Masters applications for 2023 entry are now closed.
Applications for September 2024 will open on Monday 25 September. Applications are now open for programmes with a January 2024 start. View our programmes »
| UCAS code |
1234 |
| Duration |
1 year full time
2 years part time |
| Entry year |
September 2025 |
| Campus |
Streatham Campus
|
| Discipline |
English
|
| Contact |
|
Overview
- Deepen your understanding of Shakespeare and Renaissance literature and culture in relation to global exchanges, the environment and national, racial, and sexual politics
- Develop an enhanced understanding of Renaissance literature in its historical and cultural contexts, engaging deeply with texts from 1500-1700, while improving your communication (digital/oral/written), analytical, and critical thinking skills for the 21st century workplace
- Taught by internationally recognised scholars specialising in Shakespeare and performance, Milton and Civil War writing, manuscript studies, and other areas
- Learn to work with archival sources, decipher early modern handwriting, and apply advanced theoretical approaches such as Premodern Critical Race Studies and Ecocriticism to Renaissance literature. You'll also gain expertise in using theatre historical methodologies to analyse dramatic texts
- Exeter is a UNESCO City of Literature and you will have access to outstanding Special Collections relating to English Literary Studies, The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, Digital Humanities Lab, early modern manuscripts, and printed books in the University Library, Cathedral Library, and Devon and Exeter Institute
- Ideal for those interested in progressing to doctoral research, providing historical awareness and the methodological training required for advanced study
Our English research environment is 100% world leading
Top 50 in the world for English Language and Literature
A supportive interdisciplinary research community, with an active and welcoming Centre for Early Modern Studies.
Top 15 in the UK for English
Our English research environment is 100% world leading
Top 50 in the world for English Language and Literature
A supportive interdisciplinary research community, with an active and welcoming Centre for Early Modern Studies.
Top 15 in the UK for English
Entry requirements
We are looking for graduates with a 2:2 Honours degree with 53% or above in their first degree in a relevant subject area. While we normally only accept applicants who meet this criteria, if you are coming from a different academic background which is equivalent to degree level, or have relevant work experience, we would welcome your application.
Applicants will be asked to submit a sample of academic work. We require roughly 2000 - 3000 words of prose (this could be in the form of a critical essay or part of a critical essay that you have already produced for an undergraduate degree).
Entry requirements for international students
English language requirements
International students need to show they have the required level of English language to study this course. The required test scores for this course fall under Profile E. Please visit our English language requirements page to view the required test scores and equivalencies from your country.
Course content
This MA is devoted to the study of Shakespeare and Renaissance Studies and embraces the particular strengths of the Department of English and Creative Writing at Exeter. Students on this programme choose 60 credits of modules and a dissertation in Shakespeare and Renaissance Studies. Remaining credits can be selected from an expansive list of options.
The programme is specifically designed for those seeking high level training prior to embarking on doctoral research, recent graduates wishing to extend and enhance their studies by a year before taking up a career, individuals already in employment who are interested in career development, and those who simply wish to broaden their intellectual horizons.
Please note that this course requires you to read and analyse complex English literary texts, but we do not teach English language skills on these modules. You will need a near-native level of English to participate fully in classes and complete assessments successfully.
The modules we outline here provide examples of what you can expect to learn on this degree course based on recent academic teaching. The precise modules available to you in future years may vary depending on staff availability and research interests, new topics of study, timetabling and student demand.
120 credits of compulsory modules and 60 credits of optional modules
Compulsory modules
All students must take EASM023 Dissertation, and take two of the three modules listed below
a - students must take two of the following three modules - EASM109, EASM191, EASM192
| Code | Module |
Credits |
|---|
| EASM023 |
Dissertation | 60 |
| EASM109 |
Bodies Politic: Cultural and Sexual Politics in England, 1603-1679 [See note a above] | 30 |
| EASM191 |
Environments of Early Modern Drama [See note a above] | 30 |
| EASM192 |
Global Voices: Shakespeare and the Early Modern World [See note a above] | 30 |
Optional modules
Students must choose 60 credits of option modules
| Code | Module |
Credits |
|---|
|
MA ELS Shakespeare and Renaissance options 2024-5 |
| EASM150 |
Empire, Decadence and Modernity: Literature 1870-1910 |
30 |
| EASM151 |
Modernism and Material Culture |
30 |
| EASM157 |
The Literature of Cold War America |
30 |
| EASM169 |
Publishing and Power: Black and Asian Literary Networks in the UK |
30 |
| EASM180 |
Crossing Medieval Boundaries |
30 |
| EASM184 |
World Literature and Postcolonial Studies |
30 |
| EASM152 |
Criticism and Theory: Critical and Literary Theory in a Global Context |
30 |
| EASM167 |
World Cinema / World Literature |
30 |
| EASM171 |
Expanding Queerness: Critical Debates in Theory, Literature, Film and Television |
30 |
| EASM174 |
Writing Women in the English Middle Ages |
30 |
| EASM177 |
The Global Publishing Marketplace: Creating Audiences |
30 |
Fees
2025/26 entry
UK fees per year:
£12,500 full-time; £6,250 part-time
International fees per year:
£25,300 full-time; £12,650 part-time
Scholarships
We invest heavily in scholarships for talented prospective Masters students. This includes over £5 million in scholarships for international students, such as our Global Excellence Scholarships*.
For more information on scholarships, please visit our scholarships and bursaries page.
*Selected programmes only. Please see the Terms and Conditions for each scheme for further details.
Teaching and research
The MA Shakespeare and Renaissance Studies deepens your understanding of Shakespeare and Renaissance literature and culture in relation to global exchanges, the environment and national, racial, and sexual politics. Through deep engagement with texts written between 1500-1700, the MA equips students to understand the multifaceted foundations for the cultural and ecological challenges of the present. It trains students in the historical awareness and methodologies required for further study and in the agile critical thinking, teamwork and advanced communication skills (digital/oral/written) required in the 21st century workplace.
The teaching team is made up of globally leading authorities in the field, whose cutting-edge research and editorial expertise informs course content. The teaching is furthermore supported through access to the unique collections of early modern manuscripts and printed books held in the University Library’s Special collections and the Cathedral Library and Archives. You will learn how to apply theoretical approaches such as Premodern Critical Race Studies and Ecocriticism, to use archival sources, read early modern handwriting and apply theatre historical methodologies to dramatic texts.
Learning and teaching
We believe in collaborative, small group learning and teaching for your modules will be delivered through seminar groups. Each module has one two-hour seminar per week, with independent work set that involves intensive, self-motivated research and writing.
You will be encouraged to discuss your ideas and interact with your fellow students and academic staff through visiting speaker seminar series, postgraduate conferences and activities organised by the Centre for Early Modern Studies. You will be expected to play an active role in debating and presenting your work. Throughout your programme you will develop and enhance your communication, analytical, and critical thinking skills.
Modules
On your modules you will be assisted by the coursework you produce such as critical essays, commentaries and literature reviews. The final assessment piece will be your dissertation, the culmination of your programme of study. You will conceive, plan, research and write an independent 15,000 word piece that will display your subject knowledge and methodological skills. The dissertation is your opportunity to explore a topic that interests you in greater detail, something which may form the basis of further research or other portfolio.
Research areas
When you study on the MA in Shakespeare and Renaissance Studies, you will join a world-leading English and Creative Writing Department that regularly hosts talks, workshops, and conferences spotlighting prestigious visiting speakers and the Department’s own experts. As members of our learning community, postgraduate students are warmly included in such events. These activities are coordinated by the Department’s many research groups and centres. You will benefit from staff at the forefront of their fields, stretching from medieval literature all the way up to contemporary culture.
Research Centres
Dedicated research centres and groupings within our department include:
Research Groups
Community
You will join a vibrant postgraduate and research community. All our staff belong to one or more research group which plan and develop research initiatives across the humanities. Research activity is carried out collaboratively by staff at our Exeter and Cornwall Campuses.
The Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences also houses the Digital Humanities Lab, a state of the art facility offering unique spaces, equipment and training for staff and students. A specialist team conducts and supports innovative Digital Humanities research, offers training and teaching, and undertakes the digital preservation and display of historic material and artefacts using advanced technologies. For more information view our Digital Humanities Lab page.
At Exeter, research is at the heart of what we do, and we hope you will become an active member of our research community.
To find out more about our staff research interests have a look at our staff profile pages.
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Professor Pascale Aebischer
Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Performance Studies
Dr Niall Allsopp
Lecturer in Early Modern Literature
Professor Chloe Preedy
Associate Professor in Early Modern Drama
Professor Philip Schwyzer
Professor of English Literature
Dr Naya Tsentourou
Lecturer in English
Professor Pascale Aebischer
Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Performance Studies
Pascale Aebischer's research focuses on theatre and digital live performance during and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her academic background is rooted in the history of the performance of early modern drama (including Shakespeare), with an emphasis on 1580s-1700 and 1980s-present. She has a particular interest in bodies and performance technologies (from candlelight through social media to 'live' theatre broadcast and digital performance). These interests are reflected in her teaching, which focuses on early modern - Restoration theatrical cultures and performance practices, Shakespeare, and present-day performance on stages and screens.'
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Dr Niall Allsopp
Lecturer in Early Modern Literature
Niall Allsopp specializes in literature of the seventeenth century, and particularly the English Revolution. He says, 'I am interested in how literature negotiates ideas of sovereignty, political obligations, public rituals, and social cohesion in a period when such concepts were radically tested. My current research explores how writers fashion political and communal allegiance in the mid-seventeenth century. My other ongoing project asks how ideas of social belonging were forged through the experience of public ceremony in the period. '
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Professor Chloe Preedy
Associate Professor in Early Modern Drama
Chloe Preedy’s work focuses on the ways in which early modern drama engaged with and responded to sixteenth- and seventeenth-century developments in the history of ideas and environmental attitudes. She says, ‘I am particularly interested in theatrical performance, early modern environmentalism, and questions of belief. My current and ongoing research interests include an investigation into the significance of weather for early modern theatrical experience, the role of olfactory effects in early modern performance, and the influence of spatially-centred and networked approaches within modern reception histories of early modern theatre.’
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Professor Philip Schwyzer
Professor of English Literature
Philip Schwyzer’s research includes Shakespeare, Spenser, early modern English and Welsh literature, death and memory, national identities, and archaeology and antiquarianism. He says, ‘My research interests tend to cluster around borders and boundaries - between nations, between periods, and between disciplines. Much of my work has focused on cultural and literary relations between the nations of Britain, particularly England and Wales. I’ve also sought in various ways to bridge the gap between ‘late medieval' and ‘early modern'. I find myself increasingly interested in the intersection of literary and material cultures, especially as vehicles for the expression and preservation of cultural memory.’
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Dr Naya Tsentourou
Lecturer in English
Naya Tsentourou is author of Milton and the Early Modern Culture of Devotion: Bodies at Prayer (Routledge, 2017), and with Lucia Nigri, editor of Forms of Hypocrisy in Early Modern England (Routledge, 2017). She says ‘I am an early modernist with research interests in the body, the history of emotions, affect theory, and representations of breath in 16th and 17th century literature.’
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Careers
A postgraduate degree in English equips you with a range of skills that will put you in a great position to succeed in a variety of careers. Alongside in-depth subject knowledge, you will develop advanced and highly transferable skills in researching; analysing and assessing primary and secondary sources; written and verbal communication; managing and interpreting information; developing ideas and arguments; teamwork; problem solving and the ability to make informed decisions. For some of our students the MA is a step on the path to doctoral study, for others it opens a range of career paths in areas such as teaching, publishing, media, journalism, advertising and communications.
In recent years the positions some of our graduates have gone on to include:
- Copywriter
- Marketing Assistant
- Assistant Editor
- Publishing Assistant
- Editorial Assistant
- Freelance Journalist
- Writer
Careers and employment support
While studying at Exeter you can also access a range of activities, advice and practical help to give you the best chance of following your chosen career path. For more information visit our Careers pages.
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