Classics and English

About the course

The Classics and English degree at Oxford gives students the opportunity to study the literature and culture of the ancient and modern world, both separately and in comparison; to trace ideas, forms, and genres across cultures and time; and to think about continuities and change in how people think, write, and imagine their world.

All students study either Latin or Greek or both, so that they can encounter ancient literature in the original language(s).

Candidates with an A-level or equivalent in either Latin or Greek take a three-year course.

Candidates who have not had the opportunity to study either classical language to A-level or equivalent take Classics and English with Beginners’ Latin or Greek. This is a four-year course which includes a preliminary year, in which students learn Latin or Greek alongside some study of classical literature. 

You can choose to specialise in what you find most interesting from each side of the course, taking a range of options in English literature, and in ancient literature, history, philosophy, and linguistics. But the degree also integrates the two sides of its course, offering several papers designed specifically for the kind of comparative work that the course encourages.

In the first year (second, for Classics and English with Beginners' Latin or Greek), students take a paper in English literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries – the period during which writers were most consistently and intensely engaged with the languages and literatures of ancient Greece and Rome.

Among the highlights of the latter two years are the four ‘link papers.’ All students take Epic, and read and compare authors such as Homer, Virgil, Milton, Alice Oswald, and Derek Walcott. Students then choose to take either Comedy, Tragedy, or Reception (in which you study the reception of ancient literature in 20th-century poetry). Students who choose to take up a second classical language in their penultimate year only take one of the link papers.

The final-year dissertation allows students to pursue an independently devised topic with an expert supervisor, which may combine the subjects or focus on an aspect of one of them. All of the courses allow students to pursue the twists and turns of literary genres across time.

Oxford has a long and distinguished tradition of research and teaching in both Classics and English, and possesses remarkable library provision in both subjects.

Oxford has the largest Classics department in the world, with over sixty full-time academic staff-members. It has outstanding teaching, library and museum resources. Resources include the Bodleian and Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Libraries, the Ashmolean Museum and a designated Classics Centre.

The English Faculty is the largest English department in Britain. Students are taught in tutorials by scholars active in their research field, many of whom also give lectures to all students in the English Faculty. You will therefore have the opportunity to learn from a wide range of specialist teachers.

Library provision for English at Oxford is exceptionally good. All students have access to:

• the Bodleian Library (with its extensive manuscript collection),
• the English Faculty Library,
• their own college libraries,
• and a wide range of electronic resources.

Astrophoria Foundation Year

If you’re interested in studying Classics and English but your personal or educational circumstances have meant you are unlikely to achieve the grades typically required for Oxford courses, then choosing to apply for Classics and English with a Foundation Year might be right for you.

Please visit our Foundation Year course pages for more details. 

'I was able to learn Ancient Greek from scratch here. It didn’t come naturally to me, but with an hour-long class almost every day for a year I was doing prose composition by my third term. Doing a joint honours course allows you to bring different perspectives to all of your subjects. Thinking about Renaissance literature with knowledge of the Classics means you have a very different perspective from someone studying straight English, for example. It’s a unique kind of literary criticism. If you think idiosyncratically and are interested in everything, then this is definitely the course to do.' Emma	'Classics & English at Oxford is an excellent course for those who have a real interest in how the two subjects interact; not only through the fascinating range of link papers available, but also through the number of other papers associated with only one half of the course. There is so much choice, and such personalised teaching due to the small year size, that there are always opportunities to specialise in your own interests, which is a real privilege. I have also been able to study both Greek and Latin from scratch since starting at Oxford, which makes for a deep understanding of classical and modern languages, and a far richer understanding of literature.' India	'The Classics and English link papers really set the course apart from equivalent courses at other universities, allowing you to get a real sense of how classical texts have influenced English ones, and how writers in English have responded to classical texts. My favourite paper was probably one that focused on classical receptions in twentieth-century poetry, for which I wrote an extended essay on 1960s plays by Nigerian playwrights that were adaptations or translations of Greek plays, which really brought home to me the persistent relevance of classical literature and the continuing power of the classical world to express and explore modern tensions.' Francesca

Unistats information

Discover Uni course data provides applicants with Unistats statistics about undergraduate life at Oxford for a particular undergraduate course.

Please select 'see course data' to view the full Unistats data for Classics and for English.

Please note that there may be no data available if the number of course participants is very small. 

Visit the Studying at Oxford section of this page for a more general insight into what studying here is likely to be like.

Academic requirements 

Wherever possible, your grades are considered in the context in which they have been achieved.

Read further information on how we use contextual data.

Subject requirements

If your personal or educational circumstances have meant you are unlikely to achieve the grades listed above for undergraduate study, but you still have a strong interest in the subject, then applying for Classics and English with a Foundation Year might be right for you.

Visit the Foundation Year course pages for more details of academic requirements and eligibility.

Applying

All candidates must follow the application procedure as shown on our Applying to Oxford pages.

The following information gives specific details for students applying for this course.

Admissions test

All candidates must take the relevant section(s) of the Classics Admissions Test (CAT) as part of their application. 

All the information you need to arrange to take your test as well as how best to prepare can be found on your test page.

Written work

Read our further guidance on the submission of written work for general guidance.

What are tutors looking for?

Tutors are looking for curious, independent students with a real commitment to the wide-ranging study and comparison of literatures. Written work helps us to gauge your analytical skills, and your writing.

Successful candidates will be expected to display general language aptitude, including competence in Latin or Greek if they are studying the classical language(s) to A-level or equivalent.

Interviews allow us to explore your enthusiasm for literature and the comparative aspects of the course, your response to new ideas and information, and your independent thinking and reading.

We expect you to have read widely in English and classical literature (in translation or in the original), and to have an appetite for talking and writing about literature and approaches to it. However we are not looking for any reading in particular: we are interested in your own ideas, interests, and in seeing how you think. 

Visit the Classics website and English website for more detail on the selection criteria for this course.

Fees

Additional Fees and Charges Information for Classics and English

There are no compulsory costs for this course beyond the fees shown above and your living costs.