English

Why Emmanuel English?

Emmanuel currently admits between 6 and 9 undergraduates each year to read English. Our students arrive here from throughout the United Kingdom and beyond, and from a diverse range of educational and ethnic backgrounds. There are four permanent teaching Fellows in English at the College – Dr Corinna Russell, Dr Ross Wilson, Professor Robert Macfarlane, and Professor Clare Pettitt – who will between them also direct your studies in College throughout your degree. The ethos of English at Emma is relaxed but rigorous, and in terms of teaching and pastoral care is very much hands-on. We work closely with each of our students, and we greatly enjoy coming to know them well during their time here. It is important to us that many of our students achieve outstanding results in their university examinations; it is more important to us that all of our students feel happy and intellectually stimulated during their undergraduate career at Emma.

What might a typical day be like studying English at Emmanuel College?

Small-group teaching is a mainstay and distinctive part of any Cambridge degree, and one well supported and highly valued by Emmanuel English. As you move through your degree you can expect to be taught more frequently in one-on-one supervisions, in which you and your supervisor will engage in detailed dialogue about your reading, thinking, and writing. A typical day may feature such a supervision, perhaps after lunch, following on from morning lectures open to English students from across the University; in your third year especially, there may also be a Faculty-based seminar. Beyond these formal contact hours, a significant portion of your working time will be yours to organize as you see fit. Emma English students like to work in a variety of places: in their rooms, in the well-stocked and recently extended College Library, or – in the summer term – under a tree on the grass of the ‘Paddock’ (yes, Emmanuel has grass you can walk and sit on!), or by the College’s open-air swimming pool. The University Library and the English Faculty are only fifteen minutes’ walk or five minutes’ bike-ride from the College. Creative writing and drama both flourish at the College, and there is a strong sense of intellectual community among English students here.

How Will My Work Be Organised?

The structure of the Cambridge English degree is designed to guide you through the history of literary writing and study, affording increasing opportunities to develop your strengths and specialisms as you progress. The first two years (Part I of the English ‘Tripos’, or degree) help you map the chronology of literature in English: week by week, term by term, you will chart a course through the periods of literary history from 1300 (earlier if you choose) to the present day. Accompanying your enquiries into, for example, Chaucerian, Shakespearean, Romantic or modern poetry and prose will be intensive teaching in the core skills of close reading, and a continual dialogue concerning diverse critical approaches to literature. Throughout this process, your Director of Studies will remain a constant presence, but will also ensure that the best available specialist teaching from across the university is provided in the relevant field of study – this can be particularly important for dissertations and other coursework. Assessment at this stage (at the end of each year) revises and consolidates the work you’ve covered so far.

What Qualities Does An English Student Need?

Well, above all a keen appetite for thinking, reading and writing, a spirit of intellectual enquiry and adventure, and an excitement at the powers and varieties of literature. Independent study skills and self-motivation are essential. The weekly essay is at the centre of your growth as a critic and a communicator; as the etymology of ‘essay’ suggests, it is a repeated ‘attempt’ or trial at saying what you think, which enables you to collaborate with a supervisor in bringing out the individual grain of your mind. Written style is a lifetime in the making, and your time at Emmanuel will prioritise this kind of development. But there will also be plenty of conversational work, in paired or small-group supervisions, and in classes and seminars. So you must be willing to share ideas with your peers, be flexible and reactive in your responses, and ready to learn from your friends as well as from your supervisors. Finally, it’s helpful to be alive to the contributions of other forms of thought and art to literary study: an interest in music, visual arts, cultures other than English, philosophical or theological debate and historical or scientific enquiry can enrich your understanding of literary texts.

Where could my degree lead me?

English at Emmanuel is a degree which leads in numerous exciting directions! In many ways, the skills it teaches –– highly developed written and spoken articulacy; fine-grained analysis of text, idea and language; the ability to assimilate and respond subtly to complex intellectual material and situations –– are the ultimate ‘transferrable skills’, and they are highly prized by employers and the wider working world. Recent Emma English graduates have gone on to become journalists, publishers, editors, teachers, authors, actors, academics, lawyers, radio producers, directors, diplomats, politicians, third-sector/NGO workers and countless more jobs and roles. Many go straight on from Emmanuel to take postgraduate degrees at universities all over the world. English is not conventionally referred to as a ‘vocational course’ (like Law or Medicine); it is better thought of, perhaps, as a ‘multi-vocational course’ – for the study of English literature brings with it such a rich, valuable and varied understanding of language, history, politics and culture.

If all of this helps you decide that English is the right subject for you, and Emmanuel the right College, then we strongly encourage you to apply!