We admit 6 undergraduates a year to read English, plus regular singletons in History & English and Classics & English. What is looked for in applicants for English at Corpus are signs of keen reflective reading and indications of readiness and ability to take on the large amounts of primary and secondary reading the Oxford syllabus requires. We do like applicants who show signs of being alert to the English language and to the fact that literary study engages not just with historical and contextual things but, above all, with the use of language. We are not averse to deferred-entry candidates.
English is taught within College by Professor Helen Moore and Professor David Russell. Professor Moore is currently President; her teaching is being covered by Dr Esther Osorio Whewell, who is Career Development Fellow in English.
Professor Moore focusses on medieval and early modern literature and, in the Classics and English interdisciplinary set, on ekphrasis, literary careers and Heliodorus. Professor David Russell's tutorial teaching covers the romantic period to the present, as well as theoretical approaches to literature. Dr Esther Osorio Whewell teaches the early modern and long-eighteenth century period papers and Shakespeare. The in-house tutors in the subject - as well as the other tutors called on to help in the teaching - try to encourage critical and creative individuality in undergraduates. One of the greatest advantages of reading English at Corpus is the size, quality and modernity of the College Library's holdings in this subject.
Teaching in English is supported by lecturers, Professor Andy Orchard and Dr Hannah Lucas.
For information about applying to read English, please refer to the English Faculty Website and the University Admissions Website.
Resources for English, Key Stage 5, applying to Oxford, and finding out more about Corpus can be found here.
The best preparation for the entrance process is to do as much reading as possible in literature of virtually any kind.