credit Points
This course examines an important and diverse period in the development of American literature, lasting from the mid-nineteenth century until the 1930s. During the course we will be analysing works by a variety of American writers from this period in their historical, social and political contexts as well as considering the ways in which they pioneered innovative literary forms and techniques.
- Queer Times (EL35WC)
-
30 Credit Points
This course adopts a cross-period approach, bringing contemporary and premodern texts into conversation in exploring representations of queer experiences and themes in diverse forms. Divided into three sections, queer presents, queer pasts, and queer futures, the course will introduce a selection of theoretical and critical readings in thinking about how representation is shaped by temporal and cultural context. We will consider the relationship between representation of queer experience and formal experimentation, and how queer forms impact on our sense of queer possibilities.
- Haunted Texts (EL35KN)
-
30 Credit Points
This course offers an overview of a wide range of twentieth-century Scottish literature, focusing on themes of haunting, death, and place. Including novels, short stories, poetry, and drama, the course explores questions of the relationship between self and society, the legacy of the past, and the formation of gendered and regional identities. There are lots of ghosts.
- Art and Atrocity: Representations of Violence and Trauma (EL35UT)
-
30 Credit Points
How is the artist to respond when the virtual becomes the real and when words cannot carry the weight of trauma? How can an author avoid the accusations of voyeuristic prurience or crass opportunism when he or she attempts to re-present events of public violence? This multi-disciplinary course examines work from a wide range of modes, including fiction, poetry, film and graphic art, and looks at the difficulties of inscribing trauma and the ethics and praxis of remembrance. Key events covered include the Holocaust, the Sabra and Shatila massacre, 9-11, the Gulf War and the conflict in the Balkans.
- Art and Atrocity: Representations of Violence and Trauma (EL30UT)
-
30 Credit Points
How is the artist to respond when the virtual becomes the real and when words cannot carry the weight of trauma? How can an author avoid the accusations of voyeuristic prurience or crass opportunism when he or she attempts to re-present events of public violence? This multi-disciplinary course examines work from a wide range of modes, including fiction, poetry, film and graphic art, and looks at the difficulties of inscribing trauma and the ethics and praxis of remembrance. Key events covered include the Holocaust, the Sabra and Shatila massacre, 9-11, the Gulf War and the conflict in the Balkans.
- Images Adequate to Our Predicament: Art for the Anthropocene (EL35ZF)
-
30 Credit Points
Through the effects of technological progress, industrialisation, deforestation, mining, our dependence on fossil fuels and plastics, and the testing of nuclear weapons, humans have become geological agents – radically transforming the Earth System in ways that will leave a trace for millions of years to come. This realisation has come to be known as the ‘Anthropocene’ – the time of humans. The implications – materially, emotionally and intellectually – are vast and complex. How do writers and artists respond to this complexity? What role can literature, film and visual art play in our understanding of it? This course addresses these and other questions. By studying select works of literature, film and visual art from the last sixty years alongside critical, theoretical and scientific writing on the Anthropocene, can we identify those images that might be thought adequate to our predicament?
- Bildungsroman to Alien Invasion (EL35VB)
- Fallen Women and Self - Made Men (EL30VC)
-
30 Credit Points
The Victorian period is often seen as a time of sexual repression and rigid gender roles, in which men and women were expected to perform in accordance with established codes of behaviour that were based on assumptions about innate masculinity and femininity. While this perception of Victorian attitudes may be true to some extent, many Victorians were well aware of the dangers of gender stereotyping, and wrote fiction in order to interrogate and challenge these expectations. Focussing mainly on the novel, but including some poetry and drama, this module explores how Victorian writers engaged with gender stereotypes, and considers the literary tactics that authors used to re-examine, overthrow and sometimes reaffirm them. We will also consider how these stereotypes changed during the nineteenth century in response to public controversies and campaigns that kept questions of gender at the forefront of public consciousness. Figures such as the Fallen Woman, the Self-Made man and the Angel in the House will be explored in texts by authors including Emily Brontë, Christina Rossetti, Robert Louis Stevenson and Thomas Hardy.
- Materialising Faith: Women, Art and Religion, 1150 - 1500 (AH3003)
-
30 Credit Points
From Hildegard of Bingen to Isabella D’Este, women played a defining role in the commissioning, making and experiencing of devotional art and architecture. This course explores the opportunities nuns, sisters, mystics, wives and widows had to express their faith, status and power by material means. Equally it focuses on the way in which such devotional works could shape women’s visions and modes of contemplation. Case studies are drawn from across Europe, with a primary focus on Italy and Germany during the period 1150-1500.
- Scottish Archaeology (AY3009)
-
15 Credit Points
Here in Scotland we have a world-class record of past human society. From the spectacularly preserved Neolithic settlement of Skara Brae to 19th century clearance villages, this course explores the broad sweep of Scottish prehistoric and historic archaeology. In lectures and a day long study trip students will get an in-depth insight into the archaeology of Scotland and will explore some of the major issues in human history: the origins of agriculture and monumentality, worldview and belief in the north, settlement and social structure, urbanism and the emergence of the modern world.
- Celtic Encounters: the Gaelic World in Irish and Scottish Literature (CE301C)
-
30 Credit Points
Celtic Encounters looks at the ways in which Irish and Scottish writers have reimagined texts of Celtic origin in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, from the Irish Literary Revival through the Scottish Literary Renaissance, to the present day. Writers have adapted Old Gaelic sagas and hero tales for modern consumption, reinvented themselves as latter-day bardic poets, and been inspired by the Celtic and Gaelic past to produce daringly modernist and experimental new work.
- Brittonic Language Ia (CE3074)
-
30 Credit Points
This course consists of an exposition of the grammar of mediaeval Welsh, accompanied by appropriate translation exercises and grammatical interpretation of selected passages.
- Independent Study In Celtic & Anglo - Saxon Studies A (CE3099)
-
15 Credit Points
This course will provide the opportunity for self-motivated students to pursue in-depth exploration of a specific topic in Celtic and/or Anglo-Saxon Studies. It gives students an opportunity for intensive engagement in a specific area within the research field of an individual staff member, and can be arranged as preparatory work towards a dissertation. The content of this course varies depending on the topic chosen, but the course focuses on enhancing the student's knowledge and research skills in the specified topic.
Students are asked to discuss their ideas with a possible supervisor in the first week of term. In Autumn 2023 Dr Aideen O'Leary will teach Old English language under this course title, based on her new multimedia edition (with Dr Zhangfeng Xu) of the Aberdeen course Learning Old English by Dr Duncan Macrae-Gibson, available from Aberdeen University Press.
- Animals and Monsters in the Greek World and Beyond (DR302X)
-
30 Credit Points
This course will explore the role of animals and monsters in the Ancient Near East, ancient Greek, Roman Worlds.
- Early Modern Gaelic Language and Texts A (GH3059)
-
15 Credit Points
This course introduces students to the Gaelic language and society of the early modern period c1200-c1700. Students will learn to read short texts in the original language (with help); students will also read translated texts and scholarly materials about historical and cultural topics of that period.
- Crime and Punishment (HI306S)
-
30 Credit Points
The period from the sixth century to the sixteenth century saw fundamental changes in European Society, including the emergence of the outlines of states and kingdoms that are recognisable today. But the period also saw fundamental changes in conflict resolution. Using a mixture of chronicle, legal, and literary evidence this course provides a comprehensive overview of a millenium of conflicts and conflict resoution in a period which saw the development of fundamental concepts and methods which still shape legal practice.
- The Twelfth - Century Renaissance (AH3505)
-
30 Credit Points
The twelfth century was a period defined by upheaval and innovation, when ancient learning and new ideas combined to transform European society across the continent. This course explores the artistic dimension to cultural, social, and political change, and brings marginalised communities into focus. We will draw on a range of sources, including manuscripts, architecture, stained glass and metalwork to understand a range of lived experiences, from isolated monks to Jewish communities.
- Brittonic Language Iia (CE3574)
-
30 Credit Points
The course consists of continued study of the grammar of mediaeval Welsh, accompanied by reading, translation exercises and grammatical interpretation of selected passages of text.
- Celtic & Anglo - Saxon Kingship (CE3595)
-
30 Credit Points
Kingship and the Middle Ages seem to go together. In some cultures mediaeval kingship grew powerful, the public embodiment of a people and the creator of government and (therefore) state. But this was not so everywhere and at all times. The Germanic-speaking peoples, fearful of leaderly power, were very reluctant to embrace kingship. The Celtic-speaking peoples inherited a long-lived ideology of kingship but never embraced monarchy. We examine the development of kingship as social institution, taking the Celts as a whole and using the Anglo-Saxons as representative of a larger Germanic history.
- Year 4
-
Optional Courses
Choose ONE of the following:
- Dissertation in Celtic & Anglo-Saxon Studies (CE4598)
- English Dissertation (EL4502)
Plus further course(s) of Level 4 Celtic & Anglo-Saxon Studies from the table of courses below to gain 60 credits in the discipline. Plus level 4 English courses to make up 60 credits in the discipline.
- Dissertation in Celtic & Anglo - Saxon Studies (CE4598)
-
30 Credit Points
The Dissertation in Celtic & Anglo-Saxon Studies is for Senior Honours students registered in the Celtic & Anglo-Saxon Studies degree programme. It will consist of approximately 3 one-hour tutorials, to provide students with guidance on selecting a suitable academic topic and developing a methodology for tackling this topic.
- English Dissertation (EL4502)
-
30 Credit Points
Students will have the opportunity to write a dissertation on a topic of their choosing within English literature.
- Materialising Faith: Women, Art and Religion, 1150 - 1500 (AH4003)
-
30 Credit Points
From Hildegard of Bingen to Isabella D’Este, women played a defining role in the commissioning, making and experiencing of devotional art and architecture. This course explores the opportunities nuns, sisters, mystics, wives and widows had to express their faith, status and power by material means. Equally it focuses on the way in which such devotional works could shape women’s visions and modes of contemplation. Case studies are drawn from across Europe, with a primary focus on Italy and Germany during the period 1150-1500.
- Celtic Encounters: the Gaelic World in Irish and Scottish Literature (CE401C)
-
30 Credit Points
Celtic Encounters looks at the ways in which Irish and Scottish writers have reimagined texts of Celtic origin in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, from the Irish Literary Revival through the Scottish Literary Renaissance, to the present day. Writers have adapted Old Gaelic sagas and hero tales for modern consumption, reinvented themselves as latter-day bardic poets, and been inspired by the Celtic and Gaelic past to produce daringly modernist and experimental new work.
- Brittonic Language Ib (CE4074)
-
30 Credit Points
This course consists of an exposition of the grammar of mediaeval Welsh, accompanied by appropriate translation exercises and grammatical interpretation of selected passages of text.
- Independent Study In Celtic & Anglo - Saxon Studies B (CE4099)
-
15 Credit Points
This course will provide the opportunity for students to pursue in-depth exploration of a specific topic in Celtic and/or Anglo-Saxon Studies. It gives students an opportunity for intensive engagement in a specific area within the research field of an individual staff member, and can be arranged as preparatory work towards a dissertation. The content of this course may vary, but the course focuses on enhancing the student's knowledge and research skills in the specified topic. Students are asked to discuss their ideas with a possible supervisor in the first week of term. In Autumn 2023 Dr Aideen O'Leary will teach Old English language under this course title, based on her new multimedia edition (with Dr Zhangfeng Xu) of the Aberdeen course Learning Old English by Dr Duncan Macrae-Gibson, available from Aberdeen University Press.
- Animals and Monsters in the Greek World and Beyond (DR402X)
-
30 Credit Points
This course will explore the role of animals and monsters in the Ancient Near East, ancient Greek, Roman Worlds.
- The Twelfth - Century Renaissance (AH4505)
-
30 Credit Points
The twelfth century was a period defined by upheaval and innovation, when ancient learning and new ideas combined to transform European society across the continent. This course explores the artistic dimension to cultural, social, and political change, and brings marginalised communities into focus. We will draw on a range of sources, including manuscripts, architecture, stained glass and metalwork to understand a range of lived experiences, from isolated monks to Jewish communities.
- Brittonic Language Iib (CE4574)
-
30 Credit Points
The course consists of continued study of the grammar of mediaeval Welsh, accompanied by reading, translation exercises and grammatical interpretation of selected passages of text.
- Celtic & Anglo - Saxon Kingship (CE4595)
-
30 Credit Points
Kingship and the Middle Ages seem to go together. In some cultures mediaeval kingship grew powerful, the public embodiment of a people and the creator of government and (therefore) state. But this was not so everywhere and at all times. The Germanic-speaking peoples, fearful of leaderly power, were very reluctant to embrace kingship. The Celtic-speaking peoples inherited a long-lived ideology of kingship but never embraced monarchy. We examine the development of kingship as social institution, taking the Celts as a whole and using the Anglo-Saxons as representative of a larger Germanic history.
- Controversy and Drama: Marlowe to Revenge Tragedy (EL40CT)
-
30 Credit Points
This course begins by considering the theatre that gave us Marlowe and Shakespeare, among other major dramatists, as an institution actively engaged in the controversies of politics and religion of the age. Part 1 of the course focuses on the plays of Christopher Marlowe, whose controversial life is unusually well documented and whose plays starkly anticipate later tensions in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama . Part 2 considers how those tensions in politics and religion developed in later drama, giving particular attention to the genre of revenge tragedy.
- Wandering Women: Literature, Place and Environment (EL40JA)
-
30 Credit Points
This course explores the work of women writers with particular emphasis on the role of place (focused mostly, but not exclusively, on modernist women writers from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries). We will look at a number of different environments including urban, rural, domestic and trans-national spaces. We will analyse place in relation to a number of other themes such as gender, sexuality, race, spirituality and creativity. We will read a number of canonical and lesser known women writers, working across various genres, including fiction, poetry and life-writing. Authors may include: Virginia Woolf, Zora Neale Hurston, Jean Rhys, Andrea Levy, Bernadine Evaristo, Elizabeth Bishop. Previous study of modernism is not required.
- Imagined Spaces: Self and Place in Twentieth Century Scottish Fiction (EL40KD)
-
30 Credit Points
This course charts an idiosyncratic path through twentieth-century Scottish fiction, looking both at canonical novels and works relegated to 'genre fiction' in order to examine the interrelation between place, text, and narrative voice. The course focuses on questions of narrative reliability, depictions of region and nation, and self-reflexivity.
- Creative Writing: the Essential Skills (EL40PB)
-
30 Credit Points
This course will focus on the practical techniques of writing short stories, extended fiction and some poetry. It will encourage students to consider assembling a block of skills which they will require to repeatedly construct functioning narratives. The course will examine the practical skills of creating subtle fictional depictions – or high drama – and consider how we establish what is at stake for the readers of our fiction. By the completion of the course, students will have assembled a skill set to tackle creative work in a variety of modes, and present and structure it to a professional level.
- Not the Queen's English (EL40SC)
-
30 Credit Points
This course will focus on the ways in which non-standard English is used within anglophone literary texts from the late-eighteenth century to the present day. Classes will cover a wide range of geographical spaces and publishing contexts discussing Scots-language poetry, postcolonial approaches to English, and African-American literature. Authors covered may include: Robert Burns, Zora Neale Hurston, Anne Donovan, Jackie Kay, Chinua Achebe, Tom Leonard, and Percival Everett.
- Amnesty, Amnesia, Archive (EL40UU)
-
30 Credit Points
From 1968-1994, Northern Irish writers and visual artists found themselves addressing key questions: what is the role of the artist in a divided society, and must s/he engage with political events? This course considers how the artists framed these dilemmas and how they have been framed by them. Following the outbreak of peace in the province, the role of artists changed: their work now focused on the victims of violence and to demand justice. This course examines the different approaches taken to remembrance by writers/artists and explores the ways in which memory and trauma are framed in their work.
- Sex and Death: Exploring the Forbidden in Gothic Fiction (EL40VA)
- British Poetry of the 20th Century (EL40YN)
-
30 Credit Points
This course will explore the work of some of the most influential and innovative voices in 20th century British poetry. Beginning with the Modernist revolution in technique, theory and taste, it will trace some of the main continuities and reactions that stemmed from the first decades of the century and which culminated in a richly diverse and fascinating late 20th century/early 21st century poetic landscape.
- Staging the City: Renaissance Urban Drama (EL45AD)
-
30 Credit Points
Drama was the entertainment phenomenon of the early modern period: a popular art form that developed swiftly and attracted mass audiences. London was both the city that played host to this new cultural form, and the subject of much of its output. The course will examine the relation between life in the early modern city and the great flowering of drama by celebrated authors of the period. Using works by well-known writers such as Middleton, Jonson and Shakespeare, as well as lesser known authors, we will explore how the plays of the period engage with key concerns of urban living.
- The Short Story as A Literary Form (EL45DR)
-
30 Credit Points
This course examines the development of the short story during the last two hundred years, e.g. from Washington Irving, Hawthorne, and Melville, through Hemingway, Joyce, Lawrence, Woolf and Mansfield, to Raymond Carver and a selection of contemporary writers. The course will consider the distinctiveness of the short story as an art form, its techniques and applications, and the factors that have influenced its evolution.
- Literature and Medicine (EL45HQ)
-
30 Credit Points
This course explores the relationship between literature and medicine, and asks what kind of ground the two disciplines might share and how they might enrich one another. The use and abuse of literary concepts in medical practice and of medical ideas and history in literature will be considered along with the literary representations of the physician and narratives of illness, focusing on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The final part of the course explores the representation of psychiatry and psychiatric theory in twentieth- and twenty-first century literature.
- Screenwriting: the Narrative Within the Frame (EL45TM)
-
30 Credit Points
This course will investigate different forms of scriptwriting by writers from a range of historical periods. We will be considering narrative form and content as shaped by subject selection and storytelling devices and structures. The filmic themes will be considered from aesthetic, historical and theoretical perspectives. Through a series of seminars, workshops and screenings, students will develop approaches to visualising film narratives, culminating in a scriptwriting folio of work.
We will endeavour to make all course options available. However, these may be subject to change - see our Student Terms and Conditions page.
How You'll Study
Learning Methods
- Individual Projects
- Lectures
- Seminars
- Tutorials
Assessment Methods
Students are assessed by any combination of three assessment methods:
- Coursework such as essays and reports completed throughout the course.
- Practical assessments of the skills and competencies they learn on the course.
- Written examinations at the end of each course.
The exact mix of these methods differs between subject areas, years of study and individual courses.
Honours projects are typically assessed on the basis of a written dissertation.
Why Study Celtic & Anglo-Saxon Studies and English?
- Celtic & Anglo-Saxon Studies is one of the most unique university programmes offered in Scotland. You will develop your critical thinking and analysis skills through the programme's strong focus on small-group discussion.
- In the process of gaining an in-depth knowledge of the history, literature and languages of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon culture, you will develop many transferable skills that will enhance your employability.
- You will be taught by leading researchers, recognised for their valuable contributions to published books and articles on a variety of topics including Celtic, Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian literature and history.
- Many of our students are members of the Celtic Society, one of the oldest student societies in the University. You will have the opportunity to be a part of social and cultural events, including Welsh and Irish themed evenings.
- A large proportion of our Celtic & Anglo-Saxon Studies staff and postgraduate students are actively involved in research, so you will gain unique insights into the field.
- Throughout the programme, you will have the opportunity to study optional courses, enabling you to develop your knowledge and understanding of areas that particularly interest you.
- You will benefit from small class sizes and group discussion, meaning that you will have the opportunity to explore your thoughts and ideas with staff and students.
- Our programme covers all periods of English Literature, which includes Scottish, Irish and American writing, providing you with a holistic overview of the subject. You will also benefit from courses in creative writing with our prize-winning and published creative writing team.
- You will benefit from being taught by internationally recognised academics at the forefront of research in their field.
- At Aberdeen, our teaching is research-led, so you will have unique insights into the subject based on research carried out by staff and postgraduate students.
- The programme encompasses a range of teaching methods, from lectures and seminars to small-group tutorials and individual supervision.
- The critical thinking and analysis skills that you develop will enable you to work in a wide variety of careers.
- By Studying English at Aberdeen, you will become part of a unique group of students who have been taught English by world leading academics and researchers at one of the oldest universities in the UK.
Entry Requirements
Qualifications
The information below is provided as a guide only and does not guarantee entry to the University of Aberdeen.
General Entry Requirements
- 2024 Entry
-
SQA Highers
Standard: AABB
Applicants who have achieved AABB (or better), are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/ Advanced Highers may be required.
Minimum: BBB
Applicants who have achieved BBB (or are on course to achieve this by the end of S5) are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/Advanced Highers will normally be required.
Adjusted: BB
Applicants who achieve BB over S4 and S5 and who meet one of the widening access criteria are guaranteed a conditional offer. Good performance in additional Highers/Advanced Highers will be required.
More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.
A LEVELS
Standard: BBB
Minimum: BBC
Adjusted: CCC
More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.
International Baccalaureate
32 points, including 5, 5, 5 at HL.
Irish Leaving Certificate
5H with 3 at H2 AND 2 at H3.
Entry from College
Advanced entry to this degree may be possible from some HNC/HND qualifications, please see www.abdn.ac.uk/study/articulation for more details.
- 2025 Entry
-
SQA Highers
Standard: BBBB
Applicants who have achieved BBBB (or better), are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/ Advanced Highers may be required.
Minimum: BBC
Applicants who have achieved BBC at Higher and meet one of the widening participation criteria above are encouraged to apply and are guaranteed an unconditional offer for MA, BSc and BEng degrees.
Adjusted: BB
Applicants who have achieved BB at Higher, and who meet one of the widening participation criteria above are encouraged to apply and are guaranteed an adjusted conditional offer for MA, BSc and BEng degrees.
We would expect to issue a conditional offer asking for one additional C grade at Higher.
Foundation Apprenticeship: One FA is equivalent to a Higher at A. It cannot replace any required subjects.
More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.
A LEVELS
Standard: BBC
Minimum: BCC
Adjusted: CCC
More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.
International Baccalaureate
32 points, including 5, 5, 5 at HL.
Irish Leaving Certificate
5H with 3 at H2 AND 2 at H3.
Entry from College
Advanced entry to this degree may be possible from some HNC/HND qualifications, please see www.abdn.ac.uk/study/articulation for more details.
The information displayed in this section shows a shortened summary of our entry requirements. For more information, or for full entry requirements for Arts and Social Sciences degrees, see our detailed entry requirements section.
English Language Requirements
To study for an Undergraduate degree at the University of Aberdeen it is essential that you can speak, understand, read, and write English fluently. The minimum requirements for this degree are as follows:
IELTS Academic:
OVERALL - 6.0 with: Listening - 5.5; Reading - 5.5; Speaking - 5.5; Writing - 6.0
TOEFL iBT:
OVERALL - 78 with: Listening - 17; Reading - 18; Speaking - 20; Writing - 21
PTE Academic:
OVERALL - 59 with: Listening - 59; Reading - 59; Speaking - 59; Writing - 59
Cambridge English B2 First, C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency:
OVERALL - 169 with: Listening - 162; Reading - 162; Speaking - 162; Writing - 169
Read more about specific English Language requirements here.
Fees and Funding
You will be classified as one of the fee categories below.
| Fee category | Cost |
|---|---|
| RUK | £9,250 |
| Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year | |
| EU / International students | £20,800 |
| Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year | |
| Home Students | £1,820 |
| Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year |
Scholarships and Funding
Students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland, who pay tuition fees may be eligible for specific scholarships allowing them to receive additional funding. These are designed to provide assistance to help students support themselves during their time at Aberdeen.
Additional Fees
- In exceptional circumstances there may be additional fees associated with specialist courses, for example field trips. Any additional fees for a course can be found in our Catalogue of Courses.
- For more information about tuition fees for this programme, including payment plans and our refund policy, please visit our Tuition Fees page.
Our Funding Database
View all funding options in our Funding Database.
Careers
Graduates gain essential skills, which include critical thinking, oral and written communication, task management and organised and disciplined working practices. These skills are among the Graduate Attributes which students are encouraged to develop during their time at the University and are crucial in a wide range of professional careers. Our graduates work in a wide variety of areas in the arts and elsewhere, including heritage management, teaching, research, librarianship, enterprise and broadcasting.
Career Opportunities
- Junior Lecturer
- Media Communications
- Museum Officer
- Researcher
Our Experts
Our courses in Celtic & Anglo-Saxon Studies and English are taught by experts in their field. Your teachers will include, among others:
- Other Expert
- Dr Aideen O'Leary
Information About Staff Changes
You will be taught by a range of experts including professors, lecturers, teaching fellows and postgraduate tutors. However, these may be subject to change - see our Student Terms and Conditions page.
Facilities
Centre for the Novel
The Centre for the Novel is a interdisciplinary research centre which aim is to promote discussion about the theory and practice of the novel across a range of languages, historical periods and critical approaches.
Find out moreCeltic Society
One of the oldest, most famous and liveliest student societies in the University. The Society organises social and cultural events, including Welsh and Irish themed evenings and traditional music sessions.
Discover Uni
Discover Uni draws together comparable information in areas students have identified as important in making decisions about what and where to study. You can compare these and other data for different degree programmes in which you are interested.
Get in Touch
Contact Details
- Address
-
Student Recruitment & Admissions
University of Aberdeen
University Office
Regent Walk
Aberdeen
AB24 3FX