Welcome to the Faculty of English
The English Faculty was founded in 1919. It was the first Faculty in the country to encourage the study of English Literature up to the present day and the first to approach English literature from a 'literary' point of view, rather than as a manifestation of the history of the language. Founders of the method of practical criticism, including I.A. Richards and William Empson, were members of the Faculty in its early years and made a lasting impression on how literature is studied today. The Faculty continues to attach great importance to the ability to read literary texts closely and attentively. The undergraduate course (see undergraduate admissions) covers literature from 1300 to the present day 
(with optional courses on earlier periods), and provides opportunities to work on literature from a large number of contemporary perspectives. Students can write dissertations on topics of their own choice, and in their final year choose options from a wide range of courses including the History and Theory of Literary Criticism, Literature and Visual Culture, Shakespeare in Performance, American Literature, and Post-Colonial and Related Literatures. The Faculty also has a substantial community of post-graduate students working for an M.Phil. or Ph.D. (see graduate admissions), and a lively culture of graduate seminars, with opportunities for participation in events at CRASSH. There is a well-provided and hospitable Faculty Library with excellent support services.
News and Special Events
Call for Papers: The Eighteenth Century and Romantic Studies graduate conference (Half Dust, Half Deity; or, Science, Nature, & the Supernatural in the Long Eighteenth Century) is issuing a call for papers with a deadline of 19 March 2010. See the conference web site for more information.
Resources: For current undergraduate students taking paper 1, a new Middle English Resource is now available. (N.B. if you are not on the CUDN, you will need your Raven password to see this resource.)
Update: Reading Tennyson: The podcasts of the 'Reading Tennyson' event are now available!
Resources: The Centre for Material Texts pilot web site is now live! This project fosters research into the physical forms in which texts are embodied and circulated and the ways in which those forms have interacted with literary cultures and historical contexts.
Resources: The Cambridge Authors website has now been launched! Cambridge Authors is a collection of resources relating to ten authors who studied at the University of Cambridge and has been designed especially with A-level students in mind. For more information, please see the press release.
Update: The Paradise Lost podcasts are now available on the Streaming Media Service web site.