Faculty of English Language and Literature

Relevant Links
The Faculty of English Language and Literature is by far the largest English Department in the UK, with over 75 permanent postholders, a further 70 Faculty members, 900 undergraduates and 300 postgraduates. The Faculty has a very distinguished research and teaching record, covering all periods of English Literature.
Oxford’s English Faculty is one of the most illustrious Schools of English in the world. Established in 1894, it has numbered among its members some of the most important critics and scholars in the field, including J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Edmund Blunden, Nevill Coghill, Helen Gardner, Richard Ellmann, Terry Eagleton, and many others. We are now home to nearly eighty Professors, Readers, and Lecturers, with about the same number again of Tutors and Research Fellows based in Colleges. At any one time, there are roughly a thousand students studying within the Faculty at undergraduate level, and another three hundred at graduate level in the largest English graduate school in the country.
Traditionally teaching and research in the Faculty has covered the entire history of literature in English from the Anglo-Saxon period to the present day, along with language studies. More recent growth areas include world literature and film studies.
Series associated with Faculty of English Language and Literature
# | Episode Title | Description | People | Date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lines by Alice Oswald | It's fifty years since the publication of From the Life and Songs of the Crow (by Ted Hughes). This is a lecture about lines and other sound barriers and how Crow flies straight through them. | Alice Oswald | 01 Mar 2021 | |
2 | Creative Commons | The Literature of Absolute War - Transnationalism and WWII | Professor Nil Santiáñez discusses absolute war, total war, and the literature of WWII with Anders Engberg-Pedersen. | Anders Engberg-Pedersen, Nil Santiáñez | 17 Dec 2020 |
3 | Verse and Prose in Fantasy Literature | An analysis of two forms that dominate fantasy literature. | Katherine Olley | 24 Nov 2020 | |
4 | Guy Gavriel Kay | A short introduction to the writer Guy Gavriel Kay. | Katherine Olley | 24 Nov 2020 | |
5 | Series Two Episode Five: Fairy and Other Transformations | Carolyne Larrington and Fay Hield discuss the theme of transformation through fairy or other kinds of magic. | Carolyne Larrington, Fay Hield, Lucy Farrell, Inge Thomson | 22 Sep 2020 | |
6 | Series Two Episode Four: Fairies and the Environment | Carolyne Larrington and Fay Hield talk about a new theme that emerged in the ‘Modern Fairies’ project, fairies as guardians of the environment. | Carolyne Larrington, Fay Hield, Ben Nicholls, Inge Thomson | 22 Sep 2020 | |
7 | Series Two Episode Three: Fairies and Children | Carolyne Larrington and Fay Hield uncover the works inspired by the strange tale of the Green Children and the changeling legend. | Carolyne Larrington, Fay Hield, Terri Windling, Brian McMahon | 22 Sep 2020 | |
8 | Series Two Episode Two: Fairy Time and Space | Carolyne Larrington and Fay Hield explore the ways in which the project artists engaged with the fairy world as parallel and yet distinct from our world, and the ways in which time warps in the other world. | Carolyne Larrington, Fay Hield, Barney Morse Brown, Ewan MacPherson | 22 Sep 2020 | |
9 | Series Two Episode One: Introducing the Modern Fairies Project | Carolyne Larrington and Fay Hield introduce the artists and outcomes of the Modern Fairies Project. | Carolyne Larrington, Fay Hield | 22 Sep 2020 | |
10 | What Tolkien learnt from 'Beowulf': Representations of Evil | Monsters and evil in Tolkien | Rafael J. Pascual | 16 Jul 2020 | |
11 | Interview with Water | This is the first ever online lecture by a Professor of Poetry at Oxford. In the lecture, Alice Oswald explores the strange connection between water and grief. | Alice Oswald | 08 Jul 2020 | |
12 | Sylvia Townsend Warner | Carolyne Larrington introduces the writing of Sylvia Townsend Warner. | Carolyne Larrington | 26 May 2020 | |
13 | Ursula K. Le Guin | A brief introduction to the writer Ursula K. Le Guin. | Caroline Batten | 13 May 2020 | |
14 | T. H. White | A brief introduction to the writer T. H. White. | Gabriel Schenk | 12 May 2020 | |
15 | Diana Wynne Jones | A brief introduction to the writer Diana Wynne Jones. | Gabriel Schenk | 12 May 2020 | |
16 | Why 'Game of Thrones' Matters | 'Game of Thrones' and storytelling. | Carolyne Larrington | 12 May 2020 | |
17 | Re-Enchanted: The Rise of Children’s Fantasy Literature in the Twentieth Century | A guest lecture by Dr Maria Cecire (Bard College) discussing children's fantasy literature. | Maria Cecire | 12 May 2020 | |
18 | Interview: Catherine Butler | An Interview with Dr Catherine Butler, author of the book 'Four British Fantasists'. | Catherine Butler, Will Brockbank | 12 May 2020 | |
19 | Alan Garner | A brief introduction to the British fantasy writer, Alan Garner. | Felix Taylor | 12 May 2020 | |
20 | Approaching Fantasy Literature | A short introduction to reading and studying fantasy literature. | Stuart Lee | 12 May 2020 | |
21 | H. P. Lovecraft | A brief introduction to the writer, H. P. Lovecraft. | Stuart Lee | 12 May 2020 | |
22 | Creative Commons | The First World War, India and Empire | Professor Santanu Das discusses the complexity of commemoration, the messiness of history and the role of scholarly emotion with Kate McLoughlin. | Kate McLoughlin, Santanu Das | 27 Mar 2020 |
23 | Creative Commons | America’s War Culture since 9/11 | In this episode associate professor Patrick Deer discusses his forthcoming book We Are All Embedded: Understanding America’s War Culture since 9/11. | Patrick Deer, Christine Strandmose Toft | 17 Mar 2020 |
24 | The Art of Erosion | Inaugural Lecture of Alice Oswald, Professor of Poetry, held at the University of Oxford Exam Schools. | Alice Oswald | 09 Dec 2019 | |
25 | Creative Commons | Will War still need us? What Future for Agency in War? | Will War still need us? What Future for Agency in War? - an interview with Christopher Coker | Solveig Gade, Christopher Coker | 27 Nov 2019 |
26 | Creative Commons | The Age of Amok - an interview with Joseph Vogl | Professor Joseph Vogl discusses the phenomenon of ‘amok’ with Anders Engberg-Pedersen. | Joseph Vogl, Anders Engberg-Pedersen | 04 Nov 2019 |
27 | Creative Commons | Philosophy and Nuclear War - an interview with Elaine Scarry | Professor Scarry and Jens Bjering discuss philosophy and nuclear war. | Elaine Scarry, Jens Bjering | 04 Nov 2019 |
28 | Creative Commons | War, Aesthetics, Politics – an interview with Vivienne Jabri | Professor Vivienne Jabri discusses the relationship between war, aesthetics and politics in relation to contemporary warfare with Christine Strandmose Toft. | Vivienne Jabri, Christine Strandmose | 04 Nov 2019 |
29 | When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer | Simon Armitage delivers his final lecture as Oxford Professor of Poetry, reflecting on his own influences as a poet. | Simon Armitage | 17 May 2019 | |
30 | Creative Commons | Theatre, 1660-1760 - The Arrival of the Actress | David Taylor on the arrival of female actors on the stage. | David Taylor | 14 Mar 2019 |
31 | Creative Commons | Theatre, 1660-1760 - Restoration and Change | David Taylor lectures on the reopening of the theatres in the 1660s. | David Taylor | 14 Mar 2019 |
32 | Creative Commons | Race and Empire, 1660-1760 | Ruth Scobie lectures on race and empire, 1660-1760. | Ruth Scobie | 14 Mar 2019 |
33 | Creative Commons | Drama and the Theatre, 1660-1760 | Abigail Williams lectures on the staging of Restoration drama. | Abigail Williams | 14 Mar 2019 |
34 | Creative Commons | Literature and Gender, 1660-1760 | Kathleen Keown considers representations of gender in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. | Kathleen Keown | 07 Mar 2019 |
35 | Creative Commons | Manuscript and Print, 1660–1760 | Carly Watson outlines the material forms in which literary texts circulated between 1660 and 1760. | Carly Watson | 07 Mar 2019 |
36 | Creative Commons | What is a Literary Period? | Clare Bucknell considers how we define a literary period. | Clare Bucknell | 07 Mar 2019 |
37 | Creative Commons | Nineteenth-Century Stuff - Dickens, Paperwork and Paper Sorrows | Sophie Ratcliffe investigates the material culture of the Victorians, using examples from Charles Dickens. | Sophie Ratcliffe | 07 Mar 2019 |
38 | Creative Commons | What is a War Poem? | Kate McLoughlin explores how we might define a war poem. | Kate McLoughlin | 07 Mar 2019 |
39 | Creative Commons | Diaries as Literature - The Case of Virginia Woolf | Michael Whitworth considers whether diaries are literature, looking particularly at the diaries of Virginia Woolf. | Michael Whitworth | 07 Mar 2019 |
40 | Creative Commons | Character in Modern Drama | Kirsten Shepherd-Barr investigates 'character' in Modern Drama | Kirsten Shepherd-Barr | 07 Mar 2019 |
41 | Creative Commons | Brilliant Paradoxes and Corrosive Epigrams; or Why Oscar Wilde Went to Trial | Sos Eltis looks at Oscar Wilde’s 1895 trial. | Sos Eltis | 04 Mar 2019 |
42 | Loathly Ladies | Carolyne Larrington and Fay Hield talk about the loathly lady: the hideous hag who knows the secret that the hero seeks, and whom he must learn how to respect. | Carolyne Larrington, Fay Hield, Brian McMahon | 26 Feb 2019 | |
43 | Fairies, Children and Changelings | Carolyne Larrington and Fay Hield talk about the strange interest that fairies take in human infants, and the plight of children who stumble into this world, and can’t get home. | Carolyne Larrington, Fay Hield, Brian McMahon, Marry Waterson | 19 Feb 2019 | |
44 | Helpful Fairies | Carolyne Larrington and Fay Hield discuss how fairies and humans can co-operate and assist each other. | Carolyne Larrington, Fay Hield, Brian McMahon, Lucy Farrell | 12 Feb 2019 | |
45 | Fairy Wives and Fairy Lovers | Carolyne Larrington and Fay Hield talk about love and marriage between humans and fairies. | Carolyne Larrington, Fay Hield, Brian McMahon | 08 Feb 2019 | |
46 | Introducing Fairies and Fairyland | Carolyne Larrington and Fay Hield introduce the Modern Fairies project and talk about traditional imaginings of fairyland. | Carolyne Larrington, Fay Hield, Brian McMahon | 28 Jan 2019 | |
47 | 'Undisfigured by False or Vicious Ornaments' - Clarity and Obscurity in the Age of Formlessness | The Hilary Term Professor of Poetry lecture, delivered by Professor of Poetry Simon Armitage. | Simon Armitage | 28 Jan 2019 | |
48 | Tales of Love and History - James Ivory in Conversation | Oscar-winning American film-maker James Ivory will talk about his experiences with the legendary Merchant Ivory productions, in partnership with producer Ismail Merchant and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. | James Ivory, Richard Parkinson, Katherine Harloe, Jennifer Ingleheart | 18 Dec 2018 | |
49 | Damned if he Does and Damned if he Doesn't? Dilemmas and Decisions in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | Simon Armitage lectures on the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. | Simon Armitage | 23 Nov 2018 | |
50 | Free Reading | Professor Lloyd Pratt delivers his inaugural lecture as Drue Heinz Professor of American Literature. | Lloyd Pratt | 22 May 2018 | |
51 | Unseasonal Produce: Winter Words in Various Moods and Metres | Simon Armitage delivers the Trinity 2018 poetry lecture entitled "Unseasonal Produce: Winter Words in Various Moods and Metres". | Simon Armitage | 17 May 2018 | |
52 | Reading Bass Culture | On 26 April 2018, Linton Kwesi Johnson read from a selection of his poetry and discussed with Professor Paul Gilroy the inter-generational and transatlantic relationships that had nurtured it. | Linton Kwesi Johnson, Paul Gilroy, Louisa Layne | 16 May 2018 | |
53 | Creative Commons | ‘Edward Lear’s Vision’, by Professor Matthew Bevis | A talk given at the Ashmolean Museum on Edward Lear’s life, art, and poetry. | Matthew Bevis | 10 May 2018 |
54 | Weeping | 'He weeps by the side of the ocean, He weeps on the top of the hill', the poet wrote of himself in 'How Pleasant to Know Mr Lear'. | Jasmine Jagger | 04 Apr 2018 | |
55 | Laughter | Lear once spoke of 'this ludicrously whirligig life which one suffers from first and laughs at afterwards.' | Matthew Bevis | 04 Apr 2018 | |
56 | Disgust | This programme explores appetite, desire, and disgust in Lear. | Jasmine Jagger | 04 Apr 2018 | |
57 | Wonder | This programme examines different meanings of 'wonder' in Lear - as both a positive and a negative emotion, and as something in between. | Jasmine Jagger | 04 Apr 2018 | |
58 | Introduction | This programme introduces Lear and outlines the structure of the programmes. | Matthew Bevis | 04 Apr 2018 | |
59 | Like, Elizabeth Bishop | Professor of Poetry Simon Armitage delivers a lecture on the american writer and poet Elizabeth Bishop. | Simon Armitage | 20 Mar 2018 | |
60 | Creative Commons | Creative Media Lecture 02 | In the second lecture, Stig Abell discusses the future of modern and social journalism. | Stig Abell | 12 Mar 2018 |
61 | Creative Commons | Creative Media Lecture 01 | In the first lecture, Stig Abell discusses the pros and cons of old fashioned journalism as well as modern forms of journalism such as social media. | Stig Abell | 12 Mar 2018 |
62 | Creative Commons | Trade - Merchants' books of Venice and Florence | Dr Irene Ceccherini (Lyell-Bodleian Research Fellow in Manuscript Studies, Bodleian Library, Dilts Research Fellow in Palaeography, Lincoln College, University of Oxford) gives a talk for the Seminar in the History of the Book on 9th February 2017. | Irene Ceccherini | 16 Feb 2018 |
63 | Early Modern Publishing Policies - Andreas Frisius of Amsterdam and the search for a niche market, 1664-75 | Professor Ian Maclean (All Souls College), gives the third seminar in the History of the Book series, looking at the early modern period publishing policies in Europe on February 2nd, 2018. | Ian Maclean | 06 Feb 2018 | |
64 | Does love have a scent? | Love is in the air - or is it? Companies are advertising that they can find you love through the power of scent! But are pheromones a chemical way to find your true love? Or is it just a myth? | Tristram Wyatt | 06 Feb 2018 | |
65 | Arabic - Scrolls into codices: Jilyani's picture-poems for Saladin | Professor Julia Bray (Laudian Professor of Arabic, University of Oxford) gives a talk for the new series for the Centre for the Study of the Book. | Julia Bray | 29 Jan 2018 | |
66 | Numismatics - Coins, Money and Prices in Renaissance Italy | Dr Alan Stahl (Curator of Numismatics, Princeton University) gives a talk in the new Centre for the Study of the Book Seminar series. | Alan Stahl | 29 Jan 2018 | |
67 | 'Art and Attunement', by Professor Rita Felski, University of Virginia and Southern Denmark | In this talk Rita Felski reported at new research on how we engage with works of art across a broad range (including cat videos) and considered the puzzling question of why we are drawn by some pieces of music, art and literature, and not by others. | Rita Felski | 19 Dec 2017 | |
68 | Creative Commons | The Two Gentlemen of Verona | Professor Emma Smith gives the last of her 2017 Shakespeare lectures on his early comedy, Two Gentlemen of Verona. | Emma Smith | 15 Dec 2017 |
69 | The Hawks and the Doves – raptors and rapture in the poetry of Thom Gunn and Ted Hughes. | Professor of Poetry Simon Armitage discusses the poems of Thom Gunn and Ted Hughes. | Simon Armitage | 15 Nov 2017 | |
70 | Creative Commons | Henry VI, Part 2 | Professor Emma Smith continues her Approaching Shakespeare series with a 2017 lecture on the early history play, Henry VI, Part 2. | Emma Smith | 09 Nov 2017 |
71 | Creative Commons | The Merry Wives of Windsor | Professor Emma Smith lectures on Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. | Emma Smith | 25 Oct 2017 |
72 | Creative Commons | All's Well That Ends Well | Professor Emma Smith lectures on Shakespeare’s comedy All's Well That Ends Well. | Emma Smith | 25 Oct 2017 |
73 | Creative Commons | Cymbeline | Professor Emma Smith continues her Approaching Shakespeare series with a lecture on one of Shakespeare’s later plays, Cymbeline. | Emma Smith | 25 Oct 2017 |
74 | Selma Dabbagh and Courttia Newland on writing and community | Writers Selma Dabbagh and Courttia Newland read from their work, and discuss why they write, who they write for, their imagined audiences, and how their writing relates to their identities. | Selma Dabbagh, Courttia Newland | 25 Aug 2017 | |
75 | M. NourbeSe Philip on the haunting of history | M. NourbeSe Philip reads from She Tries Her Tongue, Her Silence Softly Breaks (1988) and Zong! (2008) as she describes her poetic development. | M NourbeSe Philip, Marina Warner, Matthew Reynolds, Elleke Boehmer | 25 Aug 2017 | |
76 | Editors and contributors, The Cambridge History of Black and Asian British Writing | Profs Susheila Nasta and Mark Stein speak about the genesis of their new Cambridge History project, Dr Gail Low discusses the networks and institutions of Caribbean-British writing. | Susheila Nasta, Mark Stein, Gail Low, Henghameh Saroukhani | 25 Aug 2017 | |
77 | Aminatta Forna on writing memory and trauma in The Memory of Love | Aminatta Forna gives a reading from her award-winning novel, The Memory of Love (2010), and discusses it with Prof. Ankhi Mukherjee. She talks about the psychology of war and healing after conflict, and about love, betrayal and complicity. | Aminatta Forna, Ankhi Mukherjee | 25 Aug 2017 | |
78 | Nadifa Mohamed on travelling, home and belonging in Black Mamba Boy | Nadifa Mohamed reads from and discusses her debut novel, Black Mamba Boy (2010), based on her father’s travels across the Horn of Africa before settling in Britain. | Nadifa Mohamed, Kate Wallis | 25 Aug 2017 | |
79 | D-Empress Dianne Regisford presents ‘Hersto-rhetoric? Na so today!!!’ | D-Empress Dianne Regisford presents a performance installation that explores the notion of the liberated woman from an African feminist perspective. | D-Empress Dianne Regisford, Rev J, Erica Lombard | 25 Aug 2017 | |
80 | Daljit Nagra on voice and identity in Look We Have Coming to Dover! | Daljit Nagra reads from and discusses his celebrated debut collection, Look We Have Coming to Dover! (2007). In conversation with Dr Rachael Gilmour and the audience, he speaks about how and why he writes his poetry, and the readers for whom he writes. | Daljit Nagra, Rachael Gilmour | 25 Aug 2017 | |
81 | Bernardine Evaristo on writing Britain’s Black histories | In conversation with Dr Zoe Norridge and Marsha Hutchinson, Bernardine Evaristo reads from and discusses her remarkable verse novel, The Emperor’s Babe (2001), which tells the story of a African girl growing up in Roman London in 211 AD. | Bernardine Evaristo, Zoe Norridge, Marsha Hutchinson | 25 Aug 2017 | |
82 | Kamila Shamsie on writing history in A God in Every Stone | Author Kamila Shamsie reads from her 2014 novel A God in Every Stone, and discusses it with Prof. Elleke Boehmer and the audience. | Kamila Shamsie, Elleke Boehmer | 25 Aug 2017 | |
83 | Readers and Readings | Prof. Elleke Boehmer and Dr Erica Lombard consider how our reading experiences are shaped by various factors, from publishers’ decisions about book covers to the text itself. | Elleke Boehmer, Erica Lombard | 25 Aug 2017 | |
84 | 95 Theses: On the Principles and Practice of Poetry | Professor of Poetry Simon Armitage gives his sixth public lecture. Held on 16th May 2017. | Simon Armitage | 19 May 2017 | |
85 | We Need To Talk About Robert: Bob Dylan and the Nobel Prize for Literature' | Professor of Poetry Simon Armitage gives a lecture about literature, poetry and Bob Dylan and the Nobel Prize for Literature. Held on 8th March 2017. | Simon Armitage | 14 Mar 2017 | |
86 | Nicholas Crouch's seventeenth-century books | Professor Adam Smyth talks to cataloguer Lucy Kelsall and book conservator Nikki Tomkins about the seventeenth-century library of Nicholas Crouch, now in Balliol College, and how to deal with fragile books. | Adam Smyth, Lucy Kelsall, Nikki Tomkins | 13 Mar 2017 | |
87 | Words for Winter: Tales of Home | The event showcases the best of Oxford’s writing. Gathering together tales from all over the globe, of tradition, family, darkness, light and celebration. | Pete Salmond, Charlene Pablo, Erica McAlpine, Nancy Campbell | 13 Dec 2016 | |
88 | ‘Comedy, Collaboration and Blur’: Talk and Q&A with John Osborne and Jane Berthoud | An insightful discussion between comedy writer John Osborne and ex-Head of BBC Radio Comedy, Jane Berthoud. | Jane Berthoud, John Osborne | 13 Dec 2016 | |
89 | Writing for Stage and Screen: Q and A with Polly Stenham | Q and A workshop with Polly Stenahm playwrite and screenwriter, on the process of writing her plays, how this differs from writing screenplays, and challenges of writing for stage and screen. | Polly Stenham | 14 Nov 2016 | |
90 | Access All Areas: Poetry and the Underworld | Simon Armitage's fourth public lecture as Professor of Poetry, University of Oxford. | Simon Armitage | 14 Nov 2016 | |
91 | English Grammar Day 2016 | English Grammar Day, with talks by Prof Deborah Cameron, Prof Simon Horobin, Prof Charlotte Brewer and others | Deborah Cameron, Simon Horobin, Charlotte Brewer | 10 Nov 2016 | |
92 | Critical Writing | Dr Eleni Philippou, Leah Broad, Theophilus Kwek and James Watt in conversation. | Eleni Philippou, Leah Broad, Theophilus Kwek, James Watt | 07 Nov 2016 | |
93 | Mark Haddon, Daisy Johnson, and KJ Orr in Conversation | Award-winning author Mark Haddon discusses his writing process and interests with local poet and writer Daisy Johnson. The conversation is moderated by KJ Orr. | Mark Haddon, Daisy Johnson, KJ Orr | 27 Jul 2016 | |
94 | How And Why I Write: Philip Pullman, Mary Loudon, Jane Griffiths, and Fintan Calpin in conversation | Oxford authors and academics discuss their writing process. | Philip Pullman, Mary Loudon, Jane Griffiths, Fintan Calpin | 25 Jul 2016 | |
95 | On Lists | Simon Armitage's third public lecture as Professor of Poetry, University of Oxford. | Simon Armitage | 18 May 2016 | |
96 | Mind the Gap: Omission, Negation and 'a final revelation of horrible Nothingness - ' | Simon Armitage's second public lecture as Professor of Poetry, University of Oxford. | Simon Armitage | 08 Apr 2016 | |
97 | The Parable of the Solicitor and the Poet | Simon Armitage, professor of poetry, University of Oxford delivers his inaugural lecture. | Simon Armitage | 08 Apr 2016 | |
98 | A Great Unrecorded History. LGBT Heritage and World Cultures | Professor Parkinson discusses how to mobilise historical research into sexuality for maximum impact and the institutional, cultural and political issues that can be at stake, and suggests some of the possible uses of LGBTQ history. | Richard Parkinson | 25 Feb 2016 | |
99 | Creative Commons | The Tamer Tam'd: John Fletcher | A riposte to Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew | Emma Smith | 16 Nov 2015 |
100 | The Lord of the Rings: Tolkien's Legacy | 60 years since the publication of the series' final volume, a distinguished panel explore Tolkien's literary legacy. | Elleke Boehmer, Stuart Lee, Patrick Curry, Dimitra Fimi | 16 Nov 2015 |
- 1 of 4
- next ›