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English at Churchill College
English at Churchill College is a thriving and diverse community. Each year, we aim to admit 5 or 6 able and enthusiastic students. Much of the teaching and supervision is provided by its Fellows, whose profiles are available below. Other teaching is exchanged with Fellows of other Colleges, or given by advanced doctoral students, so that the individual student's interests are developed through working with subject specialists. Directors of Studies discuss with students the overall shape of their deepening intellectual and literary commitments.
Information about the English Tripos at Cambridge, core aspects of the learning experience – Faculty lectures, small-group classes, and paired or individual supervisions in College – and much else, is available at the English Faculty's website. From 2013 onwards, Part I students will take six components. Papers in Medieval Literature and Shakespeare remain compulsory, and students will then chose between papers covering a series of overlapping literary periods, Practical Criticism and Critical Practice, and other papers on literatures in modern and ancient languages borrowable from the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages, the Faculty of Classics, and the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic. The considerable choice available within each paper is an important aspect of studying English at Cambridge, so we are looking for students who can take advantage of this.
The final-year course – Part II – consists of five components: Practical Criticism (Paper 1), Tragedy (Paper 2), a 7500-word dissertation, and two optional components, of which one can be another dissertation. Tragedy is a wide-ranging and highly stimulating paper based fundamentally in Greek, Shakespearean, and other tragic drama in any language, but augmented by the history of critical and theoretical writing on the tragic, as well as works in such media as film, music, painting, and sculpture. Current optional papers are: Medieval English Literature,1066–1500; Chaucer; Early Tudor Literature, 1500–1547; Victorian Literature, 1847–72; Literature, Culture, and Crisis 1631–71; Lyric; Modernism and the Short Story; 'English' Moralists (on the history and nature of moral thought); History and Theory of Literary Criticism; Postcolonial and Related Literatures; American Literature; Contemporary Writing in English; Literature and Visual Culture.
Admissions in English at Churchill College
We are looking for students who have an avid and eclectic appetite for reading good literature and exploring what that means. Moreover, students write at least one essay each week, often two, so having a keen interest in developing persuasive, well-structured critical prose is also essential. We expect applicants to have or be taking A-level English Literature or its equivalent, but do not require specific supplementary subjects. We see no necessary disadvantage in having studied outside the humanities, so long as the applicant shows suitably high levels of potential, commitment, and ability in English. However, many applicants have studied modern or ancient languages, or another essay subject (such as History) at A-level or equivalent, and these complementary subjects can enrich the interpretation of literary works and language. The standard entry requirements to Churchill College are available here.
Applicants called for interview are asked to submit two pieces of written work (one preferably on Shakespeare), which we read very carefully and discuss in detail with interviewees. Directly before one interview, you will be required to write a short essay discussing the form, language, and style of one or two literary passages, the discussion of which will also be part of that interview. We are interested in the clarity of your thought and expression, your ability to develop ideas in response to your close reading of literary texts, and to defend or modify them when challenged. You will be able to refer to your essay and the passages in the interview. The other interview will range over your wider reading and literary commitments, and will focus more generally on your application. In this interview you may be invited to read and comment on a short piece of literary or critical writing.
Fellows in English at Churchill
The two main teaching Fellows are:
There are four other Fellows in English at Churchill:
