The 'Celts' are those peoples of Europe who speak or spoke a Celtic language. By the Iron Age the Celtic peoples were spread across Europe and across the course of millennia have given rise to a number of European nations and cultures, including the Irish, the Welsh and the Bretons. This unit explores definitions of the Celts, examining their history and development, and provides an overview of their languages.

This unit explores the art of narrative from Greek and Roman antiquity to the present. What makes Homer's Odyssey and Ovid's Metamorphoses defining texts for the history of narrative? Why are the early masters of English narrative so compelling? How does a film like O Brother, Where Art Thou? fit in? Issues of particular relevance include: genre, epic and myth; the unfolding of adventure and gender relations; intertextuality and the nature of humankind.

This unit of study equips students with some general tools for the close analysis of literary language. Grammatical concepts will be introduced and applied to the description of prose, poetry and drama, and students will explore the changing relations between form and meaning in English from the earliest times up to the present. A number of key strands in contemporary language study will also be presented, including semiotic theory, rhetoric and discourse studies and theorizations of the relationship between texts and subjectivity.

Global Literatures in English is a transnational and cross-period unit that examines how literary and cultural works from different periods from across the world engage with world historical events and social political structures operating on a global scale, with a particular emphasis on the representation of Empire and its legacies.

This unit of study will develop students' skills in investigating various kinds of evidence for Celtic groups in the historic period and how they can be used. They will also gain experience in expressing themselves orally and in writing about this material. The unit offers research experience in an exacting field where especial care has to be exercised not to tum conjectures into facts, and the intellectual challenge of studying a field which is the subject of basic controversy about cultural definition.

This unit looks closely at one of the most influential motifs in early Celtic literature and culture. We will examine a series of narratives (in translation) and place them in the context of early Irish and Welsh conceptions of cosmology, landscape and pilgrimage: including Classical accounts of the doctrines of the Druids, stories of the Tuatha Dé Danann; legends of Irish voyaging saints and heroes, as well as the Welsh the Mabinogi tales.

Students will study (in modern English translation) the literature of the peoples who lived in Britain in the Early Middle Ages -- Britons, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans. Lectures and tutorials will cover the literature, history, religion and language of these cultures, focusing on representations of the heroic ideal, as this is embodied in mythic, legendary and historical writing. Texts to be studied include Beowulf, The Wanderer, selections from the Edda, and early Arthurian material.

The Welsh language has one of the oldest literary traditions in Europe. This unit will introduce students to this culture by providing them with the basic structure and vocabulary of the language, with an emphasis on the acquisition of oral and written skills of communication through functionally oriented language activities. The language will be studied in the context of Welsh history, literature and society.

The Scottish Gaelic language has a very old literary tradition. This unit will introduce students to this culture by providing them with the basic structure and vocabulary of the language, with an emphasis on the acquisition of oral and written skills of communication through functionally oriented language activities. The language will be studied in the context of Scottish history, literature and society.

Old English was the language of England from the fifth century until the twelfth. This earliest phase of the English literary tradition evolved against a background of cultural encounters: as the Anglo-Saxons encountered the culture of Rome, as they adopted and adapted the Christian religion, and as they reflected on their origins on the European continent. This unit introduces students to the language spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons, and presents the opportunity to translate and read Old English texts.

Old Norse is the name given to the language of medieval Scandinavia which was spoken by the Viking invaders of Britain in the early Middle Ages. Old Norse literature presents a rich variety, from mythological and legendary poetry to Icelandic sagas. This unit extends students' understanding of the Germanic culture which the Anglo-Saxons brought to Britain by introducing them to the language of medieval Iceland, the literary centre of medieval Scandinavia, through texts written in Old Icelandic.

Middle Welsh was the language spoken and written in Wales in the Middle Ages (from about the 12th to the 14th Century). The most famous text surviving in Middle Welsh is the Mabinogion, a compilation of mythical and legendary material often of much earlier date. In this unit students will develop a knowledge of Middle Welsh grammar and vocabulary and learn to read and interpret texts in Middle Welsh.

Old Irish was the language spoken and written in Ireland in the early Middle Ages, and is preserved in a range of records, from Ogham stones to manuscripts. In this unit students will develop a knowledge of Old Irish grammar and vocabulary, and learn to read texts in Old Irish. It will also provide a basic introduction to the development of the Irish language in its early historic context, with reference to examples from inscriptions, manuscripts and the different genres of literature.